What God is looking for (Joel 2:1-17)
November 6, 2026Joel 2:1-17 Those of us who live in New Zealand remember well the first couple of years of Covid, when the country tightly shut its borders and anyone entering had to endure two weeks in a quarantine hotel in strict isolation. Despite all precautions, Covid occasionally got out into the community, usually in Auckland, leading to the city’s lockdown from a few days to a few weeks. I was living there at the time and still remember the sinking feeling I had every time the alert came through on our mobile phones, a shrill tone with a notification that Auckland…
How to respond to devastation in our lives (Joel 1)
Joel 1:1-20 After the devastating Canterbury earthquakes,[1] life was disrupted for many. Some lost their homes with immediate effect, others tragically lost family members or came to be injured themselves, yet others had relatively minor inconveniences of not being able…
Introduction to Joel
The Book of Joel is the second book in the Minor Prophets (from Hosea to Malachi), a loose collection, so called because these books are relatively short compared to the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel). The Minor Prophets are also…
Why must God judge?
2 Kings 25:1-30 A friend of mine told me of an acquaintance who had breast cancer. The surgeon thought that she needed a mastectomy, but she was so afraid of the body confidence issues that she asked for the tumour…
What motivates our service of God?
2 Kings 23:28-37; 24:1-16 When a pastor who had a significant impact retires, there is inevitable change. A new leader may set a different tone, but the congregation also contributes to the emerging tenor of their community. Sometimes a former…
How to love and serve God well
2 Kings 23:1-27 One of the deeply searching questions of the Bible is uttered in the Book of Job when the satan sarcastically inquires if Job serves God for nothing (Job 1:9).[1] Given that Job is blessed with a good…
The difference God’s Word can make
2 Kings 22:1-20 Immigrants in a new country tend to make efforts to preserve their culture and pass on their language and customs to the next generation. Children of such immigrants, however, often want to leave behind their cultural past…
How to avoid repeating our mistakes
2 Kings 21:1-26 Most of us can think of situations where life seems to have repeated itself. Maybe it was a conflict we escaped with someone only to see ourselves in a similar situation with another person. Perhaps it was…
The difference our choices make
2 Kings 20:12-21 When I was a child and we watched movies as a family, sometimes Dad would reassure us, children, when we were worried about how the story would end. I wondered at the time how he could know…
Life out of death: The God who is for us
2 Kings 20:1-11 All of us have regrets in life when what we had hoped for did not happen. Some grieve over not having found a life-partner, others struggle with childlessness or single parenting, yet others long for a career…
The secret of the trusting weak against the strong
2 Kings 19:20-37 Last week, we saw Hezekiah’s growing trust of God as he took steps, albeit tentative, towards Him. Today, we hear God’s answer, His perspective, and learn about His character. This immediately raises the question for us: what…