William Bode

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Come and learn a lesson https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/william-bode/id635644278 Jeremiah 35:1-19 NLT This is the message the Lord gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah: “Go to the settlement where the families of the Recabites live, and invite them to the Lord’s Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms, and offer them some wine.” So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah and all his brothers and sons—representing all the Recabite families. I took them to the Temple, and we went into the room assigned to the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was located next to the one used by the Temple officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the Temple gatekeeper. I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink, but they refused. “No,” they said, “we don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jehonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘You and your descendants must nev

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Rebellion, gone Listen to the audio blog on SoundCloud or iTunes I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion. Jeremiah 33:8 We are all prone to giving up. It is so easy to be a quitter. And we have good reason to feel despair We have offended God. In our rebellion, we have broke his every law. We have treated his kindness with disregard and we have flaunted our hard hearts and sin. We think that we will change but we fail. We put our foot in it and hurt people with our words. We lack the discipline to exercise properly or to eat sensibly. We fail to do the good we know we should. We procrastinate. We are lazy. Or we are full of pride at our hard work and accomplishments but fail to realise the full potential of the good we could do for others and satisfy only ourselves. We see our neighbor in need and pass him by. We know of the pain and suffering of so many but think only of how to better our own situation and choose to forget the hards

Monday, April 22, 2013 endless galaxies of your unknown Jeremiah 31:33-34 NLT “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” __________________________ How your heart? I don't mean the health of your blood pumping organ. I'm asking how's your heart? This isn't a question of your love life (although I'm sure it's related). I'm not asking if you've found that special someone to spend the rest of your days with in blissful matrimonial union. No I'm asking about how you are within yourself? When no one is looking and your guard is down.

Sunday, April 21, 2013 God isn't playing God, He is God Audio Blog Now on iTunes as a podcast Awaiting His return! God isn't playing God, He is God Originally posted on Google Groups 1/10/12 ____________________ For the LORD hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. Joshua 11:20 _____________________ Joshua 11 is an uncomfortable chapter to read, especially if you do not want to accept God as good and right. We want to make God in our own image, but not even a true image of ourselves but a made up false God. God fights for his people. God utterly destroys the enemies of his people. God does not want his people to trust in the might of military technology. God required his people to disable it all the horses and the chariots. God controls the hearts of the enemies. God demands obedience from his people. A couple little footnotes, Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who forty years previous said God woul

Saturday, April 20, 2013 A heart to know me.-- A Tale of Two Figs. Audio Blog https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/consider-the-following-a-heart Now on iTunes as a podcast : https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/william-bode/id635644278 Jeremiah 24:6-8 NIV My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord . They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. _______________________ Lost Baby Boot on Rustlings Road, Sheffield. The prophet Jeremiah had a difficult job. God wanted him to deliver a lot of bad news. Thankfully for us, and God's people then God's message of judgement always has little moments of hope. (Just as an aside today's daily Bible reading, for me, includes the famous 70 years passage that gets Daniel all worked up, but that's for another time.) God uses a couple baskets of fi

Friday, April 19, 2013 Social welfare is the strongest defence. Jeremiah 22:3, 13, 16-17 NIV This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord. “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.” _________________ Leeds City Hall When they march it feels like the ground actually shakes. Hanging sweet in the air is the smell of oiled leather and sweaty horses. The din of soldiers speaking a foreign language echos in the valleys outside the city. Had Nebuchadnezzar king of B

Thursday, April 18, 2013 Dirtbags? Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord . “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. _____ _____ ___

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 Do you really want to be a fisherman? Jeremiah 16:14-18 NLT “But the time is coming,” says the Lord , “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors. “But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the Lord. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves. I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.” __________________ Okay folks get your thinking caps on.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 The nature of sin. Audio Blog Jeremiah 14:20-22 NLT Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you. For the sake of your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own glorious throne. Please remember us, and do not break your covenant with us. Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain? Does it fall from the sky by itself? No, you are the one, O Lord our God! Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us. _______________________________ Sin by definition is an offence against God. God is the source of good. So evil is the absence from a situation of God's character, rule or word. Evil is man's suppression of God from thier lives. If you or I continue down our path of sin and wickedness we are trying to get as far away from God as possible. But as we abandon God, we leave behind light, forgiveness, mercy, grace, hope, love, life, and righteousness. Every selfish act, every unthankful act of in

Street Musicians at Debenhams by William Bode

Recorded outside in the Leeds City Centre Monday, April 15, 2013 Spock versus Kirk? Jeremiah 4:3-4, 14, 18-19 NLT This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins. O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart that you may be saved. How long will you harbor your evil thoughts? “Your own actions have brought this upon you. This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!” My heart, my heart—I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still. For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries. ------------------ We say we live in a an age of reason. And yet our science fiction still sees a need for the heart. Passion versus proof, gut verses intellect, these are the arguments of our day just as they have b

Sunday, April 14, 2013 An Invitation Jeremiah 3:12-15 NLT Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken! “Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel — one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. _____________________ Stephen Lawhead writes novels of historical fantasy fiction that move me. In his series The Celtic Crusades he describes a character named Padraig, who is a Welsh Monk on a journey to the Crusades in Jerusalem. During tha

Saturday, April 13, 2013 Why reward the rebel? Isaiah 65:1-2, 12b NLT The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes... ... For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes— and chose to do what you know I despise.” ____________________________________________ Is your face turning red? I suppose you are like me and you read those lines penned by Isaiah so long ago and you can't help but feel like a person in family court but all alone. There is your Dad explaining to the judge how all his Fatherly love and overtures of help were ignored. It's not like you didn't need any help either, so you feel like slinking into your seat until you are absorbed by the oak bench. Oak would

Friday, April 12, 2013 Plea for a forgetful God? Isaiah 63:17, 19; 64:5-9 NLT Lord , why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants, the tribes that are your special possession... Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you, as though we had never been known as your people. You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. Don’t be so a

Thursday, April 11, 2013 What's the problem? Isaiah 59:1-16 NLT Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption. No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin. They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever falls into their webs will die, and there’s danger even in getting near them. Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark. Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them. They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 700 years before Isaiah the prophet wrote prophecies concerning Jesus 700 years before he was born in Bethlehem. Listen to the prophet foretell of Jesus' suffering. All passages quoted today are from the New Living Translation. Isaiah 49:15-16 NLT “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. Isaiah 50:5-7 NLT The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame. Isaiah 52:13-14 NLT See, my servant will prosper; h

Tuesday, April 09, 2013 One single choice Isaiah 43:10-13, 25 NLT “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord. “You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God— there never has been, and there never will be. I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord. “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. __________________________________ Often imitated but never duplicated, there is only one God. People have been inventing God's since the Garden of Eden, when the serpent created a god that lied. Eve imagined a god that jealousy withheld good from her. But maybe the coup d'etat of God making is wh

Monday, April 08, 2013 He never grows weak or weary. https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/consider-the-following Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. ................................................................................................................................................................... Isn't a good nap a wonderful luxury? Isn't it wonderful to sleep peacefully and to rest your weary body and wake refreshed? I often find myself at the end of my energy. Even this morning in reading the Bible and writing this blog I've fel

Sunday, April 07, 2013 Tell us lies. Isaiah 30:8-15, 18 NLT Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions. They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’” This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.” This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and re

Saturday, April 06, 2013 He is certainly greater than you! Isaiah 29:13-16 NLT And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.” What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!” How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? ________________________________ God made you! He knows what you're made of. Indictment is one of the main works of the old testament prophet. God points his finger at people thr