Today is the second day of the Eastern Baptist Association Ministers’ Conference (#ebaminconf). I have a small problem (or at least the one I am prepared to admit to is small). I have been asked to preach on a particular passage from the Bible at one of our churches in March and one of our speakers this morning is speaking from the same passage. If the speaker (David Kerrigan from BMS World Mission) is anything like he was yesterday he will be brilliant.

That would not normally be a problem. Indeed you might consider it a real bonus to have someone else explore the passage before you do. But the Minister of the church at which I am preaching is here, so I feel a certain pressure not to say anything or use any of the illustrations that David K will use.

But actually I don’t need to worry. The wonderful thing about the Bible is that God speaks through the same passage of the Bible in different ways. That is not the same as saying that we can make the passage say anything we want – that is a dishonest approach to it – but in the same way as a piece of art will ‘speak’ to different people in different ways yet remain the same piece of artwork, so God can speak to different people in different ways through the same passage of the Bible.

What part of the Bible have you read recently?

Be blessed, be a blessing