John 1:35-51; 3:1-16. When Jesus gave the invitation to “Come, follow me”, He wasn’t just offering an opportunity for people to be casual observers of all that He did, or avid listeners of all that He said. Doing those things would be important, but they needed to lead somewhere. The call was to be an […]
John 1:1-34; 5:16-47; 6:25-71; 10:1-21. John starts his gospel writing with a careful examination of who Jesus is (Jn. 1:1-34), and repeatedly returns to that theme. Each return adds to our understanding of the fullness of who Jesus is so that we can connect fully with God as “Redeeming Son”. Embracing the fulness of Jesus […]
Matthew 14: 22-33. Is ‘care for creation’ a lost cause? Do my actions make a difference? In this third study, we consider how individual Christians can pioneer real hope as tenants of creation. ‘The Bible, the gospel, Christ, the church, the faith – all are one great battle cry against fear in the lives of […]
Nehemiah Chaps 1, 4 and 8. When Nehemiah stepped forward to seek permission to serve the Lord, he was alone and vulnerable. Where did his strength come from to do that? How do we compare? The first tentative steps that Nehemiah took marked the beginning of a new era that saw the people of God […]
1 Kings 19: 1 – 18. If we get so distracted by the things that are driven by our own desires and emotions, things that we haven’t first of all been “Connecting with God” about, then we’ve moved into a dangerous place. And when we realise that we’ve been moving into that unhelpful direction, we […]
Luke 2: 1 – 7; Matt 2: 5 – 6. God’s chosen rescuer and restorer of the kingdom, born somewhere unknown in Bethlehem and put to sleep in a feeding trough. Is this mistaken identity? Certainly not!
Luke 2: 8 – 15 King David had been a shepherd, and the Messiah was spoken of as becoming a shepherd. The shepherds outside Bethlehem were probably the lower parts of society, but that is exactly who the Messiah was coming to rescue. And they were probably good at talking…
Matthew 2: 1-12. Beyond the borders of the Jewish homeland foreigners recognise a sign in the stars. This event carries importance and they are motivated to set out and discover the truth.
Luke 1: 26 – 56; Matthew 1. After hundreds of years of waiting the expectations for a Messiah were still present, but who would have thought of an unmarried girl from the Galilee District being the mother. Could this really be the coming of the promised Messiah?
Ezekiel 34; Jeremiah 23: 1-8, Luke 15:3-7. It was proving to be a long wait for the promised Messiah? Were they going to be a Conquering King or a Shepherd when they finally came?