The Village Church exists to bring glory to God by making disciples through gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service and gospel-centered multiplication.
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church에서 제공하는 콘텐츠입니다. 에피소드, 그래픽, 팟캐스트 설명을 포함한 모든 팟캐스트 콘텐츠는 Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church 또는 해당 팟캐스트 플랫폼 파트너가 직접 업로드하고 제공합니다. 누군가가 귀하의 허락 없이 귀하의 저작물을 사용하고 있다고 생각되는 경우 여기에 설명된 절차를 따르실 수 있습니다 https://ko.player.fm/legal.
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Fr. Larry Richards is the founder and president of The Reason for our Hope Foundation, a non- profit organization dedicated to ”spreading the Good News” by educating others about Jesus Christ. His new homilies are posted each week.
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Love Worth Finding's purpose is to bring people to Christ and mature them in the faith. This happens primarily through efforts in publishing and broadcasting biblical truth.Love Worth Finding began in 1987, as a response to several requests for tapes of messages by pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. He relates that "soon the requests began to grow to the point that we knew God was leading us into a wider ministry." As an extension of Dr. Rogers' pulpit ministry Love Worth Finding provid ...
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Welcome to the Enjoying Everyday Life TV podcast with Joyce Meyer. To learn more, visit our website at joycemeyer.org or download the Joyce Meyer Ministries App. By supporting Joyce Meyer Ministries, you can help us reach hurting people around the world. To find out more, go to joycemeyer.org/donate
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Love God, love people, and change the world. We believe the life and lessons of Jesus aren’t just good advice, but are Good News for us here and now. As a church, we are all about following Jesus and know there’s no end to that journey—we’re more about becoming than arriving. We are committed to becoming a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multiplying movement of Christ followers, equipping and empowering our kids and students to not only be the church of tomorrow, but the church of today.
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church에서 제공하는 콘텐츠입니다. 에피소드, 그래픽, 팟캐스트 설명을 포함한 모든 팟캐스트 콘텐츠는 Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church 또는 해당 팟캐스트 플랫폼 파트너가 직접 업로드하고 제공합니다. 누군가가 귀하의 허락 없이 귀하의 저작물을 사용하고 있다고 생각되는 경우 여기에 설명된 절차를 따르실 수 있습니다 https://ko.player.fm/legal.
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
After the death of Herod the Great, the territory that he had ruled was divided up by the Romans. Herod Antipas was given the region of Galilee to rule. In 26 AD, Antipas went to Rome to visit his half-brother Philip, Philip’s wife of about 30+ years, and his neice Salome. At this stage, Antipas would have been about 46, and Herodias in her early 40s. Long story short, Antipas and Herodias decided to divorce their present spouses, and marry each other. Antipas, Herodias, and Salome moved back to Israel, settling at Antipas’ palace near the sea of Galilee. The Father of Herod Antipas’ former wife waged war on Herod – a war which did not go well for Herod Antipas. Later, Herodias’ jealousy of her brother Agrippa being given the title king, got Herod Antipas to ask the emperor Caligula for the same title. But when evidence came that Antipas had a stockpile sufficient to arm 70,000 men, Antipas and Herodias were instead exiled to Gaul. Oh, and before that, Antipas killed John the Baptist and became friends with Pilate over the killing of Jesus. It reads like a soap opera, doesn’t it? And this re-telling leaves out half the details! Suffice to say, Herod Antipas was someone who wanted power – who was used to getting what he wanted. And Herodias seems to have been even more ambitious. And then there was John the Baptist, the prophet calling people to repentance, who wouldn’t stop saying that marrying your brother’s wife wasn’t lawful! Herodias wanted John dead, but Herod had a morbid fascination with him. He would listen to John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. But he wasn’t going to change because of John, or even God. Eventually, Herodias got her way, and John the Baptist was executed, in a most gruesome scene. John was rejected by those in power. And Mark tells his story in the context of Jesus’ being rejected by the people of Nazareth, his home town. But despite the various rejections, God’s kingdom was taking ground. Wherever it was welcomed, amazing things were happening. There was evidence of God’s goodness. Yes, there were places that rejected the good news – but that didn’t mean the program was failing. Despite the rejection, God’s kingdom was taking ground. And those who didn’t come on board – they were the ones missing out. Why might people choose to reject the good news of God? This weekend is palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem – shortly to be followed by the rejection of the crowds. But did the success of Jesus’ mission depend on their continued acceptance? Today’s text: Mark 6:1-30…
It had been raining, and the path around the lake had flooded in various sections. But Taryn and I had some time to spare before I had to be in the city, so we decided to just walk around the flooded parts of the path where necessary. It was a nice walk… until I saw it. A snake, slithering away from us on a bit of unflooded ground. I yelled out, urgently, “Snake!” throwing my arms out and pirroutting to alert Taryn to the danger. Unfortunately, I ended up first accidentally punching Taryn in the face, before completing my spin by falling down into the mud. Taryn looked at me, quietly, as the snake continued minding its own business in the opposite direction. “I don’t think you handled that very well,” she said. Said I, “But it was a snake!!!” Fear does funny things to us, doesn’t it? When we’re afraid, we’ll often have one of four instinctive responses: fawning, freezing in place, getting ready to fight, or – like I did with the snake – trying to run away. Fawning aside, those aren’t necessarily bad things to do – they are, frequently, exactly the right way to react to fear. But how do we react to Jesus? Today’s passage is all about fear. It starts with Jesus and His apprentices travelling on a boat across a lake. A great storm comes up, and the apprentices find themselves utterly terrified. Then, arriving at shore, they encounter a terrified, terrifying man – host to a huge number of demons. Jesus sends the demons away, but the people of the region are so terrified that they beg Jesus to leave. Back on the Jewish side of the lake, Jesus is met by a terrified man, whose daughter is about to die. His fear drives him to ask Jesus for help. And while Jesus is on the way to help, we meet a terrified woman, who tries to sneak healing from Jesus, and is terrified when she can’t hide away. Just who is Jesus? Is He someone to be feared, or someone to bring our fears to? How should we respond to Him? Today’s passage: Mark 4:35-5:43…
The Magician’s Nephew is the prequel to the more famous, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It tells the story of the creation of the world of Narnia, a world where Jesus is represented by a great lion Aslan. A couple of human children, Eustace and Polly, stumble upon Narnia as it is being formed. They find the song of creation that Aslan sings wonderful! But the children had inadvertently brought two others along with them: the wicked witch, and Eustace’s uncle. The witch hates the song, and runs away. Listen to how Lewis describes Eustace’s uncle: When the Lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, he had realized that the noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a Lion (“only a lion,” as he said to himself) he tried his hardest to make himself believe that it wasn’t singing and never had been singing, only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world. Of course it can’t really have been singing, he thought, I must have imagined it. I’ve been letting my nerves get out of order. Who ever heard of a lion singing? And the longer and more beautifully the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song. Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. This weekend, we’re looking at one of the most famous of Jesus’ stories: the story of the Sower. It’s all about hearing and listening. Who can discover and understand the good news about God’s Kingdom? Why did Jesus speak in stories, with hidden meanings, when He spoke in public? Who can hear and understand Jesus? And what might this have to say about the way that we share the good news today? Today’s text: Mark 4:1-25…
In 2018, a reporter asked a prominent Christian leader in America why so many Christians were happy to support political candidates who seem to revel in disobeying Jesus’ teachings. The leader replied that Christians were just happy to have someone “on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.” “What happened to turning the other cheek?” the reporter asked. Replied the leader: “You know, you only have two cheeks.” What if Jesus was serious about calling on Christians to turn the other cheek, though? What if He were serious about calling on us to take up our crosses and to follow Him? Does Jesus really know the best way to live? Does He really understand what it means to live in this world of ours? Does He get the complexity of our lives? It’s so easy to say we follow Jesus, but to reject His instructions when following them aren’t easy, or when they make our lives more difficult. In today’s passage, we encounter a few different responses to Jesus. Some respond positively, but two groups that you might expect to be on board with Him respond very negatively. The family Jesus grew up in thought Jesus had lost the plot. And the scribes from Jerusalem – learned in the Scriptures – alleged that Jesus was in league with the devil. Rejecting the work of the Spirit can have serious ramifications, though. Do we stand against Jesus – or are we members of the new people, the new family, brought together in His name? Today’s text: Mark 3:7:35 To discuss: What does it look like in practice to be part of Jesus’ family?…
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
When I was a child, I had a pretty major problem with my sister. You see, although we were both part of a Christian family, my sister had fallen into evil practices. I didn’t think she was a real Christian. What was she doing? She was listening to Christian rock music, rather than to classical stuff! Fortunately, it wasn’t long until I realised how ridiculous my position was. She was celebrating God; I was setting up my own rules about what made someone right or wrong in God’s sight. As I write this, I have my headphones on, and am bobbing along to some fantastic Christian songs. The real issue was never about the music, but about my own heart. It was about me trying to put up boundary markers for what a real Christian should be like. I suspect the temptation to do that is one that many of us know well. And often the things we set up as boundary markers are good things. It is a good thing to attend church on a weekly basis. It’s a good thing to have your theology right (although we tend to argue about who is actually right!) It’s a good thing to listen to Christian music. It’s a good thing to set aside a day of the week to rest with God. But how easy it is for these good things to become ultimate things. How easy to make them ends, rather than means. What if we so starch the collar of Christianity that we become unwilling to bend when God does something new? Are we so caught up in the rules, our rules more often than not, that we lose sight of the fact that Jesus is King? What if God is more concerned with seeing people come to know and enjoy Him than with them fitting into our neat and tidy boxes? Today’s text: Mark 2:23-3:6…
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
When we meet someone for the first time, we tend to try and figure out who they are. It’s interesting to hear how people define and describe themselves. Some people, often men, will tell you about their qualifications and achievements in life. Others will speak about their nationality or ethnicity. Others might tell you about their family. You might hear about the clubs that they are part of, or the various people you might both know who connect you. Who are you? I don’t think it’s a question that can be answered apart form some sort of relational or social context. Even if we say, “I’m a loner”, we’re defining ourselves in terms of other people! Who are they? That’s a different question, isn’t it? All of a sudden, we’re not asking about someone’s self-assessment, but that of those around them. We want others to think well of us. That’s why we spend so much time cultivating our friendships and our facebook statuses. That’s why we make sure we use the best filters on our instagram, and project the right image of ourselves in our TikTok shares. It’s why we choose who we hang out with. It’s all about image management and self-improvement. Who are you? And who is Jesus? This week, we’re starting a new series in Marks’ gospel – all about the good news of God. Mark wants us to realise who Jesus is – and to realise what that means for us. Today’s text: Mark 1:1-13…
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring God’s description of His character, given to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. We have seen that God is full of compassion, grace, love and faithfulness. But He is also a God of justice – He does not let the guilty go unpunished. This doesn’t, of course, contradict the fact that God is full of mercy and grace. The good news is that God Himself bore our punishment, and invites us to trust and rely on Him. God takes injustice very seriously. Egypt was punished for the unjust way that they treated Israel. The Assyrians and Babylonians, who took Israel and Judah into exile, were likewise punished. Yes, there were opportunities for people to call on God for mercy – like we saw in the story of Jonah’s experience at the capital city of Assyria, Ninevah. But God will not allow injustice to stand. How could He do so, since God is love? God’s people are meant to be justice-people. Israel’s society was meant to promote social justice. God made provisions for things like a year of Jubilee – a time when debts were forgiven and properties returned to their owners. Israel was meant to treat foreigners in the land well, remembering their own time in Egypt. They were meant to show the world a truly just society. A community where people treated one another rightly, in the knowledge that we are all made in the image of God. But it often didn’t work that way. What about the church today? How important is it for us to value and seek justice? Do we live in a just community? What should we do about it? Are we a just community, and how can we make justice as precious to us as it is to Him? Today’s text: Amos 5…
In 2018, a reporter asked a prominent Christian leader in America why so many Christians were happy to support political candidates who seem to revel in disobeying Jesus’ teachings. The leader replied that Christians were just happy to have someone “on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.” “What happened to turning the other cheek?” the reporter asked. Replied the leader: “You know, you only have two cheeks.” What if Jesus was serious about calling on Christians to turn the other cheek, though? What if He were serious about calling on us to take up our crosses and to follow Him? Does Jesus really know the best way to live? Does He really understand what it means to live in this world of ours? Does He get the complexity of our lives? It’s so easy to say we follow Jesus, but to reject His instructions when following them aren’t easy, or when they make our lives more difficult. In today’s passage, we encounter a few different responses to Jesus. Some respond positively, but two groups that you might expect to be on board with Him respond very negatively. The family Jesus grew up in thought Jesus had lost the plot. And the scribes from Jerusalem – learned in the Scriptures – alleged that Jesus was in league with the devil. Rejecting the work of the Spirit can have serious ramifications, though. Do we stand against Jesus – or are we members of the new people, the new family, brought together in His name? Today’s text: Mark 3:7:35 To discuss: What does it look like in practice to be part of Jesus’ family?…
As I write this, it is Valentines Day. Across our city, people are expressing their love and commitment to one another. It is a wonderful thing to know that you are loved. I would content that humans need to both be loved and love in return. We are social creatures, designed for deep relationship. The absence of love is both painful and malformative. There are doubtless many today who are feeling alone, unloved and deeply hurt. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at God’s description of what He is like, as given to Moses in Exodus 34:6-8. We have already seen that God is full of mercy, and slow to anger. This weekend, we’re considering what it means for God to be full of unfailing love. Max Lucado writes that, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every Spring and sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk to him, he’ll listen. …Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.” Our God is not some distant, uninterested God. He is, rather, the one who loves us. He who knows each star in the sky also knows our name, and every hair on our heads. God is love. Love has always flowed between Father, Son and Spirit. In love, God chose to create us. And, in love, God choose to act to save us from sin and death – and to invite us into His love, and into His life. God’s love is not something abstract – it is expressed in concrete ways. And His love is not fickle – His love for us never wavers. And He has adopted us as His children. But what does that mean for us and for the way we love? Today’s text: 1 John 4:7-21…
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
It’s not nice being around someone who loses their temper at the drop of a hat. I suspect that all of us have some experience of people like that. Say the wrong thing, or say it in the wrong way, and you will soon know that you have caused offence. In the worst cases, people lash out against those who have angered them. In other cases, their simmering anger sets out to make you feel guilty for upsetting them. Even if things get better, you know that anything, at any time, could spark another bout of rage. Anger exists to alert us to the fact that someone or something is obstructing our will. There is nothing wrong with anger per-se. God, after all, gets angry. If God didn’t get angry at sin, evil, and injustice, He wouldn’t be the loving God that He is. But while God’s will is good and perfect, and driven by love, our wills are broken and selfish, driven by vanity, hurt, desperation and an ultimate powerlessness. I remember an occasion when someone, unhappy with the speed I was driving, swerved around and in front of me, and shared his anger by giving me the middle finger. It wasn’t actually a big deal. Someone who was behind me was now in front of me. But my anger immediately rose. I was driving at the speed limit; this person had no right to act like they had. Angrily, I flashed my lights at them. A small thing, maybe. But what’s scary is how quickly my anger rose. If Jesus was driving, would he have flashed to anger like that? In Exodus 34:6-7 God describes himself as “slow to anger.” What does that look like, and what does it mean for us? Today’s text: Judges 6…
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
There’s an old saying: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” The idea is that children tend to take after their parents. But this isn’t just in terms of physical resemblance. We learn character from our family of origin. We learn how to relate to other people. It’s amazing how, even if we don’t realise it, we find ourselves echoing the attitudes and approaches of our forebears. These days, I find myself speaking to Daniel about how we do or don’t do things in our family, saying things like, “In our family, we try and be kind.” If we belong to Jesus, we have been adopted into the family of God! And right now, we are learning the sorts of things that we do or don’t do as part of His family. Those are based on who God is, and what His character is like. Over time, we’re picking up the family traits of being part of God’s people, as God transforms us to be more and more like Jesus. For the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at the ways that God describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, and seeing how these traits can be expressed by you and I. This weekend, we’re looking at what it means for Yahweh to be “the God of compassion and mercy!” What does it mean for God to show mercy, and who should be the recipients of that? And who should we, as God’s children, shown mercy to? Or is it the “sin of empathy,” as one supposedly Christian commentator put it last week, to show mercy to others? Today’s text: Jonah 3-4…
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Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church
Life through the psalms – “A new perspective”. Pastor Nicholas van Oudtshoorn
Hearing God’s voice – are we listening?
What sorts of things do you find tempting? Although there may be similarities, our temptations are uniquely ours. They are tailored to our personal wants and desires. Temptations are tempting because we think that they have something good to offer us. We give in to temptations when we think that doing so will make our lives easier and better. Of course, there is always a cost when we do that – a cost that is often far greater than we expected. And although we might look to our temptations to satisfy us, they ultimately fail to give us exactly what we need. This weekend, we’re looking with Luke at the time, immediately following Jesus’ baptism, when the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days there, fasting; at the start of His public ministry, Jesus spent time focusing on His Father. And it was while there that the devil came and tempted Jesus. What sorts of things tempted Jesus ? For starters, bread. Jesus was hungry, and the desire for a nice, fresh loaf of bread must have been intense. Then there was the temptation to reclaim the world there and then, instead of having to go through with the Father’s plan. And then there was the temptation to prove that the Father would actually look out for Jesus. If you think about it, the fact that we know what happens means that Jesus must have told His apprentices about it. He didn’t, as we might be tempted to do, pretend that He was immune to temptation. No, as Hebrews 4:15 points out, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” We can certainly learn from Jesus how we should respond to temptation. But is that the main reason why Luke tells us about it? And why, if it occurred immediately following Jesus’ baptism, does Luke interrupt the flow with a genealogy? Today’s text: Luke 4:1-13 To discuss: Why does Luke tell us about Jesus’ temptation after giving us His genealogy? Was Jesus actually tempted by this stuff? Why didn’t He give in to temptation?…
Solomon’s temple must have been an amazing sight to behold. It stood for hundreds of years, a symbol of God’s presence with His people. According to 1 Kings 6:15ff, the entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was panelled with wood: cedar for the walls and ceilings, and cypress for the floors. The Most Holy Place in the temple was panelled floor to ceiling with cedar. And everything was covered in gold! There was an opulence and grandeur about the whole thing. When the temple was dedicated, Gods glory filled it. The people knew that God was in their midst. By the time of Haggai, a lot of time had passed since Solomon had built the temple. About 70 years before Haggai started speaking, the king of Babylon had attacked Jerusalem and utterly destroyed the temple. People were led away into exile. None of which, let it be said, should have been unexpected. God had long warned His people about the consequences of their refusal to follow Him. The exile was a time of discipline, and God had always intended to bring a remnant back to the promised land. His plan to save and restore and bless the whole world was still on track. Upon their return, the exiled remnant started rebuilding the temple. But there was plenty of opposition, and for 20 years, the job languished. Then, as we saw last week, God raised up prophets, like Haggai, to call His people to start putting Him first, and to rebuild the temple. Which they did. Their enthusiasm was sparked, and work commenced. But, as we shall see in this weeks passage, it wasn’t long until a sense of disillusionment started to settle over the people like a fog. They were rebuilding the temple of God but it seemed so unimpressive. Perhaps there were one or two older people there who had seen the original before its destruction. They would all, at least, have heard the stories about its grandeur. How, they must have wondered, could they compete with that? They were starting to lose their courage. Why bother making something when it wasn’t good enough? But God’s people had forgotten two very important things: this wasn’t just a human endeavour, and they weren’t alone. God was with them, and God had big plans, and the capacity to see them fulfilled. But what does this passage have to say to us today? Can we also get disillusioned in regards to the things we are doing with God? Why do we get like that, and what is the solution? Today’s text: Haggai 2:1-9 To discuss: Have you ever felt like your work, or the church, just isn’t good enough for God? Why? What difference does looking forward with God make?…
Have you ever come across someone who was absolutely convinced that they were right, whilst being absolutely wrong? We all have the potential to be like that. Usually, pride is at work in the mix: a certainty that we already know what the picture is going to be, while everyone else is still trying to get the puzzle pieces out of the box. When this attitude is full-blown, convincing people to see the truth can be a huge, almost impossible challenge. A few years ago in America, we saw certain people convinced, despite the evidence, that Donald Trump had won the presidential election. As a result, they stormed the US Capitol building. Their actions were consistent with their beliefs and with who they are. They just weren’t consistent with reality! Over the last little while, we’ve been working our way through Jesus’ appearance at the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Jesus offered Himself as living water, and as light for those in darkness. He explained who He was, and some of those there decided to believe in Him. But, unfortunately, Jesus didn’t fit neatly into the way that they viewed the world. They thought they had everything figured out. They thought that they were God’s people by right of being Israelites. So when Jesus told them that through apprenticeship to Him they would know the truth, and that the truth would set them free, they got upset with Him. They didn’t like being told that they were slaves. They were, after all, God’s people, weren’t they? Jesus told them that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. He also claimed to be without sin, challenging the people there to truthfully convict Him of sin. Rather than being a slave, Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son. And when He sets slaves free, they are truly free; they are adopted into the family of God. The people Jesus spoke to thought they were part of the family of God. But their actions proved otherwise. They, like all people, were slaves to sin; children of the devil. Like us all, were in need of emancipation. But they couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, see it. The offer of freedom from sin is still there, for apprentices who, as Jesus said, “remain faithful to my teachings.” Such people live like Jesus in this world; they discover the Truth, and are free to live for God. Who they are is seen in what they do; the Father’s love is seen through them. What about us? What do our actions say about who we are and who we follow? Today’s text: John 8:30-59 To discuss: Is doing the right stuff, including coming to church, proof that we belong to God? How is believing in Jesus linked to our actions?…
Next month, the acting head of the Baptist Union of Western Australia will be coming to preach for us. Speaking with them at the annual pastor’s conference a few months ago, however, they told me they thought that only about 25% of Baptist churches in Western Australia would be open to the idea of them coming to preach. Why? Simply because the acting head is a woman. Many Christians have been taught that the Bible rejects the idea of a woman having authority over a man. But is this actually what the Bible teaches? Jesus taught us to pray to our Father that His kingdom would come and that His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. But what is God’s will in this matter? Is it theological faithfulness to not allow women to teach men? Is allowing that a sign of the world’s ways of thinking creeping into our churches? Or is refusing women the right to teach or lead a sign that the world’s way of thinking has infected our churches? Is it theologically faithful to allow all Christians, regardless of their gender, to use their spiritual gifts to build and encourage the church? This weekend, we’re going to be spending some time looking at one of the most important passages on this subject – 1 Corinthians 14. As we do so, we’ll discover the importance of working hard to discover exactly what the Bible says and means. The Bible was written for our benefit, but it wasn’t written to us. It was written to people in a different culture, with a different language, and a different shared social history to ours. As such, we have to translate not just the literal words, but also the cultural assumptions and ideas that are relied upon. One of the benefits of looking at difficult passages such us this, is that we learn how to read the Bible better, so that we can discern God’s will and, with His help, seek to live according to it. Today’s text: 1 Corinthians 14:26-40…
What does it mean to have faith in God? We could simply say that faith is the same as trust. But what does that actually look like in practice? In exploring that question, we are following in the footsteps of Hebrews 11, we are busy making our way through the stories of different people of faith. As we do so, we will discover how faithful God is, and what it means to live in relationship with Him. So far, we have looked at the story of Abel, and seen how trust treasures and glories in God rather than ourselves. This weekend, we jump forward to the story of Abram (later known as Abraham). Abraham is well known as a man of faith; Romans 4 even describes him as the father of those who believe. But what does that look like? Genesis 1-11 is the introduction to the story of God and His creation. It sets the scene for our problems: sin leading to death, and a failure to know God. With Genesis 12, we see the start of God’s plan to set things right. Firstly by making Himself known, and secondly by defeating sin and death in the person of the Son. And God chooses to use Abraham and his family to put this plan into effect. Abraham was nobody special; just another man from a pagan family chasing after false gods. But God reaches out to Abraham, commanding him to leave everything he had and to go to a new land that God would show him. God makes incredible promises to Abraham – enticing, and seemingly impossible. It has been said that every story is like no other story, like some other stories and like every other story. Our lives are totally unlike Abraham’s. Abraham lived in an era where people had all but forgotten what God is like. We, meanwhile, have thousands of years of God’s revealing His character to His people – and have the ultimate Revelation of God: Jesus. But on another level, Abraham’s story is our story. The same God who dealt with Abraham deals with us. God still calls us to put our trust in Him. And although details might differ, the way we respond to God in faith will in some ways be similar to the way Abraham did. So, as we explore some of Abraham’s story, let us think about how we might respond to God in our own lives. Today’s texts: Hebrews 11:8-10, Genesis 12:1-9…
Today’s Passage: John 4:1-26 Zsolt and Geza Peladi had a difficult life. These brothers found themselves living in a cave outside Budapest. They were poor, surviving by selling junk that they scavenged off the streets. I’m not sure exactly how their lives ended up this way; I don’t know the whole backstory. But I can only imagine that there is a story that led them there. I do know that their mother came from a wealthy family… but she had severed ties with the family many years before. And her sons have told how she abandoned them too. They were living in their cave when some charity workers approached them with news. Their maternal grandmother had died, and had left them, in today’s Australian money, something like $12billion. There was an incredible gift waiting for them. This weekend, we’re looking at one of the gospel stories that John alone tells us about: the story of the woman at the well. This is a woman who, like the brothers above, had a difficult life. We meet her coming to fetch water in the heat of the middle of the day. As the conversation between her and Jesus progresses, we find out that she has been married, and divorced, five times. At the time she met Jesus, she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Possibly he was single; possibly he was someone else’s husband. Why was it that she had had so many husbands? Was she a difficult woman? Or had she been hurt to the point where staying in a healthy marriage was incredibly difficult for her? Was she living with this latest man just to survive – being known as “that woman” must have made her life a social misery back in those days. Even to have had that many husbands would have got the tongues wagging. Everyone in town probably knew of her. Maybe she was physically very attractive. Maybe the women of the town would talk about her behind her back; warning each other to keep their husbands away from her. We don’t know any of that. But you get the impression that she wasn’t living the life of Riley. She strikes me as someone who has had a difficult life – and who would love to set it all behind her, but knows that that is just impossible. And then she meets Jesus. Actually, maybe we’re meant to see that Jesus went to meet her! There was another, less Samaritan!, route between Judea and Galilee. But Jesus had to go through Samaria. And the very first thing Jesus did was to ask her for a drink of water. Even that was an act of kindness – treating her as a human, and not just the sum of her past. Jesus knew, even then, all about her. But He also knew that if only she asked, He would give her what she needed most in the world. He would give her living water, bubbling up to eternal life. She was a woman isolated and enslaved by her circumstances and past; if only she knew the gift of God, and who it was that was speaking with her! The conversation continued. Gentle truth from Jesus, blocking defensiveness from the woman. But just try parrying with Jesus! Eventually this woman all but scores an own-goal: “One day the Messiah will explain it all to us.” If only she knew… “I AM the Messiah.” I love the way Jesus interacts with this woman. It’s the way He interacts with us. Gentle. Leaving no doubt about His power. Walking us into the place where we have to face the fact that He is God. Offering us what we really need; an escape from our guilt and our shame and our hiding. Offering us living water; offering us life. If only we knew. If only our loved ones knew. But when we are confronted with that knowledge – what will we do then? When we encounter the living God in Jesus will we run away from Him, or towards Him?…
Today’s Passage: John 3:22-36 Today’s passage is strange. It tells the story of John the Baptist’s disciples getting into an argument with some random guy about ceremonial washing – probably about baptism. And somehow, they leave the argument upset at Jesus! They arrive at John the Baptist complaining that the one that he had identified as the Messiah was taking all of their baptising business away from them! They were angry. I suspect that they felt threatened by Jesus. I don’t know what they expected from John. He was their leader. His was an important ministry – calling Israel to repentance. His ministry was their ministry. This was what they had invested their lives into. Something had to be done so that John didn’t just quietly fade into obscurity. Obscurity wasn’t something John the Baptist was good at. Verse 24 hints at a story that’s only told to us in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). John the Baptist dared to challenge Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. And he was eventually thrown in jail – where he would have his head chopped off. John the Baptist wasn’t afraid to do what God had called him to do: to call people to repentance; and to prepare the way for the Messiah. But John’s disciples weren’t happy that Jesus was getting more attention than John. Yes, their master had identified Jesus as the Messiah. But did that give Him the right to baptise people? It’s interesting that this story is put in the immediate aftermath of Nicodemus’ story. There we heard of a man who seemed to have it all together before God, but who didn’t believe in Jesus. Here we hear of John’s disciples – people who were all about repentance and turning back to God – but people who also didn’t accept that Jesus was the Messiah. Both Nicodemus and John’s disciples were men who were seeking to be right with God – and both missed the bus. John the Baptist was glad that Jesus was increasing. Why weren’t his followers? And what about us? Is it possible for us to be so caught up in being “right” – like Nicodemus – that we miss the simplicity of God’s call for us to trust in Jesus. Or is it possible for us to be so caught up in doing God’s work that we actually miss God at work? John the Baptist’s work was important and God-given. But he knew something that his angry followers didn’t: God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not us. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not the ways that we have always served Him. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not our traditions. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not our good works. How sad to be caught doing good things for God, and yet not knowing Him. So where do we fit into this story?…
Today’s Passage: John 3:1-21 This weekend, we’re looking at a part of the Bible that includes possibly the most famous verse in the Bible: John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s an amazing verse that sums up in so few words so much of the good news of God. But there’s one word in there which we often don’t focus on: for. John 3:16 is explaining something, giving a commentary on what has come before. What comes before is an amazing discussion between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus was a big-shot. As a Pharisee, he was probably devoted to ensuring that he understood and obeyed all the regulations required of God’s people. He was probably, like Paul, a very devout, religious man. We meet this man, this religious man committed to being right before God, in the dark of night as he goes to meet with Jesus. He’d probably seen the amazing, miraculous, signs that Jesus had done in Jerusalem. And he was convinced that Jesus had been sent from God; he was convinced that Jesus had been sent as a teacher from God. But why would Israel’s teacher (see verse 10) want to meet with Jesus? Why would an expert in the law want to hear new teaching from Jesus? And what teaching. I get the impression that Nicodemus was confused by it all. Certainly, John records Jesus saying that Nicodemus hadn’t believed what Jesus had told him. What Jesus had said was just too much for Nicodemus. Talk of needing to be born again to see the Kingdom of God probably didn’t fit very well into his understanding of how God works. The thing is, what Jesus was saying wasn’t even all that new. As an expert in the Scriptures, Nicodemus should have got it. But he didn’t. Perhaps because getting it wasn’t about what he knew, but about how he lived. Jesus wasn’t calling Nicodemus to a deeper knowledge – he was calling him to throw himself on the mercy of God. And that’s where John 3:16 comes in: it’s about what God has done for those who will look to him for life. Nicodemus was impressive – but there were shadows in his life that Jesus’ light would illuminate. You might look impressive; like you’ve got everything sorted. But we all have shadows that we are ashamed of. Things we like to hide so that we can present a good face. We can often fool each other, at least for a while. But it is harder (aka impossible) to fool God. The good news, however, is that we don’t have to fool God. Because God loves us. Because being right with him isn’t about us: it’s about Him. That’s what Nicodemus had to learn. It’s what you and I need to learn! God offers more than new teaching: he offers us new life; a fresh start with Him, and the promise of our transformation into the likeness of the most impressive person ever: Jesus our Christ.…
Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:1-14 Today’s message is brought to us by Chad Power.
Today’s passage: John 2:1-11 If you were setting out to point someone to the fact that Jesus is God our Rescuer, where would you start? I suspect many of us would want to tell some of the epic stories of what Jesus did. We might mention the calming of a storm. Or we might point to the feeding of the 5000 – and then of the 4000. Or we might talk about the different people that Jesus healed, the demons He cast out, or the dead people that He brought back to life. Stories like those are impressive; they amaze us, and speak to a power that is beyond us. But the first incident of Jesus’ public ministry life that John tells us about seems, at first glance, less interesting. John tells us about Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding that had run dry. Some people might think turning water into ~450-680litres of wine is pretty epic. And I guess it is. But this wasn’t a public spectacle. Apart from Mary, the servants, and Jesus’ disciples, nobody even knew what had happened. It’s a miracle happening in the background of the party. And yet John wants us to see this as a signpost to who Jesus is. Jesus revealed His glory, and it inspired His disciples to put their trust in Him. The first 12 chapters of John’s gospel are all about signposts like this one. The signs John has collected in these chapters are meant to inspire us to do what the disciples did: to put our trust in Jesus. We are meant to see that Jesus is God with us; that He is God’s King – the Sovereign over all that is. We are meant to be confronted with the glory of God in the person of Jesus. Chapters 13-21 then tell us about the confrontation of this world with Jesus the King – and of His ultimate victory. They highlight the final sign: Jesus’ death and resurrection. Already here in chapter 2, John hints at this future – and beyond it. But what is it in this incident that reveals Jesus’ glory? How does this story enable us to describe the glory of Jesus? That is, what sort of a person is He? How does this story back up John’s assertion that Jesus is God with us? Why, in short, does John think that this is the best place to start introducing us to the person of who Jesus is? And what difference will this story make to our relationship with Him?…
Today’s passage: John 1:19-50. Last week, we started a new series in John’s gospel, with the aim of getting to know Jesus better and better. John wrote his gospel so that we might continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God. He wanted to introduce – or perhaps re-introduce us to Jesus our Lord and Rescuer. The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, have a lot of similarities. They build on each other, and probably share some of the same sources for their information about Jesus. They do, however, each bring their own flavour to their retelling of God’s story. Mark is short and full of action – he’s constantly moving us forward, “and then, and then, and then!” Matthew emphasises Jesus’ fulfilling the Old Testament. Luke deliberately sets out to give us an orderly account of everything that happened. But when you read John, you get the feeling that this is written by someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about it all, and how it all works together and makes sense. John’s gospel is deep. John is known as the disciple who loved Jesus – and it shows. John wants us to love Jesus. He wants us to think deeply, and to put our trust in Jesus our Lord. By the end of the gospel, John wants us to be saying, “Yes. Yes. Jesus is the Son of God. Yes, He is the One in whom I trust. Yes, I want Jesus. I believe He is the Son of God.” After John summarises the story of Jesus for us in John 1:1-18, he introduces us to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was famous for calling people to turn away from their sins, and back to God. He baptised people in water – as a symbol of their washing off their old way of life; of having a fresh start. People thought that John the Baptist might be someone important – perhaps even the Rescuer of Israel. But John would have none of that. His job was to get people ready for the coming of God’s Chosen One. Like John the Apostle, John the Baptist was all about getting people to say “Yes! Jesus is the Christ; Jesus is the Rescuer!” And so John’s gospel starts with someone saying exactly that. He tells us of John the Baptist testifying for all to hear that Jesus is God’s Chosen One! He tells us of John calling Jesus the Lamb of God, and of how John said that Jesus would baptise with the Spirit. Why did John say what he said? What was it that convinced him? And why does John the gospel writer tell us all of this? And what would both John the Baptist and John the Apostle have us do with it all?…
Today’s passage: John 1:1-18 Why would you want to write a book, or even a booklet, of 3000 to 30000 words? What would compel you to do this? Well, John, a disciple and companion of Jesus, did want to write a book….in fact he wrote two books and three letters which now form part of the New Testament in the Holy Bible. And incredibly he did this when he was known as an “unschooled/uneducated” fisherman from the back blocks (Acts 4:13). And yet in his late life he took on the task of giving his own account of his three years with Jesus, and at the end of his gospel he tells us why. John 20:31. “But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” John did not set out to write a biography or a history (others did …Mark ,Matthew and Luke) but rather John wanted to put on record his amazing discovery, made while walking around Palestine with his Rabbi; and records his discovery in the words of Peter, with which he agrees: John 6:68 “…you have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” John grew up in a society steeped in history. He knew of Israel’s and Judah’s failure to follow the Lord God which resulted in defeat and exile, and then the return (as we have just seen in Ezra and Nehemiah) and of the official determination that as a nation this must not be allowed happen again. He was surrounded by all the mechanisms his leaders could devise, the various groups as they struggled to help their population to comply with these rules (the Pharisees, the Saducees, the priests, the politicians) so as to never give God any possible reason to exile or destroy them again. But by doing this they added more and more rules and regulations of increasing severity and complexity (a result Jesus condemns in Matthew 23) and in effect condemned their disciples and their nation to see God as a harsh disciplinarian who could never be satisfied. John discovers that God is not like he has been told but is a loving compassionate Father who loves His children and wants what is in their best interests; and then brings Himself into their world as a fellow member of the human race to show us this love. In this guise, the Incarnate God-man, we will explore John’s descriptors and discoveries in the coming weeks as we unravel what John saw and heard and touched in his three years of immersive experience with Jesus (1 John 1:1-3). It changed John; will you allow it to change you?…..so that you too can know God as your Lord, Saviour, Friends and Brother?…
Today’s Passage: Nehemiah 7:73 – 8:12 Last week, we saw how the exiles from Judah were allowed to return home to Jerusalem by King Cyrus to rebuild the temple. We saw them prioritising God in their lives, and celebrating His goodness to them as they laid the foundations for the temple. But there was a lot of opposition to rebuilding the temple – with it stopping and starting. But eventually, it was built. At some point after this, an influential Jew working for the then king, Artaxerxes, asked some travellers about the condition of Jerusalem. Hearing about it’s broken walls and burnt gates, Nehemiah spent a week in prayer and fasting. Nehemiah recognised how he and his people had sinned against Yahweh – and how the exile had been God’s disciplining of them. But He also remembered God’s promise to re-gather His people if they returned to Him and obeyed His commands. Nehemiah knew that God had promised to bring His people back to the place that He had chosen as a dwelling for His name: the city of Jerusalem. But a broken city was not honourable enough for the God of all creation. So Nehemiah risked his life and asked the king for permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And God answered his prayers. Nehemiah was made governor, and set out on the long journey (something lie 1547.3km on today’s roads!) to Jerusalem. And soon, work on the walls kicked off. But, like when the temple was being rebuilt, there was a lot of opposition. Including from people one might have expected to be for God. Judah’s enemies had friends/agents among the returned exiles. At one point, it looked like things would come to battle. Nehemiah prayed – and armed the workers. But they kept on working! They worked until the wall and gates of Jerusalem were completed. Completing that wall was a God thing. God was with His people. God had provided for them all along. He’d made King Artaxerxes well-disposed to do all that Nehemiah asked of Him. God had provided for them. God had kept them safe from their enemies. This wall was only built because God was on their side. And Nehemiah: he was a man after God’s heart. He was constantly praying. He cared for the people of Judah. He says in chapter 5:14ff that: …from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land. Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people. As a leader, Nehemiah was an example to his people of someone who loved God, and whose love of God changed the way that he acted. Given all that, I’m not surprised that a few days after the wall was finished, on the first day of the new year (the 7th month of the year!), a massive crowd gathered together. They had come because they wanted to hear God’s Word. They told Ezra the priest to read from the Book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded for Israel. As Ezra praised God, they shouted “Amen! Amen!” This was right. This was so right: God was their God. He had rescued them. He had saved them from their exile. The temple was built because of Him. Jerusalem had a wall and gates because of Him. God was good! They fell down and worshipped him. And then they listened. This was a church service that went for hours – probably about 6 hours! God’s Word was read and explained to all who could understand it. And as they listened, they wept. On this day of celebration, as they came together to get to know their God better for themselves… they wept. Why? Surely it had something to do with hearing about God’s goodness towards them as Ezra read. And also to do with, as they listened, coming face to face with their own sin and rebelliousness. They realised how unfaithful they had been to God, despite all of His continued faithfulness and love. They were convicted. They were ashamed. The walls were rebuilt, but the people realised how broken they were. But Nehemiah’s response that day might not be the one we would have expected. There was a need for confession. That would come in Nehemiah 9. But what this people needed to know first and foremost, was something of God’s joy. Why God’s joy? And what makes God joyful? And what about us? Where does our story link in with the story of these Jews from so long ago?…
Today’s Passage: Ezra 3 Over the course of the last few months, we’ve set out to get a birds-eye view of the Old Testament story. We saw the start of all things in Genesis 1 and 2 – and it was good. But the world we live in is not good any more. It is broken, as are we. Genesis 1 to 11 introduces us to the two biggest issues in our world. Firstly, there is sin and death, and the alienation that this causes between both ourselves and God as well as ourselves and each other. Secondly, there is a lack of knowledge of God – we see humanity not knowing who the real God is or what He is like. The Good News story of the Bible deals with setting those issues right. It’s the story of God reconciling the world to Himself. The sin issue is dealt with in the Old Testament, but only in a temporary manner. Old Testament sacrifices weren’t able to deal with sin – it would take God Himself to deal the death blow to sin and death. That’s why the Old Testament looks forward to the coming Messiah, Jesus. The Old Testament deals a lot with our lack of knowledge about God. God chose to make Himself known to Abraham and his descendants. Israel was meant to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. And, at the best of times, they represented God to those around them. Israel saw God do incredible things in their midst. But there was a constant temptation to abandon God in the lust after other things. Yet, despite their rebellion and unfaithfulness, God remained faithful to His people. He would discipline them, but He never backed away from the promises that He had made to them. That’s the sort of God He is: forever faithful. Last week, we looked at one of the most dramatic times of discipline from God in Israelite history: the exile. So evil had Judah become that God used the Babylonians to disrupt their security. This wasn’t a snap decision; it came after God repeatedly sending messengers to call His people back to Himself. But His messengers were rebuffed and His grace was rejected. And so their society was upended, with most of the population taken away into exile far away. But after 70 years, as He had promised, God acted to restore His people. A remnant returned to Jerusalem to live again as God’s people. Not all those who had left chose to return; some chose to remain in their new home. But those who returned chose to return to a life where seeking to do God’s will was to be the most important thing. Those who returned chose to put first things first. Their priority was worshipping God. Their priority was on honouring God. They celebrated God’s giving His people a fresh start. You and I haven’t been in exile. But we have also been given a fresh start. Jesus came to release us from the captivity of sin and death. The true King – God – has invited us to return to Him. As Christians, we have said, “Yes!” But what now? Where do we do now? What should our priorities be as people who have been saved?…
Today’s Passage: 2 Chronicles 36:11ff You might also want to read: 2 Peter 3, 2 Kings 24-25 This week, we’re continuing our journey through the Old Testament story of God and His people. Two weeks ago, we looked at 1 Samuel 8, where Israel went to the prophet Samuel demanding to have a king like all of the other nations around them. At first glance, it might have seemed sensible for them to want to have a king. But the problem was that Israel already had a king. They were God’s people; God Himself was their leader. What Israel was asking that day, effectively, was for someone other than God to be their ruler. God gave Israel a king. But that didn’t mean that God abdicated from His rightful place as their King. Israel’s kings ruled under God – and were meant to rule in submission to Him. Good kings, like David or Josiah, led the nation in right worship of God. Good kings loved the Lord – and it showed. Unfortunately, the trend among Israel’s kings was not towards loving God more. Many of those called to lead God’s people led them away from God and into idolatry and apostasy. Soon after Solomon’s death, Israel’s kingdom was split into two, with the majority of the nation becoming part of the northern kingdom. This northern kingdom, (known, confusingly, as Israel,) was quick to embrace idol worship. And, as a result of their unfaithfulness to God, they were eventually exiled, never to return. The southern kingdom, (known as Judah,) would, unfortunately, follow them into exile for similar reasons some years later. The history of God’s people during the time of their kings is long and varied. It’s worth reading about it in the books of Samuel-Kings and Chronicles. The two different books (Samuel-Kings and Chronicles) approach the topic from different perspectives. Chronicles has a strong focus on the temple and the right worship of God. Written after the exile, Chronicles seems to set out to encourage God’s people to not make the same mistake of rejecting God again. Our passage this morning gives us an anatomy of rebellion. It is not, however, a determinately gloomy piece of scripture. There is judgement in it; that much is true. But it also speaks of God’s grace and patience. And it looks past judgement to the restoration that God promised. Our circumstances as Australian, 21st century Christians are very different to those of the first readers of Chronicles. For one thing, we are ruled by the best King there ever could be; as Christians, we are ruled by the King of Kings – Jesus, our God. But this passage is one that we – and all in our generation – would do well to pay attention to. Because the events spoken of in this passage give us insight into these last days.…
Today’s Passage: Acts 2:22-41 In the ancient world, there were two main ways to rise to become the leader of a nation. You either had to be born into the right family, or else you had to use violence. The history of Israel is full of both kinds of kings. But the most famous dynasty was that of King David. In 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, we read of God’s promise to David. God said, “For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for me. And I will secure his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favour from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.’” To a degree, this promise was fulfilled when Solomon, David’s son, succeeded his father. But not completely. His throne was not secure forever – for Solomon also eventually died. In fact, although there continued to be Davidic kings for a long time, the nation was eventually sent into exile, and left without a king on the throne. So did that mean that God’s promise had come unstuck? No. It meant that the promised Son who would rule over God’s kingdom had yet to come. Israel pinned their hopes on the coming of this king – the Anointed One, the Messiah. They awaited His arrival, looking forward to His setting all things right. And then Jesus arrived. And it seemed like the long wait was finally over. Jesus had such authority. And then there were the things He did – and the claims that He made. On the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, many people were convinced. Matthew 21:9 tells us that the crowd shouted out things like: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” They were convinced that Jesus was God’s promised King. And yet it wasn’t long until the crowds stopped crying out to glorify Jesus, and instead started crying out to have crucified. Maybe they expected Jesus to get on with throwing out the Romans. Maybe they were waiting for Israel to take centre stage in the world. But Jesus wasn’t raising up armed fighters. He was a threat to the religious elite – but not a militant revolutionary. Maybe he just wasn’t the sort of king they were expecting. So His own people had him executed. It fell to Pilate to stand in judgement over Jesus. Pilate was concerned with eradicating potential rivals to the power of Rome. But Jesus wasn’t the kind of king that Pilate was expecting. What kind of King willingly heads towards His own execution? What kind of King refuses to fight violence with violence? What kind of king was and is Jesus? The kind of king who loves His Father and who loves His people. The kind of king who would sacrifice Himself for us. The kind of king whom death not hold. In a word: a godly King – God.…
Today’s Passage: John 18-19 In the ancient world, there were two main ways to rise to become the leader of a nation. You either had to be born into the right family, or else you had to use violence. The history of Israel is full of both kinds of kings. But the most famous dynasty was that of King David. In 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, we read of God’s promise to David. God said, “For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for me. And I will secure his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favour from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.’” To a degree, this promise was fulfilled when Solomon, David’s son, succeeded his father. But not completely. His throne was not secure forever – for Solomon also eventually died. In fact, although there continued to be Davidic kings for a long time, the nation was eventually sent into exile, and left without a king on the throne. So did that mean that God’s promise had come unstuck? No. It meant that the promised Son who would rule over God’s kingdom had yet to come. Israel pinned their hopes on the coming of this king – the Annointed One, the Messiah. They awaited His arrival, looking forward to His setting all things right. And then Jesus arrived. And it seemed like the long wait was finally over. Jesus had such authority. And then there were the things He did – and the claims that He made. On the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, many people were convinced. Matthew 21:9 tells us that the crowd shouted out things like: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” They were convinced that Jesus was God’s promised King. And yet it wasn’t long until the crowds stopped crying out to glorify Jesus, and instead started crying out to have crucified. Maybe they expected Jesus to get on with throwing out the Romans. Maybe they were waiting for Israel to take centre stage in the world. But Jesus wasn’t raising up armed fighters. He was a threat to the religious elite – but not a militant revolutionary. Maybe he just wasn’t the sort of king they were expecting. So His own people had him executed. It fell to Pilate to stand in judgement over Jesus. Pilate was concerned with eradicating potential rivals to the power of Rome. But Jesus wasn’t the kind of king that Pilate was expecting. What kind of King willingly heads towards His own execution? What kind of King refuses to fight violence with violence? What kind of king was and is Jesus? The kind of king who loves His Father and who loves His people. The kind of king who would sacrifice Himself for us. The kind of king whom death not hold. In a word: a godly King – God.…
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The Village Church exists to bring glory to God by making disciples through gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service and gospel-centered multiplication.
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Fr. Larry Richards is the founder and president of The Reason for our Hope Foundation, a non- profit organization dedicated to ”spreading the Good News” by educating others about Jesus Christ. His new homilies are posted each week.
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Love Worth Finding's purpose is to bring people to Christ and mature them in the faith. This happens primarily through efforts in publishing and broadcasting biblical truth.Love Worth Finding began in 1987, as a response to several requests for tapes of messages by pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. He relates that "soon the requests began to grow to the point that we knew God was leading us into a wider ministry." As an extension of Dr. Rogers' pulpit ministry Love Worth Finding provid ...
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Welcome to the Enjoying Everyday Life TV podcast with Joyce Meyer. To learn more, visit our website at joycemeyer.org or download the Joyce Meyer Ministries App. By supporting Joyce Meyer Ministries, you can help us reach hurting people around the world. To find out more, go to joycemeyer.org/donate
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Love God, love people, and change the world. We believe the life and lessons of Jesus aren’t just good advice, but are Good News for us here and now. As a church, we are all about following Jesus and know there’s no end to that journey—we’re more about becoming than arriving. We are committed to becoming a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multiplying movement of Christ followers, equipping and empowering our kids and students to not only be the church of tomorrow, but the church of today.
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