When it comes to John’s account of the pre-existing, eternal Son of God, one needs to think B I G – the bigger the better! John opens his account with a B I G prologue (1:1-18) not wanting to lose anyone along the way but reach all of humanity. John’s aim, is that we too will believe that Jesus is the Son of God and mankind’s only Saviour and by believing receive eternal life. We will only be dipping our toes into the ocean of excellence in this series in 2019 by looking at the first four chapters, but I trust the sermons will leave you encouraged, thankful and wanting more.
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis wrote in their excellent book Everyday Church, “It’s easy for us Christians to feel discouraged when we read about the declining church attendance or see the growing secularization of our culture.” The reverse was true for the church in the Apostle’s Peter’s day; Yes she was surrounded by a form of secularization, but the early church was in its infancy stage and growing.
The Apostle has a message for both the church in his day suffering under persecution and the church today as we feel the growing effect of marginalisation. Wherever the follower of Jesus finds him or herself in church history, Peter has a word (inspired) for us; We have been “…given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (ch1:3f). We trust that this short series will encourage you to live for Christ wherever you are.
The Lord keeps His promises and the book of Isaiah is proof of this. As the Lord established His covenants with Abraham and his offspring, He expected them to remain faithful to Him as He would be to them. Isaiah is about the consequences of breaking this covenant relationship and the Lord’s gracious response to provide a solution. This solution was the Suffering Servant who throughout his prophecy Isaiah predicts would come. To understand the gospel, one needs to understand Isaiah.
They may be short compared to some of the other meatier epistles in the New Testament, but they are nevertheless part of God’s Word and therefore worthy to be studied.
Each little gem was written for a specific reason and we trust the Spirit will use them to teach, rebuke, correct and train the church, wherever she meets.
Christmas is coming. It feels like it’s been coming for months. Amidst all the presents, decorations and countless end of year activities, we can lose sight of the main event. It’s in the name. Jesus Christ was born. But it’s more than having a party for a newborn baby. Christmas helps us remember what Jesus came to do and what Jesus was going to be. Over the next few Sundays, we’re going to look at some of the roles Jesus would play. And not just play, but how Jesus was the best possible person for those roles. The Ultimate, if you will.
Jesus the Ultimate Prophet.
Jesus the Ultimate Priest.
Jesus the Ultimate King.
Jesus the Ultimate Saviour.
Come and join us to hear how Jesus was, and is, the best gift we could ever receive. He really is The Ultimate.
The New Testament book commonly known as “The Acts of the Apostles” is an important bridge between the gospels and the epistles. Although the author never discloses his name, we can see that his introduction in ch1:1 links this book to the Gospel According to Luke (ch1:1), therefore we take it that Dr. Luke was the author. Three main themes seem to dominate this history book:
(i) Apologetics – giving an answer as to who Jesus is;
(ii) Paul’s Conversion – the miraculous turn-about of the antagonist Saul, to Paul the defender of the faith;
(iii) The Spread of the Gospel – from the opening verses (1:8) we see that God’s eternal plan was that all nations would hear the gospel and come to believe in Jesus.
We look forward to walking with you through this Moving (emotional and geographical) Message.