Church Anytime.
Invest time together this week in Scripture, Prayer, Worship and Serving. We’ve put together everything you need to have a Church gathering anywhere, anytime. It’s provided freely every week and is based on the broadcast Sunday message.
While we’re waiting.
How many times do you catch yourself saying or thinking “I can’t wait until…”. The times that we’re in are waiting times, and the Word of God has much to say about the value of waiting. What if these times are more valuable than we imagined?
The Living & Active Rest.
When the Holy Spirit compares Scripture to a sharp blade, He shows us that Scripture, in His hands, is accurate and consistent, and harder than any heart. We do not separate Scripture, Scripture separates us. Like a surgeons scalpel it can cut away deceit and all of our self-centred pride and expose the truth of who we are and what our hearts intentions are. This is not to shame us, God already knows who we are and all of our intentions. The Sword of the Spirit is given to us to bring us to constant repentance and draw us into God’s will and His blessed rest.
Life Giving Vision.
What is the meaning of life? What is God’s purpose for me? What is the purpose of the Church? Why do we exist? Why does the Church exist? All These questions are answered in the most fundamental way, by Jesus’ Words. Love God with everything we are and everything we have, and then, love and treat others as we would like them to love and treat us. So simple isn’t it? By making this our life’s ambition, we ensure that we fulfil the purpose for which God designed us. In doing this, our lives will never be wasted. How do we do this?
The Living Church.
The global lock-down has provided an opportunity for the Church to think about our purpose and evaluate whether we are fulfilling the mission Jesus Christ has given us. In the first of a two part series entitled “Life Giving Vision”, we look at what the Church is called to be, and how we can fulfil that call.
Surrender = Rest.
The peace or rest of God comes to every believer who is born of the Holy Spirit, how has repented and believed the Gospel. Believers have rest because we know that we no longer labour to be accepted by God. We know that Jesus has made us right with God by the supreme sacrifice of the cross, and that we enter that rest by faith in what He has done. Believers who are born of the Spirit can also look forward to the eternal rest that God promises when we pass from this life to the next. But there’s another rest to be had right now, and it’s a rest that we enter when we stop trying to be in control.
On the father’s shoulders.
God designed families. Families are the building blocks of the Church. The Church begins in families and God has designed men to be fathers to their families. Being a father means being present, loving, teaching, disciplining and protecting our families. Fathers are not just providers, and can not be dispensed with or substituted without painful consequences.
Purified.
If the Bible is the Word of God, then it is our privilege and responsibility to know it, apply it and share it, every day. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God, and we’re living in times that test and try our faith. By staying close to God’s Word, the trials can used to purify and strengthen our faith.
Daily Faith.
Faith is like physical fitness. Physical fitness from regular stretching, walking or running doesn’t last unless we keep exercising. Neither faith nor fitness is of benefit as a once off, or once practised discipline. Hebrews 3:12-15 reminds us that while Jesus’ sacrifice was a once-off act of rescue, our response to it must be continual. We must help each other to hold tight to our faith, exercising and growing it daily.
Rest for our souls.
Today’s Scripture is an unambiguous confirmation that Scripture is the work and the very words of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We find this especially in the first chapter (Hebrews 1:5-8).It emphasises the core theme of the book of Hebrews, which is that God is speaking to us by His Son Jesus, and we must not ignore Him.
The Greatest Apostle & Priest.
The writer of Hebrews having shown Jesus to be greater than all the angels, now shows how He is greater than Moses, Aaron and every other servant of the Kingdom of God, because He is the Son. The Lion of Judah. The architect and builder of God’s Household.
We, the Free.
Jesus shared a simple meal with profound implications. The meal we call the “Lord’s Table” looks back at what God’s done, celebrates what He’s doing, and honours Him for what He will do. Take some time to think about breaking bread together.
The Cup of Blessing.
Jesus shared a simple meal with profound implications. The meal we call the “Lord’s Table” looks back at what God’s done, celebrates what He’s doing, and honours Him for what He will do. Take some time to think about breaking bread together.
Make today Count.
What is so special about today? Will it be another blurred and vague memory or will it be the day something wonderful and powerful changed?
Completely Restored.
Israel was at Mount Sinai worshipping God through His Priests in the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, for about a year. Then they started their journey and a brand new life, as the Nation of God.
A New Life Begins.
Israel was at Mount Sinai worshipping God through His Priests in the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, for about a year. Then they started their journey and a brand new life, as the Nation of God.
The Believer's Rest.
The work of the Priests in the Tabernacle was never done. Day after day, year after year, they offered sacrifices to atone for the sin of the people. Our Lord Jesus offered Himself once for all time, and sat down at the right hand of the Father.
God unveiled.
From the beginning of Creation, God desired to dwell with us. The Tabernacle shows how He planned to remove everything that separates us from Him, and to bring us back to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Place.
Through the courtyard, past the altar and the bronze basin was the curtained entrance into the Holy Place. Only the priests entered here on behalf of the people of Israel, but like the rest of the Tabernacle it was full of symbolic representations of the Messiah.
Washing us Clean.
Moving on from the entrance, past the burning fire on the altar, we come to the bronze basin of washing - and the deep significance to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is a Consuming Fire.
The first element that confronted the Israelites as they entered the courtyard of the Tabernacle was the bronze altar on which God’s Holy fire burned.