Friday, April 28, 2017

Jesus to Peter:"We need to talk"


Last week, Danny looked at the first part of John 21 and explained how Jesus renewed his friendship with his disciples, more or less repeating how He first called them, by acting like a partner in their fishing enterprise, directing them to the big catches. Danny suggested that in doing so He showed how their future relationship was going to be more a partnership which would flow from their relationship with Jesus, but would involve partnering with Jesus in the fishing of people. He didn't say this and these words are not original from me either, but Jesus needs our hands, our feet, our mouths ... He needs us as full partners with Him in the business of bringing salvation to the world. The problem is there is often blood on our hands, our feet, our lips and in our minds. Peter had, so to speak, blood on his lips, lips which had denied Jesus, as much as the Roman soldiers had blood on their hands.

Fear



Scripture has much to say about fear. In the NIV fear occurs 334 times. If you look for afraid, you can add another 205 references. If you add worry and anxious … well, you’re getting the picture. Fear is spoken of both positively and negatively in Scripture …. and the truth is that everyone of us here has some element of fear in us, and that is as it should be. The issue is not do we have fear, the issue is what type of fear do we have, and what we do with our fear.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Easter: Darkness Doesn’t Stand a Chance


To understand Easter in all its fullness and beauty, it helps to have some understanding of Jewish and Biblical timing. In each of the four gospels we are told that it was early in the morning on the first day of the week, that the women went to Jesus’ tomb.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Good Friday


If we read the accounts of the crucifixion in each of the four Gospels, we find that each Gospel writer records different details: same story, but different details. They record Jesus saying different things during the 6 hours he hung on the Cross, and if we take all the accounts and read them as one, we find Jesus saying 7 things from the Cross.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Laodicea, Nausea and the Syrian Gassing



Hopefully, this has been a nauseating week for us all … and I have chosen my words carefully, so let me repeat and say the same thing in a different way: hopefully we have been sickened in the past week, as we’ve read, heard or watched the news. And hopefully a few news items have caused this, but I’m going to focus on the Syrian gassing, as we look at the church at Laodicea in Asia Minor.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

A call on the Body of Christ to be the body of Christ


You may know that Jesus was Jewish and that Jews, even to this day, don’t eat pork … in fact they don’t eat a number other very good foods as well. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish faith had many laws relating to what was clean and what was unclean. These didn’t only relate to food, but also to disease and illness. So, for example, people with leprosy were considered unclean and were to be avoided at all costs. They often lived in exile in their own homes. Dead bodies and graves were also unclean. People with bodily discharges were also unclean.

Easter: Look out from, rather than in to, the Tomb

My Lenten journey in 2017 continues to remind me that there is no tomb that can hold Jesus.

He cannot be, and will never be, found in the tomb..... 

therefore, let us stop looking in to the tombs in our lives, and start looking out from the tombs in our lives...........


the view is so much better, and always has Jesus in it

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Church of the Living Dead


I hate rats ... there are good reasons for this, but I haven't got time to tell you why.
I hate rats ... I know I shouldn't; I know that for some reason God made rats ... but I cling to the truth that God has given us dominion over creation, and I choose, quite incorrectly, to believe that because I hate rats, I can kill them.