Knowing Ourselves
By Not Known We often make one of two mistakes when it comes to knowing ourselves. Some have self-esteem that is far too high. We have swallowed the snake’s lie and believe that we are like gods (Gen 3:4). Others have too low a view of people in general or too low an individual self-esteem. They see only the dust that we share with the rest of creation and do not…
An Active Membership
By Not Known Today is a celebration of grace as we receive new members into the church. They are a testimony to the sovereign grace of God. The Father chose them in ‘ eternity, the Son died for them and intercedes for them and the Spirit called them to faith and now lives in them. Their part is to respond to what God is doing. At the end of the membership service…
Amazing and even more Amazing
By Not Known We people of God can sometimes be amazing. Consider the Old Testament church as they travelled from Egypt to Canaan. They had seen God’s salvation in the exodus, had met with God on Mount Sinai and were the objects of his promises. They had food sufficient for each day, water and deliverance from their enemies. Yet, they grumbled and grumbled. Again,…
Grumbling Against God
By Not Known Do you grumble against God? It’s quite common for us to grumble when he does not give us what we want and when we want it. Or when he takes things from us that we want. Or when he sends hardship and challenge. Let’s think about our grumbling. Israel grumbled on her journey from Sinai to Canaan and we have one example as our morning text today (Num…
Landmarks and Landmines
By Not Known Many years ago I mas taught navigation skills as part of training for military intelligence. A bunch of us soldiers were put into a sealed truck, dumped in the bush and told to plot a path back to home base. For that, we needed to know where we were. At first glance this seemed impossible, for we were in a tree-strewn wilderness and there was no GPS system.…
Almost a Christian?
By Not Known The Christian message is a message about Jesus. More specifically, it is a message about who Jesus is and how we should respond to him. Jesus is the Son who was sent from God to die on a cross and to be raised. He is the Saviour of all who believe. He lays claim to be the Lord, or Ruler, over the lives of those who are his followers. The appropriate response…
Resurrection Now
By Not Known We remembered the death of Jesus and celebrated his resurrection at Easter. Last Sunday we saw that the Cross summons us to a changed life now. We are called to enter into the Easter story, deny ourselves, take up our cross of suffering and tread the path of Jesus into his kingdom. What about the resurrection? Christian hope is to be united with Jesus in his…
Walking the Crossroad
By Not Known On Good Friday we sang the words of Isaac Watt’s evocative hymn ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’. Ponder again the words of the last stanza: Were the whole realm of nature mine that were an offering for too small: love so amazing so divine, demands my soul, my life my all. There is no feeling quite so wonderful as to be loved and it is…
Easter Earthquake
God’s Cross is our Crossroad
By Not Known The four Gospels are dominated by the last week of Jesus’ life. Assuming Jesus lived to 33, Matthew gives 25% of his chapters to just O.06% of Jesus’ life (one week). Within Matthew, the Easter theme starts at 1:21, is especially prominent in 16:21-28 and 20:17-19 and dominates the structure and purpose of the gospel. John gives us several…