Want to Curl Up? This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was
Isn’t it Strange 1. Isn’t it strange how a 20 dollar note seems like such a large amount when you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping? 2. Isn’t it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you’re at church, and how short it seems when you’re watching
Hang On! ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up’ Galatians 6:9 Over time we are becoming more and more impatient. Hearing stories of people who would wait six weeks for a letter from England leaves us incredulous. We get
The Step of Faith ‘He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness …Be on your guard against evil men; they will hand you over to local councils and flog you in the synagogues … Brother will betray brother to death,
The Way Jesus Works Matthew, the author of the gospel of Matthew, was a tax collector. As a tax collector he learnt to be very precise. God used this quality to bring out countless, easily missed details in the gospel he wrote. Matthew intentionally places particular teachings of Jesus beside stories that illustrate the teaching.
Matthew’s Golden Nuggets Matthew’s gospel is filled with nuggets of truth for anyone willing to search for them. His account of Jesus being transfigured (Matthew 17:1-8) carries a number of crucial contrasts to his account of Jesus being crucified (Matthew 27:33-54) The transfiguration takes place on a small mountain; the cross is set up on
The Temple’s Failure The battle lines are drawn. Jesus’ last entry into Jerusalem in Matthew 21 means His conflict with the temple and all it stood for is about to come out into the open. The crowds still only see Jesus as a prophet (21:11) and not the Messiah. But when He entered the temple
The Temple’s Replacement The detail Matthew uses to make a point in his Gospel is astounding. From the time Jesus enters Jerusalem for the final few days before crucifixion, Matthew highlights over and over that Jesus is replacing the temple as the meeting place between God and man. Old Testament priests had a two-fold calling:
Honour Christ ‘Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ …’ Philippians 1:27 Christians don’t believe that Jesus will one day be Lord. They know Him to be the one true Lord now. This is what puts us out of step with the world. It did in Paul’s day and it
Paul’s Humility Someone recently told me about a retired minister who refused to even read any part of the New Testament Paul wrote. That only leaves 14 books of 27 because Paul wrote 13. They thought Paul was arrogant and that justified putting aside half the New Testament. Was Paul arrogant? He certainly believed implicitly
