Yes, not long to go now before the first month of the year gives way to the second month… and with that, the resumption of our weekly activities and ministries. Like to find out more about something that you note from the pic below? Check out what you can on this website, or, contact us, and we’ll do our best to answer your questions!
When the disciples asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom?” in Matthew 18:1-6, there was a lot going through their minds. Jesus had just begun to set out for Jerusalem, having told the disciples that there He would be mistreated and killed. What was it then that got the disciples talking together about greatness? Mark’s gospel tells us that at least James and John had designs on the right and left hand side of Jesus’ throne. In answering the question, Jesus gave to them an object lesson… a child. And as he did so, He shattered the notions of greatness in our world.
Message
Outline
In this message for the new year, Daniel Jansen explores how God’s righteous rule as King over ‘the whole earth’ from Psalm 97:1-12 should comfort the hearts of anxious believers and cause us to rejoice in this uncertain and fragile world.
Message
Outline
Introduction:
Conclusion
Not everyone enjoys Christmas nor finds it a time of celebration or joy. Herod was certainly in that number. When the wise men rocked up with news about the birth of the Messiah in Matthew 2:1-23, they really rocked Herod’s world in more ways than one! In fact, Herod’s response to the news was quite an exterme one. Harsh too. And yet, even more tragic than the deaths of the innocents was the fact that Herod himself missed out on the salvation this baby came to bring. When people repeat Herod’s mistakes, that tragedy is simply repeated over and over.
Message
Outline
• The last in this series!
• Christmas: not always accompanied by happiness!
• Not a happy time for King Herod…
• See how we are shown Herod’s mistakes and errors…
‘We don’t want to live under the rule of this king’
The tragedy of the ‘neglected’ Jesus
Joseph is one of the key characters in the story of the birth of Jesus, especially so in the text of Matthew 1:18-25, but he can easily be overlooked in the preaching of the Christmas narratives – probably because he doesn’t get to say anything at all. Even the shepherds and wise men get some lines in the gospels, but Jospeh gets none! Even though that is the case, we can ‘read between the lines’ and see what was going on in Joseph’s mind and heart, and how in a crisis situation, the angel who spoke to him in his dream put everything into perspective for him – even if he didn’t fully understand the implications of it all!
Message
Outline
• The fourth in this series!
• Does Joseph get left out of the story?
• Not much told us about how he felt…
• See how we are told of how the angel…
Joseph is not alone in needing rescue!
The great exchange!
Christmas 2023 has come around again with its usual rush of shopping, end of year functions, school speech nights and break ups. Every year Christmas seems to come and go so quickly that many could easily question whether or not the time spent is worth it? Surely there must be some who are thinking that this year they’ll just ‘give it a miss’? I wouldn’t blame them.
Some already know a sense of emptiness when it comes to observing Christmas, which a sad reality of the world we live in. The Bible even asks us this question, ‘Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?’ (Isaiah 55:2) Why indeed? If all that spending and shopping and scurrying just leaves an empty feeling, then why bother?
Perhaps the cause of the confusion is simply this – in our rush and hurry to observe Christmas, we miss the whole point of it! The ‘reason for the season’ is ‘Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners’ (1Timothy 1:15). Like it or not, Jesus is one huge question we must all answer. No longer a little baby in the manger, he is a returning King to whom we must all give account. He won’t ask how we spent Christmas, but what He will ask what we did with Him as the gift God sent for our salvation (see John 3:16-17).
When the angel Gabriel finally found the moment to meet up with Mary, his initial greeting to her was something Mary wasn’t prepared for. It seems as though the appearing of the angel to her was not the cuse of her discomfort, but the greeting and what it might mean for her. It certainly brought change. Far more change than she could ever have anticipated, but God was also in that change, and though she wondered ‘how?’, the angel could answer that question as well. As a result, Mary submitted herself to do God’s will and accepted the Lord’s promise to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah with a humble heart.
Message
Outline
• The third in this series!
• The dangers we face
• The text’s context…
• See how the text tells of …
Mary’s submissive response
Paul’s direct summary…
The setting of the well known prophecy about the birth of Jesus through a virgin in Isaiah 7:14 is set in a context of a fascinating story about King Ahaz of Judah in Isaiah 7:1-14. Ahaz was in a bit of a spot, politically. The neigbouring nations of Syria and Israel (!) were threatening to attack and he was afraid. It was then that the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz with a message that basically said, ‘trust Me, I’ll even show you a sign if you want one…’ But Ahaz refused. So the Lord gave Ahaz another sign, one of His own making, about the coming Messiah. But this sign wasn’t for Ahaz, but for us who live in this age (A.D.). The sign, of course, is Jesus!
Message
Outline
• This Christmas series!
• Learning from the past
• The chapter’s context…
• See how the text tells of …
Who was the sign for?
Will you be like this faithless King?
Genesis 3:15 would have to be one of the most important verses in all of the Old Testament. Straight after Adam and Eve’s rebeliion against God’s righteous rule, the Lord himself promised that the ‘seed of the woman’ would one day come and crush ‘the head of the serpent’. This verse is widely known as the first announcement (or proclamation) of the gospel, and it is very, very good news – all fulfilled in Jesus, the seed of the woman!
Message
Outline
• A Christmas series!
• The unfolding story to grasp…
• What a text to begin with!
• See how the text tells of …
There is hope here…
There is good news here!
