Parables may not be unfamiliar to Christians. Jesus often speaks about the kingdom in parables. What is the kingdom like?
But let us also take a step back and consider why Jesus speaks in parables? Why does Jesus regularly obscure what He means to say? Why does Jesus make it difficult to understand?
Mark is about the revelation of Jesus, the son of God, who calls us to be His disciples. Mark also shows us how Jesus declares the coming of the kingdom.
In this section we see two groups of people that do not recognise the power of the kingdom. The kingdom comes with rivals to the kingdom, a power struggle, usurpation.
Discipleship has to do with following. We cannot be a disciple unless there is a master. We can only be a disciple of someone.
Christian discipleship involves us doing something like Jesus because of something we learn about Jesus. There is information gained about Him that is practiced so that there is a change in life.
We continue our study in Mark and Jesus continues to teach his disciples and those around Him.
The four synoptic gospels provide different angles and we are often tempted to collapse and flatten it into one. There is nothing wrong but when we do so, and only read it for the cross, we lose what is individual and particular. There are different particularities and views that we are to see. What did the original writer want his readers to know particularly through his gospel? We want to read Mark as Mark, trying to understand what Mark is seeking to teach us about Jesus. In this section, we see Jesus who calls the sick.
In the previous verses, we saw how Jesus had authority in teaching and also to heal. In these verses, we see how Jesus leaves and returned to Capernaum to continue His ministry.
There are many parts of our life that we do not let Jesus have rule and reign over. Maybe we feel like are powerless and ineffective in our evangelism. Or perhaps we struggle with prayer. Or maybe we struggle to be with His people.
What does Mark 1:29-45 have to say to our struggles? What does it show us about God?
Who is Jesus? By what name will you call Him? What does it mean to now this Jesus Christ?
We begin a new series in the Gospel of Mark, and the focus in this gospel is Jesus — who is Jesus? As we read through the events recorded in this book, we are to see what it tells us about Jesus and what does Jesus require. To follow Him well, we need to know Him well.
As we end this series on the Holy Spirit, we will look at what Romans 8 has to teach us about the Spirit of Adoption. What does it mean for our relationship with God in and through Christ?
God does want us to know and have the knowledge that He has purposed that we should have about His works and plans for eternity. Our challenge is whether we know the Holy Spirit whose joy it is to grant us this knowledge. And are we leaning on Him to help us grasp it all spiritually.
In our past studies, we have seen how the Spirit is the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Pentecost. In this study, we consider the role of the Holy Spirit in making us holy. More specifically, we will look at the Holy Spirit’s role in making us holy as the living temple of Christ.
“Your body is a temple” is a common saying amongst Christians, and it often used to remind us of the need to treat our bodies well, even with reverence. It is so common that even the secular world has picked it up, for example in the health and fitness world, or in memes. But what does it really mean? What is the Spirit’s role and what is ours?
This series thus far has helped build out what we know and understand of the Spirit — the Spirit of life that creates, that gives life to dry bones, that makes all things new; last week we saw the spirit of Christ that is part of the Trinity and points to Jesus. In this study, we look at the Spirit of Pentecost — the same Holy Spirit, but here in Acts 2 we see the clearest record of how the Holy Spirit has come and what it does in and for God’s people. From these verses, let us see that the Holy Spirit is real, important and necessary for Jesus’ believers, enabling us to bear fruit and follow Jesus.
In Ezekiel 37, we learnt that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of life. He is the one who brings life to the dead, who makes things out of nothing. He creates ex nihilo. He creates and recreates in new creation. Genesis 1:2 talk about God and the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the earth. The Spirit of God is active and present in creation. The Holy Spirit is the one who creates and makes all things, together with the Father and the Son.
This is the Doctrine of Inseparable Operations, where we see that the Godhead acts as one. The roles that they play are distinct and different. We know the third person of the Trinity by knowing the second person of the Trinity and how He relates to the third person.
What do you know about the Holy Spirit? Do we know the Spirit?
Where in the Bible do you see the Spirit at work?
But where in the Old Testament do we see the Spirit?
The Father, Son and Spirit are known throughout Scripture. God’s word informs us of each person of the Godhead. The verb form of the word Spirit is “spirare” which means to breathe and come forth form.
But, who is this person of the Spirit that we meant to experience? What does it mean that He is the Spirit of life? In this series, we will learn more about the Holy Spirit, and to start us off, we will be looking at what the Old Testament says, in Ezekiel 37.
Despair may not be a word that we use that commonly these days, as we often jump to speaking of depression. But despair conveys something of the fact that life’s storms have not passed and there is still something lingering.
Many of us know something of this, of how the despair of life comes at us from every direction. Most of the despair that we experience is also common to most of humankind — heartbreak, terrible health conditions. But in this text, we see despair of a rather unique kind. This is a despair that seems to cut off ultimate hope at its legs, and is a sort of divinely associated despair.
Church disappointment. We can think about it at a personal level. We may think that we can find acceptance, community, intimacy. We come, thinking that we can experience something of God’s grace lived out among God’s people, and people living out the truth that we are justified by faith alone, not works. But, then, what about works? Are we free to live in any way we want?
The disappointing church is a reflection of our sin.
If we look at 2 Timothy 4, we will see something of the discouragements of Paul’s own life and ministry, things that tugged at his heart and he might have been disappointed by. As we read it, we hope that you will give yourself permission to feel the same disappointment with the church but not to stay there and also see how he deals with it.
At the heart of the question “Is God’s Word trustworthy” is another related question – is God trustworthy? Does He mean what he says? Will He intend to do what He promises? Can He deliver results?
What exactly does our world need?
This whole account in Judges 19 is told in plain language and that can be so jarring for us. It is a shocking tale of grotesque morality presented in plain prose.
It poses a question for us: How normal is evil? Do we know that we have normalised evil around us, such that we look at what is evil, wicked, cruel, shameful and bat not an eyelid?
Does your worldview have a category for evil? Or is everything a matter of choice, lifestyle, social structures and forces?
This is the first of six studies that will focus on some common questions that people might have. This study will focus on doubt, and it important that we start here because arguably, doubt undergirds the rest of the studies.
Not only is doubt pervasive, but doubt left unaddressed is a dangerous thing. It festers and spreads.
The goal of this study is simple — that we, like Thomas, may believe that Jesus is the Christ. John himself tells us plainly
