We begin a new study in Matthew’s Gospel by looking at the patrilineal genealogy in Matthew 1. But to help us set the context of the Old Testament, we will also read Psalm 78. Psalm 78 is a history lesson for fathers to pass on to their children and for our purposes, this Psalm provides a framework to understand Israel’s story and the history of God’s people — from rebellion to the rise of God’s Davidic King.
How long have you been a Christian? Not how long you’ve been in a church, but how long have you been walking with God and trusted in His work alone to save you from sin? How long has it been that you’ve turned away from looking at your own righteousness and only looked to His?
How long do you think Hezekiah was a Christian before this incident? As we look at Hezekiah’s life, we see a clear pattern of a man who walked with the Lord, a genuinely good king. But this section of our text shows how it ended. It should give us some pause and think about where we are in our walk with Jesus — how far we’ve come and how we want it to end.
Have you ever had a crisis that makes you doubt? Have you ever felt like it is easier to have faith for other people’s problems? Think about such times in your own life. Perhaps you’ve experienced a similar struggle, where you find yourself praying to God for the nations on Sunday yet on Monday, struggle to get out of bed because of anxiety about work. In this study, we will study how God’s Word addresses the prayers of the weak, and how His gospel provides hope for the sinner. We will see a raw, unvarnished, real picture of a king – the sovereign of a nation – who discovers that he is weak. God responds to the prayers of the weak with gentle assurance rooted in covenantal grace and restores the sinner through loving deliverance unto worship.
How would it look like for God to answer prayers? How do you expect God to answer your prayers? Is God like a genie to you? You ask for something and prayer, and the way God answers it is to give you the thing you asked for at the time you ask for it. We are all tempted to treat God like a genie approaching Him to ask Him to give us something or to get us out of trouble. Some of us may think that if we ask more sincerely, God will act according to our requests.
In today’s passage, we will read of what God does in response to Hezekiah’s godly prayer and cry for help. We will see how God responds to prayers by revealing himself as sovereign and omniscient, by giving signs and assurances, and by acting on and keeping his promises.
How do you pray, and what do you pray for? We pray in different circumstances and for different things — for self, others, nations etc. We approach prayer casually sometimes and seriously at other times.
Prayer forms the bedrock of daily Christian life. it is a key spiritual discipline. And if we are honest, we admit that we could all afford to pray more, and we could all afford to pray better. Those are the two big questions we want to be answering in Isaiah 37 — how and why we pray.
Who is modelling Christian behaviour for you? Do you spend time with people that are significantly older than you? Older Christians can model what it means to fight for fight. They are not always perfect, but they model what following God looks like through different seasons and difficulties in life.
In this section of Isaiah that for, the series we are calling “The Gospel According to Hezekiah”, we’re looking at one of the kings, king Hezekiah, and how he responded in a time of crisis. In this study, we will see how the fight of faith sweats in peace time that we might stand in war time. We do not primarily war against human forces with human means, but against much more, and with weapons not of human might.
To help us understand today’s study, the entire chapter of 1 Timothy 3 should be read for context. But in 1 Timothy 3:16. we’re going to zoom in on the phrase, “the mystery of godliness” and understand what it means. We often think of godliness as a character trait, a state of being godly, but here, this definition doesn’t seem to make sense. We tend to think of godliness in the realm of pastoral care and career guidance, a form of character development.
But, what is the role of pursuing godliness in your life? What does your pursuit of godliness look like? What’s the connection between your behaviour and belief?
In this series, we have been looking at creeds, key truths that make up our faith, and the passages that support them. We have seen that creeds benefit us because they give us clarity about our faith and allow us to understand the foundations of what we believe. Today, we are looking at Christ’s humiliation and exaltation. The truths which we uncover today will challenge us, encourage us and cause us to worship too.
Creeds are defining statements that express core Christian truths and this has been our focus in this series. Important to be clear about doctrine. Doctrine doesn’t divide, and we know that some of us have experienced church splits over doctrine. But tonight, let us consider how doctrine is essential for unity.
In this passage, Paul writes to the church in Colossae. He did not plant this church, and this letter is a way of him encouraging the church that faces some doctrinal attacks. The focus of this passage is who Christ is, and, there is also no more important thing than the person of Christ!
This is our series called “Truth for trusting” or “Creeds”. We’ll take a look at passages in the New Testament that are an expression of our faith, almost like formulas, which are always handy because formulas express profound truths in a compact, simple, easy way.
This week we are in 1 Corinthians 15, a well-known passage. We’ll look at the first five verses, and we’ll see another formula, especially in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
What is the greatest commandment? How would you answer this? Many of us begin by reaching for memory, trying to recall what we’ve been taught. Then we begin to reason to make sense of what we remember.
In this series, we’re going to look at a number of creeds in the New Testament. A creed is a basic faith structure that we’ve learnt from memory.
This is the end of our 4-part Advent series in the book of Isaiah, and also the end of our series “In God We Trust” where we were reminded time and time again to place our trust in God alone. As part of Advent these four weeks, we have considered themes of waiting, beholding God’s beauty, God’s judgement, and salvation, etc.
Do you enjoy the wonderful time and feels that the Christmas season brings, and in many ways, don’t want it to end? Come January however, what shall we be glad in? This is what Isaiah 35 addresses for us, and helps us see how God will renew all of creation and redeem/ransom a people for everlasting joy in his presence.
In this series, we have been seeing that trust is the posture of God’s people. A trust in God shows itself in evaluating the rise and fall of nations, and also evaluates hopes and dreams in light of this trust.
Tonight, even in this Advent season, we are going to look at the idea of judgment. This may not be what we expect in this season, but it is what God’s word says!
Isaiah describes Israel’s future in this passage. He is inviting Judah (and us) to imagine a future that looks very different from their present circumstances. But to press in to that, we have to look back to understand their circumstances then. This vision is given as a promise to a people who have asked for help and asked for hope. Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 33: 17-24 are a response to the specific, historic, time-bound situation of Isaiah 33:1-16.
The promises in these verses are a response to that situation, but go far beyond that in presenting a vision of future hope. The promises tell us what sort of king Christ Jesus is, what His rule meant for the defeated people of Judah, and what it means for us today.
As we do this study, this is a season of Advent, and in Advent we are learning to wait well. Isaiah 33 also speaks to and helps us to wait. Advent makes clear that Jesus has come. This is true, even to the non-believing, secular world. But one of the questions that is unanswered, is why Jesus came. What do you think? More importantly, what does Isaiah say?
What do we hope for? What do we hope in? Perhaps in the last 2 years, you’ve hoped for the pandemic to be over? Or for some, it’s to get to a BTO? Often, we desire security, comfort, joy, justice etc. But there are some who feel like if we don’t hope in anything, we won’t be disappointed.
But friends, hope often drives us! Isaiah 32 will show us that we have a true and eternal hope in our king Jesus alone. King Jesus will reign eternally over a righteous, just and peaceful kingdom, in which his people will dwell. He’s able to bring all our desires to their true fruition.
In the previous study, Isaiah 30:18-33 tells us of a God who waits to be gracious to his people. He promises to hear their cry, reveal himself, guide them, bless them with abundance, renew creation, heal their wounds, and defeat their enemies. Judah is threatened by Assyria, and the issue at hand is who will Judah turn to for help? What is Judah going to rely on?
We are in a series in the book of Isaiah, and this part of the series is “in God we trust”. In the earlier portions of today’s chapter, we’ve seen how God warned Judah against trusting Egypt, and urging them to trust in him instead. Today in our text we look at God’s surprising response to Judah’s stubbornness despite God’s call to repentance
Who and what do you trust? We all have some sort of standards we apply before we decide that that person or thing is worth putting your trust in. This is because there are consequences of trusting in something/someone.
Today, we will see who Judah trusts in, and the effects of that trust.
Imagine you had a friend who is not walking well with the Lord. What lengths would you go to to help this person see where they are with God? What would you say to them to help them see where they are spiritually?
In our modern age, we will say that we need to be wise, tactful, full of empathy, careful not to offend intentionally and to be tender. How does Isaiah do it? He is a prophet of God who speaks to God’s people with sarcasm and mockery, not afraid to be honest with spiritual truth.
