The Kingdom of God
Jesus, Righteousness, and the Law and the prophets
Today’s passage: Matthew 5:17-20 God is King, and life in his kingdom is the best life there possibly can be. It’s a life that is perfectly in accordance with God’s will; in God’s kingdom, everything is exactly as God wants it to be. As creator of all that is, God is sovereign over all that is – he alone has the right (and the capacity!) to rule everything. The bad news of the Bible is that we humans reject God…
Salt and Light
Today’s passage: Matthew 5:13-16 God is king, and in his kingdom, things are the way that God wants them to be. Which, since God is God, makes God’s kingdom the best place for us to be. God is love, and his kingdom is a place of love. God is perfect, and his kingdom is a place sans any sinfulness or brokenness or imperfection. It’s a place where there are no tears, where there is no danger, and where there is…
Made Fortunate by God
Sermon passage: Matthew 4:23-5:12 I love attending men’s breakfasts. True, when I’m waking up at some unearthly hour my first thought is not one of joy. Yet that tends not to last too long: it’s great hanging out with my brothers in Christ, discussing life together, praying together, and thinking through our devotion together. Oh, and the breakfast… that’s quite nice too! But a while back I did something rather silly: I rocked up at a men’s breakfast sans my…
The Light in the Darkness
Sermon passage: Matthew 4:12-25 Matthew 4:12-25 One of the things Taryn and I did on our recent holiday to New Zealand was to visit a weta cave in Zealandia. The cave was actually an old mine tunnel, cut into a mountain. Taryn, her brother Nathan and I slowly made our way into the tunnel, using the torches on our phones to try and avoid the wetness in the middle of the tunnel floor. Coming from the brightness outside, the tunnel…
Dealing with Temptation
Sermon passage: Matthew 4:1-11 Do you ever find yourself tempted to do something which is wrong? What is it? Why is it tempting to you? Is it wrong in and of itself, or would it only be wrong depending on specific circumstances? When do you feel the lure of temptation the most? When are you most likely to give in to temptation? How do you feel when you experience temptation? Temptations are only tempting because, at some level, we think…
Kingdom Training
The good news of Jesus is much more than just “here’s how you get to heaven one day when you die.” Jesus came preaching that the kingdom of the heavens was near. In fact, as God’s king, Jesus came to make it possible for all those who trusted in him to be welcomed back into God’s kingdom right here and right now. We’ve been invited to repent of our rebellion against this universe’s true King, and to instead follow him…
Seeking first the Kingdom
When asked by his disciples how to pray, Jesus taught them a model prayer: Our Father in the heavens. Hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven… But what does it actually mean for us to pray for God’s kingdom to come? Last week, we discovered that the good news Jesus preached was bigger than simply “how to get into heaven when you die.” His news was that God’s kingdom…
What is the gospel Jesus taught?
One of the things I love about C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books is the fact that, in the words of one of the Dwarves, “Narnia was never right except when a Son of Adam was King… It’s not Men’s country, but it’s a country for a man to be King of.” Lewis was on to something. Our world, like Narnia, is also not “Men’s country” – it is a part of God’s kingdom– yet it is a country created for…