The God who is in control
It was a great relief to welcome the Shoemarks home this week as they emerged from MIQ in Auckland!
In some sense, their experience over the past six weeks has been a snapshot of life in our COVID world over the past 18 months - lockdowns, quarantine, separation from family and friends, missing significant events, constantly changing plans, uncertainty about the future, relating to people through a zoom screen rather than face-to-face. […]
New sermon series on 1 Samuel
After a challenging few weeks with lots of disruptions because of leave and sickness and quarantine, this week we are beginning a new sermon series in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel.
As I have prepared I have found Dale Ralph Davis’ commentary super helpful and engaging to see how God uses the lowly to bring about his kingdom and his salvation.
Below is an introduction and I hope it whets your appetite for God’s word this term.
"It was the last straw. True, it happened every year. But the time comes when the spirit snaps. The festive mood of the religious celebration only depressed her all the more. Suddenly, she was gone.
Keep listening to God’s powerful word!
This week we finish up our time in Hebrews where we have seen time and time again that Jesus is GREATER.
At the end of chapter 12, we read that,
"since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’"
With all the uncertainty floating around this week it is comforting to know that nothing can shake, cancel or disrupt the kingdom we are receiving in Jesus!
DEVOTED Recap
We had a fantastic night at DEVOTED this week. James Ballinger came down from Auckland (his family are on their way to do mission work in Japan) and he helped us think through the question 'What would it look like for us to go 'all in' serving Jesus?' by opening up Matthew 9:35-38 - the other Lord's prayer. […]
Church Camp Reflections
"It was the first time I've really experienced being with a church that was like being with family. It just felt so good and right to be spending time together over the weekend. Now I finally get what people are talking about when they say church community is so important when it comes to encouraging me to keep growing as a follower of Jesus!"
This is just one (of many!) conversations I've had with people since church camp…
