Bible Talk: Easter: Our Life Giver

John 2:13-22

John 20:19-31

 

21 March 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

* Spoiler Alert *

 

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”  John 2:18

 

Jesus is in charge

 

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John 2:19

 

Jesus is in charge

 

 

In charge over life and death

 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

 

In charge over life and death

 

Our life giver

 

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  John 20:30-31

 

Our life giver

 

 

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Bible Talk: Easter: God’s love on Good Friday

John 19:1-16a 

John 3:16-21

 

19 March 2019

David Simmons

 

 

John 3:16

 

Who did God love?

How did God love?

Why did God love?

 

Who did God love?

 

 

whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. 

John 3:36

 

 

The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, 

not wishing that any should perish, 

but that all should reach repentance.” 

2 Peter 3:9

 

But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Luke 13:3, 5

 

How did God love?

 

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.

John 1:1

 

How did God love?

 

Now this is eternal life: 

that they know you, the only true God, 

and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:3

 

John 3:16

 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; 

and that is what we are. 

1 John 3:1

 

We must believe in Jesus

We must love perishing people

 

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:30-31

 

We must believe in Jesus

We must love perishing people

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Bible Talk : Daniel : Hope for the wise

Daniel 10:1-21

1 Peter 1:1-12 

14 April 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 Is God in control?

 More difficulties to come

 Allow your expectations to be shaped by God

History is under His control

He will raise the dead

“What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:28-29

He will raise the dead

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

1 Peter 1:3-4

Hope shapes how we live now

With others who trust Jesus

With those who don’t trust Jesus

What else might it mean for you?

 

Bible Talk : Daniel : Lord Hear and Act

Daniel 9:1-19 

Daniel 9:20-27

 

7 April 2019

David Simmons

 

 

Daniel’s Prayer

 

What prompted Daniel to pray? v1-3

 

‘ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my good promise to bring you back to this place”’ 

Jeremiah 29:10

 

Daniel’s Prayer

 

What does Daniel pray? 

v4-19

 

Confession

v5-14

 

Petition 

v15-19

 

“I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Exodus 9:16

 

God’s Answer

 

v20-27

 

Q: When did God do all this?

 

A: Jesus 

 

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.”

 

2 Corinthians 1:20

Prayer shaped 

by the Word of God

 

A - Adoration

 

C- Confession

 

T- Thanksgiving

 

S- Supplication

 

Bible Talk : Daniel : Prepared for the end in sight.

Daniel 8:1-27 

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

 

31 March 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

Jesus is Lord

 

A recurring pattern

 

How long?

 

An end will come

 

God with us

 

Get in touch with reality

 

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

 

G-athering as God’s people

R-eaching Others

O-beying Jesus

W-illing Giving

T-alking to God

H-earing God Speak

Bible Talk : Daniel : The Everlasting Kingdom.

Daniel 7:1-14 

Acts 4:23-31

 

24 March 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

What sort of reactions?

 

A dramatic change

 

Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds

Daniel 1:17

 

… “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Daniel 2:47

 

 

A dramatic change

 

 

The four beasts

 

The throne room of God

 

What’s it all mean?

World history is going somewhere

Jesus is our ruler & judge

We will rule with him

 

What the world is coming to

Bible Talk : Daniel : Faith that takes you to the lion’s den.

Daniel 6:1-28

Revelation 20:11 – 21:4

 

17 March 2019

Josh Wheeler

 

 

Who are you counting on to save you?

 

Is God okay with shifting morals occasionally to get by? Or does he want us to suffer for standing firm in our faith?

 

It pleased Dariusa to appoint 120 satrapsb to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel.

vv. 1–2

 

The administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for chargesa against Daniel

v. 4

 

 

anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

v. 7

 

 

A. Compromise

B. Stand firm

 

 he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God

v. 10


Daniel would rather be thrown to his certain death, than compromise his faith

 

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den

v. 16

 

“My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.” 

v. 22

 

“For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.

He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

vv. 26–27

A Challenge,

A Hope

Everyone will hate you because of me…

Mark. 13.13

Challenge:

Look to Jesus

to save you and

stand firm in your faith!

 

Hope:

God will save us

 

Everyone will hate you because of me…

But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Mark. 13.13

 

Hope:

God will save us

 

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.””

Revelation 21.4

 

Hope:

God will save us

 

So who are you counting on to save you?

The powers of this world.

Or the living God who rescues and saves?

 

Bible Talk : Daniel : The Lord, pride and humility

Daniel 5:1-16

Daniel 5:17-31

 

10 March 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

Why is humility so important?

 

Authority

 

Judgement

 

The Lord rules over all

 

Humility

 

The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?

“I the Lord search the heart
    and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
    according to what their deeds deserve.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10

 

Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-12

 

Humility

 

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5

 

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17:30-31

 

Humility

Bible Talk : Daniel : One Lord Who Rules them all

Daniel 4:1-18

Daniel 4:19-33

 

3 March 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

Who’s in charge?

 

A message for everyone

 

A vision about authority

 

The Lord rules over all

 

We are accountable to him

 

 

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis 1:28

 

The Lord rules over all

 

We are accountable to him

 

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church

Ephesians 5:25

 

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4

 

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. 

Romans 13:13

 

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 

1 Timothy 2:1-2

 

Making your vote count

 

Who’s in charge?

 

Bible Talk : Daniel : Faith Under Fire

Daniel 3:1-18

Daniel 3:19-30

 

24 February 2019

David Simmons

 

 

Faith in the crowd

v1-7

 

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them”

Exodus 20:4-5

 

Faith Under Fire

v8-18

 

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 1:6-7

 

Faith in the Furnace

v19-30

 

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

 

 

 

Bible Talk : Back 2 Church Sunday

 

Luke 18:9-17

Exodus 34:1-9

 

3 February 2019

Roger Cunningham

 

 

We can’t earn a good judgement, only receive it

 

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 

                                                                                                Luke 18:9

 

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

                                                                                                Luke 18:14

 

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

                                                                                                Luke 18:13

 

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

                                                                                                Luke 18:16

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

                                                                                                Luke 18:17

 

 

Be humble before God

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Bible Talk : Summer Psalms : Psalm 145 – In A Praise of Glory.

Psalm 145

John 17:1-5

 

27 January 2019

David Simmons

 

Praisebook

 

God is worthy of our praise 1-3

 

I will exalt you, my God the King;

I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you

and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;

his greatness no one can fathom.

Psalm 145:1-3

 

God’s glory revealed 4-13

 

God’s goodness to us 14-20

God’s glory revealed 4-13

1.     In his works

2.     In his word

 

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness

Exodus 34:6

 

The LORD is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

Psalm 145:8

 

God’s goodness to all 14-20

1.     In his provision

2.     In his salvation

 

My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.

            Let every creature praise his holy name

                        for ever and ever.

Psalm 145:21

 

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:21

 

exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Romans 1:23

 

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

John 17:4, 1

 

Praise:

a reflex and a resolve

 

‘We praise not because the present is easy but because the future is glorious. Praise is not the outpouring of a heart made happy by present circumstances, but the expression of faith in hearts made glad, in the midst of suffering, by the assurance of future glory.’ - Christopher Ash

 

Bible Talk: Summer Psalms: Psalm 72

Psalm 72

Luke 4:14-21

20th January 2019

Neil Atwood

David’s Prayer

  • True Justice and Hope, Prayer for the entire world

  • David’s hope - injustice to be undone completely

Psalm 72: 2 - May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice

Psalm 72: 4 - May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor.

God’s own Justice

Psalm 72: 1 - Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.

  • David asks that his son Solomon would rule with God’s justice

Psalm 72: 19 - Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvellous deeds.

No Limits

David doesn’t want rivals and enemies to limit justice and the reign of the king.

Justice that Attracts

The world conquers with might but… David’s wish and hope is that all will willingly come and submit.

Psalm 72: 11-14 - All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. for he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He'll take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He'll rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.

Solomon’s Failure

1 Kings: Solomon’s Reign - wisdom leads to justice

Human nature- sinful humanity mislead him from God leading to exploitation of his people

The people ask and wait for an eternal ruler of Justice - 900 years later through Jesus the peoples prayers answered.

Mary speaks and praises about baby Jesus

Luke 4:18 - Jesus speaks the Psalms -

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

... liberty to the captives,

... recovering of sight to the blind,

... liberty [for] those who are oppressed.

Jesus: Heals, Frees, helps others to Walk again, Gives life - And He has the power to make it happen.

How You Serve

Psalm 72: 4, 9

Jesus’ mercy is giving us time to repent and willingly come and follow Him. Serve and Show others a glimpse of His Justice, power and mercy, so they will want to join and live in and for Christ.

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Bible Talk: Summer Psalms: Psalm 41

Psalm 41

John 13:12 - 27

13th January 2019

Neil Atwood

Regarding the weak - Psalm 41: 1-3

  • Blessed is he who has regard for the weak.

  • The Lord will protect him and preserve his life.

Disregarding the weak - Psalm 41: 4-9

  • Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one shared my bread, has turned against me. v9

Trusting God

Psalm 41 - in light of Jesus

  • But this is to fulfill the scripture: He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me. John 13: 18

Implication for us…

“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:22

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8

God’s Grace… Made perfect in your weakness.

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Bible Talk : Summer Psalms : Psalm 63 – Fully Satisfied

Psalm 63

Philippians 3:4b-14

 

6 January 2019

David Simmons

 

1.     Exercise

2.      Eat Healthy

3.      Quit Smoking

4.      Quit Drinking

5.      Learn a new skill

 

Satisfaction

David’s Desire v1

David’s Satisfaction v2-8

David’s Joy v9-11

 

What do we do with this psalm?

 Psalm of Jesus

 

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ

Philippians 3:8-9

 

I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11

 

‘Seeing lives transformed through Jesus’

 

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Bible Talk : I Am Second  ( Zechariah's Song ): Christmas Songs.

1:57-80 Luke

23 December 2018

Neil Atwood

 

I Am Second

“…it’s not about you.”

 

Zechariah

not about him

not about the baby(!)

 

Celebrating
someone else

 

Jesus

 

Not about John. It’s about Jesus

 

“Praise be to the Lord the God of Israel because he has come to his people and redeemed them, he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”

Luke 1:68

 

Promise fulfilled


Rescue from our enemies   v74

 

His plan of reversal

His promises are kept

Responding to God’s glory

 

“And you my child will be called a prophet of the most high. For you... will go on before the Lord. To prepare the way for him.” 

Luke 1:76

 

“You, my child... will go before the Lord.
To prepare the way for him.”

 

Salvation from our enemies

Salvation from our sin

 

Not. About. Me.

All about Him

 

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