What’s the first thing you do when you receive Good News? Most of us would be reaching for our phones. If we’re older we probably want to call someone and tell them our good news. If you’re a bit younger, you might be more likely to get on your favourite social media platform and ‘post’ your good news for all the world to see. When we receive good news that brings us joy, we want to share it with others.
As disciples of Jesus, we have the best news ever, and yet we are often guilty of not being quick to share that good news with others. In today’s gospel reading, which we will hear in a moment, the disciples minds are open to the scriptures so they can understand all that Jesus has accomplished by his death and resurrection and they are filled with Joy. Jesus invites us also to understand more deeply the reality of what his life, death and resurrection have accomplished for us, so that, in him, our joy may be full and overflow in us to all those we meet, that they too may know the joy of knowing Jesus.
Final week of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
They say that for any kind of addict, the first step towards recovery is admitting that you have a problem. The same is true when it comes to our own brokenness.
Often the biggest issue we have is in recognising the brokenness that affects us. Why would we look for help with something that we do not think is a problem? In this week's gospel reading, Jesus encounters a man who is clearly in need of physical healing but still asks the man a surprising question, “do you want to be well?” While it seems like an odd question given the circumstances, it’s a question which Jesus still asks all of us today, “do you want to be well?” Too often we become too comfortable with the broken parts of our lives. We use them as reasons to justify our bad behaviour, or rely on them to give us reasons to whinge or complain when things don’t go our way. Jesus offers us a chance to be made whole, to do away with our brokenness but it comes on his terms, not ours. It comes as we recognise our problems and unashamedly hand them to Jesus so he can make us whole.
Part 5 of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
There is one thing that all humans seem to want and yet it is one of the things that still eludes us... certainty. Many people today hold to the belief that science can deliver certainty. That through application of the scientific method, careful observation and repeated experimentation, we can arrive at a point of certainty about how things work and why things happen. The problem is, most scientists don't believe that. They know that the best they can offer is a certain degree of confidence base on the evidence they have observed. Blaise Pascal, the famous 17th Century mathematician and physicist went so far as to say, "Faith is a sounder guide than reason. Reason can only get you so far, but faith has no limits." Jesus invites those with faith in him to know that nothing can snatch you out of his hands. To live each day certain of our standing with God and his love for us because, through faith, we belong to him not because of what we know or what we do, but because of everything Christ has done for us. Being certain of that frees us to live a radically different life to those who are still looking for certainty in other places.
Part 4 of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
The world today wants to tell us that ‘love is love’. They’re basically saying it doesn’t matter how you love, who you love, or what you love, all love is the same. That is simply not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that “God is love”. Only God can express perfect love, the kind of love that casts out fear, and he has done that through his Son Jesus. Only in knowing the love of God expressed to us in Jesus, do we even have a chance at showing real love to others. In fact, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he had loved them. He went on to say this is how the world will know you are my disciples – by your love for one another. So join us as we explore what it means to love as Jesus has loved us, and to show that love to the world.
Part 3 of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
There are lots of different words that are commonly used to describe creative people; Kooky, eccentric, odd, or strange. All of them mean basically the same thing, they recognise ‘difference’. That is the main mark of creative people, they do things differently. Jesus was also considered by many to be eccentric, kooky and strange. He did not do things the ‘normal’ or ‘expected’ way and he often calls his disciples to do the same. Our ‘difference’ is another characteristic that will identify us followers of Jesus to the world around us when we respond with the creative love and life of Jesus to anything this life throws at us. Join us this week as we explore what it means to show the world our creativity.
Part 2 of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
On that first Easter morning, the world was forever changed. The tomb was empty, and Jesus had risen—not as a vision or a memory, but in real, resurrected life. Yet even as the disciples stood face to face with this reality, their vision was still clouded by fear, doubt, and human understanding.
But the resurrection is not just an event to be acknowledged; it is the very foundation of our faith. It is God’s great victory over sin and death, the moment that redefines all of history. And it invites us to see everything—our lives, our world, even ourselves—through a new lens.
Today, we step into ‘unfiltered vision’—not our own, but the vision of Jesus. Through his eyes, we see a creation that has been redeemed, a people restored, and a future that is bursting with resurrection hope. This is Easter. This is the good news. Christ is risen!"
Part 1 of our post-Easter series: "Identity Check"
On that first Easter morning, the world was forever changed. The tomb was empty, and Jesus had risen—not as a vision or a memory, but in real, resurrected life. Yet even as the disciples stood face to face with this reality, their vision was still clouded by fear, doubt, and human understanding.
But the resurrection is not just an event to be acknowledged; it is the very foundation of our faith. It is God’s great victory over sin and death, the moment that redefines all of history. And it invites us to see everything—our lives, our world, even ourselves—through a new lens.
Today, we step into ‘unfiltered vision’—not our own, but the vision of Jesus. Through his eyes, we see a creation that has been redeemed, a people restored, and a future that is bursting with resurrection hope. This is Easter. This is the good news. Christ is risen!"
Part 4 of our Holy Week series: "Unfiltered"
Part 3 of our Holy Week series: "Unfiltered"
At LifeWay, we began our celebration of Holy Week on Palm Sunday as we recounted the events of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Tonight we remember the jubilant shouts of the crowd, "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna!" But we remember also that within the next 24 hours those same crowds would be shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify Him!"
For this is the night when Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God would give himself into the hands of his betrayer. This is the night where Christ served his disciples one final meal before his arrest and trial. This is the night When Jesus evoked the memory of all God's promises to his chosen people and offered himself as a sacrifice to establish a new promise, a promise to heal, restore, and and strengthen those who would call upon his name. Tonight is the night we remember, with unfiltered memory, all that God has done for us.
Part 2 of our Holy Week series: "Unfiltered"