The day has come at last - their wait is over! Simeon and Anna have been waiting their whole lives to see the Messiah. Finally, their longing is fulfilled. What can we learn from them, both in their waiting and in their response to seeing Jesus? Find out this week as we finish the season of advent together in Luke 2:22-38.

We continue “waiting with God’s people” this week by meeting Jesus’ mother, Mary. In many ways, Jesus is not what she’d been waiting for; she was a young woman waiting to get married, not become the mother of the Messiah! But she discovers, as we can, that Jesus is better than we can imagine.

Christmas is here before we know it! It’s easy to take this season for granted. It’s especially easy to miss the significance of why Jesus came. This week, we’ll begin “waiting with God’s people” for advent by following the account of Zechariah and Elizabeth. 2000 years ago, they were waiting for a child. But they didn’t realise that God was going to answer their prayer in a much bigger way than they expected.

1 John 5:13-21. In our last passage from 1 John, we consider the question: what difference should my assurance in Christ make to my life? As we’ll see, it makes us confident to ask God for things, intercede for stumbling Christians, and overcome sin in our lives. These are things we can do with boldness because of our confidence in Christ.

1 John 5:6-12. Plenty of Aussies believe in something spiritual. But why should we? What’s the best reason to believe in spiritual things? And even more than that - what’s the better reason to believe in Jesus? This week we’ll see why we can trust the Bible’s message about Jesus, and what that means for our lives.

1 John 5:1-5. You might be a Christian today. But how do you know you’ll still be one tomorrow? None of us know what’s around the corner, and all of us know someone who’s ‘fallen away.’ Today’s passage shows us that the reason any of us is a Christian is because God has given us life. And that has massive implications for our ongoing assurance. Listen in as we discover how to know whether we’ll make it to the end.

We all find it hard to love people, even those closest to us. What do we need to know when we’re at the end of our rope and the tank has run dry? Join us this week as we discover why Christians must love each other, with a life-changing answer rooted in the very character of God.

The spiritual world is real, and sometimes we see it with our own eyes. Religious movements and groups sometimes spring up around spiritual events. But how can we tell if this is a movement of the Holy Spirit? What if it’s a movement of the human spirit, or something worse? This week’s passage shows us how to test any movement that appears to be spiritual, and see if it’s really from God.

There are times when Christians need reassurance. The key is to see who God really is. Join us as we work out how to reassure our doubting hearts with the good news that “God is greater.”

There’s nothing controversial about John’s command for Christians to “love one another.” But what really is love? Here things become more difficult, both in what it means and how to live it out. Join us as we unpack the Bible’s definition of love and how it must shape our lives.