This week Chris was honest with us about how as humans we experience suffering, but he also shared with us that we follow a king who gets our suffering, a king who suffered Himself, and a king whose suffering leads us to hope and a new life giving way.

This week David took us through Mark chapters 1 - 3 and shared with us some of the inspiring, encouraging and amazing things that these chapters had showed him again about who Jesus is and what He is like.

This week we hung out in the last section of the book of Isaiah where, having shown us how bad things are and revealing to us that we all need hope, Isaiah tells us that there is a God who loves us and offers hope to us in the form of Jesus - God himself, become a man, to die in our place and give us life.

Today Matt talked through some of the passages in Isaiah that talk about judgement and showed how they reveal more of God's heart for us than maybe we first thought.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Song of Songs, 1 Peter and 1 John. You can jump through to the questions at these points:

2 - (5:05)
Song of Songs 3:7-11
Do these verse mean that King Solomon is the lover?
 

3 - (8:33)
1 Peter 2:6
Where is Zion? Does it have a broader more significant meaning that just being an actual place?
 

4 - (23:02)
1 Peter 4:8
Does this mean that if you sin, as long as you love you get away with it

5 - (34:00)
1 Peter 5:12
Who is Silas and what does he do?

6 - (51:10)
1 John 1:5-10
If we claim to be without sin we lie and the word is not in us, but if we walk in darkness/sin then we cannot have fellowship with God. How can both be true?

7 - (59:17)

1 John 2:7-8

Is John writing a new command and an old command side by side, or an old command in a new way, or something else?

This week we hung out on Isaiah's encounter in the heavenly temple, found in Isaiah 6. Matt talked about how Isaiah came to have that encounter, and looked out how we too might have such an encounter that changes not just us both the lives of people around us as well.

This week Matt spoke from Isaiah 1, where we see the Father's heart breaking over the brokenness of his children, and all this was because of the brokenness of the kings that reigned over them. But we discovered that God is king over all kings and no matter what negative influences there over our lives He is speaking hope to us.

This week Barb shared with us from 1 John 1, and reminded us that while we didn't see Jesus as John did, we have indeed seen and heard Jesus at work in our lives and it is in sharing what we have seen and heard that our joy and the joy of others is made complete.... Following this we had a time of people sharing stories of where they had seen Jesus at work in their lives.

This week we've been reading Solomons' song of songs. In it we find a love story of a man and a women. This week Matt shared how he felt God was inviting us as the man invites the women, into new hope, and how God was speaking over us a new story of love and beauty, transforming our old stories of brokenness and pain.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Colossians. You can jump through to the questions at these points:

(1:28) Job 1:6-7
Who is Satan and why was he there with God?

(23:37) Job 1:8
Why would the Lord put Job forward to Satan? Was he teaching Job a lesson? Was God showing Satan that He was in control not Satan?

(34:40) Job 31:26-28
Is it wrong to throw a kiss from your mouth?

(47:45) Proverbs 10:1
Why does the wise son not bring joy to both his Father and mother? And why does the foolish son only bring grief to his mother and not both parents?

(52:44) Proverbs 10:26
What is a sluggard?

(54:27) Ecclesiastes 7:3
Why is sorrow better than laughter, and is a sad face really good for the heart?

(59:30) Colossians 1:15
What does it mean that Christ is the firstborn over all creation?

(1:06:35) Colossians 1:20
By "all things" does this mean that everyone will be saved?

(1:25:45) Colossians 1:24
Does this mean that Jesus death on the cross wasn't enough, that Paul found Christ afflictions lacking?

(1:25:23) Ecclesiastes 10:19 (Group Question)
How can money be the answer to everything, when it is said to be the root of all evil?