As a church we are reading through the bible over a two year period. In the coming weeks we will be reading from these minor prophets and so today Matt gave us an overview of their message and how they are part of the on going story in the bible to reveal the good news of Jesus for our world.

This week Matt talked us through the story of Solomon from 1 Kings and revealed that when we look a little deeper, we start to see that the Hebrew authors were telling us more than the story of a human king. As we went through, we discovered that there are hints and clues all over the text that show us that Solomon was actually part of a much bigger story involving all creation: the heavens and the earth. And we too are part of that story.

This week Anna took us through Pauls' time in Ephesus, looking at how Paul always made space for the Spirit to work, and she challenged us about the ground we give to God in our lives so that the Spirit can be at work in and through us. All of this, of course, Paul was able to do because he was rooted in the message of good news that he shares with the Ephesians in his letter to them, and we to need to be rooted in this if we also want to be able to see God's Spirit at work in us.

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 Judges, Ruth & 1 Samuel. You can jump through to the questions at these points:

1) 01:25 - (Ruth 3:4) Why would Ruth be told to uncover Boaz feet when he is asleep and lay down by them without saying a word?

2) 13:48 - (Ruth 4:13) Ruth gives birth to a son, but in verse 17 it says, "Naomi has a son", why is the baby known as Naomi's and not Ruth's?

3) 24:31 - What is your view on the witch of Endor bringing Samuel back from the dead (1 Sam 28)?

4) 47:15 - Why would David want to fight with the Philistines (1 Sam 29)?

5) 58:06 - (1 Samuel 16:4 /19:9) Why would the Lord send an evil Spirit when the Lord is not evil but good?

6) 1:09:26 - What is the significance of the ephod in 1 Samuel 23:6 & 9?

7) 1:17:03 - Why should Jephthah make such a crazy pointless promise (Judges 11)?

This week Matt took us through the closing chapter of 2 Samuel and asked what the story would reveal to us if rather than looking for it to speak to us by finding ourselves in the story instead we looked for Jesus.

This week Matt took us through the book of Amos and unpacked how God's heart for His people back then was, as it is for us today, to know Him and live.

This week Chris shared from the opening chapter of 1 Samuel with us, using the story of Hannah and the priest Eli to ask us how far are we willing to go to live a life in the presence of God? How long will we stay there? And how bold will we be?

This week Emmanuel unpacked the gospel message that Paul urgently tries to reiterate to the Galatians again - that we are free in Christ, not because of what we can do, but because of what He has done, and how through faith in Christ we are now new creations - the old has died and there is resurrection life for us.

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 Joshua, Acts and 1 from the Psalms. You can jump through to the questions at these points:

1. (1:39) What is the book of Jashar mentioned in Joshua 10:13?

2. (14:00) In Joshua 18:7 it says the Levites get no inheritance, yet in Joshua 21:1-3 the Israelites give them pasture lands and livestock as their inheritance. Have they gone against what the Lord said, or did He change His mind?

3. (19:01) Joshua is such a G! Why is he not thought more highly of in the church compared to characters like Moses, Paul and others?

This week Matt took us through Paul's letter to Titus and talked about how Pauls' heart was for the church in Crete to grow in faith that resulted in godliness. In his letter Paul gives some tips on how Titus was to set things up in the church so that this could happen, and we looked at what we could learn from Pauls' advice to Titus so that we too can grow in faith that results in godliness.