Today Matt showed us how the authors of the new testaments main hope is that you see who Jesus is - The God that the Old Testament pointed us too, now revealed in Jesus, the God who is with us.

Today Glenys took us through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1. From this list of names we discover that God doesn't see as we do. He sees the heart. He sees those who feel unseen, ostracised, broken. In Mary God saw someone who would carry His most precious gift. In Joseph a man who said yes to God's call even though all the pieces didn't fit together in his head. Are we willing to surrender our rights, and our reputation to say yes to God. Jesus laid aside His reputation. Do we really want to be like Him?

Today Dennis took us through the book of Nehemiah pulling out biblical and historical context, and showing us ways in which this book speaks to us, His church, today.

This week we have been reading the book of Esther, and what we discovered today is that this book which never mentions God, whispers the name of Jesus and prophetically explains, through its specific context and moment in history, the victory over sin & death that Jesus would accomplish cosmically for all.

Today we journeyed through the book of Zechariah where the people, after their exile was over, were starting to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem in the hope that this would usher in the new Messianic reign and the kingdom of God. But we discovered that God's vision for this was way bigger than they could imagine, and so too is His vision for our lives.

Today we walked through Daniel 9, where Daniel sees the state of his world at that time and cries out to God to do something. The answer God gives him in the text is amazing, and through it we see that all along Jesus has always been, and will always be, the hope that we are all looking for.

This week we read Ezekiel 37 in which Ezekiel had a vision of a valley full of dry bones. These bones were the people of God, who while in exile felt like life was over. But we saw that we have a God who is not content to leave His people in the place of death, and who continually is inviting them to be made whole and new by His word and Spirit. Matt showed us that this is who God has always been, right from Genesis 1, and who God promises to always be, even today. And so there is hope for all of us who at times feel dry, dead and in pieces, to find new life in Jesus.

This week we have been reading these three books of the bible. Today we saw how these three characters stories overlapped and Matt unpacked how in each of their stories we see a God who is inviting us to be with Him, so that we might learn His way of life, and be transformed by Him receiving a new heart, a new Spirit and becoming more alive human beings like Jesus.

Today we had the honour of having Nigel Coles (Pastor at Counterslip in the 90's, and Webnet regional team leader for the last 25 years) come and share with us from God's word. Nigel took us through the theme of judgement in Ezekiel 15-17 and showed us how it all led to, and revealed, God's true heart to see us free and living life to the full (Ezekiel 18).

This week Heidi talked us through Ezekiel's encounter with God which happened in the strangest of places, not in the temple where God was found in the Old Testament, but by a river in Babylon in captivity. Explaining the vision he saw and sharing how Ezekiel's vision led him into the calling on his life, Heidi encouraged us to draw near to God - for it is encounter with Him that encourages and empowers us to live out the call of Jesus on our lives.