Grace Community

It has often been said that in order for the human soul to be truly satisfied, we need truth and beauty to collide. In order for an object to make us truly happy, we need it to be both true and at the same time beautiful. In our study of the opening paragraphs of Hebrews we have seen that Jesus Christ is Ultimate Truth. In the past, God spoke truth in bits and pieces to the prophets. But the Son is an exact representation of God's being - the Son is True Truth. In this talk we examine why He is also beautiful. We see that the Son provided purification for our sins. In short, Jesus Christ is the One Person who can satisfy the human soul because He is the culmination of both Truth and Grace.

In this third talk exploring the densely packed opening paragraph of Hebrews, we see why it is that the Son is such a perfect, complete and therefore, final, revelation of God. And, its not just that we learn the Truth about God from the Son, we begin to see that the Truth about God in Jesus, is also indescribably beautiful. Jesus is the glory of God's grace and truth. What the Son reveals is all we need to know about God and all we could possibly want to know about God. Only those who love darkness because of their evil deeds - deeds which are taking way their life and joy - would continue to choose darkness instead of the Light of the Son.

In this second talk on Hebrews we 'zoom' into the Son and examine what makes Him so special and why God's Word spoken through the Son is the full and final revelation of God.  The chiastic structure of Hebrews 1:1-4 helps us see why the Son is the Centre of the Universe and all history.

This talk introduces the book of Hebrews. We examine the reason for the book of Hebrews and how its so relevant for us today.  Because it is an introduction to the whole book, we focused on only the first two verses.

We compared and contrasted God's word to us in the prophets with His word to us in His Son.

"In the past God spoke to our fathers in many times and in many ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son whom..."

People often think that certainty and faith are different things - as if, where certainty ends, faith steps in. But faith that isn't based on certainty is superstition, or simply being gullible.

Biblical faith is believing in the certainty that...

1. God is really there
     - some things are not here yet
     - some things just can't be seen
2. God is really worth seeking
     - God is the great reward for those who seek Him

This is part 4 of 4 in a series on Psalm 22.
In this part, we do post-match analysis as we consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the victory of God's love over death and evil. God's love wins. Using the language of Ephesians 3, we explore,
1. the breadth of God's love: Jesus' resurrection was for all His people everwhere
2. the depth of God's love: Jesus resurrection changed the apostles and changes us deep within - our hearts are won by God's love and love is what keeps the heart going forever...
3. the length of God's love: God's victory will be spoken of forever.

So, what was His victory? It wasn't just life over death, love over sin, but it was God's righteousness. The resurrection of Jesus Christ establishes God's righteousness once and for all - to our infinite advantage.

On Good Friday, we focus again on Jesus Christ's crucifixion, by looking at it through the description in Psalm 22:12-21. Amazingly, we see again how Jesus traded places with us. In short, Christ suffered physical and spiritual anguish on behalf of us sinners! It is madness to refuse such an outpouring of love.

God forsaking God?!? Who can get their head around that? How does it work? What's going on? Does it really matter? This is talk 1/4 on Psalm 22.
Be careful. This passage may well change the way you see all your suffering.

1. the Son was forsaken by the Father

2. the Holy Father rescues all those who trust in Him

THEREFORE - the Son was forsaken by the Father in order to rescue those who trust in Him.

Unbelievers may say, 'I have good works, why do I need God?' Sadly, many Christians will think, 'I have God, why do I need good works?' James shows us that faith and good deeds are inseparable.
People who don't have faith in God, put their faith in their good deeds to make them good. Christians don't have faith in our good deeds, and we trust God alone to make us good. He does this because of what Jesus achieved for us in His life and death.
However, if we trust in God alone to make us righteous, we will always end up doing good deeds because the faith we put in God is never alone - it is always accompanied by good deeds.
We are saved by faith alone, but faith that saves, is never alone. Faith without good deeds is defective and dead.
What are 'good works'. Works done out of self-disinterest and entirely for the good of another.  Like the way Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us. The only thing acceptable to God is faith in Him expressing itself in love for others.

Why did God create anything in the first place? How does Genesis compare to the many creation myths around the world? 

In this final talk in this series on Genesis 1:1-4, , we look at the third of these three points...

1. God creates order
2. God is the Good
3. God seeks relationship

As usual, we look at the text of Genesis, follow what we learn through the Bible to reach Jesus who throws light on it all. And then we end with the question, 'so what?'