Why are we here? This is one of the fundamental questions of life. People seek purpose in many places - success, pleasure, relationships, or self-fulfilment. But for us as Christians, our purpose is given to us by God, not something we create for ourselves.

Today’s readings help us understand our purpose in the light of God’s actions, His call to not dwell in the past, and His promise of something new ahead. Isaiah 43:16-21 speaks to the people of Israel as they struggle in exile, reminding them that God is the One who makes a way through the wilderness.

Philippians 3:4-14 is Paul’s personal reflection on his journey of faith, abandoning his past achievements for the sake of knowing Christ. Together, these passages point us to God’s answer to our deepest question: We are here because God has called us to know Him, trust in Christ, and press on toward His eternal promises.

Paul Ridley

As we continue living this earthy faith in Christ we hear this masterful parable and are confronted with how we can easily be lost, even without ever leaving home. The younger sons lostness is focussed and easy to see. He does all the things that a ‘lost’ person would do. He insults his father, weakens his family, binges on substances and sex, blows previous resources others have worked to earn and destroys himself and his high standing by chasing after the wind – short-term gain, plenty of pain, and for no gain!

His dad shines. He reinstates the boy and throws an expensive and public party in his honour. The real character for us who have been in the church ‘home’ for a long time is the older brother. He is apparently lost too, and he has never left home. How can that be? The conversation between this same shining father who also comes to meet this older son seething with anger at this dad, shows us our own hearts and most importantly the Father’s heart for all of us lost ones. The person speaking this parable is the Son of God himself. He is showing us his heart for us today.

Praying that you can feel his embrace and hear his promise, “Everything I have is yours”.

Pastor Adrian

It is good that you have followed the Spirit’s call to be gathered with God’s people in the presence of Jesus in the grace of the Father. We are pondering living this earthy Christian life of faith in Christ which he has carved out for us by his cross. In the tragedy and injustice of life, people around Jesus ask him why life is like this and what he means in what we suffer.

These questions could be from any one of us when tragedy strikes, or injustice is metered out to us or others for whom we feel solidarity. Who do we blame? Is God involved? Is this punishment for some lost sin or some family curse? Good news is that tragedy and injustice are not punishment and pay back from a vindictive
unfeeling God. On the other hand, God is indeed God. He does have ‘the whole world in his hands’ and he can plant us and rip us up as he wills. Listen to the words about the gardener, landowner and fig tree today.

Praying that you will hear God speaking words of patience, not punishment, a hopeful future not instant death. 

Pastor Adrian

As we live this earthy faith carved out by the cross of Jesus, we hear heart-wrenching words of sadness and regret expressed by the Messiah over his holy city this morning. With the image of a mother-hen wanting to protect her young, Jesus declares this city to be a ‘city of ruins’ that will one day soon end up that very thing, and yet, that there will be another visit to this same city that will bring something more.

This city has a long story of consistent rebellious heart and rejecting behaviour perpetrated. Jesus names that and weeps for it. But the weeping is for something greater.

Jesus weeps for what could have been if the city had been true to its calling from God. This city was never meant to only be a fine city of God’s blessing, but a city of light in a dark world. This city was never established by the Lord to just be rich and healthy and happy. It was always meant to be a city for the world; for a dark world, for a world living in the valley of the shadow of death. And so, the Messiah weeps for his city and for what could have been. But then, of course, he will say and do more; more than anyone in this city ever thought possible.

Our world is in many ways a ‘city of ruins’ with all of its ‘Herod types’ trying to fix problems by silencing the weeping Saviour and controlling life by violence, power,
greed and the like. Often I am a ‘city of ruins’ as I try the same things. But Jesus points to another day when he will enter this same city for the final time – and amazingly, not to destroy it or condemn it and leave it to the foxes, but to lift it up to a whole new life and work. Praying you are lifted up to be reborn for your calling to be God’s city of light among the city of ruins in which you live.

Pastor Adrian

How good is it that in this country we have the freedom to gather in public worship! We are glad you have joined us to sing and pray and receive God's freedom in Christ. We dive into the first parts of Galatians; Paul's letter concerning the freedom of the gospel we share. It is a dynamite little letter. It explodes with gospel focus and shows up anything that is ‘no gospel at all'. Paul establishes his
authority by mentioning who called him to be this ‘Sent One’ (Apostle) and
then reminds the people of where they live – in the Father's ‘grace and peace'
founded on the resurrected Jesus and his gift of forgiveness. We are already set free to live free!

But then Paul quickly explodes into the issue around which he writes – ‘gospel plus one' teaching which is a ‘different gospel' than the one he taught them, which is really not gospel; not any good news at all for Christians. The Christians back then
struggled with this tendency we all have to believe that our standing before a holy
God is based on the gospel of Jesus – but then ‘plus one'. For the Galatians it
was the gospel + keeping the Old Testament law – food laws, worship/ceremonial law and circumcision law. This may not be our specific ‘+ one'. But I bet we could
think of a few things we add to the gospel as we demand we ourselves and others
must be or do to be a ‘real Christian'.

We begin to unpack these ‘+ one' things and in the process discover the beautiful pure gospel again – and we are free!

Christians around the world enter this forty-day period of listening, praying, self-denial, and serving. Lent functions as a bit of ‘spring cleaning’ for the soul.

Lent is all about being ready and open in heart and mind to receive the biggest moment in the Christian story – the day death died, at which point a whole new future of hope and light was opened up for a troubled and imperfect world.
The forty days has begun. How might you listen, reflect, pray, deny yourself and serve some people as God gets you ready for his arrival anew in your life?

One thing is for sure, temptations to drop all this, leave it alone or ignore it and ignore him come. It is where we find Jesus out there in that wilderness struggling with the temptation thrown at him when he is alone, isolated, hungry, thirsty and weakened. He is confronted with easy ways out of his life mission.
We ponder temptations that come at us, that always promise to offer an easier life and yet actually end up costing us everything good we have in Christ.

We head into Lent knowing that this Christian faith we are called to live is an Earthy Faith. It is living in the space carved out by Jesus’ cross.

Pastor Adrian

Every year we locate our spiritual centre around a particular bible passage as a way of ‘dwelling in God’s word’ as we discern his will for our life and mission.
This is because we are convinced that our health and effectiveness and faithfulness as God’s people in his mission is not founded on some
magic program or idea or better technology or any hard work and insight we
do or have. Our present and future faithfulness and joy only come from
one place – God – God’s word. So intentionally listening to his voice in
his Word by his Spirit is our foundation, thus ‘dwelling in a home text' ...

This year something from the letter to the Galatians has risen to the top. It is a
word about freedom. Galatians 5:1: ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free’. We have shortened it for the memory: “Set Free to Live Free.”

We will break this open a little this morning in advance of further learning in Galatians in various ways throughout 2025. Our prayer is that in these disruptive times and with this wayward heart of ours, we will still live in freedom – freedom
from the guilt and shame of our own sin, from the pull of the world inviting us to give up freedom and from the evil one who only wants our slavery to self.

We find ourselves witnessing that marvellous moment high up on a hill somewhere in Judea with Peter, James and John. The glory cloud descends and the two greats; Moses and Elijah appear, representing the Law of God and God’s prophets sharing a holy huddle with the Son of God. It is mesmerising and then it is gone. But not before that audible voice confirms Jesus as the Saviour is heard and the journey to the cross down there on the plains hots up.

Paul reflects on this by remembering that veil Moses had to wear every time he had his holy moments with the Lord high up on that other holy mountain – Mt Sinai.

He says the veil that covers Moses face is no longer needed for those who have received the glorious ministry of the Holy Spirit creating faith in Jesus as the Saviour of their lives. We are free in Jesus to’ glow’ his hope and love. We do this with clear words, simple telling of what we have seen and heard. But the veil still exists. The veil of unbelief and doubt and fear still cover the human heart.

Paul says this is all the more reason why we Christians need to and can ‘glow’ the glorious gospel of Jesus with boldness and clarity in simple words, without veiling it in tricks or deception in any way. May the Holy Spirit reaffirm that Jesus is your Saviour and that you can be full of heart as you glow his good news without any veil.

Pastor Adrian

It is hard to be confident sometimes. It is hard to be sure of the world’s future, our church’s future, the whole Christian church’s future. It is hard to sure of my own future when it come to my health, aging, my relationships with everyone. 

Isaiah is God’s mouthpiece to a people who have lost it all and probably think they have no future at all. They are already in exile in a foreign place. They have lost their community, their lands, their business, farms, worship life, city and temple. They probably feel as though they have lost their God too.  

Isaiah is a truth-teller. He says the reason they have found themselves in this difficult place is not the Lord’s fault. It is squarely theirs. They have turned their backs on the covenant relationship with the Lord by failing into religious outward ritual devoid of real heart, corruption and injustice in how they tret the vulnerable in their society, and into moral failure many times over. 

What will give them any confidence that they even have a future, given all the turmoil in which they find themselves. This is maybe a good question for us in our current turmoil whatever you turmoil is at the moment.

Isaiah has good wors to say into this kind of place. The Lord delivers right words that encourage the weary each morning, including this one. They are words that awaken me so I am eager to learn from his teaching again.

Praying the Spirit awaken faith in your heart by this Word we hear and sing and pray today so that we trust that our protector and rock-solid sustaining power of hope and love is with you, and us. 

Unity among any people of any group is so fulfilling. Unity in a team makes it so much fun and is so crucial for any ‘success’. How much the more for a fledgling new community of the resurrected Jesus in a hostile world?!

Paul continues recounting his story to try and call the people in the Galatian network back to what he first taught them, - that the gospel of Jesus’ dying and rising for the forgiveness of all sin and new life for the whole world is all they need to be fully fledged, hope-filled people in Christ with a bright future together in him.

They do not need the ‘gospel +’ anything else, like Jewish law; customs, dietary rules, sabbath rules, work rules or circumcision etc… Paul will recount a very big moment in his life and in the life of this first church that would echo on into our day.

It is the account of the day when unity in the gospel won the day. This ‘victory’ was not certain. If those Jerusalem ‘capital A’ apostles had allowed any hint of ‘gospel +’ Jewish law to be the foundation of our new life in Jesus’ new creation, then it would have been ‘all bad’. But they ‘walked the walk’ and here we are: people who have received the same freeing gospel from the same wonderful Saviour. Praying you bask in the unity you share with everyone gathered and those all over the world and even those Jerusalem Apostles.

Pastor Adrian