Bart Byl on Job

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

Job was a good man: the most righteous in the East. But God allows Satan to strip him of everything. Job cries out to God out of is pain and wonders how a good God could inflict such cruelty on his servant. Job’s friends argue that Job must have some secret sin, but Job knows his own integrity. In the end, there’s only one thing Job is after: an encounter with the living God, who shows up in the whirlwind to speak to Job.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Eli Moyer on 1 John 4:1-6.

Series: 1 John—Life in God’s Love

The spirits of darkness constantly probe the church’s defenses, seeking to lure her away from life in God. And there’s one doctrine they are focussed on undermining: the glorious truth that Jesus is God come in the flesh. Healthy Christian communities exercise discernment together, keeping close to the Good Shepherd.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Bart Byl on Esther 3:1-6, 13-4:5, 12-16.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

A young Jewish woman, Esther, rises through the harem to become Queen of Persia. Five years later, her fellow Jews are in deadly peril of being wiped out by the vengeful Prime Minister. When Esther hesitates to risk her own position, her cousin Mordecai reminds her that God may well have raised her up for such a time as this.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Tony Hanmer on Philippians 1:6.

Series: Art and Faith

“He who began a good work in you,” Paul assures us, “will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Our perfection in glory echoes backwards from the future and rings over our lives now. For it is God himself who is changing us. He is the potter; we are the clay. And though the work of change seems slow and painful, God is carefully shaping us into vessels that will emerge from the kiln as objects of beauty that will bring pleasure to his heart.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Bart Byl on Luke 24:1-12.

If Jesus really has been raised from the dead, that would change everything. It would mean victory over death and a future filled with hope. But why should we trust the witness of the women and the disciples? What if they’re liars, or deluded?

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Bart Byl on John 12:20-33.

Jesus has been welcomed to Jerusalem by the cheering crowds. But when a group of God-fearing Greeks ask to see Jesus, he announces his time has come: his time to fall into the ground like a seed and die for the world.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Jeff Hendrix on 1 John 3:11-24.

Series: 1 John—Life in God’s Love

Jesus calls his disciples to live a life of love, and his death on the cross for us provides the highest example. But how do we love our brothers and sisters who are often so difficult — let alone people in the world who inflict horrible pain on others?

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Bart Byl on Nehemiah 2.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

December, 446 BC, in the Persian capital city Susa. Nehemiah, King Artaxerxes’s cupbearer, is devastated to hear of the broken-down condition of his native Jerusalem. With the king’s blessing, he heads to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall: a project that is delayed by malevolent neighbours and community corruption. It’s a story in miniature of God’s renovation of this fallen world, and our own broken-down lives.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Bart Byl on Ezra 7:1-16, 25-28.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

In 538 BC, the Persian King Cyrus the Great gave the exiled Jews permission to return to their homeland. Zerubbabel led a first wave of 42,360 returnees back to rebuild the temple. Then, sixty years later, sent Ezra the priest-scribe to Jerusalem to instruct the people in the law of God. But there’s only so much even a gifted and godly teacher can do, because the people are still sinful. For God’s people (and the whole world) to return from their more ancient exile from Eden, we need more than a great teacher: we need a second Adam to lead us past the flaming sword and into God’s presence.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Conrad Henney on 1 John 3:4-10.

Series: 1 John—Life in God’s Love

When we really have grasped the grace of God, it changes our lives. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we put our old sin and lawlessness behind us and become more and more like Christ. It’s all about abiding in Christ. As we make him our home, his transforming power makes us truly righteous.

---

Tbilisi International Christian Fellowship is a Christ-centred family of believers in Tbilisi, Georgia.