Bart Byl on 2 Chronicles 6:12-7:3.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The highest point of King Solomon’s reign finds him in the centre of a great throng of worshippers, spreading out his hands in prayer to God. It’s as though the most kingly act is to be on your knees interceding for the people God has entrusted to you. Do we realise how much we owe to King Jesus who is continually interceding for us before the Father? At this very moment he is at the centre of the heavenly worship, seated at the right hand of God, making our needs and requests known with power.

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

Bart Byl on 1 Chronicles 17.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

David is feeling guilty about living in a place of cedar while the ark of God lives in a tent. He wants to build a temple for God, but God turns him down. Instead, God says, “I am going to build you a house—a great dynasty, with a king who will sit on your throne forever.” God’s relationship with human beings will always be asymmetrical. We can never outgive God, and nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the gift of His Son.

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

Bart Byl on 2 Kings 6:1-7.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

A prophet-in-training loses his axe-head in the river, and the prophet Elisha tosses in a stick and the iron object bobs up to the surface. A charming story: but does it have something to say to the Jewish people buried in the middle of the Babylonian empire? And might this story point us to the Son of God who leapt into the river to rescue his lost people?

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

Bart Byl on 1 Kings 19:1-18.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The prophet Elijah, discouraged by Israel’s shallow repentance and fleeing for his life, makes his way to Mount Sinai. There God tells him to wait for him to pass by. Elijah experiences a tempest, an earthquake, and a fire, but God is not in any of these fearsome phenomena. Finally, the prophet hears a still, small voice — and recognising that God is present at least, he emerges from his cave.

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

Tony Hanmer on Isaiah 64:8.

Series: Faith and Art

We live in a fallen world, full of death, decay, and depravity—and any honest artist will reflect that in their work. But God has not abandoned his creation. He sent his Son to redeem this world and to refashion humanity into something beautiful.

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

Bart Byl on 2 Samuel 15:1-18, 23, 30; 16:5-13.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

After Saul’s death, David comes to the throne of Israel. God makes a series of stunning promises to David, culminating in an oath that someday a greater Son of David will sit on the throne and establish God’s reign on earth. But David grows complacent and commits adultery and murder, unleashing ripples of destruction in his life, his family, and his kingdom. When his son Absalom rebels, David and his faithful few flee Jerusalem. The weeping king crosses the Mount of Olives, silently bearing the jeers and curses of Shimei — a haunting picture of the true Son of David, who bears the curse and sin of his people. 

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

Bart Byl on 1 Samuel 16:1-13.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The people of Israel are demanding a king, so they can be like the other nations, even though they’re protected and provided for by God as their king. But God tells Samuel to anoint Saul, a man who stands head and shoulders above everyone else. Saul is the kind of king the people want — the epitome of human strength — but his personal failings bring Israel to disaster. But God has already prepared a new king, David, a man after his own heart.

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

Jeff Hendrix on 1 John 2:18-27.

Series: 1 John—Life in God’s Love

In these last days, there are many antichrists in the world — everything outside and within our walls that distracts us from Christ. Our challenge, and our invitation, is to abide in Christ as those anointed with His Spirit.

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

Tony Hanmer on Genesis 2:15-3:24.

Series: Faith and Art

Death. Rust. Decay. Entropy. Things are not as they should be in our world. And the longer we live, the more pain and frustration we will experience. As people of faith, we need to be honest about the suffering in our world—and look forward in hope to God’s deliverance of the whole creation into something unimaginably glorious.

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

Bart Byl on Luke 1:26–38.

The archangel Gabriel appears to a teenage girl in a forgotten village with a startling announcement: you will bear the long-promised Messiah of Israel. And in her virgin womb the highly-favoured Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, knit together the humanity of our Lord. Mary was a human being like us, subject to sin and death and in need of a Saviour. But she was set apart as the holy space for the one beyond all space. She is the Burning Bush, the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant. And every generation will call her blessed, because she gave the world our Saviour.

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