Bart Byl on Ephesians 2:11-22.

Series: The Nicene Creed

There’s nothing harder in the creed to confess than, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Humanly speaking, nothing seems more feeble, compromised, distracted, divided, sinful, corrupt, or even abusive than the church. But our faith is in the Triune God, who creates, redeems, sustains, and perfects his church. It is he who makes the Church one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

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

Bart Byl on 1 Corinthians 2.

Series: The Nicene Creed

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.” Truth itself is inert and lifeless until the Holy Spirit moves upon us. He is the Gift and Giver, sent by the Father through the Son to help us understand and enjoy all that is ours by grace. Our greatest need is for his presence and power.

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

Bart Byl on Psalm 9.

Series: The Nicene Creed

We live in a world that cries out for justice. Moral seriousness requires retribution for evil. Christ is the judge whom God has appointed to set right what has gone wrong — to name and destroy evil, and to usher in a kingdom of justice, peace, and joy. 

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

Tony Hanmer on 2 Peter 3, I John 3:1-3 and 4:1-6, and Revelation 7:9-17.

Tony updates us on life and ministry in Svaneti. He warns us not to be deceived in the last days, but to joyfully look for the return of Christ … living not "in order to" (works, trying to bring something about) but "because of" (grace -> gratitude for what God has already done in and for us).

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

Bart Byl on Psalm 110.

Jesus is not only risen from the dead. He has been glorified and exalted to the place of supreme power and authority. In the words of the Nicene Creed, “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” Christ is the king, armed with authority to save us to the uttermost. He exercises supreme, total, and cosmic jurisdiction. When we struggle here below, it is a profound comfort to lift our eyes and see the one who died for us in command of all things.

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

Bart Byl on Psalm 68.

When God fights and conquers evil, the lowly sing songs of joy. When we confess, with the Nicene Creed, that “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father,” we are chanting the saga of the Son of God who went forth to slay the three-headed monster of Sin, Satan and Death. 

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

Bart Byl on John 19.

This is, along with the accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke, one of the darkest and most disturbing chapters of the Bible. The murder of God’s only Son reveals the evil of humanity in its full horror. Yet the cross is also the greatest revelation of the love of God, because through Christ’s atonement God liberates humanity from sin, Satan and death. So we confess, in the words of the Nicene Creed, “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.”

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

Bart Byl on 1 John 1:1-4.

After Jesus rose from the dead, trembling hands reached out and confirmed: this is indeed the Master ... not an apparition, a ghost, a hologram: this is our Friend, in flesh and blood, sitting beside us eating a piece of fish. The Son of God is truly a human being like us. So we confess with the Nicene Creed:

“For us human beings and for our salvation

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

Bart Byl on Luke 8:-22-25.

When Jesus calms the storm, the disciples ask themselves in fear and amazement, “Who is this person?” The second article of the Nicene Creed is the considered answer of the church almost three hundred years later: 

“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

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

Bart Byl on Psalm 104.

God didn’t created the universe out of necessity, but out of the sheer joyful abundance of the divine life. Why else would he have made 1.5 million species of beetles? Our existence is completely gratuitous: the gift of being comes from the generous hand of our creator. God’s heart toward the world has been gracious from the beginning.

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