Building for Eternity
Archive for March, 2008
Bible Study
3 years ago
by Lyndall Bailey
in Growth Groups
BIBLE STUDY
—Week commencing Sunday 23Mar08
EASTER REFLECTIONS
The events of Easter were truly the most significant in world history. We moved from promises to fulfilment, from hope to reality. Jesus’ death and resurrection changed everything, this Easter we attempted to show how these great events fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament.
God’s Plan right from the start
Read Genesis 2 and 3
Discuss the significance of God’s prohibition to refrain from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(A helpful way of understanding the problem of sin is to consider the essence of the instruction. Sin is a failure to treat God as God. It is resisting His rule. At heart then is whether Adam and Eve were going to submit to God’s rule, and follow His decrees on what was good and evil or whether they were going to grab the right to decide for themselves).
The consequences of the sin were enormous. However it seems that God had a rescue plan already in place (Genesis 3:15)
Share your reflections on the state of the world and how much we need God to fix the problems.
Israel Promised so much
Read Deuteronomy 7:6-16
The Old Testament people of God were given a special place in God’s plan of salvation.
Read Psalm 95—What went wrong?
Jesus did what Israel were unable to do
Read Luke 22:63-23:49
Share the impact these verses had on you the first time you grasped their meaning.
The Greatest Ending?
3 years ago
by Lyndall Bailey
in News
The death of Jesus was an awesome act of sacrifice. If His ‘story’ had ended with the crucifixion He would be remembered as one of the greatest self sacrificing men of history. But the story didn’t end with death!
Jesus walked out of His tomb 3 days later, very much alive! He appeared to His followers and activated the most far-reaching and long lasting mission operation the world has ever seen.
His resurrection demands that He is remembered as both God and man, our Saviour and our Lord.
However, the resurrection is not the end of the story. Jesus is still active among His people through the Spirit He has poured into our lives. We are waiting for His bodily return to earth to wind up history as we know it and usher in the new heaven and earth. Jesus’ story does not end, it graduates from one degree of glory to the next.
Bulletin, 23rd March, 2008
3 years ago
by Lyndall Bailey
in Bulletin
Bulletin 23/03/08 (pdf, 1.44 MB)
The Red Carpet Experience
3 years ago
by Lyndall Bailey
in News
Millions of dollars are spent on the clothes that celebrities show off. Thousands of people line the route. Hundreds of photographers capture the arrival of “very important people”. At the end of the procession is a lengthy awards night and many of us are left wondering whether it was all worthwhile.
Jesus walked a very different route. The big day in His life was also marked by red, only it was His blood. His award was a crown of thorns and His “outfit” was torn off His body. He became the object of God’s wrath instead of us.
This sacrifice means that on the day we meet God, heaven will roll out the red carpet for our arrival. Our “award” cost Jesus everything and we should respond by living our life as our great “thank you” speech.
Stephen Semenchuk