Colossians 3:15 — “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” Peace is essential to our wellbeing and yet it’s something we often fail to experience. Perhaps this is because we don’t understand how the Bible talks about peace, or how it is we come to know that peace within our own hearts. In…
Philippians 4:1-3 — What is Christian unity and why is it so important? These questions come to the fore when we see Paul mention people by name, in the church at Philippi, who had fallen out. He urges them to be reconciled and he asks others in the church to help. As Pastor Brendan takes us…
Luke 6:46-49 — In these verses we have the conclusion to Jesus’ sermon in Luke chapter 6. It opens with a series of “blessings and woes” (vs.20-26) and it closes with a powerful illustration (vs.47-49). Jesus pressed His hearers to actually do what He said! — “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the…
Hebrews 1:3b — In terms of His deity, is the Son similar to God or exactly that same as God? This is a critical question in understanding exactly who the Son is and it has serious implications for the doctrines of the Trinity and the Person of Christ. Thankfully, the writer to the Hebrews answers it…
Jeremiah 7:29-8:1 — “Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places…” All that was left for Judah to do was mourn. No longer was God calling His rebellious people to repent, rather He had rejected and forsaken “the generation of His wrath.” The Babylonians were going to come and destroy the city, take thousands…
Luke 6:43-45 — What we say reveals the condition our heart. That’s what Jesus taught in these verses as He spoke of trees and fruit. Our speech, like good fruit, is evidence of a good tree, or, like bad fruit it points to a bad tree. Jesus said it plainly at the end of the section,…
Hebrews 1:3a — For nearly 1,700 years the church has confessed that God the Son is “Light of Light, very God of very God.” This is in keeping with what the writer to the Hebrews says concerning the Son in the opening lines of his letter – “Who being the brightness [effulgence] of his glory.” It’s also in keeping…
Matthew 27:27-31 — After Jesus had been condemned to die, the Governor’s soldiers took Him to their barracks where they violently humiliated Him. They dressed Him up as a king with a purple robe, a crown of thorns and a stick for a sceptre. They bowed the knee and mockingly proclaimed “Hail, King of the…
Colossians 3:14 — “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Love is the fountainhead of authentic Christian virtue. That’s what Paul teaches us in this text as he brings to a close his discussion of the “new man” and his “new clothes.” Without love, our efforts to exercise the Christian…
Philippians 3:17-21 — Every person has a worldview, that is, a framework of beliefs through which they interpret the world. These beliefs and assumptions inform a person’s values and decisions. In this text the Apostle Paul describes two worldviews, one that is self-centred and earthly and another that is Son-centred and eternal. He explains what happens…