Campbell Street Church

This is one of those parables where the main point is often lost. We are told that a legal expect comes to test Jesus and to try to justify himself. Jesus knows what is happening and tells a parable to show that there is no place for legalism in a relationship with God.

Ephesians 1 is a great place to think about what we should want for ourselves and what we should want for others in the coming year.

It is strange that the Gospel writers give us so little detail on the early life of Jesus. John and Mark give us no information. Matthew and Luke give just a few details. What Luke gives us helps explain who Jesus is and what he has come to do.

The people of Israel are looking for blessing in all the wrong places. They are doing the very thing God hates. God treats sin very seriously and it greives him immensely when we are casual about it.

Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon … but sees God’s Glory … in Babylon. He is commissioned to preach to God’s people and explain why they are in exile and why Jerusalem will be destroyed. But by the end of the book he also gives them the most incredible hope.

Lamentations is probably one of the darkest books in the whole Bible. The setting is Israel are in exile and the book explains when they have been rejected by God. The only tiny note of hope is found in the middle of chapter (Lam 3:22-23)

Peter speaks to the leaders in the church and how they should operate as leaders. Again we see alien values – not the type of leadership that the world would suggest.