Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 in total
Micah 6 - Do justice
What does it mean for God to love justice? The idea of justice appeals to everyone who feels ripped off, but "God's judgement" can sound threatening. There are aspects...
Exodus 34 - Slow to anger
Divine wrath can be a difficult concept to put alongside a "loving God". In fact, this attribute of God is perhaps more prominent in the Bible than in many contemporar...
1 Corinthians 13 - Not jealous
God is passionate and compassionate. We (meaning humans in general and Seventh-day Adventists in particular) tend to be somewhat distrustful of emotions, but it turns ...
Luke 15 - We had to celebrate
This belated episode explores what it means to "be pleasing to God". Some disruptions are referenced at the start of the conversation, and others persisted long enough...
John 11 - a deep anger welled up
Is anger incompatible with love? This question from the quarterly introduction leads in many productive directions. It comes up in this context because many Christian ...
Isaiah 53 - Light of life
We start a new season looking at the God of Love and Justice. There's a lot in Christian history that suggests love and justice are somehow opposing attributes of God....
John 21 - They didn't recognise him
It is important to focus on the resurrection as we conclude an exploration of John's gospel. This is a well-known passage, but worth revisiting. It is interesting that...
John 19 - We have no king but Caesar
John's gospel includes an extensive interaction with Pilate as part of the crucifixion story. There may be no "book of Pilate" in the Bible, but there are some interes...
John 16 - I am going away
How can it be best for the followers of Jesus if He goes away? This is a simple statement Jesus makes in John 16, but it seems at first glance quite counterintuitive. ...
John 14 - Way, Truth, Life
We look at seven "I am" statements from Jesus in the gospel of John. It is interesting to see some patterns in these various passages. People listening typically have ...
John 6 - has eternal life
John loves the phrase "eternal life", but what does it tell us? This phrase in John serves a similar role as the phrase "Kingdom of God" in the synoptic gospels. We ex...
Psalm 69 - Passion for your house
It is interesting to explore how Jesus fulfills themes and concepts from the Old Testament.
John 11 - I have always believed
"Blessed are those who believe" sounds wonderful, but what does it really look like? The resurrection of Lazarus is a fantastic story, and features in quite positive d...
John 6 - To whom would we go?
Is the majority usually wrong? The lesson study guide this week poses this idea as a comfort for people who feel like they are in the minority, like Adventism is withi...
John 4 - He told me everything
The Samaritan woman at the well prompts us to explore the role of testimony. We spend some time rehabilitating this woman's reputation somewhat, and exploring how Jesu...
John 1 - Come and see
John 1 records this strong and confident statement as a profound witness of Jesus as Messiah. The story is about Jesus calling his early disciples, and them also calli...
John 1 - Revealed God to us
Analogies are so compelling that we need to be careful to keep them the right way around. Humans are story-telling creatures and so good analogies and narratives capti...
John 6 - All had enough to eat
What features of a miracle make it a "sign of divinity"? The well-known story in John 6 tells about Jesus miraculously feeding the 5000, and it seems an interesting co...
John 5 - Pick up your mat
A well-known miracle makes us think a bit harder about "signs". The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is a great story, but the more we look at it the more questions ari...
Mark 16 - Trembling and bewildered
Jesus is risen, go and tell! The Book of Mark seems to have multiple endings, and the earliest manuscripts lack the final few paragraphs we typically find in our bible...
1 John 3 - Give up our lives
In John 3:16 we find that God gave himself for us. In 1 John 3:16 we find that we are to give ourselves for others. The cross is not just the center of our own salva...
Mark 14 - This is my body
The Last Supper is a remarkable overlap of ritual and routine. The menu for the meal recorded in this chapter was almost certainly quite familiar everyday food for Jes...
Mark 13 - Not one stone
The destruction of the temple seems to be blended here with the end of time, and things are not super clear. This chapter is almost entirely a sustained speech by Jesu...
Mark 11 - The fig tree you cursed
A number of challenging statements are made in this chapter of Mark. We focus on the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree, which seems somewhat unfair given that it was n...
Mark 10 - What do you want?
Is it possible that Jesus enhances the gift by allowing Bartimaeus agency in choosing it? At first it seems almost strange for a proven healer to ask a blind man what ...
Mark 9 - Only by prayer
A lot happens for the disciples once Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah. It is fascinating to connect this conversation Jesus has with his disciples with the story...
Mark 7 - Eat the scraps
In an encounter that sounds provocative we learn some deep truths about the Mission of Christ. We can't fully understand why Jesus responded to the Syrophoenician woma...
Mark 5 - Send us into those pigs
The strong emphasis on the authority of Jesus continues through a number of stories. We briefly discuss Jesus calming the storm at the end of Mark 4, and then spend so...
Mark 4 - How will you understand?
Mark 4 presents a number of seed stories, and we go looking at even more. It is interesting to see how useful the agricultural analogy of seeds are for Jesus and other...
Mark 2 - What is easier to say?
Mark's rapid story-telling presents a healing and a confrontation with religious leaders. The paralysed man being lowered through the roof is a well-known story, but h...