Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 in total
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...
Mark 1 - I know who you are
It's interesting that the first "healing" in Mark is casting out an evil spirit. This is a short episode recorded in somewhat adverse circumstances, and we notice the ...
Mark 1 - It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written
We're looking forward to a season exploring the Gospel of Mark. One of the interesting themes in this opening chapter is time.
Revelation 21 - All these things are gone forever
How do we keep our awe and attention on the Love of God as the story ends? The Adventist church has various more-or-less clear pictures it regularly tells about the cl...
John 8 - The truth will set you free
In the great controversy, what is Truth opposing? The lesson this week states it is a battle between "truth and error", but quotes from John 8 where Satan is called th...
John 20 - So I send you
We look honestly at the world in light of "the upcoming conflict" between God and Satan. The lesson this week takes a deliberate focus on the Catholic church and the p...
2 Thessalonians 2 - Every kind of evil deception
Deception is a key theme when discussing spiritual conflict and controversy. The topic for this week is satanic deception, which the Adventist lesson guide identifies ...
Exodus 34 - Filled with unfailing love
How does God's law reveal His character? We explore how God's Law (and the Sabbath) impact our picture of who God is. Are they the only way (or even a good way) of und...
Zech 4 - The foundation of this temple
Imagery from the Old Testament sanctuary pervades the Bible. A listener comment points us towards Zechariah 4, which mirrors many elements from Rev 11 that we discusse...
1 Peter 1 - Prophets wanted to know
Hope is an incredibly powerful motivator. Prophets are fascinating and unsettling in an incredible variety of ways throughout the Bible, but one consistent theme is an...
Revelation 11 - Power to my two witnesses
There's definitely controversy described in Revelation 11, and there could also be about this chapter! The lesson this week makes quite a strong statement about this c...
Ezra 10 - A proclamation was made
Reformers exhibit faith against all odds, but we recognise this more easily in hindsight. The bible has numerous accounts of "reformations", where followers of God eit...
John 9 - Now I see
Standing for the Truth is vital, but what if our "truth" needs tweaking? History is full of people who passionately defended what they felt was true, but which seems m...
John 17 - Teach them your word
Why is it so hard to accept an incarnational nature of scripture? Christians take that name because of their belief in Jesus as God incarnate - the whole point is that...
1 John 4 - Love God and love each other
"Love or selfishness" forms an interesting axis. It might seem strange not to contrast love with hate, but the book of 1 John spends a lot of time on the relationship ...
Genesis 2 - God put the tree
This new season will explore "the Great Controversy", and so we start with some of the biggest questions about good and evil. It is easy to get tied up in knots with t...
Psalm 126 - The Lord has done great things
It is tricky to summarise the Psalms, or even the things we've learnt from them this season. One helpful thought is that things are never "just symbols" - human societ...
Psalm 134 - Stand by night
"Worship that never ends" speaks to more than just time. Psalm 134 is extremely brief but packs in a number of interesting thoughts. There's a suggestion that worship ...