During Lent and the Easter weekend, we explored eight encounters ordinary people had with God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
There were:

• Nicodemus the curious Religious Leader who came to "check Jesus out".
  
• A Samaritan woman at a rural water well, who Jesus could have quickly dismissed - but did not.
  
• A man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years, enabled to walk (and carry his bed!) by Jesus.
  
• A man born blind, given sight to see by Jesus.
  
• Lazarus who had died, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Mary & Martha, Lazarus' sisters.
  
• Jubilant crowds and angry Pharisees in the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
  
• An encounter of unequal power with Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor (Good Friday)
  
• Mary Magdalene, the first witness of the risen Jesus (Easter Day).
  

We will post summaries of these sermons here in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

If you think Jesus was a meek, gentle Teacher who cuddled lambs, read John 8:12-59. Could you deal with some of the measured insults He throws at the Jews who were trying to manipulate and corner Him? In fact, He offended them so much, the debate ends with serious physical violence as the enraged Jewish scholars picked up rocks to try and kill Him!
The Jews had worked very hard to create a pretty box for God. It was made up of the Temple, the laws and rituals, the priesthood, and their distinct heritage as the children of Abraham. They worked hard at keeping God in the box and not letting Him do anything ‘out of the box’.
In fact they had been so good at it, that for four hundred years before John the Baptist, God hadn’t sent a prophet or “Word of the LORD” to His people. They had kept God ‘under control’ despite the successive marches of the Persians, Greeks, Egyptians and Romans through their land.
But Jesus blew that box wide open and exposed the emptiness inside. He told them that God had NEVER been in that box. The Temple was about to be destroyed. The laws and rituals had suffocated God’s people rather than enlivening them. The priesthood wielded power ruthlessly and put down any challenge to their power (read Maccabees, and John 11:45-57). And the claim of being descendants of Abraham were genetically true, yet spiritually barren. Their faith was nothing like Abraham’s.
When the Jewish leadership pushed Jesus to tell them by what authority He taught and did deeds of power, they concluded He had a demonic power. As the argument escalated, Jesus claimed greater power, even life that never dies. The enraged Jews seized on His point and asked Him to clarify that He knew life that never died. They pointed out that faithful Abraham, their ancestor, had died, as did the prophets. They sneered at Jesus, demanding: “Who do you think you are?”
Jesus’ answer blew the Jewish box apart completely… He was not only intimate with God, but the Jews were not. In fact, Abraham knew Him and rejoiced that Jesus was the One to come, and the Jews in front of Him could not see who He was to save themselves… literally.
Then He topped it off with: “I tell you the truth… before Abraham was born, I AM!” (John 8:58) This was an outright claim of being one with the LORD God Most High, and being known even before Abraham had lived over two thousand years before.
Who could say such a thing and live? The Jews were sure they knew – and it wasn’t this middle-aged man in front of them.
How do you respond to Jesus when He blows your carefully crafted box of spirituality apart, and you find that you never had ‘control’ of God – ever?
Do you dare to ask Jesus “who do you think you are?”, and are you prepared to hear the answer?
Do you rejoice with Abraham that Jesus has come, and eagerly look forward to His return, to His resurrection and life, to eternity of full life, in full relationship, fully being known and knowing?
Jesus is greater than Abraham. That’s not a stunning idea to most people, but to His day, it was enough to get Him killed. Jesus is greater than you think. Take a peek in the box you have tried to put Him in – it’s empty. Pray that He will open your eyes to Him today.

Genesis 22 is easily one of the hardest sermons I have ever prepared and preached. And we (unintentionally) looked at this on Father’s Day…
The call to sacrifice Isaac is a test that all of us hope never to have to go through. But I believe the events in this chapter demonstrate God’s faith in Abraham as much as Abraham’s faith in God. God asked Abraham to do the unthinkable, take his only and beloved son, and kill him as a sacrifice. We don’t know how Abraham felt or what he thought of this. But the next morning, he and Isaac saddled the donkeys and went off to do it.
Then at the final moment, when Abraham had committed himself and Isaac to this course of events, God urgently (and, the language in the Hebrew seems to indicate, with relief!) called Abraham to stop! Of course Abraham stopped and untied Isaac. Then he found a ram to be sacrificed, provided by the LORD God (“Jehovah Jireh” or “Provider God”). The LORD affirmed all His promises and enlarged them even further, confirming that Abraham’s descendants would be powerfully protected, fill the land, and impact every nation and people group on earth. God would provide.
Would Abraham do as God called him to do? Could he?
Yes, and yes. God’s faith in Abraham was well placed.
In a powerful parallel, another gut wrenching scene was played out on a hill outside of Jerusalem over two thousand years later. This time, the sacrifice to be was not only willing but came explicitly to die on that hill, to faithfully do everything required for God’s beloved creation to be reconciled to Him forever.
Would Jesus go to the cross? Could He? Yes, and yes. He did so for the whole world, and for me, and for you, “giving His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
God the Father had complete faith in Jesus, God the Son, as Jesus did in His heavenly Father. The sacrifice was made, and Jesus raised to life in victory on Easter Day, and ascended to glory soon after.
When God tested Abraham, Abraham knew well enough that God had the means to give him his son back, through death or life (Hebrews 11:17-19). It wasn’t a wicked test for a young novice in faith. It was a command to a warrior of faith who knew and trusted the LORD his God completely. Even more, his son would never forget this lesson of faith, and pass on the lesson learnt to his sons Esau and Jacob. God provides. Jacob would become “Israel” (“he strives with God”), and the lesson would never be forgotten.
It may seem that God tests you beyond your capacity to deal with it. It’s probably true.
But the test is to see if you find your strength in Him, not yourself. Do you try to ‘fix’ it yourself or do you ask Him to do what is needed?
When you ask God to deal with the test, or trial, or difficulty you find yourself in, and ask by faith, you will find Him willing and ready to do it. Does this mean immediate healing or resolution of the problem or everything is as you think it should be again? Sometimes, but not always. We learn life’s greatest lessons through trials, and we should be different afterwards.
But when we try to do it in our own strength, or avoid it, we fail the test and face the consequences.

Abram had his doubts. As it seemed that God delayed His fulfilment of His promises, Abram began to make decisions for the future of his wealth and legacy. He planned to leave his affairs to his trusted servant Eliezer of Damascus.
God appeared to Abram again and confirmed His promises to Abram, and reassured Abram that He would keep them. God told Abram to go outside and count the stars in the night sky, if indeed he could – that was the number of his offspring-to-be!
“Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). This is easily one of apostle Paul’s favourite Bible verses. He used it frequently in his letters, encouraging and challenging the young churches around the Roman Empire to live by faith. It is by faith in Jesus we are made right with God, not by doing good things or avoiding bad things.
Abram was credited with righteousness because he believed God. God created a covenant with him.
So did God keep this covenant? Let’s jump to Deuteronomy 1:8-11 (about 500 years later):
8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” 9 At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. 10 The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!
I would call that ‘promise kept’!
In our service when we looked at this passage, we considered how our own experience and outlook may be like that of Abram’s.
Is the Church in terminal decline, slipping down to a dirty, untidy death?
Is this the last generation of Christians in our culture?
Is the rise of other religions a sign that God has shifted and doing something different?
The answer to ALL of these questions is No!
If we opened our ears and eyes to what God is doing in the world, in His Church, in bringing many people from other religions into a living relationship and covenant with Jesus Christ, we will quickly understand, like Abram, that what we think we see is not the whole story.
God is moving in His Church, which is growing exponentially in Africa, Asia and South America. He is working in the Church in Australia, growing and spreading amongst people who hear His Word – and believe. To them is given the kingdom of God, life that never dies, and the gift of righteousness along with faithful Abram.
God keeps His Word and His covenant. Jesus is the new covenant, and He is greater than anything raised against Him, including our doubts and fears.

Abram did not have a child with Sarai despite God’s promises of descendants and nations from them. Abram was 99, Sarai was 90 – the clock was not only ticking, by all natural accounts, it was well past time. Abram had a son to Hagar, Sarai’s maid, but that had not worked out well. How could God keep His promises of descendants, nations and legacy?
Had Abram left his homelands in vain? He had wealth and a large camp. He had long life and success in battle, honour amongst kings. But who would it all go to?
Genesis 17 is the beginning of the resolution of this dilemma. God spoke to Abram directly once more, renewing His promise to Abram. This time the promise of children was extended to Abram becoming the father of many nations, and his name was changed to “Father of many”, or Abraham. The whole of the land he had wandered in as a stranger and nomad would be given to his descendants. And Abraham was to initiate a sign amongst his descendants, the sign of circumcision as a distinguishing feature of his line.
But Abraham was still 99, and Sarai, who would become known as Sarah, was still 90. God spoke to Abraham and told him that he and Sarah would have a son.
Well, that’s a bit difficult to take in, isn’t it? And Abraham fell face down, and he laughed at the idea. And his laughing became the name for his yet-to-be-conceived-and-born son: “he laughs”, or “Isaac”. In Aussie lingo, we might call him “You’re joking!” That was the name Abraham and Sarah’s son was stuck with for his long life.
Yet Abraham faithfully circumcised every male in his encampment. He and Sarah conceived, and gave birth to the boy Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob, who became known as Israel. His sons were the twelve tribes of the nation Israel, including the tribe of Judah. Out of Judah rose a young man, David, to become king. His line endured until a young virgin gave birth in a stable in Bethlehem to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus the Christ. Abraham was a father to many, and ultimately to the One who has forever changed the world.
Did Abraham find what he was looking for in his days? Mostly I think he did. He clearly trusted God and took Him at His Word. He never saw the generations of his descendants, nor his offspring receive the land, nor the kings and nations that were his legacy.
He trusted God, and God did it.
The writer to the Hebrews in chapter 11 reminds us that Abraham, among many who lived between the Fall and Good Friday (Genesis 3 to John 19), never saw the fulfilment of their hope, but they remained faithful. So how can we neglect faith if our hope has been realised on the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus in or history? We look forward to Jesus’ return and rule because we look back to His life, death, resurrection and ascension.
We look forward to ‘seventh day rest’ in God’s design (Genesis 2:2-3) when our striving and battles are no longer, just as Abraham did. And we have more confidence because we know what God has done – so let us live in confidence in Him!

You gotta read Genesis 14. I can’t believe there hasn’t been a blockbuster Hollywood movie, or even better, a series, made from the story in this chapter. It’s a ripper!
It introduces the Priest-King of Salem, Melchizedek (try saying that name three times in a row). But first things first… Abram and his nephew had separated their wealth (in livestock) and Lot had “sold the farm” and moved his family into the city – a city called Sodom. Sodom was in an area of the land controlled by a “Northern Alliance” (my term) of five kings, interestingly enough, who came from Abram’s old homelands. An alliance of four “Canaanite Kings”, including the King of Sodom, rebelled against the Northern Alliance and declared a war of independence. They were obliterated.
The Northern Alliance then scooped up all the left-over people to take them north and use/sell them as slaves. Lot and his family were in that group of prisoners.
The word got out to Abram who mustered an army and pursued the Northern Alliance, who seemed to be complacent, if not drunk from their plunder and lazy from their victories. Abram’s guerrilla force overcame the Northern forces and released the prisoners, attacking the Northern Alliance right up and out of the land. He then escorted the released prisoners back south to their cities and homes – where he was met by the king of Sodom. The king of Sodom makes a demand he cannot justify (especially in light of his dubious survival on a blood-soaked battlefield), and Abram rejected him (Genesis 14:17; 21-24).
In stark contrast, Melchizedek the King of Salem (later known as Jerusalem) is revealed in the story. His origins and genealogy are unwritten, and he was mysteriously referred to as “priest of God Most High” (Genesis 14:18). He offered bread and wine, and blessed Abram in the name of the God Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth, and offered thanksgiving for the victory God gave to Abram (Genesis 14:19-20).
The Sodomite king made demands he should not have. The Salem priest-king brought a banquet and blessing to honour God – and Abram. Abram is honoured by this honourable ‘king of kings’ who held the position of power in the strongest fortified city in the land (Joshua 15:63; 2 Samuel 5:6-9). So Abram honoured the Salemite king with a tenth of all his plunder and spoil of victory, while the king of Sodom got nothing. Abram’s honour was secured as a warrior-nomad, and Melchizedek’s name continued on in the Bible through Psalm 110, and in detail in the letter to the Hebrews.
This enigmatic priest-king left a legacy that is honoured by God, of faithfulness and service that is exemplified in the life and work of Jesus. Indeed, according to the writer to the Hebrews, Jesus’ priestly service is in the tradition of Melchizedek, rather than the Levitical priesthood that had been tarnished and effectively lost. Melchizedek’s priestliness was eternal, just as Jesus is.
Jesus offers us the bread and wine in remembrance of His work on the cross to reconcile us with God Most High, our Creator. He honours us in His resurrection and new life, that we may have fullness of life in Him. How will you honour Him? What could you offer? And who are you offering to – the king of Sodom whose greed is never satisfied?
Or Christ the King, who forever prays for you as Lord of heavens and earth, and supplied everything for you to live in Him a life that never dies, and prepares for you good work to do in His name?

In the Bible, Genesis chapters 1-11 are considered pre-historical. When we get to chapter 12, we know something of the nations, peoples and places in the events described in the story of Abram (Genesis 11:27 to 25:11), and all that followed. Before his story, the recorded events are much more difficult to date and place, notwithstanding many clues, and are written to recall God’s work of creation (Genesis 1-2), the disaster that has befallen creation (Genesis 3), and the outworking of this (Genesis 4-11).
By Genesis 12, the recording of time has slowed down from millenia and centuries to years and months, and focused on one man in Mesopotamia. By a direct intervention in his life (the means is not revealed), God the Creator told Abram to “go”. It was a directive to leave family, homelands and security behind, to travel by foot many months travel, to an unknown land amongst unknown people. The directive came with assurances (Genesis 12:1-3), of greatness in name and descendants, blessing and a long-lasting heritage.
Abram went, with his wife Sarai and nephew Lot. He went by faith, a faith that has been described as “dynamic, trusting, maturing and tested.” He could not know what he faced or his future (Hebrews 11:8), but the intervening God who spoke to him clearly impacted him. He trusted this God (who was not one of his family’s silent deities).
The rest of the Hebrew Scriptures tells the story of Abram, his descendants who came to be known by the renaming of his grand-son ‘Israel’ (or ‘strives with God’), and their dynamic, trusting, maturing and tested relationship. God’s love and faithfulness remained constant toward them, but theirs was a struggle to stay faithful to Him. All the time they looked forward to the day when God would set Himself amongst them and lift His people up into power and authority.
Little did they realise that as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, His power and authority were being established in our world. The Jews (descendants of the Israelites) argued that as descendants of Abraham they were God’s chosen people by birthright and that could not be removed. Jesus reminded them that a child remained in a parent’s house by the parent’s will – and if they did not follow God’s will in faithfulness, they would lose their birthright.
God directed Abram to “go”. Jesus says the same to those who call themselves His people, and He adds on promises as well. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me… Go and make disciples, baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teach everything I have taught… and I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Will you go and do so in faith that is dynamic, trusting, maturing and tested?

The patriarch Abraham was the "Father of the Jews", and revered by the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faith traditions. His story is narrated in Genesis 11:27 to Genesis 25 in 'the generations of Terah', Abraham's father.
We looked at various parts of Abraham's story from the perspective of New Testament writings about him, concluding with the fierce debate in the Temple courtyards between Jesus and the Jewish leaders in John 8.
Jesus ended the debate with the words "Before Abraham was, 'I AM' " (John 8:58), leading the Jews to pick up rocks and seek to kill Him.
They did not succeed then, but did later as He died on the cross. But then all their plans went wrong as He rose, and affirmed His teaching and claims that He was one with the living God, and indeed was before Abraham.

The final section of the Creed has two parts, a brief statement of belief in the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, and five statements of belief.
With the understanding of the Holy Spirit not only being sent by God the Father with the Son, but that the Holy Spirit is an active part of the Holy Trinity, Christianity has a unique faith in the Trinitarian Godhead, with three persons with three distinct roles, yet all united as one God in their divinity and purpose. I’m not going to elaborate further on Trinitarian theology, I have thrown out enough heresies already in trying to illustrate the Trinity!
Five statements of faith follow to complete the Creed:
Faith in the “holy catholic Church”, that is, the worldwide body and bride of Christ defined by faith in Jesus Christ, and distinct from all who profess unbelief and heresy.
“Communion of saints” refers to the unity of the followers of Jesus made righteous through His blood on the cross, all who have turned to Jesus in faith throughout history to this day. We are in communion with these saints, as the Body of Christ.
“Forgiveness of sins” is recognition that we are in fact sinners, and only reconciled to God the Father because our sins are forgiven by Him through Jesus. We are assured of this because Jesus is risen, ascended, and sent the Holy Spirit as the seal and guarantee of His promise that this is so.
“Resurrection of the body” reminds us of the future promise of life in a perfectly formed body that has no infirmity, disease, pain or disability, and yet is as recognisable to the Lord and to one-another as we are now. How? It is an article of faith, but the Apostle Paul outlines his thoughts on it really well in 1 Corinthians 15.
“the life everlasting”… doesn’t have the same punch in our understanding as it did to the early Church. A better understanding is “life to the uttermost and fullest, always”. The emphasis is not on the length of time, but the closeness and intimacy of such time. The example used on Sunday was to contrast an hour on a cold, drizzly day alone waiting for a bus that never arrives, with an hour with the closest of friends or partner. The cold hour feels like ‘forever’ and not in a good way. The hour with our nearest and dearest feels like a moment of treasure, never enough and yet always remembered. Such will be “life everlasting”… everlasting closeness that we desire to never end.
“Amen”. We don’t say this lightly, as it affirms our agreement to all these beliefs. It is our “Yes”, “I say that these things are true”. But we do say ‘Amen’ because these are the life-changing and world-changing beliefs the Christian faith stands on.
To do as Jesus commanded and fulfil the Great Commission, it is time we took the Creed seriously. So take it seriously. Memorise it. Challenge it. Study it. Teach it.

After the brief affirmation of the belief in one God, the God of the Jews, the Creed moves into the longest section, outlining the historical events of God the Son, known to us as Jesus of Nazareth. He is the ‘Christ’, the long-promised Saviour who would usher into human history the first stage of the kingdom of God. He is “the only Son of God”, unique in His relationship with God the Father. He is “the Lord”, holding a unique authority in creation, within whom is all the power and glory of God.
This is a considerable disconnect to the Jewish understanding of God, and separates Christian faith from Jewish faith.
The key historical events of Jesus’ earthly life are highlighted, His supernatural conception by the creative will of God through the Holy Spirit, His trial at the hands of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, His humiliating crucifixion, death and resurrection.
Then we remember that while His death on the cross was physical, His work continued as He ‘descended to the dead’. A common interpretation of this is that Jesus asserted His authority over death and the realm of the dead, so that no place or power would be exempt from His sovereignty – ever or anywhere. His resurrection is proof of this authority, and the power given to Him “to judge the living and the dead” upon His return.
In between His ascension, and return, the Creed affirms that Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the Father”, where He rules the heaven and earth, jealously watches over His beloved bride, the Church, and actively intercedes with the Father on our behalf.
The emphasis of the Creed is that Jesus was a man who lived within human history, and He is so much more, and all will be revealed including His sovereign power and authority. Every power on earth and in heaven is made subject to Him, forever, regardless of what freedom they may believe they hold in this age. There will be a reckoning, and it will be whether each one is reconciled to God the Father through Jesus, or not.