Here is the text of today's message on Luke 2
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Deepest Needs; Heb 4:14-16
Hebrews 4 leaves me on a perilous knife edge. Its says that the word of God, pure and penetrating, marvellous, intensely brilliant, cuts and exposes. The slightest stain on the snow outside, the smallest animal track, is instantly visible, revealed by pristine purity. According to Hebrews, that is what God's message is doing to me. Nothing in me is hidden before its raw, revelatory power.
Read moreThe Failure of British Christmas
If the birth of Jesus Christ as the Bible presents him is anything it ought to be life-changing. It ought to be world-changing. I want Christmas to change my life. I want it to shape my worldview. I want it to affect my deepest longings. I want it to speak to my heart aches and hurts. I want it to tell me about a God who loves me enough to come for me. And British Christmas basically fails.
Read moreGod's Eye is On You; Heb. 4:11-13
The Spirit-fuelled living word of God pierces, discerns hearts, judges intentions, that much is clear. But the "for", that little joining word, makes the penetrating nature of God's word a motive for the striving in v11. How is it a motive. That's my question this morning.
Read moreIs God Angry?
At the end of the day I suspect that the real reason we hate the idea of God's anger so much is not that we think it might be petty or impure, but that we fear that it might be right, glorious and completely pure - and that I might be on the receiving end of it with perfect justice on God's part. What hope would there be for me then?
Thankfully the story doesn't end there, and the writer is about to tell us exactly where help resides when God's holiness clashes with human sinfulness.
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