Read Your Bible, Find Your Saviour.

“In the beginning, God”  – The first four words of the Bible take us back to the point where we can go no further, back to the eternity of God. What do we find when we are taken back – into the heart of the eternal God? We find love. We discover that “God is love.” Creation is love because God is love. Before God made us, He loved us. The love which we find in the opening chapters of Genesis is the love that is proclaimed throughout God’s Word – from Genesis to Revelation. It’s the great love of God for us. It’s the love that never ends. It’s the love that goes on and on. * How do we get to know God the Creator? How do we come to know that His heart is full of love for us? In Genesis 1, three words are repeated over and over again: “And God said”. These words emphasize the creative power of the Word of God. God created through His Word. He proclaims His love to us through Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. He declares His love for us in the Scriptu...

Daniel 6:1-28 The deliverance of Daniel from the mouths of the lions - What a great miracle this is! It points forward to an even greater miracle - the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is the resurrection a greater miracle? - It seemed almost inevitable that Daniel would be killed, but he didn’t actually die. Jesus did die. The shadow of death hung over Daniel, but death did not take him. Jesus was raised from death. He was “crucified, dead and buried” - and, after all that, He was raised to life. The message of Daniel’s deliverance from the mouths of the lions - “For He is the living God, and He endures forever; His Kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion has no end” (Daniel 6:26). This is the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Daniel’s deliverance gives us a glimpse of God’s glory. Jesus’ resurrection is a marvellous and mighty revelation of the eternal God and eternal life (see 1 John 5:20 - “Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life....

Psalm 98:1-9  "Be jubilant, shout for joy and sing to the Lord... " (Psalm 98:4-5). Our joyful worship goes to the Lord. First, it comes from Him (Psalm 98:1-3). Israel looked back to the Exodus. We look back to Jesus - His death and resurrection. We do more than look back. We look forward - "He is coming" (Psalm 98:9).

“Come and see the shining hope that Christ’s apostle saw;  On the earth, confusion, but in heaven an open door...  Love has the victory for ever!” ( Mission Praise , 86). “On the earth confusion” - Is this all that we have to look forward to, or is there more than this? Is there nothing but bad news, or is there Good News - from God? As we head towards Easter, we need to be reminded that there is hope . Where does our hope for the future come from? Are we just hoping that everything will turn out fine, or are we looking beyond ourselves - to Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. If, in our reading of the story of Jesus Christ, we stopped after we had read about His crucifixion, we would be asking ourselves, “Is there any hope?” When we read about His resurrection, we move on - from “Is there any hope?”, to “There is hope”. When we look back - from Jesus’ resurrection to His crucifixion, we see that there is love . At the cross of Jesus, we learn that we are lov...

A Benediction song (Noel Grant, tune: What a friend we have in Jesus) God be with you through the night-time, God be with you through the day: Angels guard and keep you always, as you journey on your way. God be with you, ever bless you, as the days and years go by; Till we meet at last in glory, in the mansions of the sky.

“You get nothing for nothing. You only get what you pay for.” Is this cynicism – or realism? Let’s think together about something else – something that lifts us above all of this – the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the gift of God, the peace of God, the joy of God. “Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?…  He left His Father’s throne above – so free, so infinite His grace … ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me!” These words, from Charles Wesley’s great hymn of praise – “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?”, lift us into a way of thinking that is, truly, out of this world. We leave the world and its way of thinking behind us. We turn our thoughts to Jesus, our Saviour. We think of all that He has done for us – and we rejoice. We think of all the blessings that He gives to us – and we give thanks to Him. * God’s love is amazing. We see His love in the d...