The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.Psalm 145:8If you had to summarise your Christmas experience in one or two words, what would it be? ‘Joyful celebration’, ‘good food’, ‘family fun’ or something like that? For me, it might be (if I was to be very truthful), ‘short fuse’ or ‘abounding in frustration’. After a long year, watching family come together only to figh...  Read More

One generation commends your works to another;they tell of your mighty acts.They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works.They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.They celebrate your abundant goodnessand joyfully sing of your righteousness.Psalm 145:4-7Between Christmas and New Year, we will take a break fro...  Read More

I will exalt you, my God the King;I will praise your name for ever and ever.Every day I will praise youand extol your name for ever and ever.Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;his greatness no one can fathom.Psalm 145:1-3Between Christmas and New Year, we will take a break from normal programming and spend the week in Psalm 145.I want to continue to reflect on these few verses. The Psalmi...  Read More

I will exalt you, my God the King;I will praise your name for ever and ever.Every day I will praise youand extol your name for ever and ever.Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;his greatness no one can fathom.Psalm 145:1-3Between Christmas and New Year, we will take a break from normal programming and spend the week in Psalm 145.The end of the year means school assemblies and awards at pri...  Read More

“See, I will create    new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered,    nor will they come to mind.But be glad and rejoice forever    in what I will create,for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight    and its people a joy.I will rejoice over Jerusalem    and take delight in my people;the sound of weeping and of crying    will be heard in it no more.Isaiah 65:17-19Full Rea...  Read More

Keep me safe, my God,    for in you I take refuge.I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;    apart from you I have no good thing.”I say of the holy people who are in the land,    “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.    I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods    or take up their names on my lips.Lord, you alone are my...  Read More

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning an...  Read More

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:Who, being in very nature God,    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing    by taking the very nature of a servant,    being made in human likeness.Philippians 2:6-7Full Readings: Isaiah 6:1–10, Philippians 2:6–11The humility of Christ is one of the st...  Read More

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”John 3:14-15Full Readings: Numbers 21:4–9, John 3:1–15Heaven. Paradise. Eternal life. For so many of us in the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong or in Australia, what happ...  Read More

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,he will see his offspring and prolong his days,    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.After he has suffered,    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,    and he will bear their iniquities.Therefore...  Read More

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”Matthew 27:38-40Full Readings: Isaiah 53:7–9, Matthew 27:32–44We’ve spoken a bunch about Jesus’ humility and I don...  Read More

Who has believed our message    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?He grew up before him like a tender shoot,    and like a root out of dry ground.He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.He was despised and rejected by mankind,    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.Like one from whom people hide their faces    ...  Read More