Revised Common Lectionary

Jesus is "greater than Jonah" (Luke 11:32). Think of the great servants of God in the Old Testament. Jesus is greater than all of them! He's more than a servant of God. He's the Son of God. He's more than a messenger, sent by God. He's the Saviour, sent from God. How great is our Saviour? He's greater than we can we put into words. He's greater than we can imagine. He's the greatest! His love is the greatest love of all!

1 Chronicles 18:1-20:8  Lord, there are no "giants" able to stand in Your presence (1 Chronicles 20:8). We face the "giants" of unbelief, disobedience, spiritual pride and self-righteousness. By Your "divine power", these "giants" will be brought to nothing (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Let the "giants" come tumbling down. Let us "grow in grace." Let us give all the "glory" to You, Lord (2 Peter 3:18).

This Psalm begins with a tremendous statement of faith - “In the Lord I take refuge.” The whole Psalm should be understood in the light of this tremendous statement of faith. * From the vantage-point of faith, the Psalmist is able to overcome the temptation to doubt God (vs. 1-3). - His enemies say to him, “”Flee like a bird to your mountain.” The Psalmist replies, “In the Lord I take refuge.” - The “wicked” are out to get him. The Psalmist looks at them, and says, “In the Lord do I take refuge.” - It seems that “the foundations are being destroyed.” The Psalmist looks to the Lord, and says, “In the Lord I take refuge.” * From the vantage-point of faith, the Psalmist views the whole of life in the light of God: "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates. On the wicked He will rain fiery coals and bur...

 * Our Question: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job)  * God's Answer: "He (Jesus) is risen."

Genesis 11 * "Scientists can become so fascinated by what they could do that they do not even stop to think about whether they should." (Dr Ian Malcolm). * "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs" (Dr Ian Malcolm). * "I was overwhelmed by the power of this place, but I did not have enough respect for that power" (Dr Ellie Sattler). Monsters are created and morality is forgotten (see Robin Cook's book, Mutation). "Can we do this?" is not the only question that needs to be asked. "Should we do this?" must also be asked. When is morality forgotten? - We forget morality when we forget God. We forget morality when we forget to ask. "What does God want us to do?" What happens when God is forgotten, when we forget about what God wants us to do? "Come, let us build ourselves a city (a 'Jurassic Park') and a tower with its top in the heave...

Hosea 5:15-7:16 We are to leave the old way of sinful disobedience and follow the new way of faith and obedience: ‘Come, let us return to the Lord... Let us press on to know the Lord’. As we return to the Lord, pressing on to know Him, His blessing returns to us. He leads us in the way of fruitfulness: ‘He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth’(6:1,3). We must not be like those who react to God’s Word with ‘pride’: ‘They do not return to the Lord their God’. God longs to ‘redeem’ them, yet they ‘rebel against’ Him: ‘They do not turn to the Most High God’(7:10,13,16). Our ‘love’ for God is not to be ‘like the early dew that disappears’. Let us ‘acknowledge our guilt and seek His face’. Let us love Him with a ‘steadfast love’(5:15; 6:4,6). Hosea 8:1-9:17 ‘Israel’ had ‘forgotten’ and ‘forsaken’ the Lord (8:14). We have not remembered the Lord. We have turned away from Him. We have forgotten Him. We have been ‘unfaithful’ to Him. T...