Therefore he is the praise of all his servants: of the children of Israel, a people that is near him. Praise the Lord. Psalm 148:15 An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt……
Recently a friend of mine left from Brisbane and drove to Melbourne and then onto Pillip Island. They were glad to arrive at their new home. Along the way they had passed huge areas of land that had been blackened and destroyed by wild fire. My friend said even some…
Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14[i] When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne…
There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ Luke 23:38 Mark Davis concludes his reflection on the Gospel and particularly on this verse with the words: I am not sure how capable we are of ridding our minds of tyrant kings, cruel emperors,…
John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?” Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on: The blind see,…
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6 Last week you may have thought Isaiah was off with the fairies when he spoke of…
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they…
23 O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. 24 The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with…
Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’ Luke 17:19 It is important for us to remember as we hear this story that we are reading Luke’s Gospel. Luke is keen for his hearers to know that Jesus seemed to…
29-32 “What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.…
