Last Sunday morning, we heard from Acts 7:54-8:8 together. In this passage, Stephen is killed for his faith in Jesus. A widespread persecution then breaks out against the church, and believers are scattered across Judea and Samaria, where they carry the gospel into a new region. We especially saw that as Christians, we and the worldwide church will eventually suffer for our faith. Yet, even in the midst of suffering and persecution, there is hope. Jesus Christ our Savior has suffered before us, dying to pay for our sins. Not only that, but God even uses suffering and persecution to spread His Word in this world. One day, our suffering will be over, and Jesus Christ will welcome us His blood-bought children home to glory. This week, take some time to thank God for Jesus Christ who suffered and died to save us. Then, ask for strength from the Holy Spirit that we and the worldwide church can face whatever suffering we experience with patience, faith, and grace.

On Sunday morning, we looked at the curse that God put on the world as a punishment for sin. This explains so much of what our world is like. Conflict between good and evil, difficulty in child-raising, conflict in male-female relationships, and frustration with work are all part of God's curse. And, of course, death was now a reality. Life, in many ways, is hard now. We feel the challenges and the futility of living in this world. We have no way of fixing it ourselves, just like Adam was not given a way to fix it. God instead gave him hope and explained that one day it would be fixed. That solution is only found in Jesus. Sin explains why our world is a mess, and many feel the difficulty of living in this world under a curse. Yet we have hope, and joy, because of Jesus. One day the effects of the curse will be completely gone for those who trust in Jesus. In the difficult times that come this week, remember this. The effects of sin are temporary but the future hope we have is eternal.

On Sunday morning, we looked at the terrible fall into sin in Genesis 3. The man and woman, tempted by the serpent, decided to do what God had told them not to do. This led to all of us being like them, choosing what we wanted instead of what God has for us. This led to awful outcomes for them, conflict between them, the reality of shame, and hiding from God. This passage is helpful for us in at least two ways. One if that it shows us what sin is like, even in our own lives. We need to trust God's word and understand his rules are for our good, and resist temptation with the help of the Spirit. The second way is that it shows us why we need Jesus, God's perfect solution to the sin problem. If left to ourselves, we hide, we don't earn our way back to being right with God. Spend some time this week both confessing your sins and asking for God's help, as well as thanking God for sending Jesus to die for our sin.

On Sunday morning, we looked at the relationship between men and women from the end of Genesis 2. We already knew that men and women are equal in God's sight, both made in God's image - we saw that in chapter 1. This passage described the creation of woman as a way of helping with the issue of man being alone. People need one another. We need to have relationships with the opposite gender from ourselves. There is difference in role but equality in value between the genders. We shouldn't read the word 'helper' here as a word that describes a lesser person in any way! God made men and women because each gender has a different way of honouring God and living well in God's world. While there will always be gender wars and disagreements and cultural issues to work through, we must always remember the principle of equality in value and difference in function. 

We looked at Paul's prayer at the start of the letter to the Philippians on Sunday morning. We noticed that it was full of references to God and Jesus; the focus of this prayer was not Paul's needs, but Jesus. He took time to thank God for the Philippians and to pray for their growth and fruit in the gospel. This type of prayer is so different to a lot of our prayers. We can easily fall into the shopping list kind of prayer, where we just ask God for the things we would like to happen. That makes God someone who simply does what we want; the reality is the other way around. We should ask how we can better serve and honour God with our lives. If we love Jesus and see serving Him as the priority in our lives, that should mean we pray for God's priorities and not ours. Take time out to pray this week. See if you can pray without asking for the urgent things you often pray for - fill it with thanks and prayer for growth in godliness. Pray for other Christians too. This will be more in line with the way prayer is modelled for us in the Bible.

On Sunday morning, we continued our journey through the early chapters of Genesis. Genesis 2 shows us what a perfect world looks like. We often dream of a perfect world as being all about us, yet God is at the centre here, making the world exactly as it should be. The account here is historical, with real place names, even if we have lost some of the place names over time, and it will be once more in the future. God reminds us here that there are two important things to know about being human. One, we are dust. Two, we have had the breath of life put into us by God. People are made special by God. This account challenges us to see what is really important in our world. We shouldn't spend all our effort on collecting things that are ultimately dust; we should seek to honour the One who made us. We should love Jesus, the One who could be the perfect man none of us could ever be, the key to being in God's perfect world in the future.

On Sunday morning, we looked at the famous image of God passage at the end of Genesis 1. God made so many good things in his perfect world, but people are special to God. We are the image and likeness of God, those called to rule the world under Him. This is a privileged position and a great responsibility. This special status comes with a task: to fill the earth and subdue it. All of us are called to contribute to the development of God's world. We have not done this well, and we need Jesus the perfect image of God to save us, but we are still called to honour the one who made us. These ideas have many different implications. All people are special to God, even if they reject God, even if they feel confused or depressed about themselves. Our worth is not in what we contribute but in who we are. If this is true, consider how you treat those whom you come into contact with this week. All of them matter to God. All of them need God. Christians should be those who treat everyone well and who advocate for those who need our help. It is an incredible blessing to be one of God's image bearers.

We started looking at the book of Genesis together on Sunday morning. Genesis 1 is foundational for our faith, telling us of the God who made everything. God does all the action in the creation, making everything from nothing. All was done in order and all of it was very good and beautiful. The creation tells us that everything belongs to God and He is worthy of our worship. It introduces us to the God who brings people from darkness into light, from emptiness into being very good and at peace with God through Jesus. All of this should remind us to take the time to enjoy God's creation and thank God for our world and even our existence! We take all this for granted too often. We worship the creator God.

On Sunday morning, we completed our tour of the book of Galatians. Paul concluded his letter by touching on the main themes he had written about throughout the book: how central Jesus and the cross should be to us. The world is happy if our faith leads to us trying to be nice. They are less happy if we speak about sin and the need for Jesus. The cross is offensive to many, because it means we cannot save ourselves and all of us are equal in God's sight. Yet the cross of Jesus is the most important thing for us to understand! Striving for whatever we think the good life is, comparing ourselves to others, simply won't satisfy us or fix the issue we have with God. We must aim at living in such a way that we chase the priorities of God, not trying to impress the world. Think about this during the week. How different is your life and your idea of success in this life compared to those who don't know Jesus?

On Sunday morning, we looked at Galatians 6:1-10. Paul here is encouraging the Galatians to bear one another's burdens. The Christian life should not be an individual sport. While our culture and our fear might tell us to focus on ourselves and everything else is 'someone else's problem', that's not how Christianity works. All Christians are equally saved sinners, and not in competition with one another. We are to help one another, to pray together, to give money if needed. In all kinds of ways we show our faith through how we love one another. Take time to consider this during the week. Thank God for those who have loved and supported you. Think of one person you could practically encourage this week.

On Sunday morning, we considered the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:16-26. Paul describes the Christian life like a battle. On the one hand, we are sinful people who want selfish and evil things. On the other hand, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we want things that honour God and make us more like Jesus. We used to live in ways that only benefitted us, giving into our desires and leading to division with others. Now, due to God's work, we can produce fruit that builds others up and honours God. Paul encourages us to understand that we can cultivate this fruit, we can pray and encourage others and listen to God's word and take part in the sacraments. We should resist temptation and work on godly fruit. This is possible for us, and it is all God's work that makes it possible. Take time to reflect on sins you often find yourself doing. Ask God for help with them. You can say no. Work hard on becoming more godly, and remember that God loves to work through His Spirit to do this.

On Sunday morning, we returned to Galatians to look at Galatians 5:1-15. Paul is more formal here, explaining that focusing on what we do (including circumcision) contradicts the gospel. As soon as we fail to focus on Jesus and instead focus on our actions and religion, we are trying to be right with God through the law. Instead, we should be constantly focused on Jesus. Our actions should be motivated by love and be seen in service. The key phrase was to have faith working through love. This means that we are not looking to help others or serve God to prove ourselves or to impress others, but because we know God loves us. How can you treat someone with love today? Spend some time thanking God for Jesus.