Look at the Lamb (Day 17)

Day 17 – Nick

Summary of Chapter 17

Verses 1-5: It’s good to continue to hear the echo of 16:33 as we start with 17:1 because this unique window into Jesus’ prayer life starts with,

After Jesus *said this*, he looked towards heaven and prayed…

The ‘said this’ is of course the knock-out verse from the previous verse and chapter,

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

This short section teaches us to have a faith-filled confidence in the completed work of Christ when we approach God in prayer, a victory that demolishes any trouble that Satan, or any evil group, can muster. Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 17)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 16)

Day 16 – Clair

Summary of Chapter 16

Verses 1 – 4a: Chapter 16 sees Jesus offer words of comfort to the disciples, although they may not have seen it that way initially. He wants His followers to know that they most definitely will face opposition.  He doesn’t try to pull the wool over their eyes by painting a rosy picture of the kind of life a true disciple of His would face.  He wants them to see that following Him carries a high cost. He is completely honest with them so that their faith in Him would not be shaken when opposition came their way and they would not fall away as a result. Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 16)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 15)

Day 15 – Pauline

Summary of Chapter 15

Verses 1-17: Here Jesus uses the analogy of a grape vine to describe how we should relate to Jesus. The word ‘remain’ (NIV) or ‘abide’ (NKJV) is repeated 11 times in 10 verses. Similarly, the word ‘fruit’ is repeated 7 times in 8 verses. Repetition is a technique used by writers to emphasise something that’s important; something that they don’t want you to miss.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 15)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 14)

Day 14 – Pam

Summary of Chapter 14

Verses 1-4:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”

These are good verses for evil days – to remember and commit to memory. Jesus reveals that, somehow, as followers of Christ, we have been given authority over our hearts to not let them be troubled. This isn’t meant to be a robotic attempt to put our heads in the sand, but a faith-based state of heart that we can rest assured in the knowledge that God ‘sees all and knows all’ and has a bigger picture for us one day. This is echoed later in John’s shorter letter,
Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 14)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 13)

Day 13 – Nick

Summary of Chapter 13

Verses 1-17: If you needed any convincing of the importance of the dinner table, (aside from all heart-warming Bisto adverts), just flick back and re-read chapter 12 and then this one, or read Acts and note the centrality of food within a sharing community of prayer – it’s all about the dinner table! But this is no ordinary dinner table; it’s the dinner table for the Last Supper, the last, that is, until we share at the marriage supper of the Lamb when we’ll get to drink the new wine of the new heavens and the new earth in the new City of Jerusalem! (see Rev.19:9).Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 13)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 12)

Day 12 – Nick

Summary of Chapter 12

Verses 1-11: This scene is spectacular! It’s a gospel-scene that requires faith and meditation to fully appreciate because of the threat of familiarity breeding its ugly, callousing contempt in our hearts. There is concentrated wonder for us here but the devil lurks in the shadows to steal, kill and destroy because he knows that wonder is uniquely and inextricably linked to our satisfaction in God and our effectiveness in the world.
Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 12)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 11)

Day 11 – Mairi

Summary of Chapter 11

Verses 1-16: News comes to Jesus that Lazarus, the brother of Mary (the woman who poured ointment on Jesus feet) and Martha, has become ill. Jesus loves this family and, as he takes the disciples to their village, he tells them that Lazarus has died but that his resurrection will be for God’s glory and their belief.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 11)”

Look at the Lamb (Day 10)

Day 10 – Nick

Summary of Chapter 10

Verses 1-21: As the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus’ main focus is for His sheep to find pasture (verse 9) with Him and to be led onwards by Him (verse 4). Good pasture means safe pasture in the context of this passage which starkly contrasts sheep with wolves and Shepherds with hirelings. Hirelings are people who work purely for material reward – the exact opposite of the heartbeat of the Shepherd King.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 10)”

Don’t Be A Ross

Christian Fundamentalism has a bad name because it’s a term that’s often used to stereotypically describe someone who believes in biblical orthodoxy…

…but in a BAAAAAAD way:

Christian Fundamentalists are regularly stereotyped as being inflexible, bigoted, arrogant, unloving, religious and legalistic and perhaps not ‘cool’, ‘street-wise’ or ‘relevant’ any more.

More specifically, at the apex of the negative branding of ‘Christian Fundamentalists’, is the notion that they are controlling and narrow-minded, damaging of ‘free thought’, emergent generations and general ‘freedom of speech’.

I don’t think this is what it means to be a Christian Fundamentalist.Continue reading “Don’t Be A Ross”

Look at the Lamb (Day 9)

Day 9- Olau

Summary of Chapter 9

Verses 1-12: Chapter 8 finishes with Jesus making a staggering claim about his identity (v.58, ‘before Abraham was born, I am’), and the theme of Jesus’ identity continues in Chapter 9. In v. 5, Jesus claims to be the Light of the world, and he illustrates this by literally opening the blinded, darkened eyes of the beggar. Jesus’ unusual method of mixing mud and saliva and asking the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam demonstrates the mystery rather than formula of the power of God to heal.Continue reading “Look at the Lamb (Day 9)”