Messages

The related timings of the births of Jesus and John the Baptist

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It is not specifically stated in the Bible when Jesus was born. However, the indications from Scripture give us a pretty good guide of when He was born, and importantly, when He was not born. We are given clues in the details concerning the priestly service of John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, and the fact that Jesus and John were cousins.

Zechariah, was of the priestly division of Abijah (Luke 1:5,8). Back in King David’s day, the priests had been separated into 24 turns or divisions. These turns began in the first month of the Jewish calendar (1 Chronicles 27:2), March or April of our modern calendar. According to Talmudic and Qumran sources, the turns rotated every week until they reached the end of the sixth month, when the cycle was repeated again until the end of the year. This would mean that Zechariah’s division served at the temple twice a year.

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God’s Amazing Autumnal Celebrations

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God clearly describes the feasts, set in the yearly calendar of Israel in Leviticus 23, as His feasts, His celebrations. They are special events full of significance. They are called holy convocations, in Hebrew “miqra”, which also means rehearsals. beholdBy instituting the feasts, God was painting a picture of the various prophetic milestones of His entire plan of salvation! And by rehearsing them every year throughout the yearly calendar, His people would be able to recognise the fulfilments when they occurred as being the work of God. Jesus said all things from the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled concerning Him, Luke 24:44.

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The SERMON on the MOUNT (2)

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Part 2 of a series on The Sermon On The Mount by John Lavric

Matthew 5:6-7

The beatitudes are not a multi-choice question, choose any 1 from 8, but the building blocks of the character of a citizen of the kingdom. As Jesus goes through the sermon He will build on these basic principles. Knowing our poverty of spirit, mourning because of it and being meek or humble enough to acknowledge it will do us no good at all unless we are prepared to do something about it. These first three beatitudes imply the next one

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (vs. 6) Read the rest of this entry »

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July 2015

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I have been reading “The Way of the Master”, by Ray Comfort, which is the basis for the course which Steve is putting together, starting August. The first chapter is entitled, ‘A Dereliction of duty’. It speaks of what we know we should be doing but let other things take its place. He finishes the chapter by asking if we are praying for revival, but goes on to say if we are not sharing our faith it is though we are saying: ’Lord, I know that you have commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But we will stay here and pray. We know that you have chosen the  “foolishness” of preaching to save those who believe. But we will stay here and pray. And we know that the Bible asks us, “How will they hear without a preacher?” But  we will stay here and pray, because it is easier to talk to God about people than it is to talk to people about God’. Read the rest of this entry »

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The SERMON on the MOUNT

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Part 1 of a series on The Sermon On The Mount by John Lavric

Matthew 5:3-5

Rather than searching for which particular subject to consider next, I have decided to look at topics as they naturally arise in the Bible, beginning with the Sermon on the Mount? I don`t apologise for this even though I have preached though it at Celebration and Ashgrove and we have studied it at house group. Because its focus is on the citizens of the kingdom we should always keep it before us. It has influenced many ‘good’ laws since Jesus spoke it and is relevant for every generation. Let us first put it in its historical setting. This is one message, given in one location to a people waiting for a king to come and bring in his kingdom. For that reason I think a better title would be The Sermon of the Kingdom. Matthew records it as one complete sermon but I am sure parts of it were repeated. Jesus seeks to establish what are the pre-requisites for people to be part of that kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

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June 2015

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I was challenged by Dr. Annang`s sermon (see next page) on Paul`s prayer life. I knew that Paul always prayed for the churches that he ministered to, even those he hadn`t met, but what struck me particularly was the effort he put into it. I try to go regularly through everybody at church, lifting each one up to the Lord in prayer, asking that He might be with you in whatever situation your facing. But I have to ask myself, ‘Do I struggle in prayer? Do I wrestle in prayer?’ Prayer doesn`t come easily to anyone, especially pastors who are expected to pray about every aspect of church. I am no different. If I go into the inner room, as Jesus said, I struggle to keep awake. If I`m praying about some particular situation, my mind tends to wander to all sorts of irrelevancies, I have a wrestle to keep my focus on it. I suppose the question we must ask ourselves is, ’Do I put as much effort into prayer as I do into everything else?’ Spurgeon said, “He who prays without fervency does not pray at all.” We know what a great evangelist and church planter Paul was. He put as much effort into prayer as he did evangelism, We should be no different. Read the rest of this entry »

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Godly legacy

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Sometimes I wake up with a deep and clear line of thinking going on in my subconscious. It’s funny what can trigger it off. Last week I was browsing on Twitter and came across a photo of an old friend of mine from our church youth days. He was pictured with his 6mth old grandson and in the caption he was called Grandad. It made me smile and brought back many happy memories of what was a truly superb youth group back in the late 70’s at the Full Gospel Church on Pasture St in Grimsby. Click here to continue reading…

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