Read the text – Psalm 27
The Lord is the Light of my Salvation – dwell, seek, learn and wait on the LORD. As Christian get ready for the Christmas season, Psalm 27 is a good reminder that it is because of Jesus that it is possible to dwell forever with God.
Dave Swan gives us a Jesus shaped hope and prepares us to make the most of the Christmas season.
Read the text – Matthew 18:1-14
‘Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?’, the disciples famously ask. And the answer given, is to look at the child. For the little child, the little ones as this passage will highlight are the ones who come in humility before God.
In this Bible talk, Dave Swan will help ‘those who believe’ in Jesus to understands what it is to stand before he who is in fact the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven – he who in grace makes it possible for all to come to into the kingdom of heaven confident in their forgiveness.
Read the text – Matthew 17:1-13
The disciples Peter, James and John travel up the mountain with Jesus and come face to face with those key Old Testament figures of Moses and Elijah – yet it is Jesus who stands out. A voice from heaven declares: ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’ (Matt 17:5). This is not the first time such a pronouncement has been made.
In this talk, Dave Swan helps to show why it is so important to listen to Jesus – the son of God, and the one who is going to suffer (to the point of death) and then be raised from the dead.
Read the text – Matthew 15:1-28
In Matthew 15 we see Jesus interacting with a few different groups of people – the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the crowds, the disciples and a Canaanite woman – quite a demographic spectrum! The role of traditions verse the role of the Word of God comes into focus as Jesus shows them what it means to truly be a person of faith in Jesus.
In this Bible Talk, Dave Swan helps us check our heart – for what comes out of a person either shows a hypocrisy or a faith that honours Jesus.
Read the text – Matthew 11:1-19
In this talk, Dave Swan reacquaints us with the gospel of Matthew as a historical and reliable source of knowing Jesus. And we, along with John the Baptist we ask the question: ‘Are you [Jesus] the one who is to come to save us?’
Read the text – 1 Corinthians 15:35-16:24
This is not the age for the self-fulfilment and glory of human beings – there is an eternity for that (we will be changed and given a new resurrection body). This is the age for the work of the LORD – our labour in the Lord, though it looks weak now, is not vain (like the death of Jesus and like our bodies).
In this talk Dave Swan, warns us from the last section in the first letter to the Corinthians, to not be driven by the present age and by what we see. For now is not the time for the work of the gospel to look splendid, it is the time for gospel work and that work will look weak (v58).
Listen to this world, have your life shaped by the resurrection, so that when you do experience death you might also know the wonder of the resurrection.
Read the text – 1 Corinthians 15:12-34
The Corinthians live for the ‘now’ as they deny the resurrection, so they have always focused on looking good now, but the Apostle Paul shows how foolish this is. Paul shows instead that our glory comes through weakness, just as life comes through death, so his ministry is marked by weakness and death. As Paul commands in 1 Corinthians 15:33-34, Christians we must be careful of being led astray by those who would have us focus on living for now.
In this talk Dave Swan, wants to help the listener fix their eyes on eternity. To have a life shaped by the resurrection, so that you don’t live for the now, but for eternity, and so that you can take steps to encourage others to live for eternity as well.
Read the text – Matthew 9:18-34
Whilst Jesus appears to have the power to do anything, he uses it to demonstrate his compassion on all who come (regardless of their station in life) – and the outcome: faith. In this talk, Dave Swan, considers how Jesus shows his goodness and compassion to those who had faith during his time on earth, and they were healed. Just like those who met Jesus during his time as a man, everyone should also put their faith in him and trust his goodness. Not everyone does.
Read the text – Matthew 8:1-17
Jesus is confounding. Reading through the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus do some extraordinary things and the result is that some follow and some turn their backs on him. That is not so different from today. We often expect the extraordinary before we allow ourselves to believe something. As such we settle for the normal and mundane, all the while wishing for the extraordinary. Jesus came into the normal and mundane, but he did that which was extraordinary. He does what we hope by doing what we find hard to believe! How confounding.
In this Bible Talk, Dave Swan looks at the unparalleled authority which Jesus demonstrated – his ability to heal a man with leprosy, the servant of the a Roman centurion, Peter’s mother-in-law, those who were demon possessed – all people who suffered because of their circumstance, but also because of there status as outcasts under Jewish law. He heals, and in doing so he fulfils what the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would do.
This should encourage us to examine our faith in Jesus, by looking at how an encounter with Jesus shaped the belief of others.
The book of Joel is probably best known to Christians because of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in the Book of Acts, where he quotes Joel to explain the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all people. But the main emphasis in this book is the Day of the Lord, a day when the powerful presence of the Lord God will bring judgement – meaning deserved punishment for some or deliverance and blessing for others. What will that Day bring for you?
Talk 1 – A Clear and Present Danger (Joel 1:1-20)
Read the text – Joel 1:1-20
What grabs your attention? The natural events and the voice of the prophet are what God used to grab the attention of his people.
In Talk 1, Gary Haddon looks at the lament over Israel’s poor situation – a lament which leads not to a complaint against God, but a call to repentance in the light of the coming Day of the Lord.
Talk 2 – Sound the Alarm (Joel 2:1-17)
Read the text – Joel 2:1-17
Throughout history, we find all sorts of ways that societies have ‘sounded the alarm’ to alert their people to a serious and immediate danger.
In Talk 2, Dave Swan looks at Joel 2:12-13 as the key to the final question of verse 11 – ‘who can endure the Day of the Lord?’
God offers the way to endure the Day of the Lord: return to him “with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning”. That is, in true repentance and faith.
Talk 3 – The Lord Responds (Joel 2:18-32)
Read the text – Joel 2:18-32
Life is full of uncertainties, but even in the midst of it all there is a constant: Gods’ voice and his promises in his word.
In Talk 3, Dave Swan shows us the way the Apostle Peter uses this part in his Pentecost speech – to point people to Jesus as the answer!
The Day of the Lord is about the presence of God. Which for some will spell disaster, but for those who call on His name and seek refuge in Him, will be the day of blessing – the day of a permanently restored and renewed relationship with their God.
For Bible Studies to accompany this series see Bible Studies – Joel: The Day of the Lord
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