Isaiah 55:1-5In the course of our lives we may receive many different invitations – to parties, to weddings, to marry someone, to take a new job, to subscribe to Horse & Hounds…But the greatest invitation of all is God’s offer of abundant life in his kingdom. What makes it so special, and what response does he call us to?
Isaiah 55:1-13Throughout life we may receive many different invitations – to parties, to weddings, to marry someone, to take a new job, to subscribe to Horse & Hounds…But the greatest invitation of all is God’s offer of abundant life in his kingdom. What is he offering, and how do we need to respond?
I wonder how would you react if you saw a church leader having lunch with a group of people who were guilty of fraud? Or maybe a Bible study leader hanging out with known drug addicts? Would you be a bit shocked, perhaps even judgmental, that they would even consider associating with such people? This is how Jesus was treated by the religious people of his day. We can distance ourselves from God not only in obvious rejection of him, but also in our religious morality – and this can be the more dangerous if it goes undetected…
“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something badly enough, and if you work at it hard enough, you can accomplish anything.” This “you can do it” mentality sounds exciting, but what about when the reality check hits us? What about when we can’t live the life we wanted to? And when we can’t keep the plates spinning? And when we can’t keep meeting people’s expectations anymore? What then?
Isaiah 6:1-8 The horror film The Fly introduced into popular culture the line ‘Be afraid. Be very afraid’. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of God? Do you fear him? Is that a right response to God? If so why? And what happens if we don’t?
