God Restores - Job 42

Through this term we have been looking at Job, reaching the point where he is 'undone' before the magnitude of God, finding himself on the floor in repentance. From this point God restores Job (verse 10 onwards).

God's Final Word - Job 39 - 41

After all of Job's words and discussions with his friends, Job gets his wish! God addresses him directly. Curiously God barely addresses the content of Job's complaints. Instead God gives Job a kind of IMAX cinema experience giving a cosmic tour of creation - the equivalent of a helicopter ride over mountain ranges, looking out towards space, and then from that high level view down to the intricacies of nature.

True Fasting - Job 29

Job looks back on better days in his life, before the current tragedy and hardship he is now in. He remembers God's intimate friendship and blessing. He recalls how he commanded respect in the town amongst young and old, with people speaking well of him. This was because of the way he treated people - all people regardless of their status. He would rescue the poor crying for help, the orphans left stranded, befriend the dying, and stand by the widow left to her own devices. He remembers putting on righteousness as his clothing, justice as his robe - in other words the way he lived his life exhibited these qualities that are often hard to find in everyday society. This was not just handouts - but acting 'like a father' in showing deep and genuine concern for people. He would even take up the case of strangers, and actively come against the wicked. All this commanded him great respect.

[OUT] Where does our sense of justice align with God's desire for justice?

 Challenge: Take a step back to discern God's priorities

Hints of Resurrection - Job 14 & 19

Job finds himself in a depressed and dark place - he sees the negative, the walls closing in, the outlook is bleak. So basically he wishes that he was dead. We have to be honest about this, because it resonates with feelings that a number of people will have - young people, older people, in fact across the age groups people today find themselves in a similar place.

[IN] Can we keep hold of truths about God even when things have gone wrong?

 Challenge: Rehearse what you know of God's character

Worship - Job 1

Job is introduced to us like in any other story - but it is hard for us to locate Uz geographically and in what time period he lived. Maybe that helps us. Perhaps it is better for us to read Job thinking 'this was just a guy in some place at some time'. What we do know is that he was well blessed - a lovely family with extensive wealth, livestock and servants. We are also told he was blameless and upright - he knew his place before God and he shunned evil. He had deliberate rituals to keep himself and his family right before God.

[UP] How do you feel about God when things get tough?

 Challenge: Choose to worship God no matter what

He is Risen! Mark 16

When looking at the Easter story it is worth giving a shout out to the women. They are the ones who tough it out at the crucifixion scene on Friday, watching Jesus die. They are the ones who are up early on Sunday (Easter) morning, coming to the tomb to finish the job of the proper burial of an important person. For on the Friday it was evening - already sabbath - by the time the body was put in the tomb. There was no time to properly treat the body, so that had to be left until Sunday morning.

Deadly Prediction - Mark 9

Many of us pray for revival - hoping for fresh waves of God that enable many to turn to Jesus. They will be great days ... but we shouldn't forget that revival coming does not mean that there is no cost: it will require people to lay down their lives, be prepared to be disrupted, all to join in with what God is doing.

Extravagant Heart, Costly Action - Mark 14

In Mark 14 Jesus is at a meal, but it is interrupted by a woman coming in and performing an extravagant act. She pours a whole bottle of expensive perfume over Jesus - causing surprise to all present.

[OUT] Where is God calling you to lose life in order to gain it?

 Challenge: Put yourself on the line for His cause

Feeding the Many - Mark 8

In both this and the Mark 6 feeding miracle it is like the ultimate Foodbank! People need food ... and it gets provided. The actual Ely Foodbank has been like it (albeit food provided by donations!) - the donations have kept coming to the tune of 584 tonnes over the 10 year lifetime, with just 2% being purchased. Even with the recent 60% increase in demand only certain items have run dry for short periods. This is God's economy of abundance!

Sabbath People - Mark 2 & 3

In some countries if you think and act in certain ways, you can land in serious trouble. Various regimes clamp down on people for daring to question or think different. The police who crack down become known as the 'thought police', because you get arrested for what you think. In the time of Jesus the Pharisees seemed to be the same - calling out people who thought or acted in certain ways as ungodly trouble-makers. When Jesus and his disciples were going from A to B, and took some corn as they passed through cornfields for an on-the-go snack, but it happened to be the Sabbath, it was the Pharisees who took issue with them.

IN - Are we letting 'the Jesus Way' transform our ways?

 Challenge: Take seriously the sabbath and kingdom principles of Jesus

Jesus: Forgiver and Healer - Mark 2

In the story of the paralysed man, the friends climb onto the roof to lower the man in order to reach Jesus through the crowds. It is worth us considering how much faith do we think each of the different types of people had: the teachers of the law, the crowd, the friends, and the paralysed man himself.

Jesus is on the Scene - Mark 1

Mark's gospel gets straight to it. It skips the Christmas story and runs throughout at a quick pace. Because of this and it being the shortest gospel, it is my preferred gospel to recommend to people who want to start reading the Bible.

[UP] Who do you really believe Jesus to be?

 Challenge: Turn belief into action