We have been spending a couple of months thinking about how to be increasingly secure in God’s love for us.
As we move towards the end of the series I really want to recommend this sermon by Timothy Keller. He just covers so many amazingly profound points and ideas that we don’t have time to unpack, but are so worthwhile hearing…
You can find it on this webpage by clicking here.
It’s on Apple Podcasts here. Or here on Spotify.
The last two weeks of our learning journey have been a mini-series, where we’ve talked about how we tend to segment our lives, and we can end up with a God/Church segment.
However, we’re made to involve God in all segments – even the ones that we don’t necessarily think of as spiritual.
On the second week we thought about how Jesus is the perfect example for us in every area of our lives. We concentrated on how his complete security in God’s love, care and plan made him able to go through life without ever feeling like he couldn’t always and perfectly be himself.
You can catch up on the two talks here and here.
However, it can be really hard to understand, from a distance of 2,000 years and 2,000 miles, that Jesus has any relevance for our modern, day-to-day lives.
The antidote to this is being in love with Jesus. If we are in love with Jesus and full of admiration, then naturally we find we want him involved.
The question is, how do we fall more in love with Jesus? How do we increasingly admire him?
Reading the gospels is a great place to start. You can notice how secure he is in all situations, never defensive or fearful or trying to impress others. He is never out of his depth and he is never pretending to be anyone other than himself.
You may want to try a fresh way to interact with Jesus. So, I thought I’d post some links to videos.
This is a playlist of the dramatised version of the Gospel of John:
This is the YouTube channel for The Chosen, a recent ‘box set’ of Jesus’ life: Click Here
Some selected scenes from the classic, Jesus of Nazareth:
Want to get a daily reminder that God is good, powerful, with us, loving… Would you like an encouragement to live a Jesus-sized life; to be generous, loving, forgiving, hopeful…
The Bible is God’s wisdom to us; tried and tested for thousands of years.
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
1 Timothy 3:16-17 (The Message)
Here are some good places to get a daily reminder and insight into God’s word.
This free smartphone app offers a fantastic range of options to help you engage with the Bible. It started out as a simple Bible app, allowing you to read the Bible on your phone in a number of versions. However the functions have increased over time.
Every day it has a new Verse of the Day for you to reflect on – along with the option to create an image of the verse, which you can share to your Social Media platform of choice. You can also search the Bible for suggested verses based on themes, such as Love, Faith, Fear and so on, or even by how you are feeling.
There are also loads of Bible reading plans, that last from a few days to months. These have a few Bible verses to read and an accompanying commentary or devotional. The app can be set to give you a daily reminder to prompt you to carry on with your plan.
It’s also a social platform, so if you create an account you can link to friends to see what plans they’re reading and so on.
One newer feature that I’m enjoying is the “Story” feature. This is an invitation to spend a few minutes considering their Verse for the Day, including some thoughts, a video message from a church leader and a prayer of response. You find the Story at the top of the app’s home page.
This has been my default Bible website for years. They have a verse of the day and number of devotionals that you can have sent to your email. I have enjoyed the C.S. Lewis Daily and the Care Instructions For A Life Worth Living devotional by John Ortberg.
You need to create an account to have the emails sent to you, but you can just access them on the website.
The daily devotions on this website, from American church leader Charles Stanley, are thought provoking and helpful. There is also an audio version if you want it read to you.
This is the popular paper booklet produced by United Christian Broadcasters. If you don’t receive the paper copy you can access each day’s word on their website – www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today
We do order paper copies for a number of people in the congregation and if you’d like to be included let Rachel at the office know.
Do you have a favourite place to be reminded of God’s word? Let us know in the comments below…