The character of Jacob in the Old Testament is no small, ‘bit part’ player. As one of the patriarchs, with Isaac as his father and Abraham as his grandfather, Jacob plays a vital role in the unfolding of God’s promises to Abraham ‘to bless all the nations’ through him. However, in recording the arrival of Jacob onto the scene, Moses tells it, ‘as i…

When Matthew records the plight of the two blind men by the side of the road in Matthew 20:29-34, he completes the theme of ‘the first and the last’ that Jesus has been speaking of in this chapter of this gospel. If James and John were seeking to be ‘first’ in the previous section, then these men were surely among those he referred to as the ‘last’…

When James and John (through their Mum) approached Jesus in Matthew 20:17-28, they were clearly men who wanted to put themselves first. The did this even though Jesus had been speaking quite a lot about the inverse principle of His Kingdom, that the ‘first will be last and the last first’. Their request, which made the other disciples angry, was on…

Sometimes chapter breaks in the Scriptures aren’t that helpful. The chapter break that divides the end of Matthew 19 to Matthew 20:1-16 is a prime example. In Matthew 19;30, jesus had just spoken about the ‘inverse order’ of his kingdom, that is, the ‘first will be last and the last first’. And then to illustrate that point, Jesus went on to tell a…

The motto of ‘let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’ is sadly all too common in our society. In fact, such a motto is nothing new, but was around in the prophet Isaiah’s day at least 700 years before Christ! The motto is often held as a philosophy of life, because many have no hope beyond the grave. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Paul lays …

The text of John 12:20-36 is a very significant moment in the life of Jesus – especially in relation to his impending death. It happened when some Greeks appeared and sought and audience with him. This was the signal for Jesus that his ‘time had come’…but what did that mean? What did he know? And what significance did it have to his death and resur…

When the disciples wtached the ‘rich young ruler’ walk away from jesus and miss out on eternal livfe, they were greatly astonished. They hadn’t thought that a rich man like him could ever miss out on salvation. And so in Matthew 19:27-30, they asked Jesus about what would happen to them. What link was there between leaving all to follow him and the…

When the young man came to Jesus in Matthew 19:16-26 to ask about eternal life, it certainly did not go as the disciples expected it would! The young man went away from Jesus, ‘sorrowful’ and without the eternal life that he had asked Jesus for…although he did still have his money. The text is one of the greatest in the Scriptures for many reasons,…

When Matthew records that people were bringing their children to Jesus to bless them in Matthew 19:13-15, he also records that the disciples acted as bodyguards of Jesus and tried to protect him from the children! Mark’s gospel records that at this point Jesus rebuked the disciples and went ahead and blessed the children. There’s a point to note th…

John’s first letter is full of many theological truths that help us to shape our understanding of the gospel. 1 John 1:5-2:2 is a text just like that. In it, John explores themes of light and darkness, confession and cleansing, as well as opening up for us the heart of the gospel message and the path to daily cleansing of our sins. Message Outline …

The early church was a remarkable witness and a living testimony to Jesus. In this message on Acts 2:42-47, PCV Moderator, Rev Ian Hutton explores Acts 2:42-47 in a search for the ‘basics’ of church life that we should do well and so also be effective in our witness. Message Outline Introduction … A Church that is keen to learn (v.42) A Church that…

When the Pharisees sought to- trap Jesus by their question about divorce in Matthew 19:1-12, Jesus was not backward in coming forward with his response. While the Pharisees tended to be quite lax with regard to laws about divorce, Jesus insisted that God’s good design for marriage in Genesis 2:18-25 was enough! Interestingly, he said all this in th…

After Jesus had challenged his disciples to follow certain steps in order to ensure that conflict between them be quickly resolved, Peter was quick to ask a question and Jesus was quick to give him an answer! All this can be found in Matthew 18:21-35. Peter’s question had to do with ‘how many times he ought to forgive his brother for an offence’ an…

Matthew 18:15-20 is not necessarily a hard text to understand. It has no hard words, for example. However, the application of what Jesus said is quite difficult. While still speaking to His disciples about the issue of true greatness and how humility is a necessary aspect of it, in these verses, Jesus spoke further about the inevitable conflict tha…

In speaking to His disciples in the way that He did in Matthew 18:7-14, Jesus was not going on to some new topic. In fact what he taught in these verses are very closely linked to verses 1-6. He is still talking about greatness and the ‘childlike humility’ that will lead His disciples towards it. While some of what He says in verses 7-14 is a littl…

When the disciples asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom?” in Matthew 18:1-6, there was a lot going through their minds. Jesus had just begun to set out for Jerusalem, having told the disciples that there He would be mistreated and killed. What was it then that got the disciples talking together about greatness? Mark’s gospel tells us th…

In this message for the new year, Daniel Jansen explores how God’s righteous rule as King over ‘the whole earth’ from Psalm 97:1-12 should comfort the hearts of anxious believers and cause us to rejoice in this uncertain and fragile world. Message Outline Introduction: The King’s righteousness and Justice (1-6) Theophany = Appearance of God Mt Sina…

Not everyone enjoys Christmas nor finds it a time of celebration or joy. Herod was certainly in that number. When the wise men rocked up with news about the birth of the Messiah in Matthew 2:1-23, they really rocked Herod’s world in more ways than one! In fact, Herod’s response to the news was quite an exterme one. Harsh too. And yet, even more tra…

Joseph is one of the key characters in the story of the birth of Jesus, especially so in the text of Matthew 1:18-25, but he can easily be overlooked in the preaching of the Christmas narratives – probably because he doesn’t get to say anything at all. Even the shepherds and wise men get some lines in the gospels, but Jospeh gets none! Even though …

When the angel Gabriel finally found the moment to meet up with Mary, his initial greeting to her was something Mary wasn’t prepared for. It seems as though the appearing of the angel to her was not the cuse of her discomfort, but the greeting and what it might mean for her. It certainly brought change. Far more change than she could ever have anti…

The setting of the well known prophecy about the birth of Jesus through a virgin in Isaiah 7:14 is set in a context of a fascinating story about King Ahaz of Judah in Isaiah 7:1-14. Ahaz was in a bit of a spot, politically. The neigbouring nations of Syria and Israel (!) were threatening to attack and he was afraid. It was then that the Lord sent t…

Genesis 3:15 would have to be one of the most important verses in all of the Old Testament. Straight after Adam and Eve’s rebeliion against God’s righteous rule, the Lord himself promised that the ‘seed of the woman’ would one day come and crush ‘the head of the serpent’. This verse is widely known as the first announcement (or proclamation) of the…

On returning to the area of Capernaum after his ministry throughout the regios of Israel and beywond, the ‘Israeli Tax Department’ caught up with Jesus and his disciples, asking Peter if his master had paid the ‘temple tax’. Peter assured them that Jesus had, only to enter the house where Jesus was and take part in a conversation with Jesus that en…

After being gloriously transfigured up on the mountain, Jesus and his three disciples, Peter, James and John, soon came down from the summit to face reality. There, right in front of him, was a challenge in the form of a pleading father, bewildered disciples, a critical crowd and a demon-possessed boy, all recorded for us in Matthew 17:14-23. And y…

The reader of Matthew’s gospel goes to many places with Jesus, as we have noted in these last few chapters…by the sea, on the water, in the region of Tyre and Sidon and even at Caesarea Philippi. But the next place that jesus would go, according to Matthew 17:1-13, was the mountain top, where he was transfigured before three of His disciples. This …

After Peter twigged who Jesus was in Matthew 16:16, Jesus took the time to explain to his disciples just what kind of Messiah he was. He was one that would suffer and die at the hands of the Jews. While this fact may have been lost on the twelve, they would also have been overwhelmed at what Jesus went on to say next; that they were also destined f…

It is well known that Psalm 1 is the opening psalm in the book of the Psalms, and that in it, a summary of the message of the book of Psalms can be found. But not everyone understands that Psalm 2 complements Psalm 1 and gives us instruction on how to be the ‘blessed man’ (or woman). In this message on both Psalms, PTC final year student, Steve Den…

There’s no doubt that Matthew 16:13-20 is one of the key texts of the New Testament for so many reasons. In it, we find that Jesus challenged his disciples with two urgent questions and then three follow up statements all of which were designed to bring the 12 to a point where they were put ‘on the spot’ in relation to Jesus’ identity and then also…

There are many who presume or assume that Jesus never stood for much, and that he endorsed social developments or changes that we think of! However in Matthew 16:1-12, this is proved to be false. Here, Jesus spoke out strongly both to his disciples about the influence of the Jewish religious leaders, and he also spoke strongly to them! We would do …

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is one of the most amazing sections of the Scriptures. Thought it has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted, it means one of the longest sections we have of Jesus’ teaching, especially concerning the way the citizens of the Kingdom of God ought to live. Matthew 5:1-12 is no exception, and in this message…

It’s somewhat of an oddity that Matthew records the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew 15.29-39 so soon after the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21. But the two incidents are not the same. Matthew wasn’t confused and wrote down the same incident twice. Each of the ‘feeding miracles’ have their own contexts and particulars, so they were certainl…

It’s interesting to note how matthew has recorded the meeting between Jesus and the woman from Canaan directly after his comments relating to who is ‘clean or unclean’ and who is ‘defiled or undefiled’…because this woman was most certianly ‘unclean’ as well as ‘defiled’ in the eyes of the Pharisees and even in the eyes of the disciples who just wan…

As soon as Jesus was back in the midst of the Jewish people, the Scribes and Pharisees questioned him about his lack of enforcement of the traditions around hand washing. Rather than explain himself directly, Jesus in turn, responded with questions as to why the Pharisees and Scribes failed to comply with God’s commandments about honouring their pa…

After Jesus fed the 5,000 with bread and fish, he proceeded to perform another miracle. This one, however was not on land, but at sea, and it was not in the day, but in the dark, and it was not done before the eyes of the crowds, but for his disciples alone. After sending away the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, after also sending away…

After Jesus received the news of John’s death, he withdrew from public appearances to go away to a lonely place with disciples for some rest and prayer. However, according to Matthew 14:13-21, the crowds twigged where he would be and soon were there too. Jesus, however, as a true Shepherd of the sheep, put their needs before his own and had compass…

After Jesus was rejected by the people of Nazareth, the text of Matthew 14:1-12 shifts to focus our attention on what was happening in the mind and heart of King Herod. Having heard about the miracles and ministry of Jesus, Herod, prompted by his guilty conscience, wrongly assumed that Jesus was John the Baptist ‘raised from the dead’. To fill in w…

There’s no doubt that Jesus was a popular among the people of Israel for a time. But not so among the people of Nazareth, his hometown. We read in Matthew 13:53-58 that they rejected His word and even rejected Him. It was by no means a ‘happy homecoming’ for Jesus. And so the question is ‘why?’. Why did the people of Nazareth turn their backs on Je…

There’s no debating the fact that the final part of the reign of King Solomon, as recorded in 1 Kings 11:9-43, is something that he would not have been proud of. With the seeds of lust, power and greed sown deeply in his heart, there’s little surprise that these seeds bore fruit. But what is surprising is the speed with which it all ended, pretty m…

Much of what we read in 1 Kings 1-11 concerns the heights to which Solomon’s reign reached. The visit of the Queen of Sheba was one of the highlights along the way, but cracks have been appearing, and in today’s text of 1 Kings 11:1-8, those cracks just get wider and wider. The text tells us of Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines, but more than …

The text of 1 Kings 10:14-29 records the growth in King Solomon’s wealth and his armory. The world had never seen a King like him before – so wealthy, so wise, so much glory! But while all these things could be seen as the fulfilment of God’s promises to Solomon, they could also be viewed as things can could (and did) become a snare and a trap for …

There’s little doubt that the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, as recorded in 1 Kings 10:1-13, was the highpoint of Solomon’s reign over Israel. While there is much speculation over who she was and where she came from, the main point of what the text records is not so much about her, but about the glory of Solomon that she saw and prais…

In this second message on the book of Jonah, Rev Peter Phillips explores the rebellious response of the prophet to the Lord’s command to go to Nineveh and preach against their evil. This response of Jonah is indicative of all humanity. None of us, by nature, want to serve God. We would all much rather please ourselves! But God cannot have it that w…

Sometimes the gospel records are read so often that the reader can easily overlook something of significance. This is certainly the case in Mark 1:9-13, where the events of the baptism of Jesus and the temptation of Jesus are linked back-to-back, with only God’s words spoken from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”, separat…

There’s no doubt that the Scriptures are full of challenges to the reader. This is especially true in the account of Paul’s message to the people of Athens recorded for us in Acts 17:16-34. While the Athenians had many gods that they wished to acknowledge, their altar to the ‘Unknown God’ gave the Apostle Paul a great opportunity to address their i…

With the completion and the dedication of the Temple now behind him, the Lord spoke to Solomon in 1 Kings 9:1-28 to call him to daily and full obedience to His law. You wonder if the Lord did this at this time, because He knew that Solomon’s heart would soon be led astray? Or if He knew that the temptations for Solomon that were just around the cor…

There are a fair number of long prayers in the Bible, and in 1 Kings 8:22-66, we have a record of King Solomon’s rather long prayer on the occasion of the dedication of the Temple. The prayer itself is not only long, but it is rich in content and full of many theological themes and truths that tell us about the God we serve, and the way we can appr…

It would be missing the point completely to read all about the building, the decoration and the furnishing of the Temple and never think about the One who inhabited the Temple. Solomon didn’t build the Temple for himself but for the God who promised He would come and inhabit it. And the text of 1 Kings 8:1-21 tells us that He did. Once the Temple w…

Once the task of building the Temple was completed, King Solomon set about to furnish the Temple with the items that would have been prescribed by God to Moses in relation to the tabernacle. 1 Kings 7:13-51 records the many items, some made of bronze, and others of gold, that were soon part of the temple’s furnishings. While some of them sound stra…

King Solomon not only built the Temple of the Lord his God, but also a palace for him and his family to live in. The rest of 1 Kings 7:1-12 records this fact, informing us that as part of the palace where various Halls where Solomon would perform his royal duties. One of those halls was the ‘Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, ev…

God didn’t care only about the appearance of the exterior of the Temple, but also the interior. The text of 1 Kings 6:14-38 tells the reader about the carvings, woodwork, gold and furnishings that could be seen inside its walls, all of which were designed to reflect something of God’s love of beauty, His evident glory and His all surpassing holines…