Weekend 1: From Striving to Trusting

This week Matt shared from Revelation 16-17 looking at the connections in the passage from the Exodus story. There in Exodus God defeated evil through the blood of the Lamb and The Holy Spirit, through John, told the church in the 1st century and us today that God is still defeating evil and bringing victory for us through the blood of the Lamb.

The fourth of our weekend away talks on the theme: Life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh

The third of our weekend away talks on the theme: Life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh

The second of our weekend away talks on the theme: Life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh

The first of our weekend away talks on the theme: Life in the Spirit versus life in the flesh

This week Ann-See shared with us from Revelation 15. She should how there are many ways to read the scriptures and each way brings out something different and amazing that can speak to us, revealing the God of the bible to us. But she showed how no matter how you read it every way reveals Jesus as the centre of it all.

This week Matt shared from Revelation 14. Here John's vision moves on from the chapters about the dragon and the beasts (the representation of evil) and moves in a direction to give believers hope, showing us that in the end evil doesn't prosper but instead the lamb (Jesus) is victorious and those who know Him, who are His because of what He has done, stand victorious with Him.

This week we had the joy of having Maki (Pastor from Cairns Road Baptist Church) share with us on Revelation 13. Maki unpacked how the enemy (pictured as a dragon in Revelation) works in our world through systems, power and deceit (pictured as two beasts) to take people's allegiance from Jesus, and how this choice is one we all face, but choosing Jesus is the only way to victory and life.

This week we read Revelation 12. It's a weird chapter full of crazy imagery, but in a really amazing way it retells the story of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection as one cosmic event that shook heaven and earth and remove the enemy from his power and position in heaven. With this back drop the chapter then tells us how we too can overcome the enemy and his influence in our lives and world - by the blood of the lamb, by our testimony about Jesus and by living a life of love over loving life. This week Matt unpacked this and encouraged and challenged us to live the way of Jesus and overcome the enemy.

This week Nathan shared with us from Revelation 11, a complex chapter but one that brings real hope and purpose. Revelation 11 uses a number of different images to speak about Jesus' Church in this age. Here we discover that Jesus empowers His church with His Spirit and His word to stand through trials and be a people who speak the truth about Him, testifying to the hope of the gospel and speaking against the powers of evil and darkness.