Posts by Norman

TEXT: ‘He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do’ (John 6:6 MSG). How did Jesus respond with the right reaction in every time of testing and confrontation? It was due to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. He promised the same help for us too, ‘Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 13:11 NLT). In Luke Chapter 4, there are several times when “But” was a correct and positive reaction to a situation, and Today’s Teaching considers these. 1. When fighting temptation – ‘And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” (v3-4) Sometimes we don’t resist temptation because we want to yield to it, and we think it will not matter if we do. Not so Jesus! ‘This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned’ (Hebrews 4:15 TLB). The first temptation of Satan was met with a firm “But”...

TEXT: ‘So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 3:17-18 NLT). Today’s Teaching has studied the words: Faith, Precious and Submission. The last word in this series is “Suffering”. There are plenty of references to this subject in the Bible, not just those mentioned by Peter. Rather than try to cram everything into one teaching, we will look at this subject in two parts. Firstly, the suffering of Christ and secondly, the suffering of the Christian. 1. The Suffering of Christ A. This was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets – ‘This salvation was something the prophets did not fully understand. Though they wrote about it, they had many questions as to what it all could mean. They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about, for he told them to write down the events which, since then, have happened to Christ: his suffering, and his great glory afterwards. And they wondered when and to whom all this would happen’ (1 Peter 1:10-11 TLB). One well-known prophetic Bible passage about the suffering of...

TEXT: ‘So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 3:17-18 NLT). The epistles Peter wrote don’t take long to read, but they are packed with truth and well worth meditating upon. Today’s Teaching highlights four words that will help us to avoid error and experience the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first key word we studied was Faith, the second is “Precious”. It may be surprising that Peter, a rugged fisherman, used the word “Precious”, but it accurately described his relationship with Jesus. Peter was known for being impetuous, outspoken and even proud of what he had given up to follow Christ, but he never forgot he had been a sinful man, who continued to make mistakes, even denying he ever knew Jesus. Yet he was able to hold on to the promise of Jesus, ‘I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers’ (Luke 22:32 NLT). In the life of Peter, like the...