Jubilee Church Hull

Looking at the two parables found together in Matthew 13, Phil explores what giving up everything to follow Jesus means.

Hannah looks at the story of the prodigal son and challenges us about our response to our heavenly Father.

Dan starts our series by asking the questions 'What are you building your life on?' In looking at the parable of the wise and foolish builders, we are challenged to live in obedience to Jesus

Josh finishes our series by reflecting on Paul's message

The cross marks a decisive defeat of the demonic powers in this world. On the cross, they were stripped of their power to accuse any believer before God. However, these enemies still exist and attempt to exert what power they have left to rob, steal and destroy. But the final victory is Christ through the cross and that means we have victory over any power the enemy has in our lives.

As we saw last week, we were all slaves to sin, unable to break the chains of our idolatry and rebellion. But Jesus is the Master of the House and he declares us free. As believers we must learn not to be enslaved again once set free but instead learn to live in the fullness of the freedom Christ brings.

Jesus was made to be sin by God for our sake. Due to our disobedience we were in debt to God and deserving of death. Yet Jesus, who knew no sin became man and took our sin on himself becoming our substitute so that we could be righteous before God. This is the incredible truth of the cross and should change each of us.

Jesus coming as a King was predicted throughout the writings of the Old Testament. God’s people eagerly awaited a king who would save them and rule over them. However, throughout the Old Testament are prophecies which predict the arrival of a very different king. A king who would not come with a battle cry but come as a baby to a lowly family and live a life of service for us. As we see the predictions of our coming king, let us see that Jesus is everything we could ever want or need, that he truly is all he was predicted to be.

In this passage Jonah responds to God’s saving of the Ninevites by getting angry at God to saving them. Jonah has learnt about God’s compassion, but he is yet to truly understand it. God uses a plant and a word to remind Jonah of who He is and how His plans are better than Jonah’s.

In this passage Jonah is finally obedient to God’s call and goes to Nineveh. As a result, the people repented and are saved from God’s punishment.

In this passage Jonah is thanking God for saving him. In the belly of the fish, Jonah recognises that God is saving him from his situation and God is his protector. Jonah recognises that anything that people are reliant on other than God is a ‘vain idol’ which will fail them. In this passage Jonah is repenting of his actions and confessing that God is the sovereign source of salvation.

In this passage we see God call Jonah to the people of Ninevah. This is not an easy task that God calls Jonah and he responds by running away. God shows He is sovereign over even the wind and waves as he causes a storm to stop Jonah from escaping but then shows His remarkable grace by providing a fish to save him.