City Church Sheffield Podcast

Great darkness covered the land when Jesus was born. Herod was an example of this. The religious people, who knew the Bible, made no effort to search for the Messiah. We must not fix our eyes on the evil that surrounds us, but on Jesus.

Joseph was a righteous man. He knows what Leviticus and Deuteronomy say about adultery and divorce, but he decides not to humiliate Mary. He was not asking for God to speak to him in a dream, but God gives him a dream anyway.

Mary receives promises relating to God's favour, God's presence, God's mission and God's empowering. She is greatly troubled, she is puzzled, but she submits to God's will.

Matthew begins with Jesus' genealogy to show that Jesus is the promised king for whom the generations were waiting. Matthew shows God's grace by including evil men in the ancestry, and he shows that God welcomes everybody by including Gentile women.

God was Jacob's shepherd all his life. He is a shepherd deliverer, a shepherd warrior and a kingly shepherd. The shepherd sought and found us, and collectively we are his flock. Our mission is to take the gospel to the people of the nation and our communities, who are like sheep without a shepherd.

Just as a power tool can do nothing without electricity but a lot with it, so we can do nothing without Jesus but so long as we remain in him we can bear much fruit. He chose us, and all we have to do is to remain in him and allow him to prune us.

Jesus can calm our troubles. He tells us that we can trust in him, that he is preparing a room for us in Heaven, that he is coming back to take us to be with him, and that he is the underlying reality behind the appearance.

Jesus doesn't say "I will resurrect you and I will give you life" but "I am the resurrection and the life". He wants to invade our lives now, not just in the future, so that we experience the resurrection and the life today.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he is the Gate through which his sheep must come. David fought for his sheep because they were his, but Jesus lays down his life for his sheep.

Jesus rescued us not just from the darkness in the world around us, but also from the darkness in our own hearts. We can walk in darkness or we can have the light of life by following Jesus and obeying his teaching.

Jesus doesn't come to us to help us fight our battles for so that we can join him in his battle. When we encounter Jesus, we should respond with new worship, a new submission, a new devotion, a new vision a new unity and a new exercise of faith.

God loves the hungry, he tests those who have all they want, and even when we go through difficulties in this life he satisfies those who believe in him. So let's not just seek good things, or good works, or miracles, but instead, seek God himself.

Jesus sacrificially loves the Samaritan woman where she is, knowing her history and lifestyle.

We are encouraged to focus on Jesus, not just in his incarnation but as the eternal word. He didn't come to fill a "God-shaped hole" in our lives, but to make us children of God.

Following Jacob's death, the brothers wonder if Joseph has really forgiven them. He has: and followers of Jesus need not ask the same question of God - they have been totally forgiven by him. Christians don't need to live with a nagging sense of guilt but can know the fullness of God's grace and peace.

Through Jacob's final words we see that the plans of God work out despite the sins and actions of humans. Through Judah's offspring, Christ, we see the original curse enacted due to Adam's sin and impacting all of us, is overcome through Christ's sacrifice. This reconciles us with God and allows us to love a holy life for him.

Jacob believes God and his promise, he relies on the faithfulness of God, and trusts in God's sovereign choice. We are called to walk in his footsteps believing God for tomorrow as well as for the rest of our lives.

We can find our identity in our name, or profession, or the football team we support, but our identity is as a son of God.

God takes our brokeness and mistakes and can rebuild our lives, as we look to him and walk his way.

God has called us to be a church for the nations: to be sent out to bless the nations; and to reach the nations and tribes at the end of our street, and the end of our comfort zone.

Joseph forgave his brothers with weeping and embraces, but years later they weren't totally sure he'd truly forgiven them. We can find it hard to accept God's forgiveness but he has truly forgiven us.

Joseph tests his brothers to see whether they have changed or whether they will allow Benjamin to become a slave. Judah shows that he has changed, and is willing to bear Benjamin's punishment himself - just as Jesus bore our punishment.

Jacob is paralysed with fear, which prevents him from walking in faith and leads to him blaming others. If we don't recognise Jesus then we too will be trapped in fear - it is Jesus who drives out fear.

The foxes represent small things that might be overlooked, but in fact are destructive, distracting or discouraging. We should catch them by staying close to the King (Jesus) and his bride (the Church).

Joseph's brothers have been living with the guilt and shame of what they did to him, and God uses him to bring them to repentance. Jacob thinks everything is against him because he is walking by sight not by faith.

God is sovereign and works in the things that grieve him and the things that please him. He is merciful, kind and our judge. Our response to to believe him and point others to him.

Joseph didn't do anything to get to the palace except serve God. God had been working on his character, overseeing people and events throughout Joseph's life. Like Joseph, we were slaves, but have been rescued by Jesus.

God speaks through dreams. Joseph had two dreams at the age of 17 and waited over 11 years for them to be fulfilled. In his difficulties he trusted God, who was working things out according to his own timing.

When we are struggling and our dreams are dying, God is still blessing us and he is still with us. So when we are tempted to self-pity we should recall all the blessing we've had and every answered prayer.

Judah was self-righteous, and tried to blame everybody else. But God dealt with his self-righteousness and he had to acknowledge that Tamar was more righteous than he himself was.

We must deal with our anger, pain and jealousy, repenting if necessary. We must bring our guilt and regret to Jesus. And we must trust in God's sovereign plan to work out everything for good.

This is a true story about the family of God, a big story about the sovereignty of God and a love story about the Son of God.

Jesus calls us to be friends and family, and people of faith. We are called for fruitfulness by the filling of the Spirit, and to proclaim freedom.

The resurrection of Jesus was the greatest demonstration of power ever. This power is still at work in us. God's makes his power known in us when we reach the point where we don't know what to do.

As Jesus entered the Jerusalem, the crowds were looking for a king and the Pharisees were looking for a way to get rid of him, but Jesus entered on a donkey, a king who had to die.

God works through the frustrations of Paul and his companions to bring them to Philippi, and he then works in different situations to touch the lives of Lydia, the slave girl and the jailer.

The truth of the gospel is that Christ died for everyone. He created a diverse world and wants a diverse church, and we need God's grace to welcome everybody, even those who are different from us.

Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the living stones that make up the building, and members of his body. We should therefore be a holy family, a people of light, a people who look like Jesus.

God calls us to be a united family. Unity is achieved by God, who is united in the Trinity. We are to make every effort to maintain unity, by being gentle and humble, patient, and in love

Worship is based on a foundation of grace, and is fuelled by the Word and the Spirit. It includes praising God with our lips but is much more than this.

Jesus invites those who are thirsty to come to him and drink, and promises that streams of living water would flow through those who believe in him.

We are to be a people of faith in the gospel, a people of faith by learning from Abraham, and a people of faith in the future. Click [here](/vision-nights) to hear the linked Vision Night session on this subject.

Christians are people of the Word. We are to value the Word, meditate on it and live it out. Click [here](/vision-nights) to hear the linked Vision Night session on this subject.

Jesus sends us to make disciples - we are to go, we are to baptise, we are to speak about Jesus and we are to teach others. He commissions us even when we doubt, and he promises to be with us. Click [here](/vision-nights) to hear the linked Vision Night session on this subject.

Even though the disciples have gone back to their old way of life, Jesus meets them where they are and blesses them. He knows we're human, and he reinstates us when we fail.

Jesus doesn't call us to follow him to safe places but to follow him wherever he leads. He calls us to reach people, and we can do that by showing them love. [Audio to follow]

When taking the gospel to people from different cultures, we need to understand whether they come from an "innocence/guilt" culture, an "honour/shame" culture or a "fear/power" culture. We need to be careful of reading "honour/shame" passages in the Bible as "innocence/guilt" passages.

God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, because he is with him. We need to hear God's exhortation to be strong and courageous because God is with us in all circumstances.

How do we live by faith in dark times? We should keep on praying. Like Habakkuk, we should recount what God had done in the past, not become detached from the troubles around us, and commit ourselves to rejoicing whatever happens.

We never get beyond the need to trust in God. We will be fruitless if we trust in man.