Agora Church

When Jesus was born there was no room for this helpless babe. His birth made Him completely vulnerable to the human experience, but I don't think anyone could have fathomed the fact that His arrival was Him preparing us room.
On Sunday we explored this, get into the nativity story and wonder at what God has done in showing up as one of us.

Many Christians would say they rarely, or never, hear the voice of God. Is that ok? Is that normal? Find out more on this Sunday.

Philippians 2.6-8

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God 

as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. 

When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

This week Dave begins our journey into the Christmas time of Hope, and that there is hope in a God who often reveals Himself and wants to meet with us in the unexpected, the little and the ordinary.

In the story of Ruth and Boaz, there is a whole lot of anxious excitement in the last chapter. 

Will Boaz get this ‘la bomba’ Ruth?

Will this random guy with no name end up marrying Ruth instead?

Will Naomi end the story bitter and empty?

In Ruth chapter four you see God do something pretty awesome - but when you look beyond the simple story you see a something that makes you go ‘Whoa. No Way’

Some people would say it is super hard. It's like you have to figure out God's secret plan. Pastor Dave would say his cat has figured out the secret to blessing - he explained this so well last Sunday. Although, it wasn't so much God's blessing for his cat.

So, what would you say - easy? Hard? Depends?

This week in Chapter 2 of Ruth, Dave brings to light how Ruth continues to serve for her mother in law as she becomes a foreigner in a new land.

Naomi is the focus of Ruth Chapter 1 and in many ways the book of Ruth is actually Naomi’s story.  Naomi sometimes gets a bad rep as a bitter old woman because of the name she gives herself.  If we dig a little deeper we find Naomi was a woman of faith with a generous spirit, and we can learn a lot from how she navigated loss, family, and friendship, as she journeys to the place of hope and provision that God has for her.

According to the all knowing Google and Guinness World records, around 7 billion Bibles have been sold.

This is about 6 billion more than the next book. Surely, this can't be a reliable statistic and someone messed with the numbers? The Bible couldn't have outsold all other books, in the past and currently, by such a huge margin? Unless it is what it claims to be - the Word of God. Whoa!

So, If God knows what I’ll pray before I pray, then why pray?
If God knows everything, and if God is outside of time so knows exactly what is going to happen, isn’t prayer a waste of time?
I guess the key question then is simply ‘does prayer actually do anything’?

Hmmmmm - listen on as we try and figure this one out!