Bridgeman City Church

Matthew 10:1-15Jesus gives authority to His disciples to be representatives of the Kingdom of God.Outline:1. Authority: Representatives (0:00 - 8:34)2. Seeking the Welcome (8:35 - 12:25)3. Freely Given, Freely Flowing (12:26 - 19:40)4. The Ungiven Word: Rejection (19:41 - 25:17)5. An Unchanging Invitation: Summoned (25:18 - 29:04)

Matthew 9:27-34 Outline:1. An Old Saying (0:00 - 7:25)2. The Good News... Everywhere (7:26 - 13:12)3. The Mirror of Hatred (13:13 - 19:35)4. Seeing but not Perceiving (19:36 - 29:17)5. Receiving Instruction (29:18 - 37:50)6. Prayer (36:00 - 37:32)

Matthew 9:18-26Something compels people to come to Jesus in a way that breaks down all notions of separateness and accepted decorum. The movement of faith sees the Life of God close at hand, to be touched and known now. Through the faith of a woman subject to perpetual bleeding and a synagogue leader with a dead daughter we are invited to know the same Spirit that sees the world as God knows it.Outline:1. True Vision (0:00 - 7:38)2. Uncleanliness as a Black Hole (7:39 - 14:37)3. Vision of a Foundational Cleanliness (14:38 - 27:46)4. Faith: Like Meets Like (27:47 - 34:45)5. Stillness (34:46 - 37:08)

Matthew 9:14-17Empty ritual stands in contrast to a life overflowing with God's abundance. Where does fasting fit in? John's disciples come to Jesus with a question: “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”Outline:1. Heaven and Earth Meet (0:00 - 9:00)2. Receiving True Food (9:00 - 20:35)3. Ascending to the Spirit of Abundance (20:35 - 28:48)4. Something More: New Wine, New Wineskins (28:48 - 32:39)5. Prayer (32:39 - 35:35)

Matthew 9:9-13Matthew the tax collector is called to follow Jesus. At his house Jesus meets with other tax collectors and sinners and the Pharisees take offence. Jesus sends them back into the Old Testament which they apparently know so well to discover what Mercy is. "I desire mercy not sacrifice" - Hosea 6:6Outline:1. A Pre-Existing Correspondence (0:00)2. "Follow Me" - Matthew 9:9-13 (12:15)3. Learning Mercy through Hosea (18:15)

Matthew 9:1-8A paralytic encounters Jesus and the Word of God is revealed to us. We are called to look beyond all appearances to know God Himself, to know Life by His authority and then to become that very Life in this world. Faith is the receipt of this Word.Outline:1. Faith in Him (0:00)2. Cutting in Line or Room for More? (4:46)3. Be at Peace! (8:37)4. Talking in the Shadows (11:24)5. The Authority of God (16:17)6. The Word is Our Peace (20:15)7. The Authority Given to Us (25:17)

Matthew 8:28-34Jesus encounters two demon-possessed men and begins an interaction that involves pigs, a cliff, water and torture. There's a sifting that's happening in the lives of these two men as the Light, the Spirit of Jesus, hovers over them. The same Spirit of Jesus comes to us today.Outline:1. Pentecost and the Unchanging Spirit (0:00)2. Internal Storms: Shedding the False-Self (6:52)3. The Rising Sun: The Power of God's Word (15:16)4. "Go": Judgement as Separation and Revelation (21:36)5. The Burning Coals: Rethinking God's Wrath (27:53)6. Claiming His Own: The Journey to the Cross (31:17)

Matthew 8:13-17Jesus comes into Peter's house. Jesus touches Peter's mother-in-law. Jesus drives out evil spirits and heals the sick with a word. The Spirit of Jesus is defined by a movement to be planted as a Seed in the soil of our lives. His presence, His touch, His word meet us where we are, they unite with us and bear the Fruit of their Origin. As the Sower is, so too are those implanted by His Seed.

Matthew 21:1-11We fast forward to Palm Sunday for our lead-in to Easter and find Jesus entering Jerusalem as a King on a donkey. Lowly and meek and yet proclaiming a Judgement. The Spirit of Life is enthroned to reveal Life and cast out all else.

Matthew 8:5-13A Roman centurion, the picture of power in the ancient world, comes to Jesus seeking help. Pastor Matt highlights the Spirit of Jesus in this interaction that revolves around authority. Authority is order and meaning, without it there is nothing. The one who has their request answered is the one who humbles themselves before the Ultimate Authority who gives Life and Meaning to all things.

Matthew 8:1-4Jesus comes down from the mountain where He has just spoken some of His most famous words. More than beautiful words, His Spirit is a reality to be known, to be lived through. Brad reflects on God's faithfulness and His willingness to be for us Life itself. The Spirit of Christ says, "I am willing. Be clean!"

Matthew 7:24-28The Sermon on the Mount ends with people in awe. More than just at the beauty of Jesus' words, but at the gravity surrounding Him—the Authority He carries, the Life He is. His final Word rings out as a definitive Statement of Truth: Life is in Me.If Life is in you, if you are built on The Rock, then you will know a Life that is unhindered and unassailable. Everything else is burning up to reveal the always remaining Truth.

Matthew 7:13-23The Truth excludes by Nature, but it is not exclusive. Pastor Matt draws on the Spirit of Jesus as He speaks of the Narrow Gate that leads to Life. For every statement of Truth, there can be an infinity of lies that are unrealities. What does that mean for us? If the Truth is so restrictive, how can we find ourselves included in It? Hear the wonderful invitation of Christ in Jesus' words.

Matthew 7:7-12Jesus has another simple statement to us: "Ask, and it will be given to you." We continue allowing God's Word to speak to us as we explore a Nature given for us. A Nature that has confidence and full certainty that when it asks, it has already received (Mark 11:24).

Join us as we celebrate Christmas, looking to the Light given for us from the beginning. "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

Matthew 7:1-5 – Jesus, the one who is without sin reveals the children of God definitively saying, "Do not judge". Matt beautifully unfolds Jesus' words on the nature of who God is as one who does not judge; that is the nature we need, not just a curbing of the impulse to judge. "You cannot think evil for another, and good for yourself."

Matthew 6:25-34: Jesus reaches a high point in the revelation of His Father's Kingdom. It's startling that rather than talk about a far of place, He is pushing for all those hearing Him speak to recognise the Kingdom here and now. How can He tell us, "Do not worry," when all of history and our own experience testifies to a seemingly different reality? If we could just catch a glimpse through Jesus' eyes, we would see a Reality that reigns over all other seeming realities, right here and right now. Who will we believe? 

Matthew 6:22-24: The substance of all that is seen is unseen. All that is seen is held by the secret, the outer is held by the inner. Jesus' words drive us to a True Vision that knows the Reality of things to be behind what is seen. What is taken in through our senses leads us beyond itself to a knowing of something Eternal behind what is seen. It is not something different to what is seen, but is its true reality, its substance. Where the substance is known, the object can never be taken away. Do you have eyes to see what is True and always remains?

This episode in our 'Sprit of Jesus' series serves as a little bit of a recap on what we've covered in Matthew 6 so far, as well as pushing further into Jesus' words revealing the Father: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal..."In other words, anything that can be taken from you, will be taken from you because by definition, if something can be taken from you it is temporary. What is temporary does not last and will be taken away. What is Eternal can never be added to or taken away. Find your treasure, store up your treasure on what is Eternal and you will find that you have a Life that can never be taken away or diminished.

Is fasting better than eating and drinking? Does restraint of the flesh make us better than those that follow the desires of the flesh? It's so easy for us to define a good based on a contrast with evil. To 'not chase after the desires of the flesh' can lead to the thought that the restraint is a laying hold of a good in itself. This is the trap the Pharisee finds himself in.Matt unpacks Jesus' words which are leading us to so much more than restraint of desire or surrender to it. He is opening up the only way to the total freedom of Being.

This week we look at the Lord's Prayer in the context of Matthew 6:5-15.Jesus continues to cast aside any possibility of 'seeming' to be anything, or 'trying' to be anything. He casts his eyes upward to the Life of our Father to begin to understand what it means to be a Child of Heaven.Jesus' words emphasise a reality where we are to ‘be' rather than seem. This strikes right at the heart of Gospel… it's more than a command or something we're to try to do, but an invitation to rest in the very ‘be-ing' of God — a Being that is fullness, freedom, Life itself.

Jesus' words emphasise a reality where we are to ‘be' rather than seem. This strikes right at the heart of Gospel… it's more than a commands or something we're to try to do, but an invitation to rest in the very ‘be-ing' of God — a Being that is fullness, freedom, Life itself.

Jesus said: "You've heard it said, 'An eye for an eye...'"; what follows are some of the most radical statements ever spoken. The Christ has come, not to abolish the law 'an eye for eye', but somehow to fulfil it! The Christ has come to fulfil more than just the obeying of a law in the externals. Jesus is communicating to us how exactly the Christ is to fulfil the Law in us.

Jesus draws from the most pervasive communications set in stone: The Ten Commandments. You have heard it said, "Thou shalt not murder," but the Christ has come to fulfil more than just the obeying of a law in the externals. Jesus is communicating to us how exactly the Christ is to fulfil the Law in us.Jesus lived 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, but the Christ has come to live in our hearts at this very moment.

Jesus affirms the Law as good. He says it cannot and will not be, revoked or removed. The Law's purpose is that it hems us in; puts us in the belly of the whale, where we are still, and find the Presence of God to be in Us. 

Do you believe in the possibility of perfect peace? The tried and trodden paths to peace are laws of conduct, or establishing buffers between hostile parties. Conflict might be subdued by these attempts, but peace is not established. The peacemakers, are the called children of God. 

To see something, is to recognise and comprehend something that already *is* (exists). It is only the PURE IN HEART who see God - the God who was and IS and is to come. This purity of heart cannot be achieved...but it can be received: "I have come to open the eyes of the blind."

God is mercy; He is merciful to all. So, blessed are those who are merciful, for God is dwelling in them. When we unmercifully stand apart from anyone, we are (perhaps inadvertently) standing apart from God. "God takes the part of humanity against the man. The man must treat men as he would have God treat Him."

Hunger compels us to go and find food - we go to the fridge of the cupboard or the shops. But Jesus speaks here of something that we are to hunger for, that by very definition, cannot be taken by ourselves: righteousness.The frustration of not being able to take, shouldn't lead us to stop hungering  - but rather to believe in Christ (John 6:29). 

The Sermon on the Mount is probably Jesus' premier teaching on His Person - Who He is. We come this week to the third beatitude: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Inheritance, by very nature, implies receiving: two parties. When we try to take the earth, rather than receive it as a token of communion between us and God, we are unable to possess it. So truly, blessed are those Who have the Spirit of Jesus, who never took the earth as His own, but received it from His Father. 

The beginning of the human family, is God's Word to mankind that they would be Male and Female. Our gender is an eternal fact about our human nature. And yet both of these modalities of Male and Female, are given as 'talents' for manifestation of the One and same light - Christ in us. As Paul says: "There is longer male or female, but all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). This knowledge frees us to embrace the gift of our gender, including the unique strengths and limitations of it, as we go forth and do the good works God has uniquely prepared for us to do in our gendered humanity.   

One of Jesus' premier teaching moments on family is found when His mothers and brothers come and ask to speak with Him (Matthew 12:46-50). On the surface, it might look like Jesus is writing off His earthly family; but in fact, contained in this sequence is the definitive grounds on which we can understand God's good design and purpose for our earthly families. The earthly family is cast in the image of the heavenly; to be Fathers of Mothers or Children or Spouses (etc) we must first be Children of our Heavenly Father. 

As we finish our reflections on John's gospel, we find Jesus reinstating Peter. Imagine the despair and shame which Peter would have felt after denying even knowing the one whom He loved. And yet, as Jesus replicates the miracle He did when first calling Peter, the disciple's response is completely different to the first time...no longer does He cower, aware of His sinfulness before the Holy Christ, rather He jumps from the boat - not letting anything hinder him from getting to Christ. 

The resurrection of Christ was almost 2000 years ago now; perhaps we wonder - what is the relevance of it to my life in modern day Australia?The reaction of the disciples of Christ, and the way it transformed them, makes it seem like there must be something in it for us...if it was this important to them, surely it must mean something to us?For them it was everything, because the man who had called them, who all their hope was in, was not dead, but alive!   

We often speak about it, but what actually is eternal life?In John 17:3, Jesus Himself, gives a strict definition, that harmonises with the remainder of the New Testament. He gives the definition as He contemplates the cross in prayer; and it is a definition which has no time sense. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who manifested to us the eternal life! (1 John 1:2-3)   

Friends love the same things: "you too?!" Friends know of the same things; reciprocity exists between them. After three years together, Jesus now calls His disciples friends. What Jesus loves, the disciples have come to love. How has this come about? John 15:14 - "You are my friends, if you do what I command."  This was not an earning, but a learning of who He is, as they have followed Him.  

After three years, Jesus has come to hold the hearts of His disciples in His hands. They have seen the eternal life in Him. When they are away from Him, they fall apart. They know their need of being in His presence.AND NOW, He says that in a little while He is going away (John 13:33). This would have sounded like death to them now: being with Him was their life.Thankfully, for them, and for us (who are certainly not in His bodily presence), He said to them: "I will not leave you as orphan's. I will come to you." 

Jesus, the Master, washes His disciples feet. God is not high and mighty, like the rulers we see in some places. He is all powerful, but love is the deepest in Him. So, His servants must be. "To serve Jesus, is to take the way of the cross, and it necessarily leads men into lowly places." 

Jesus takes on the flesh of humanity, and conforms it to the image of God; in doing so, He demonstrates exactly what humanity is. He casts light.In revealing what humanity should be, we can tend to feel judged if we are not as He is; but His heart is not judgement but salvation. His light, is THE opportunity to walk in light. If we will not walk in the light, we will walk in the confusion of darkness. 

Each of us feel our mortality. Our hearts resonate with what the Bible says: we are like 'grass' - here today, gone tomorrow. And yet, a part of us rebels against this - it seems we were created to continue being. The episode of Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead shows Jesus traversing the barriers of space, time, life and death. He shows Himself to be our confidence in the face of death. 

We start a new series this week in the Gospel of John. The purpose of this series (yet again) is to take more of our being into Christ. His word's are always perfect, and as such are a primary way into His person. Sometimes, His perfect words confront misconceptions we have of Him. Do we really believe He is the Good Shepherd? Do we believe He is the Gate? May we submit to who He is today! 

Isaiah 53:12: "He was numbered with the transgressors."When we are in relation to those who have a problem, our usual reaction is to recoil in order to protect ourselves. We believe that we can have life apart from our obligation of love to them. Jesus death demonstrates that He has no life of His own; no life aside from His common life in relation to His brother's and sister's - He was numbered amongst transgressors. 

Jesus said: "do not judge." Judgement is the quenching of love towards another, in service of self. It is disunity. It is out of step with Him in whom no self-righteousness is found. This does not mean the blurring of our vision to any difference between good and evil; rather, the recognition of difference, out of love for another.   

As we continue in our series about Oneness, we are introduced to the churches in Galatia, where division and separation was occurring because of religious self-righteousness.  Paul, who himself has been rescued from religious self-righteousness by Christ, is perplexed that the church could be succumbing to such divisive forces. To do so, is to turn from the God of grace.When we are turned inward, even under the cloak of religiosity, division will reign: unity can only be found in being turned outward in love! 

As Jesus was born a man, He conformed His humanity to the will of the Father. He was perfectly one with the Father; whilst being perfectly one with us. He did this, so that we might follow Him: so that we will begin to set ourselves apart to the will of God, as He has. Thus, Jesus becomes the catalyst, the enabler of union between God and humanity. 

Moments before Jesus dies on the cross, He prays that we may be one - in the way He and the Father are one.  This is an astounding, lofty vision! - higher than any vision that has been cast by another human being. There is nothing between the Father and the Son: only a unity of perfect love. The Master is praying and working towards that coming about amongst us. Will we believe in Him?

As the church continues its beginnings, the issue of self righteousness arises as men from Judea claim that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved. This self-righteousness always manifests itself in a mentality of "we are in, they are out."Although the place where we draw it has changed, we too can create these dividing lines of segregation in order to self-justify.Jesus, the one who had more right than anybody to justify, "claimed the only righteousness which it would not have been a sin and a fall for Him to claim, the righteousness of His Father." (F.D Maurice). We now, have access to Christ's righteousness through obedience. 

God is not a God who hides, but a God who reveals Himself. This is His whole work: for us to know Him as He is.He has been doing this for all people, for all time. Acts 14:17: "He did not leave himself without a witness."If God is continually giving Himself to us, the question is, will we receive His Spirit? This is His love and heart towards us.To not receive, is to reject; as some did Acts 13:46. 

The contrast of heart  between the apostles and the Sadducees in Acts 5 &6 is like light and darkness. What is the one thing that leads to the difference? Belief in Christ or not.Jesus is on full display in the lives of the apostles as they face opposition: they leave their flogging 'rejoicing'.And yet, this joy and life is the inheritance stored up in Christ for the Sadducees TOO, if they would simply leave themselves and turn to believe in Christ. In fact, it is EVERY persons' inheritance. 

For Jesus to say "I am the Way" means there is a journey ahead...it certainly doesn't mean, "we're there". In Acts, we find Peter is on this journey, he is on the Way, and as he follows he receives a great capacity to be filled with the Spirit and follow closer. The principle? God is holding no good thing back from us. If it were possible for us to be with Him where He is this very instant, we would be there. If it were possible for Him to zap us in an instant and make us loving, He would do it… The only Way is set before us... in Jesus.

The resurrected Jesus may have ascended, but He is still the main character. We begin a new series this week traversing through the book of Acts, but continuing our pursuit: to capture a vision of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the entire world. He is now on display in the lives of His people, as they become temples of His Spirit.