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The Dance of the Fig Leaves
Adam and Eve rejected the presence of God for the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But the Church at Ephesus was in danger of rejecting the presence of God for a far subtler temptation; one, however, just as deadly and just as costly. And so the dance of the fig leaves continued. In His grace, the Lord appoints the apostle John to write a letter both to rebuke them and to call them back to the one thing that mattered most of all – His presence. Learn how God’s presence is what we need more than anything else.
Jesus gives us a wonderful promise in Matthew 11:28-30. It is a promsie to journey into the rest that he alone offers. We learn how God sets in motion His wonderful plabn to bring us back to the place of His presence and His peace - not a journey to something, but a journey to Someone. Discover just how we can find the true soul-rest Jesus promises.
The Life-transforming Light of Christ's Presence
In John 8:12, we read that Jesus is the light of the world – a light that both illuminates and liberates. Not only is He the light of life, but He puts His life-changing light to work in us. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, when we truly step into God's illuminating Presence, we see clearly enough to recognise our need to lay aside the 'false-self' in order to take on the 'true-self' - the person God purposed us to be all along. He makes a Paul out of a Saul. He takes hearts full of vengeance and transforms them into echoes of His love. The presence of God transforms us! We discover, in the process, that relationship with Him does what religion can never do – it breaks chains; it sets free; it makes whole; it makes new!
The Ark was a remarkable vessel – remarkable not only in its design, but in its purpose. Made up of three different levels, it proved to be a three-dimensional Ark in more ways than one; it was an Ark of grace, an Ark of opposites and an Ark of forgiveness. Similarly, as we journey together in the Lord, we discover the depth of His grace, how He builds a family of opposites, and how He crafts in us His wonderful heart of forgiveness.