Just Checking In

It was a busy week last week. What with visiting my parents, taking the midweek Bible study at Derwent (and this is a teaching session, not a discursive, interactive, group, prophetically-get-everything-off-your-chest study), preaching twice on Sunday there was not much time for anything else. I still need a great many hours in preparation, so three preaching/teaching sessions in a week is a tall order. However, I still live.

Yesterday morning: 1 Peter 2:2,3 ("desire the pure milk of the word"). Headings - Being hungry, Feeding, Tasting.

Yesterday evening: John 17:20-26 - Jesus' prayer for all disciples. Headings: Horizontal Unity (amongst believers), Vertical Unity (with Christ), Evangelism ("that the world may believe").

The morning service was much easier to prepare for. Since I was filling in for someone else, I had free choice of what to preach. Isolating two verses means it is easier to focus on a few points in depth. The risk is one of losing context. In the evening I am making my way through the gospel of John. I have not found it easy. I keep finding myself saying, "Why does Jesus say that, in that way?" The temptation is always to try to make Jesus' words say what I want them to say rather than what he actually said! In some ways I am glad to leave the Upper Room and get on to narrative again.