As the first hint of light appears in the sky, they see a figure. Perhaps he's been there all of the time. "You're closer than you realise. Try the other side of the boat" and an abundance is provided. It's then they realise who it is. Jesus in their workplace.

There are a lot of self-help books in the world. One, however recently caught my interest: Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman. His basic hypothesis is that the average life expectancy in the West is only about 4,000 weeks. Burkeman suggest we will always fail to tick every last item on our spiralling to-do lists, so we should learn to accept our limitations and make tough choices between what we can and cannot squeeze into our 4,000 weeks.

The resurrected Jesus is clearly interested in forgiveness. It’s one of his priorities. If we are to truly be his disciples, it should be one of ours too.

We’re told that John saw the empty tomb and believed while the very next verse says that none of the disciples understood that Jesus had to rise from the dead. The fact is, resurrection is a strange thing and there are all sorts of different responses to it. This is why this is such a good passage to start with in our series.

When we live as if we believe in the resurrection and the life, we are committing to the kingdom building work of God, carrying on the work that Jesus started on the cross reconciling humanity to God. Healing the cracks in creation that happened after the fall.

It is God that is responsible for producing the fruits and not us, the disciples. It is God that provides the structure, nutrients, and resources necessary for the production of the fruit.

Jesus is inviting us not just to follow Him but to spend time with Him. It’s more than setting an example of being Christ-like but spending time with Him. He wouldn’t make a room in the Father’s house for us if He didn’t want us to stay.

The Shepherd comes alongside his sheep not dictating but building relationships through nurture and care. When we are in our workplaces and on our frontlines we preach and act Jesus, when we come alongside our counterparts. When we journey with them and stay loyal to our teams and communities.

For me knowing that the darkness can never overcome the light of Jesus enables me to remain hopeful for our world when we as a human race seem to be bent on destruction.

Fame, fortune, wealth, success or popularity can’t satisfy. They might feel good for a time but we will always eventually find that these things run dry and end up leaving us dissatisfied. If you want to feel fullness, wholeness and a satisfying of your hunger, it is Jesus that we need to come to.

In our passage we’re told Jesus had a custom of going to the synagogue on the sabbath day. Now, while synagogue and church aren’t the same thing, it does nevertheless show that Jesus placed a high value on regularly attending corporate worship. The question is, do you place a high value on it?

Jesus knew his bible so well that he could not only identify a lie when he’s being told one but he could also refute with the truth.

It is not in our nature as a society to give things up, rather we live in a materialistic gain culture and when it comes to giving things up in the way of fasting our minds tend to go straight to religious piety, a holier than thou attitude or lent

The heart of Christianity isn’t a load of things to know, it’s about there being a person to know

Quite often in churches whenever the subject of giving is mentioned, people can get a bit nervous.

Because Jesus couldn’t keep giving out and curing the sick without spending time in prayer to refill and we cannot achieve whatever it is we try to achieve without spending time in prayer and refilling too.

In a general sense, I imagine most people would say it’d be good to have more love in the world. However, it gets a lot harder when it comes to deciding who should go first.

We are also familiar with the idea of trials and things not going well. However, the idea of facing trials and considering pure joy is a strange one. How do these two things fit together and what does it have to do with advent?

Another part of hope is understanding that we do not have all of the answers but that God does. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. God created the ends of the earth so even when it feels too much and like we are near the end, God created it and God is still there. Because that is the hope of God coming near, showing that Jesus is coming as a light in the darkness. Because like the mountains and the valleys, God has brought himself to our level. Starting life in the world as a baby and living life as we do experiencing the same feelings and emotions that we did.

When we feel like no one else understands us and our situation, God is with us. As we go through life and witness to Jesus in different situations, we do it knowing that God’s Holy Spirit is with us