Rock of Ages Evangelical Church

Matthew 5:10 In these last three verses of these principles the emphasis changes from being blessed by becoming something and acting in ways by the power of God that are against our sinful nature, to the consequences of it. The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, shall be persecuted....How i...

Ephesians 3:20-21  The end of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is a well loved and much used scripture. How often is this quoted will little thought? Is it something we just say and nominally believe or do we really think upon the omnipotence of our Almighty God and actually begin to expect great things of a great God? We may often find ourselves asking with the disciples, "Lord increase our f...

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the Peacemaker, for they shall be called sons of God. The nation of Israel had waited centuries for their promised Messiah. Here is Jesus, the prophet they believed had come into the world. Is He the One who will restore Israel, releasing them from the oppression and tyranny of Romes control?  They wanted a military Messiah. One who would fight for them against the Rom...

John 5:1-15 Jesus heals the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. The pool of mercy. At this pool a multitude of sick people lay waiting for the stirring up of the pool which happened at certain times. These were weak and helpless and desperate. Jesus comes to this pool and rather than focus particularly upon the crowd, He calls out a certain man and heals him. Why only one? Why this certain man? why...

Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the Pure in Heart for they shall see God.  Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? Jesus tells us that out of the heart come all kinds of wickedness. What is this purity of heart and how does one attain to it?

New Years Day 2023  What resolutions, promises, or plans do we make at the beginning of the New Year? Are they ever fulfilled. And what about James 4:13 -16 where we are encouraged not to boast about tomorrow and our plans? What is the context here? Is James teaching us to be passive about the future? According to this, should we as Christians be making plans for the future?

15th December 2022 John 4:43 -54  Jesus came from Sychar to Galilee. From a place where years of animosity between Samaritans and Jews still stewed to a place where He was received and welcomed with joy. One believed upon Him due to His word and the other because they saw the signs and wonders He had performed in Jerusalem. Are miracles needed for us to believe? or ought we take HIm at His wo...

Matthew 5:7  Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Jesus Christ is our supreme example when it comes to mercy and compassion. He healed the sick, delivered from demons, and fed the poor. As the apostle John warns us in his first epistle, if we say we abide in Him, we ought to walk as He walked. Not only should we render mercy to those of our household but to our enemies, and...

John 4:13-14  Jesus tells the woman at the well that He can give her living water which will so quench her thirst, that she would never thirst again. To drink of Jacob's well means to continually return to satisfy the needs of the body. It is such with the water from the well of the world. We return and return and yet our thirst, our emptiness is never quenched. There is only one fountain fro...

Hebrews 1:1-14 This letter to the Hebrews is a shakeup call to these Jews who had turned to Christ but were reverting to some of the practises of Judaism. Basically saying Christ wasn’t enough, He wasn’t supreme, they were revering Angels, Moses, etc…over the superiority of Christ.  Isaiah 42:8  I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to car...

John 4:27-42  After meeting Jesus at the well and having her life transformed by His drawing her, revealing her sin and ultimately who He really is, This woman leaves and heads straight to the city from where she came and belonged. The account of this woman should rock every lethargic Christian to the core. Such passion, such zeal, such urgency to go and share abroad, testifying to whom she m...

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. The fourth of the Beatitudes. God gives us both the appetite and need for food and drink. Do any of us in the west really know what it is to be starving? Jesus uses the analogy of hungering and thirsting when speaking of the desire for righteousness. Is this our experience? Do we know what it is to real...

John 4:1-26 Jesus Christ shows His great compassion all throughout the gospels and it is no different here in the account of the woman at the well. This is another place where the sovereignty of God is clearly visible and how God orchestrates everything to happen in the time and place He has decreed. Jesus gently draws this woman into understanding who she is, a rebellious sinner who needs a Savio...

Matthew 5:5  The beatitudes are spiritual principles and spiritual conditions. They are not achieved naturally. It is a work of God. The philosophy of the world is the exact opposite. Don't worry..Be happy..Whatever makes you happy pursue it with all your might. You want it? Do whatever it takes to get it. To be poor in spirit, to mourn and to be meek is to be a Christian. But Meekness in the...

John 4:1-3  When Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that He made and baptised more disciples than John the baptist, when His popularity burst forth, that He left Judea and departed for Galilee! Why did Jesus leave? Such introductions as these are not written just to fill gaps. Everything Jesus did He did with wisdom and purpose and these things are written for our instruction. Sometimes...

Psalm 19 tells us who made the heavens and the earth even today we can see it for ourselves There is no big bang in the universe just a loving God who made everything for us then comes himself in the flesh to die for our sins

Galatians 1  The apostle Paul warned people about false Gospels as did Jude and Peter, Why? Because there's only one Gospel that can save lost sinners!

Matthew 5:4 The second beatitude, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." This, much like the first is a spiritual condition. No one naturally mourning a loved one will be happy. But as spiritual things are not discerned by those who are unspiritual, many are blind to the truth of what it is to mourn.  Many of the modern contemporary 'churches' of today have 'core cultures...

John 3:31-36  John Baptist is still speaking to those of his disciples who were concerned about his waning popularity and in affirming that his joy has been fulfilled in the coming and growing following of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah he goes on to seal the whole purpose of his ministry in preparing the way by saying, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not bel...

Matthew 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus came from the wilderness preaching repentance, the same message John Baptist had already begun to lay down. The people waiting for their long expected Messiah hoped for a powerful military man who would free them from the yoke and tyranny of the Roman rule. Instead this Messiah who came with all the signs a...

John 3:22-30  Jesus through His disciples began to baptise people in a relatively close proximity to John the Baptist. John's disciples were concerned about this and came to him with their worries that 'all are coming to Him!' Rather than being envious, John was extremely joyful that people were following Jesus, after all he had only come to prepare the way. In this holy reaction of John and...

Matthew 4:23-5:2  Jesus being led into the wilderness by the Spirit was tempted by that old serpent the devil. Where Adam failed, Christ was victorious. After this Jesus came out and preached the message of the kingdom, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" the same message preached by John the Baptist as he prepared the way. The Jews expected a military Messiah, one who would conque...

John 3:14-21   What happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness? What is the serpent on the pole? What caused serpents to bite and kill them? and why does Jesus liken Himself to it? Join us as we take a look into these questions.

Psalm 1:5-6  The apostle Paul tells us that we will all appear before the judgement seat of Christ so what does Psalm 1:5 mean when we read that the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement? is there a contradiction here?  What is the end for the ungodly and the righteous?

John 3:8  Nicodemus the 'teacher of Israel' struggles to understand the concept of being born again and so Jesus likens it to the wind. No one knows where it comes from and where it goes, yet the sound and effects of it are seen and heard. Trying to fathom the depths of God's wisdom in the manner of the work of salvation in our souls by our own intelligence is fruitless. the secret things bel...