Ruth Hooke

The Gospels give us a brilliant picture of a compassionate and fearless teacher who was loved by many but made enough enemies to suffer an early death at their hands. Later, the apostle Paul wrote about him like this:

Colossians 1:15,17
He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation... and in him all things hold together.

These words give us a starting point for our new series, exploring JESUS in big letters, searching the Scriptures for as complete a picture of Him as we can find. But a picture only hangs on a wall and looks nice. The real JESUS is actually calling His followers to be like Him, not to be two-dimensional images looking nice, but 3D human beings, living like He did! That’s some challenge – but it is what we are being transformed into!

Romans 8:29
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. NLT 

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV

When did you last climb a mountain? Not just Beacon Fell – a real mountain! It’s a challenge for many of us that becomes beyond our physical limitations as we grow older. We are content with low level walks beside rivers and streams.

God often met, and still meets, with people on mountains. Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John and many more are just a few examples. The good news is that we don’t have to climb a mountain to meet with God! But if you can it might be worth the effort! Many people in Bible times also had encounters with God beside – or even in (!) - rivers, Naaman, Jesus, Lydia amongst them.

There is actually nowhere we can go in life that is beyond God’s reach! That is good news for anyone who wants a relationship with Him, not so good if you’re running scared! But, in this summer 2016 Bible series, we’ll be exploring life-changing encounters with God in our series, “River Deep Mountain High”.

To access the talks as they happen, click here, select a title and then scroll down for an audio link / visuals.