BAU Christian Fellowship

Where are you? This message picks up the identity series, “who are you?”, and moves to the next question in Genesis 3:9, where God asks Adam, “Where art thou?” God isn’t asking for directions. Psalm 139 is clear that He knows exactly where Adam is. He’s asking so that Adam becomes aware of where he stands.

The message looks at what that question means for us. “Where are you?” is a question of position, like the first thing a map asks you before it can get you anywhere. It’s also a question of assignment and purpose. Knowing who you are in Christ matters, but are you actually living out what He called you to do, or just passing time? That question reaches into prayer, worship, finances, relationships, and even the dreams we keep saying we’ll act on later.

The prodigal son gives the other side. A father who is always looking out for his child, who ran to meet him while he was still a long way off. Some of us are running toward God, and some of us are doing what Adam did and hiding. The message closes with a time of quiet self-reflection, and a prayer asking God for mercy and to realign us with the assignment we’ve drifted from.

Salvation is the starting line, not the finish. This message opens by recapping the identity series (sit, walk, stand) and asks the next question: if you already know who you are in Christ, are you actually growing?Using the picture of a seed becoming a plant, it shows that growth is expected and takes effort. You can’t pray for a six-pack, and you can’t pray your way out of spiritual immaturity either. It lays out what staying a baby Christian looks like: unstable faith, limited understanding of the Word, and over-dependence on others. It also shows why that affects the whole body, since spiritual responsibility can’t be handed to someone who won’t grow.Then it gets practical. Maturity isn’t how long you’ve been born again, it’s how much you obey. The things that hold growth back aren’t always sin. Sometimes they’re weights: social media, sleep, even food. Other hindrances are spiritual laziness and unforgiveness. The close gives a plan: daily time in the Word, prayer, fellowship, and praying the two prayers of Ephesians until the end of the year, drawing them out of the scripture yourself rather than borrowing someone else’s.

Being spiritually relevant isn't the whole assignment. This message opens by pointing to Daniel and Joseph, two men trusted by pagan kings precisely because they were excellent in the natural, not just devoted in the spiritual. From there, the message builds toward a single idea: FOCUS.

Focus gets defined simply, directing your mental attention toward one target while filtering out everything competing for it. And it's tested against some vivid biblical pictures: Peter walking on water as long as his eyes stayed on Jesus, and sinking the moment distraction took over. A soldier in 1 Kings 20 who lost something valuable because his attention drifted. Martha, busy and anxious with many things, next to Mary, who chose the one thing that mattered.Even Jesus gets read through this lens. His focus on the cross was so singular that he ran from a crowd trying to crown him king, because that wasn't the assignment. The challenge at the end is direct: name the one goal you actually have for this semester, and let that be what you protect your attention for.

New semester, same question: how do you actually want this one to go? This message opens with a simple but sobering line: he who fails to prepare has already prepared to fail. How you start matters, but how you finish matters more.

Three things anchor the whole message. Start with God, not as an afterthought when exams get close, but from day one. Start with purpose, because when the purpose of a thing isn't known, misusing it is inevitable. And finish strong, which takes diligence and consistency, not just a good beginning.

There's a vivid retelling of Hebrews 12:2 in here, Jesus enduring the cross because of the joy set before Him, that reframes the whole idea of pushing through a hard semester. And a closing challenge that's easy to actually apply: pray like your success depends only on prayer, then study like it depends only on studying.

Prayer is often reduced to a list, but this message makes a different case: prayer is communion. It's what the word KOINONIA actually means, sharing, participation, having something in common with God. And once you see prayer that way, a few things change.The message walks through what's actually in that "communion package": proximity (which reveals as much about you as it does about the person you're getting close to), genuine availability, and the reminder that quantity of time is a consequence of quality, not the goal itself. There's also a clear, honest picture of what happens after the Fall, when the soul took the place the spirit was meant to hold, and how Jesus didn't just restore what was lost. He gave something greater.The most memorable part might be the impromptu skit near the end. A one-sided prayer, Jesus, Jesus, help me, say something, anything, that ends with an honest question: when do we actually let God speak? It's funny because it's familiar. And it leads into three simple, practical shifts for prayer: show up, know you have the right to be there, and don't rush to leave once you're done talking.

Why do we treat God like He owes us for our bare minimum? This message opens with Cain and Abel's offerings side by side, and the difference isn't really about what was given, it's about how it was given. Cain grabbed something quick. Abel spent time choosing the best of what he had.That gap shows up in our own lives too: going to church so no one questions our faith, saying a quick prayer so we can call it done. The message pushes back on that gently but directly, reminding us that God is not just a God of love, but also a God of justice, and everything we bring Him should reflect knowing who He actually is.There's a practical center to it: three ways to bring your best to God. Know Him. Do everything with excellence. Bring a willing heart. And a challenge to stop treating ordinary life, waking up, having a meal, a place to sleep, as if it's owed to you rather than a gift.

What does it actually mean to have authority as a believer? This message breaks it down simply. Authority is exousia, power given from a higher source, and for believers, that source is Christ. But knowing you have authority and actually walking in it are two different things.

The message moves through where that authority comes from (your position in Christ, not your performance), how it's activated (through faith), and the one condition that makes or breaks it (submission to God). There's a strong line here: you don't fight for victory, you fight from victory. It's already been given to you at the cross.

There's also a practical, honest look at what submission looks like in real situations, not just casting things out, but fleeing what you know you should flee, and letting your everyday choices line up with the authority you're claiming to walk in. And a reminder that authority isn't only for confronting the enemy, it's for governing your own emotions too.

It closes with a challenge: know your identity, spend real time in the Word, and stop waiting for someone else to stand in the gap for you.

What's the difference between joy and happiness? This message opens with the congregation working that question out together, and lands somewhere worth sitting with. Happiness depends on what's happening around you, but joy is born of the Spirit. It doesn't move when your circumstances do.

From there, an unexpected turn into the book of Joel, where a lack of joy is directly tied to a lack of harvest. Joy isn't just a feeling, it's what draws counsel and insight out of hard situations, the way you'd draw water from a well.

There's a walk through what joy actually looks like when it shows up. Singing, dancing, shouting, laughter (yes, including David dancing before the ark). And a challenge worth carrying into the week: cultivate gratitude on purpose, because the alternative, complaining, is exactly what kept a generation wandering the wilderness longer than they needed to.

Prayer isn't just something we do. It's proof of what we believe. This message opens with a hard line: a believer who doesn't pray is a proud believer, because prayer is humility. It's coming honestly to your Father and saying exactly where you are.

From there, why prayer feels like hard work sometimes, and why it doesn't have to. Prayer only becomes hard work when we try to carry it in our own strength. When the Spirit is doing the carrying, it becomes something else. A delight, not a duty.

There's a walk through the kind of prayer God won't answer (the doubting, wavering kind) and the kind He will (bold, faith-filled, in Jesus' name). And a challenge that's easy to feel personally: stop waiting until the need is urgent before you start praying about it.

It closes with an invitation to ask God for the grace to pray, so it stops being a chore and starts being what it's meant to be.

We started with a question nobody had a quick answer for. Why do we actually pray?

The room had thoughts. To communicate with God. To align with His plan. To feed the soul. To put suggestions in our mind so we can move toward God without fully realising it. Every answer had something real in it. But the line that landed hardest? A person who doesn't pray is a proud person.

This is Part 1 of a new series that's going to cover everything — what prayer is, the different types, what to pray about, what not to pray about, praying in the Spirit, in tongues, intercession, supplication, thanksgiving. All of it, bit by bit. This is just where it starts.

In this episode: prayer as a two-way conversation, not a monologue. God answering prayers in ways that look nothing like what you asked for. Why prayer flows out of relationship first. And why God is genuinely interested in every part of your life — your academics, your finances, your relationships, your health. Not just Sundays.