08.02.2026 - Ecclesiastes 5:1 - 6:9 - Two More in the Dock: Empty Religious Activity and RichesPreacher: Brian Elwick

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/WQJwSopmFb8

1. Empty religious activity (5: 1-7)

2. Meaningless pursuit of wealth (5:8–17)

3. Gift of contentment and enjoyment of wealth (5:18-20)

4. Wealth without enjoyment (6:1-6)

5. Labour without satisfaction (6:7-9)

Questions for us: 1. Consider again the meaning of hebel.

2. How good are you at listening to God?

3. What has hindered your listening?

4. Have you made any vows to God, and if so did you fulfil them?

5. What is at the heart of the feeling of not having enough money or income?

6. Does wealth solve every problem?

7. Does wealth bring peace of mind?

8. What is hebel about wealth hoarded or wealth lost?

9. Does wealth provide security?

10. Why can’t you take your money with you, and how does your answer to that shape how you should live?

11. How is it possible to have wealth and yet not enjoy it?

12. Is wealth a bad thing?

01.02.2026 - Matthew 6:19-21 - Investing in Jesus

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/Br5J4IecHF0

Talk 1: Matthew 6:19-21 - Where your treasure is - there’s your heart

Talk 2: Matthew 13:44-46 – How do I find hope in Jesus?

25.01.2026 - Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:16 - Oppression Everywhere

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/V74jHx8MWIE

Big Idea: All attempts to evade hebel by hating others will destroy ourselves. Life is found in loving others and enjoying what we have.

Aim: Give up on excluding, oppressing, envying, 'knowing best', and avoiding others, but enjoy life and share what you have with them

1. Hating our neighbours by injustice (3:16-22)

2. Hating our neighbours by oppression (4:1-3)

3. Hating our neighbours by envy and laziness (4:4-6)

4. Hating our neighbours by overwork (4:7-8)

5. Hating our neighbours by pride (4:13-16)

6. Loving our neighbours is loving ourselves (4:9-12)

Questions for us:

1. Recap: What is hebel? How does it affect life?

2. The Teacher exposes how we live with a “me first” mindset. Where do you notice this tendency in your own life?

3. What attitudes in the human heart are responsible for the injustices we see in the world (3:16)? How might we see those same attitudes in our own lives?

4. How does remembering that God will ultimately bring justice (3:17) both comfort us and challenge us in how we treat others now?

5. The Teacher reminds us that we are all ‘dust’ and share the same fragile fate (3:18-21). How might this truth reshape our ‘me first’ attitude?

6. In 4:1-3, the Teacher pauses before the horror of oppression and offers no quick solutions. What does this teach us about how we respond to suffering that feels overwhelming or beyond our ability to fix?

7. The Teacher warns against both envy-driven overwork and self-destructive laziness (4:4-6). Which danger do you feel more prone to, and why? What would living out the wisdom of 4:6 look like in your life?

8. Pride is exposed through the foolish king who no longer listens (4:13-16). Where might pride make it hard for you to accept advice, correction, or help from others?

9. How does 4:9-12 point us to a ‘you first’ rather than a ‘me first’ life? Who has God put around us to serve?

10. In a world subjected to hebel, why is loving our neighbour not only the obedient way to live, but also the wisest and most joyful way to live?

18.01.2026 - Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 - The Gift of Joy in a Non-Stop World

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/bRK8hxr081M

Big Idea: Our lives are marked by seasons we are not in control of, but joy comes from knowing that they are part of a bigger, beautiful picture being worked out by God.

Aim: Give up the illusion that we are in control of the seasons of our lives and joyfully accept each season God brings us through.

1. The unfathomable complexity of life (3:1-8)

2. Enjoyment within life’s seasons (3:9-13)

3. The purpose of hebel (3:14-15)

Questions for us:

1. Recap: What is hebel? How does it affect this life?

2. How does life usually feel? Manageable? Predictable? Stable? Or not?

3. How does the Teacher’s poem in vv. 1-8 help us think about life?

4. How much of life is this poem describing? How do we move through the seasons of life?

5. Who or what governs the seasons of life? How long do they last?

6. How does this poem describe a hebel world?

7. Is this a happy poem or a poem of despair? What makes the difference? Do you find this poem unsettling or comforting?

8. What might it look like to delight in the season you are in rather than try to control it? (v. 9-11a)

9. How might you grow in thankfulness for each season rather than discontentment or bitterness? (vv. 11b-12)

10. How might you enjoy this season, knowing it will not last (v. 13)?

11. What reason does God give for subjecting the world to hebel in verse 14? How might we be tempted to live in the world if he hadn’t?

12. Is the past gone to God? What hope ought this to give us for the future? How does the blind man in John 9 exemplify this?

11.01.2026 - Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26 - The Trial of Three Conmen: Wisdom, Pleasure and Work

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/vnueLpihmNE

Big Idea: Wisdom, pleasure, and work will not produce any permanent profit, but joy comes from knowing that everything is God's gift.

Aim: Don’t think wisdom, pleasure, or work will give you anything lasting, but find joy in living life as God's gift.

1. The search for wisdom is hebel (1:12-18; 2:12-16)

2. The pursuit of pleasure is hebel (2:1-11)

3. The effort of work is hebel (2:17-23)

4. The Teacher’s breakthrough (2:24-26)

Questions for us:

1. Recap: What is hebel? How does it affect this life?

2. Are we ever tempted to think that more knowledge or better understanding will fix life or insulate us from its problems?

3. Why does the Teacher think that the search for wisdom is hebel? How do we often respond when we experience the limitations of wisdom?

4. How are we tempted to “Do what makes us happy”? Will that provide any lasting significance to life?

5. Is what is wrong with our lives just that we haven’t had enough opportunity to enjoy them?

6. Why does the Teacher realise that pleasure is hebel?

7. Where do we think we will gain significance or profit by what we do?

8. Why does the Teacher despair that work cannot escape hebel?

9. What is the Teacher’s breakthrough in 2:24-26? Does it mean he’s found a way to escape hebel or gain a profit?

10. How would realising that life isn’t about gaining more, but about receiving, shape your approach to wisdom, pleasure, and work?

11. What attitudes should characterise a life received as a gift, compared to one used for our gain?

12. How do we see Jesus make a similar point in Matthew 6?

13. What one area of life can you think of where you can stop chasing wisdom, pleasure, or work and instead receive life as God’s gift? What difference might that make?

04.01.2026 - Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 - Building Sandcastles as the Tide Comes in

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/Cb2onlNDrlM

Big Idea: King Jesus tells us everything in this world is short, repetitive, and elusive.

Aim: Don’t grasp hold of anything in this life; you’ll find no profit in it.

1. Setting the scene (vv. 1-3)

2. Life’s too short to make a profit (vv. 4, 11)

3. Life’s too wearisome to fulfil us (vv. 5-8)

4. Life’s too repetitive for lasting change (vv. 9-10)

5. So what?

Questions for us:1. Have you had an experience like John Wyatt’s of being forgotten or moved on from? How did that feel?

2. How does the thought that Christmas is coming round again soon strike you?

3. Do you feel life passes by too quickly to truly make the most of it?

4. Who is writing Ecclesiastes, and how are we to listen to him?

5. What’s his theme in verses 2-3 that should prod us towards delight and joy? What’s the Hebrew word we are learning for this?

6. Who experiences hebel in the world?

7. How might you answer the question the Teacher poses in verse 3? What are you living for? How would the Teacher answer this question?

8. Where do you feel that the shortness of life is robbing you at the moment?

9. Where do you see the weary drudgery of life, and how do you respond?

10. Is there anything new under the sun that will make a real difference?

11. How does Jesus reinforce the Teacher’s warning in the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12?

12. We often think ‘If only I had… then I’d be happy/content/fulfilled/successful/significant.’ What mightsome of those things be for you? How does Ecclesiastes 1 teach us to view them?

28.12.2025 - Numbers 9:1-14 - New Year - Remember the Family Story

Preacher: Tom Hallett

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/yvsNo0wpq6s

25.12.2025 - Galatians 4:4-7 - The Good News of God Sending God

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/aVpRyv4HWQI

14.12.2025 - Luke 9:18-20 - Jesus' Identity Revealed

Preacher: Brian Elwick

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/ZtKpbDYp5gI

1. Praying in private (v. 18a)

2. The crowds’ view of Jesus (vv. 18b -19)

3. Personal - who do you say Jesus is? (v. 20)

Questions for us:

1. Why were the crowds in Luke 9 curious about the identity of Jesus?
2. What did they believe about Jesus?
3. Why would the people in Luke 9 think Jesus to be no more than an ordinary human being -and no more than that?
4. Generally speaking, what do the “crowds” of today think about Jesus?
5. Why do you think it is that 40% of people do not realise Jesus is a real person who actually lived?
6. 25% of 18-34 year olds believe Jesus is a mythical or fictional character. Do you think this is concerning for the future of Christianity in this country?
7. Peter identified Jesus as God’s Messiah. How was he enabled to do that?
8. What does it matter if we don’t correctly identify Jesus as the eternal God, ie the true Jesus of the Bible?
9. How can we at CCH help others to know about, and to believe in, and have faith in, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Redeemer?

07.12.2025 - Luke 9:10-17 - Jesus’ Authority to Provide

Preacher: Adam Johnston

Also available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/6smGp-UIUDI

Big Idea: Jesus’ apostles’ lesson is not over as Jesus models compassion, involves them in ministry and displays his power to provide.

Aim: Learn from Jesus’ compassion, get involved in his ministry, and trust his provision.

Jesus teaches…

1. Compassion that overcomes exhaustion (vv. 10-11)

2. Service that overcomes self-centredness (vv. 12-15)

3. Provision that overcomes lack (vv. 16-17)

Questions for us:

1. How do you usually respond to others when you are feeling tired? What does this tell us about what’s our hearts?

2. How does Jesus challenge the idea that tiredness gives us permission to switch off from compassion in verses 10-11?

3. What situations or people do you find most difficult to respond to compassionately when you are tired? What might Christ-like compassion look like in those moments? How might that situation or conversation go differently if we learn from Jesus?

4. In what circumstances in your life might you want to pray the prayer, “Lord, give me the strength to serve… today”?

5. How do the disciples’ questions expose their self-centredness in verses 12-13?

6. The disciples saw the crowd as a burden. Jesus saw them as people to serve. When are you tempted to view others as getting in the way rather than an opportunity to serve?

7. Where might Jesus invite us to step out at serve others, even if we have little to give ourselves? How does this story help sustain us when serving others seems more than we can manage?

8. Jesus provides abundantly, including twelve baskets of leftovers. Have you experienced God providing for you in surprising or timely ways? How does remembering this deepen your trust in Jesus today?

9. What does this miracle teach us about who Jesus is? How should we approach Jesus, having seen who he is?

10. What one concrete step could you take this week—at home, at work, at church—to live out compassion, self-giving service, or trust in Jesus’ provision?