Life might seem easier if we didn’t have to gather with our church. We wouldn’t have to put up with people who sometimes annoy and hurt us, for a start! But God’s plan has always been to gather a people together who share a common faith in the gospel - even if they’re different to each other, annoy each other, and sometimes hurt each other. This week, we’ll see how “loving his church” marks who we are at Coast Bible, as we open up Colossians 3 together.

For the next few weeks, we’ll hear about our big prayer as a church - Knowing Jesus, Loving his church, Reaching the lost. This is what we believe God wants to see in our church for years to come! This week we begin by seeing what Scripture says about knowing Jesus, particularly in the experience of the apostle Paul.

Guest speaker Zach Mamo brings us a sermon from Philippians, discussing how we can avoid living in isolation as Christians but rather finding joyful partnership together as Christian brothers and sisters.

The day has come at last - their wait is over! Simeon and Anna have been waiting their whole lives to see the Messiah. Finally, their longing is fulfilled. What can we learn from them, both in their waiting and in their response to seeing Jesus? Find out this week as we finish the season of advent together in Luke 2:22-38.

We continue “waiting with God’s people” this week by meeting Jesus’ mother, Mary. In many ways, Jesus is not what she’d been waiting for; she was a young woman waiting to get married, not become the mother of the Messiah! But she discovers, as we can, that Jesus is better than we can imagine.

Christmas is here before we know it! It’s easy to take this season for granted. It’s especially easy to miss the significance of why Jesus came. This week, we’ll begin “waiting with God’s people” for advent by following the account of Zechariah and Elizabeth. 2000 years ago, they were waiting for a child. But they didn’t realise that God was going to answer their prayer in a much bigger way than they expected.

1 John 5:13-21. In our last passage from 1 John, we consider the question: what difference should my assurance in Christ make to my life? As we’ll see, it makes us confident to ask God for things, intercede for stumbling Christians, and overcome sin in our lives. These are things we can do with boldness because of our confidence in Christ.

1 John 5:6-12. Plenty of Aussies believe in something spiritual. But why should we? What’s the best reason to believe in spiritual things? And even more than that - what’s the better reason to believe in Jesus? This week we’ll see why we can trust the Bible’s message about Jesus, and what that means for our lives.

1 John 5:1-5. You might be a Christian today. But how do you know you’ll still be one tomorrow? None of us know what’s around the corner, and all of us know someone who’s ‘fallen away.’ Today’s passage shows us that the reason any of us is a Christian is because God has given us life. And that has massive implications for our ongoing assurance. Listen in as we discover how to know whether we’ll make it to the end.

We all find it hard to love people, even those closest to us. What do we need to know when we’re at the end of our rope and the tank has run dry? Join us this week as we discover why Christians must love each other, with a life-changing answer rooted in the very character of God.