In this fifth episode of What Is He Building?, we come to Israel, the nation God calls “My son, My firstborn,” and follow His son out from under Pharaoh and into the wilderness, where generations of slavery are exposed in the way Israel still thinks, responds and reaches towards another source when dependence upon God becomes difficult. We follow Israel’s longing for Egypt, the unbelief and rebellion exposed at the edge of the promised land, and what happens at Sinai as His slave-minded son takes covenant obligations upon himself, while Paul later tells us that the Law could tell Israel how to live as God’s covenant people but could never give Life, and that it was added “until the offspring should come,” because the promise was always moving towards THE Son. Listener Guide: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing

In this fourth episode of What Is He Building?, we move from Babel into the story of Abraham, where humanity’s “Let us make a name for ourselves” is followed by God saying, “I will make of you a great nation.” Abram leaves what is familiar and goes to a land God will show him, while God continues to tell him more about the promise: a son, offspring as numerous as the stars, a multitude of nations and kings, and blessing reaching all the families of the earth.

Hebrews tells us that Abraham lived in tents while looking forward to “the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” We follow the years in which Abraham cannot produce what God has promised, the repeated “I will” of the grant covenant, and the difference between responding to what God has said and taking responsibility for producing it ourselves, before the promised son becomes a family, the family becomes a nation, and God calls Israel “My son, My firstborn.”

Listener Guide - ⁠⁠⁠https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing⁠⁠

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by ⁠⁠Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.⁠⁠ ESV Text Edition: 2025.

In this episode of What Is He Building?, we follow the story from Cain’s city to Babel and see what humanity bearing Adam’s nature is capable of building while living independently from God. Cain’s descendants raise livestock, make music and work with metal, Nimrod establishes a kingdom, and at Babel humanity brings its knowledge, skill and ability together in its own version of oneness, building from its own resources and saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”

We look at the hierarchical systems that develop within human civilisation, the ancient background of Babel and the ziggurat, and the question of source: where did this come from, and who initiated it? We also ask what it means when the Father places His sons inside systems He did not originate but is well able to use for His purposes, before the story turns towards Abram and the extraordinary contrast between humanity’s “Let us make” and God’s “I will make.”

Listener Guide - ⁠⁠https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing⁠

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by ⁠Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.⁠ ESV Text Edition: 2025.

In this second episode of What Is He Building?, we go back to Adam, whom Luke calls “the son of God,” and ask what it means that he was created in Their image and likeness. We look at image as representation, likeness as resemblance, and why understanding ourselves as spirit, soul and body helps us see where Their image is borne in us.

We look at the Tree of Life in Genesis and what it reveals about God’s intention that man would receive his life from Him, bringing us into Christ as Life. From there, we come to Adam’s Declaration of Independence and what entered the human race through him, before seeing that same independence appear in the next generation through Cain, who goes out from the presence of the Lord and builds a city.

Listener Guide - ⁠https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.

In this opening episode of What Is He Building?, we begin to open up many of the things I talked about in the Feature Episode, 'An Ox in the Ford,' beginning where I believe we always have to begin: before the foundation of the world, with the question you have heard me ask many times on Focus, what have They always wanted?

We look at the purpose that was already in the Father, in Christ, before Adam, before sin and before anything needed fixing. Romans 8 speaks of the Son as the Firstborn among many brothers, and Jesus says, “I will build My church.” He is building people because He has a certain kind of person that He is after. He is building someone because He is building something.

Listener Guide - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

In this special Feature Episode of Focus, I’m sharing the message I gave at Oasis Church in Portsmouth on Sunday 9 August 2026, An Ox in the Ford. Over recent months, the Father has been developing my understanding of building, and I’ve found myself returning again to the words of Jesus, “I will build My church.” What did He actually mean? And what kind of people is He preparing through whom He can accomplish what He intends?

Beginning with Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and moving through the picture of an ox carrying a load through a ford, I share some of what I have been processing with Him about the preparation of the person, Christ being formed in us, and the Father developing sons who can carry the load. This message has become part of what I’m continuing to process on Focus, and I share it with you for your encouragement as Holy Spirit continues His work of growing, developing and maturing the new man.

In the final episode of our In Christ series, we come to the question at the end of Watchman Nee’s chapter: How are we actually in Christ? We discover the significance of believing INTO Christ, being baptised INTO Christ, and Paul’s extraordinary statement that it is from God that we have our life in Christ Jesus. We also look at unbelief as the resistance of self to what the Father has already declared to be true, before finishing with Hudson Taylor’s discovery in John 15:5: Jesus never said that one day you might become a branch, He said, “You are the branches.” The Father has placed you into Christ, Christ Himself is your life, and whatever is Christ’s is also yours. The question is whether we will believe Him and come into agreement with what our Father says is already true of us in His Son. Workbook link (series 26): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CghKe2NP9ZMslL3fq12ijjq6DhciUFuh?usp=sharing

This series draws from Chapter 2, “In Christ,” in Watchman Nee's The Messenger of the Cross, published by Christian Fellowship Publishers.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

What kind of love is Paul talking about when he says that nothing can separate us from the love of God? In this episode, we continue reading chapter two of The Messenger of the Cross as we explore the difference between agape and eros, why so many believers still live from the wrong source, and how the Father has brought us into the very relationship that His Son has always enjoyed with Him.

This series draws from Chapter 2, “In Christ,” in Watchman Nee's The Messenger of the Cross, published by Christian Fellowship Publishers.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

What if everything the Father has ever desired to give you is already found in Christ? In this episode, we continue reading chapter two of The Messenger of the Cross as Watchman Nee shows us that redemption, forgiveness, justification and sanctification are all found in one place: in Him.

This series draws from Chapter 2, “In Christ,” in Watchman Nee's The Messenger of the Cross, published by Christian Fellowship Publishers.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but what does that really mean? Continuing through chapter two of The Messenger of the Cross, we discover that the Father's verdict over the old man has never changed. Self remains under the same sentence, yet the new man, born from above and one with Christ, has never stood under condemnation because the Father has already placed us into His Son.

We also explore why Holy Spirit will never help self live the life of Christ, how victory rests upon what the Father has already declared rather than what we feel, and why the renewed mind learns to agree with the mind of Christ instead of the mindset of self. As our thinking comes into agreement with the Father's Word, we begin drawing upon the victory that has already been accomplished in Christ

This series draws from Chapter 2, “In Christ,” in Watchman Nee's The Messenger of the Cross, published by Christian Fellowship Publishers.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk