Jesus Wins

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 1st March 2026

Passage: John 16:25-33

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Many American Christians today are walking away from their faith, often falling into three destructive patterns: trying to convert culture by compromising values, condemning culture by retreating from the world, or consuming culture by watering down truth. None of these approaches work because they miss the fundamental reality that Jesus has already secured the victory.

In John 16:25-33, Jesus speaks to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion, preparing them for a time when they would understand clearly who he is and his relationship to the Father. He promises that after his resurrection, they would be able to pray directly to the Father in his name, revealing for the first time that God is truly his Father. The revolutionary truth Jesus shares is that the Father himself loves his disciples - not just through Jesus as a mediator, but the Father directly and personally loves them.

This corrects a dangerous misunderstanding many Christians have about God's love. Rather than believing that God loves us because Jesus died for us, the truth is that Jesus died for us because the Father already loved us. God chose to set his love upon us before the foundation of the world, not because we were lovable, but according to his own will and purpose. When we live from this security - knowing that we have a heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally - it transforms our relationships, our worship, and our ability to love others. Even in tribulation, we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world, and nothing can separate us from the Father's love.

No Other Gospel

Series: Miscellaneous

Preacher: Billy McKillop, Executive Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 22nd February 2026

Passage: Galatians 1:1-10

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The question of whether we can add anything to God's grace while maintaining the true gospel has challenged the church since its beginning. Paul addressed this issue when false teachers in Galatia began requiring circumcision in addition to faith in Christ for salvation. These Judaizers created a deadly formula: Christ's sacrifice plus circumcision equals right standing with God.

This same pattern appears in modern distortions of the gospel. The prosperity gospel adds material blessings to grace, suggesting that health and wealth indicate God's favor. Approval-based Christianity seeks to modify biblical teaching to avoid offense and gain human acceptance. Cultural Christianity makes political or cultural alignment as important as faith in Christ. Each distortion stems from our sinful nature finding God's free grace insufficient - we want to be in control and earn approval through our efforts.

Paul's solution remains unchanged: Jesus gave Himself as a complete and sufficient sacrifice that cannot be supplemented. His perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection secured our justification by faith alone. Good works follow salvation as expressions of gratitude, not as requirements for earning God's favor. The gospel produces freedom, humility, and love while protecting against legalism and self-righteousness.

The Path To Joy Pt 2

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 15th February 2026

Passage: John 16:16-24

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Jesus taught His disciples that true joy comes through a different path than worldly happiness. Using the illustration of childbirth, He showed how pain can become the source of our greatest joy when we see God's purposes fulfilled. The resurrection changes everything, making Christian joy indestructible because it depends on Christ's victory, not our circumstances. Through faith in Jesus, we receive adoption as God's children with direct access to our Heavenly Father. This spiritual adoption gives us a new identity, privileges, and nature as partakers of the divine life. Joy becomes our flag of victory, raised because our King is present even in our darkest moments.

The Path to Joy

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Date: 8th February 2026

Passage: John 16:16-24

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Life presents a confusing paradox where joy and sorrow often coexist, but in God's kingdom, sorrow frequently serves as the pathway to genuine, lasting joy. When we face difficult circumstances, Romans 8:28-29 reminds us that God works all things together for good for those who love Him, with the ultimate purpose being our transformation into Christ's likeness. The African American church exemplifies this truth, finding explosive joy amid oppression through spiritual resilience and sacred defiance. Paul's teachings reveal that tribulation is the pathway to God's kingdom, and our temporary suffering prepares us for eternal glory. God doesn't abandon us in pain but uses it purposefully to shape, strengthen, and prepare us for His glory.

The Work of the Spirit

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 1st February 2026

Passage: John 16:4-15

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When Jesus announced His departure to the disciples, their hearts were filled with sorrow. After three years of witnessing His miracles and teachings, the thought of losing their beloved teacher was devastating. Yet Jesus made a remarkable statement that it was actually to their advantage that He leave. This wasn't abandonment but preparation for something greater - the coming of the Holy Spirit.Jesus explained that His physical departure was necessary for the Spirit to come in fullness. The disciples thought having Jesus physically present was ideal, but Jesus understood they needed more than His presence beside them - they needed Him in them through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit operates on divine timing and could only be poured out after Jesus died, rose, and was exalted to the Father's right hand. Jesus had been withholding certain truths because the disciples weren't ready, operating on a need-to-know basis that applies to our lives today.The Holy Spirit works in three primary ways in our lives. First, He convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, exposing truth and calling people to account. Second, He guides believers into truth, primarily through God's Word, helping us understand spiritual realities as we mature. Third, He glorifies Jesus by taking what belongs to Christ and declaring it to believers. All Christians possess the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation - there's no need for a second blessing. The African American church exemplifies the Spirit's power, thriving with joy despite facing systematic oppression, illiteracy mandates, and persecution. As believers today face increasing cultural marginalization, we can learn from their example of maintaining faith and effectiveness under pressure while trusting the Spirit to guide us according to His perfect timing.

Kingdoms In Conflict - Part 2

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 25th January 2026

Passage: John 15:18-16:4

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Jesus warned His disciples that the world would hate them, just as it hated Him. The world system, governed by the evil one, fundamentally opposes God and leaves Him out entirely. Christians face hatred because they are no longer part of this world system - Jesus chose them out of it, making them traitors to worldly values. This opposition is inevitable for all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus. However, believers should respond not with worldly anger but with love and grace, remembering they have a heavenly Father who knew this opposition was coming and has equipped them for it.

Kingdoms in Conflict - Part 1

Series: The Jesus We Need to Know

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 18th January 2026

Passage: John 15:18-16:4

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The Christian life involves navigating what missionary Leslie Newbegin called an unbearable tension between faith and the surrounding culture. In John 15:18-25, Jesus repeatedly warns that the world will hate His followers, using the word hate eight times to emphasize this reality. This hatred isn't mere disagreement but an intense aversion that leads to dismissal and harm. The world Jesus refers to isn't the physical earth but a system of values, priorities, and thinking that excludes God entirely.Throughout history, Christians have attempted to resolve this tension through various approaches: assimilation by conforming to worldly values, withdrawal by creating separate Christian communities, combat by attacking secular culture, or nostalgia by longing for times when Christianity held more influence. However, Jesus chose none of these responses. Instead, He lived faithfully in the tension, remaining committed to His Father's will while engaging a world that ultimately rejected Him.The key insight is that Christians shouldn't try to make the world love them by compromising biblical truth. James 4:4 warns against friendship with the world's system, though this doesn't prohibit relationships with non-believers. We're called to be joyful outsiders who serve as living testimonies to the gospel's transforming power, shining Christ's light while loving those who may hate us, hoping they might be brought from darkness into God's marvelous light.

An Ardent Desire To Know Christ

Series: Miscellaneous

Preacher: Charlie Davidson

Sunday Morning

Date: 11th January 2026

Passage: Philippians 3:1-16

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The Christian journey often feels counterintuitive to our natural desires for comfort and self-preservation. When Jesus commanded His disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him, these words challenged everything we instinctively want to do. However, Paul's experience in Philippians 3 demonstrates that these seemingly harsh commands actually lead to the greatest treasure possible: knowing Christ intimately.Paul had every reason to boast in human achievements. His religious credentials were impeccable - circumcised on the eighth day, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous enough to persecute the church, and blameless under the law. Yet he counted all these accomplishments as rubbish compared to knowing Christ. This wasn't mere religious rhetoric; Paul used a word that essentially means garbage or waste, emphasizing the worthlessness of earthly achievements when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ.True knowledge of God is experiential rather than merely intellectual. It involves following Christ daily, not just learning about Him academically. This intimate relationship should become so consuming that our selfish desires are swallowed up in one overwhelming passion: to know Him more. The journey requires community with other believers, as we cannot know Christ fully in isolation. Through relationships involving love, forgiveness, comfort, and generosity, we experience Christ more deeply in our daily lives. While our desire to know Christ may fluctuate, it's not our strength that sustains us but God's grace working within us.

What is Important to Jesus

Series: Miscellaneous

Preacher: Chris Blackman

Sunday Morning

Date: 4th January 2026

Passage: Mark 12:28-34

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When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus emphasized loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. These aren't just suggestions but define everything else in Scripture. The challenge is that we naturally love the wrong things due to our sinful nature. However, God demonstrated His perfect love by sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners. Understanding this unconditional love transforms how we love others, enabling us to see their highest possibilities and love sacrificially, creating ripple effects that transform entire communities.

Christmas Refugees

Series: O Come, Immanuel!

Preacher: Kevin Smith, Senior Pastor

Sunday Morning

Date: 28th December 2025

Passage: Matthew 2:13-23

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The familiar Christmas narrative takes an unexpected turn when we consider that Jesus became a refugee shortly after His birth. Following the departure of the wise men, King Herod realized he had been deceived and flew into a murderous rage. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream with urgent instructions to flee to Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus, as Herod planned to search for and destroy the child. This wasn't a planned journey but a desperate escape from persecution and violence.God's protection during this crisis reveals several profound truths about His character and care for His people. He provided advance warning through the angelic dream, gave specific guidance about where to go, and had already supplied the necessary resources through the expensive gifts from the Magi. The gold, frankincense, and myrrh weren't merely symbolic offerings but became the financial means for the family's survival in exile. Meanwhile, Herod's fury led to the massacre of innocent children in Bethlehem, fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy about Rachel weeping for her children, yet even this tragedy served God's sovereign purposes.The story concludes with hope as God eventually called the family back to Israel after Herod's death. They settled in Nazareth, a despised town, which fulfilled prophecy about the Messiah being rejected. Joseph and Mary returned as different people, having experienced God's deliverance and faithfulness firsthand. Jesus became a Nazarene from a looked-down-upon place so that we would never be rejected by God but welcomed into His glory. This refugee story challenges us to examine whose kingdom truly controls our thinking and reminds us that as former spiritual refugees now brought into God's kingdom, we should show Christ-like love and hospitality to all people.