Sunday Talks

God’s sovereignty can never be toggled to the off-position! God’s word from Ezra chapter 1 directs our attention to the Lord’s sovereign hand at work. It is the sovereign hand of the Lord that brings restoration to His people. The Lord is in control. Listen in to hear more.

If you are a Christian, you’ve received an envelope containing a new life-mission. The purposes and aims of your life are re-directed! We can see how Matthew plainly connects the resurrection with this new, life-defining mission. At the end of Matthew's gospel, there’s a nudge from Matthew to read our new mission and come to terms with it. Listen in as you open yours.

Down through history, even when they set their minds against Christianity, people have found themselves confronted by the facts of the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew ends his gospel with a presentation of these facts. Then he does something else. Matthew shows how the resurrection of Jesus Christ compels us. Listen to this message from the last short chapter of Matthew's gospel.

Jesus confronts us here in Matthew about where we are investing our worries. As catchy as the tune is, Hakuna Matata is no biblical philosophy. Simply living with a “no worries” approach doesn’t square with life as a Christian. In this whole area of "worries," Jesus sets out two things we will be considering in this talk:aA principle for followers of Jesus and a pursuit for followers of Jesus

The Bible says that we are all investors. With whatever amount of money and resources we have, we are all investors. Just after as Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of showing off in how we give or pray or fast as his followers… he poses a series of questions aimed at challenging and teaching and warning investors like you and me. Three questions here - listen in!

Prayer. It isn’t some religious spectacle. It’s a heart-cry. Listen as we consider Jesus' model prayer and specifically where he invites his followers to pray our needs.

The words of this prayer have probably been repeated meaninglessly more than any other prayer in history. It is ironic given that Jesus tells his followers not to pray like that. Here in Blackrock why don’t we move away from that sad irony? As you listen in, come and consider how we should pray as genuine Christ-followers! 

There’s a kind of religion that is all to do with doing good things to be seen doing them. And there’s – sadly – a very common form of Christianity of this kind too. That Jesus should speak so directly to his followers about it should alert us that anyone who is a Christian is susceptible. Listen to hear what Jesus says about religious practice and our motivations. 

Jesus calls his followers to resemble their father, God himself. This means more than mere transactional love for the people who love us back. Will you love your enemies? This is the way Jesus loved... all the way to the cross, to save us, enemies, from our sins. Listen in to this message from Blackrock Community Church on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.