Sunday Talks

Jesus wants his followers to do more than wear the badge of truthfulness. As he takes charge of our lives, as we follow him, the king, he wants us to go beyond the surface to heart-level commitment to truth. Listen to this message exploring the next part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

As Jesus teaches about what it means to follow him he moves in a different direction than his contemporaries or culture around us. Listen to what he is teaching in the realm of sex, lust and divorce. Will you follow his direction?

We are very used to being individuals who live independent lives. So where does church fit in? We are going to see that, Biblically speaking, the church is central. We’ll look briefly at some of what the Bible teaches on the church, culminating in Paul’s description in the middle of Ephesians 3. 

It is always good to be thinking in terms of a biblical audit of how we are getting on as a local church. Paul challenged the Christians who made up the local church at Ephesus by giving them a description of what local churches should look like. Not just individuals, but as the people, who make up the church. What should the local church look like? And the surprise here is that the measure of a growing, maturing church is not just whether it’s teaching is biblically sound but whether or not the people are responding. Listen and find out more.

What if, as Christians with new identities in Christ we had a new community to belong to? Well, the remarkable truth is that we do! And it’s described here in Peter’s letter to Christians who were feeling cut-off and under pressure in hostile circumstances. If you are a Christian, you’re not just a new individual with a new hope… the bible sketches out that you’re part of a new building with the Lord Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. 

Why don't you take the Shepherd’s approach to Christmas this year? What is this Shepherd’s approach and how will you take it? Come and consider Luke’s description of the first Christmas to find out.

What does it look like to live in the way God intended? In this part of Matthew we start to see the King’s standard as Jesus gives examples, starting with how his followers should deal with anger.

This was no smooth accession. No seamless transition from one regime to the next. Matthew has announced that Jesus Christ’s is a profoundly radical and new regime. There’s been a fundamental shift! It’s a new era! This is the Kingdom of heaven, it’s norms revealed in the sermon on the mount, and so the King – Jesus Christ, made his way to the teacher’s podium and opened his mouth and taught them (5:2). As he teaches, there’s a passionate call for people like us to listen carefully and respond rightly. But as Jesus unveils his teaching there are 2 questions we need to consider. Listen in...

Millions of us have sent our DNA off to specialist laboratories for analysis – desperately looking for clues about our identity. As well as being citizens of Christ's Kingdom, what else does the gospel according to Matthew reveal about the identity of Christian disciples?  Here are two distinctive markers for Christian disciples as we open up the Bible’s analysis from Jesus Christ about who we are.

Officials here in Ireland have tried to communicate this sad message recently: "If you arrive here with nothing, we’re sorry, but you’ll have nowhere to go." Don’t you long for a better place? The good news, from Matthew, is that for people who come to realise their spiritual poverty, that they have nothing, there is a better place: a whole new Kingdom, under Jesus Christ the King. When people get to the shores of His new kingdom, carrying nothing, amazingly, He not only welcomes them but he offers them everything. Listen to find out more.