Sunday Talks

Ours is a church landscape roundabout us where desertion is almost endemic. Christian leaders and Christians in general need to hear what Paul is saying. You and I have been entrusted with the gospel. Don’t ever abandon it or turn your back on it! Guard it, proclaim it faithfully, even suffer for it. 

These are some pretty plain instructions, Hebrews 13. The writer’s aware of Christian struggles with persecution, with weariness and even the flirtations with rebellion. Will we choose to live by them? 

This week we welcome back Oz Muwaniri from our sister church - Ballycullen Community Church to examine 1 Peter 2:1-12.

This week Tim Houston preaches from Ephesians 3:14-19. 

If you are a follower of Jesus, you find yourself sitting at a busy airport. As you sit there, you have two boarding passes in your hand. The question is,  “Where are you going?” The two places on these two boarding passes couldn’t be more different. Two destinations the writer to the Hebrews describes in detail in Hebrews 12. And yet, there's a big surprise...

Chris McGuire brings us our final sermon from our brief series in Mark. 

The latest in our short sermon series in Mark's Gospel

There's a recurring theme in Mark: blindness. How is this resolved? Listen in.

Part of our human condition is a tendency to make up our minds and then become quite resistant to any movement from those settled ideas. Having settled categories for understanding the world can be helpful, but they can sometimes get in the way, too.

Rightly understanding who Jesus is requires moving away from previous judgements we may have settled on.

And Mark forces us to do that. As he simply presents the historical events, he’s also perceptively and deliberately prompting us to do something. Because these aren’t just stories. Mark prompts us to do more than just raise our eyebrows, close the book and say, that was interesting. No. The prompt here is to move.

If you were at the shops yesterday they were handing out free samples of a new energy drink. You’ll have noticed the shelves in shop refrigerator cabinets increasingly packed with these over the last few years. People are looking for and willing to buy liquids that’ll fix their weariness.

But what about Christian weariness? What’s the answer to that when it sets in? In our Bible reading today, the writer is specifically addressing the weariness felt by Christians who were on the receiving end of opposition for being a Christian. They felt like giving up. And you’ll have noticed that the bible doesn’t prescribe some specially formulated liquid.

For the next few minutes I’d like us all to hear what the writer to the Hebrews counsels for Christians on the receiving end of harassment for being a follower of Jesus.