Take Hold Church Podcast

Take Hold Church's 3rd Anniversary | Acts 17:16-34

Tonight we celebrated three years of Take Hold Church and looked at Paul's message to the philosophers of Athens in Acts 17. Paul finds himself in a city he never planned to be in, surrounded by people who are spiritual but far from God, and he tells them about the unknown God they've been searching for all along. The message: God positions each of us exactly where we are, not by coincidence, so we might seek Him and find Him. Whether you feel settled or completely displaced, geographically far from home or just far from God, we walk through how Paul addressed both indifference toward God and confusion about who He is, and how nearness, not distance, is what actually defines Him. We also touch on Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, and Psalm 145:18 as more pictures of a God who holds everything together and stays close to anyone who calls on Him. If you've never lived in a place that surprised God, this one is for you.

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Be Loved.

A special message | Hebrews 12:1-2This week our pastor stepped away from the planned schedule to bring a message he felt the Holy Spirit had placed specifically on his heart for Take Hold Church: lay aside the weight. Preaching from Hebrews 12:1-2, he unpacked what it means to run the race of faith surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses," connecting back to the "faith chapter" of Hebrews 11 and the vivid picture of Greek runners who stripped away anything that could slow them down. He challenged us to do the same with whatever we're carrying — hurt, unforgiveness, church wounds, or a sin we keep returning to — and shared his own story of choosing Christian counseling before the move to Edinburgh as an example of proactively laying weight down before a hard season. The message closed by pointing to Acts 7, where Stephen sees Jesus standing rather than seated at the right hand of the Father, and moved into a time of communion built around laying weight aside together.

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Be Loved.

Week 4 of Nothing Is Off the Table | John 20:19-31

This week we're tackling a question a lot of us carry but rarely say out loud: what do I do with my doubt? We walk through the story of Thomas, who refused to let his doubt about the resurrection stay hidden, and see how Jesus responded, not with rebuke, but with mercy and an invitation to bring it into the light. We also look at the father in Mark 9 who prayed, "I believe, help my unbelief," and find that same prayer waiting for us today.

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Be Loved.

This week we tackle some of the most honest questions submitted to the series so far: financial struggle, delayed breakthrough, and why it can feel like some people receive favour and abundance while faithful believers keep struggling. Rather than a straightforward talk on giving, this message digs into a deeper question — why does it feel unfair, and what does the Bible actually say about how God distributes resources?Starting in James 1, we look at how everything we have — our work, our abilities, our very life — is a gift from God. From there we move through 1 Corinthians 12 and the body of Christ, Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and the difference between a closed fist (resistance) and an open hand (relationship). The core idea: God's distribution is not a measure of his favour, it's a reflection of his design. Fairness is the wrong currency with God — we were never invited to a till, we were invited to a table.

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Be Loved.

Week 2 of Nothing Is Off the Table | Romans 1:19-21, Romans 10:9-15 | Ecclesiastes 3:11 | 2 Peter 3:9 | James 4 | Luke 14

This week in Nothing Is Off the Table, we tackle some of the most personal and honest questions submitted by the congregation — questions about the people we love and whether it's okay to wait until the end of your life to respond to God. These aren't abstract theological puzzles. They come from real people who love real people and need to know: is God fair, and can he be trusted?

The message works through Romans 1 and the concept of general revelation — the idea that God discloses himself through creation and through an inward longing he places in every human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). From there, Romans 10 makes clear that general revelation points to a responsibility: someone has to tell the good news. The sermon closes with a direct answer to the question of why not wait — drawing on James 4, 2 Corinthians 6:2, and a personal illustration about why relationship with God is not just about a final destination but a life lived now.

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Be Loved.

Week 1 of Nothing is Off the Table | Romans 7:15-25 | Romans 8:1 | Luke 15:20 | Hebrews 12:2This week we kick off a brand new series called "Nothing is Off the Table" — built entirely from questions submitted by the Take Hold Church congregation. Week one tackles the responses that kept coming back in different forms: the shame cycle. What do you do when you keep sinning, keep asking for forgiveness, and keep doing it again? This message walks through the anatomy of the shame loop — sin, guilt, shame, hiding, distance, loss of self — and shows how confession, community, and the gospel of Jesus Christ are the way out. We spend time in Romans 7 and 8, look at the prodigal son in Luke 15, and land on the breathtaking truth of Hebrews 12:2 — that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him, and that joy is you.Listen to the podcast and find us everywhere at linktr.ee/takeholdchurch Be Loved.

This week we close out our three-week series — having covered intercessory prayer and spiritual warfare — with a foundational message on the Holy Spirit. Who is he, what does he do, and what does it mean to be filled with him? This message works through the theology of the Spirit as a full member of the Triune Godhead, addresses common misunderstandings around a "second work" of the Spirit, and makes a clear pastoral case that every believer receives the full Holy Spirit at salvation — no junior member, no holding out. The challenge lands practically: the gifts and power of the Spirit flow from cultivating his presence, not from performing or manufacturing moments. We look at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7 as the backdrop for Jesus's invitation to rivers of living water, and close with an ancient Celtic prayer rooted in the image of the Holy Spirit as the "Wild Goose" — untamable, unpredictable, and very much alive

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Be Loved.

This week we continue our 3 part series with the Holy Spirit - who is he, what does he do, and what does it mean to be filled with him? This message gives a clear theological foundation, addresses common misunderstandings about a "second work" of the Spirit, and makes the case that every believer receives the full Holy Spirit at salvation. The practical challenge: the power of the Spirit flows from presence, not performance. We close with an ancient Celtic prayer rooted in the image of the Holy Spirit as the "Wild Goose." Watch this message and find us everywhere at linktr.ee/takeholdchurchBe Loved.

Spiritual Warfare: Part 1 | 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | Colossians 2:13-15 | Ephesians 6:12

This week at Take Hold Church we open a new topic within our ongoing series: spiritual warfare. Whether you know it or not, everyone is in a spiritual war — and this message is about waking up to that reality and learning how to actually win.

Pastor Paul walks through 2 Corinthians 10, where Paul writes to the church in Corinth about the nature of spiritual weapons — not rhetoric, appearance, or argument, but prayer and God's Word. From there we move to Colossians 2, where Paul describes what Jesus accomplished on the cross in the language of warfare: he disarmed the enemy, made a public spectacle of the spiritual powers, and triumphed over them. The enemy is conquered — but he still hinders, distracts, and tries to dim the light in your life.

This message covers strongholds (what they are, how we walk into them or are born into them), how the enemy works through distraction, doubt, and division, and why praying in the name of Jesus is not a sign-off — it's a legal authority and a declaration of victory.

Connected passages: Ephesians 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:24-26, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

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Be Loved.

his message is a standalone talk on intercessory prayer, delivered between series as the church prepares for a new season. Drawing from Jesus' teaching in Luke 11 — the Lord's Prayer and the parable of the friend knocking at midnight — the message unpacks what it looks like to pray with shameless audacity: persistent, desperate, and deeply relational. The sermon explores three movements of prayer from Luke 11:9 — ask, seek, and knock — and what it means to bring your whole life into alignment with the will of God. Walter Wink's definition of intercession as "spiritual defiance of what is, in the name of what God has promised" frames the message from beginning to end. Andrew Murray and Leonard Ravenhill also speak into what it means to stand before God on behalf of others. The closing returns to the powerful refrain: history belongs to the intercessors.

Romans 8:34 gives a striking reminder that Jesus himself is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father — not calmly passing our prayers along, but pleading our case.

Listen to the podcast and find us everywhere at linktr.ee/takeholdchurch

Be Loved.