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Does God Speak?

A one-off sermon from Hans from Luke 15, where Jesus tells three parables – the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. What do these tell us about God’s amazing love?

If a person has a vision of the success they will have in the future, it will make their all the work they put in worth it.

So many of us go through life not thinking about the future but only the present and so our present circumstances can overwhelm us and we can fall into despair. This is the same for Christians. It is sometimes tough being a Christian and it was tough for the people Peter was writing to, but Peter has advice for us as we battle on with following Jesus. We should remember the end of all things and let that define how we live.

We should remember that Jesus is going to come back one day and that should infuse our life with meaning and hope.

Do you remember the end from the beginning?

This week we looked at what it means to be a Christian and how that may bring resentment, abuse and condemnation from the world. We also talked about how the only way to stay faithful to Jesus was to be like him and keep our eyes focused “… on the joy set before [us].” An inheritance, Peter says, that will never rot or spoil! We also thought about how we are called to bless others with everything we have so this week, during Community Group, we are asking everyone to think about and write down everything we own … all of our gifts, talents, time, possessions and think about how we can serve others with those things to the glory of God!

When we set apart Jesus as Lord, we have both a reason to no longer fear, and a firm foundation for hope.

Ruth and Eddie have been married for over 63 years and counting. That is a feat in and of itself! During and interview Ruth explained how many times people have asked her whether she ever thought about divorcing her husband, Eddie. She humorously responded, “Divorce? eh, seldom if ever. Murder … often!”

Marriage itself is on the rocks in our cultural milieu. Divorce rates are rising, vows are shifting from “… ‘til death do us part…” to “… as long as our love shall last”. It’s gone far enough that now you can, in certain places in the world, be married to someone for a fixed term of ‘X’-amount of years! Is this what marriage is all about? Is this the way that God has created and ordained marriage to function?

This week we’ll be looking at 1 Peter 3:1-7, one of the most contested passages in the Bible which speaks about marriage and the distinct but complementary roles that men and women play in the marriage relationship. You won’t want to miss it so please join us this Sunday or download the podcast here. Can’t wait to see what God will want to teach us this week and we continue to explore what life looks like as the people of God living on the mission of God for the sake of the world.

One of the most common objections to Christianity is all the ridiculous rules.

Really though, a lot of the rules are popular: “Love thy neighbour”, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”, “care for widows and orphans” (or expanding its meaning: all people in need). So where is the problem really?

As we come to the first steps of practically applying what the the bible asks of us in 1 Peter, we come to language that puts requirements and commands on our behaviour. But these commands are only possible with the Gospel as the foundation and framework.

Listen in this week to hear how the Gospel shapes how we live practically.