Gracehouse

In this week's sermon we continue our series in 1 Peter. We find out that God is building himself a temple but not with rock or human effort. He's building his temple with us... as living stones.

Want to learn more about how to practically live out your Christian faith as it relates Stewardship and Generosity? Check out this week’s sermon and Q&A

This week we continue our series in 1 Peter where Peter turns his attention to helping shape the way God’s family is suppose to live while strangers in the world. How should we view ourselves? How should we view our suffering? Where should we set our ultimate hope?

Sometimes we take Jesus for granted. But did you know there was a time that God's people had no idea who the Messiah would be and longed for the day that they would see Him? We live in that time now. We have the blessing of knowing Jesus. We have the blessing of having His Holy Spirit with us. We have the blessing of seeing his kingdom break into the earth even in our day.

Intercession, the act of standing between, is an instrument available to every believer, and which houses the ability to create change.

As Christian we are exiles in this world. Our way of life is at odds with the culture that surrounds us. In the midst of the darkness, we are called to standout as shining lights. And to hold fast to the hope and joy that we have even in Jesus Christ, even if it is costly. In the end it will all be worth it when we receive the fullness of our salvation.

There are so many good things that we can prioritise in church life. But for Paul there is one clear winner. The one thing that, if it is missing, makes everything else worthless.  And that is love. A church that doesn't prioritise love can do many good things, but those things will never last without love.

In one of the most beloved passages of Scripture, Paul emphasises the faithfulness of God through his provision of the Holy Spirit to meet our greatest needs on this side of eternity. This gives us with much-needed encouragement during times of disorientation, discouragement, and difficulty.

Fear and faith cannot coexist. One always destroys the other. God has invited us into a life free of fear, by asking us to trust in the greatness of his love for us.

God is an artist who delights in creating beauty. The earth is jam- packed with the evidence. Would you dare to believe that he wants to make something beautiful out of your life as well?

When we stop to consider all of the enigmas of life, it can sometimes become overwhelming to the point that it can even threaten our faith. And our tendency to either embrace a form of religion that ignores the difficult realities of the world, or a hedonistic lifestyle that rejects the faith, only perpetuates the issue. However, the Book of Ecclesiastes is a gold mine of wisdom for those who are...

The Christian tradition has tended to take sides when comes to the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac, with the family of promise (Abraham, Sarah and Isaac) being labelled the heroes and the pre-emptive family (Hagar and Ishmael) considered to be the villains. But the reality is that Sarah was particularly oppressive towards Hagar and Ishmael. Despite the vicious family feud, God wa...

The Joban drama is a story that is just as popular as it is intense. In fact, it could be said that its popularity stems from its intensity, since so many people can relate to the experience of suffering and the emotion of grief. As we take up the book, we can’t help but ask the questions, “why do we suffer”, “how does good and evil coexist”, and “does God care”? But in and around the ash heap of...

In ministry and in life we can go through valley or wilderness seasons. Times when the Fathers voice seems far off. What do we do then? It's times like this that we need to "remember" the Lord.

The scriptures call us to be holy as God is holy. But what does that look like? How can we learn to walk in holiness? The answer is we learn to walk in love. The very love the God shows us.

The heart of God is the heart of a good father. And a good father finds special delight in blessing his children. Would you dare to believe that God wants to abundantly bless you as his child?

God is always at work. Especially in troubled times. As kingdom people who trust in the Lord we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and ask ourselves...  how is God working in this?

Jesus offers us unshakable hope. When the world is crumbling all around us he is able to keep our souls at rest. Abiding in this hope is critical for our souls in troubling times.

Life as we know it involves many difficulties and challenges, and if we have unrealistic expectations of how easy life ought to be, we will get deeply discouraged. But if we come to see that the world is undergoing a birthing process, and that God will eventually bring it to its right end, we can learn to trust him in the difficulty and partner with him in the work he is doing.

We are daily faced with the question of whether we will try to live independently from God or yield to his Spirit. The road of independence makes us feel more in control, but it is ultimately lifeless. The only way to truly experience the full beauty of his kingdom is via the path of daily yielding to the desires of the Spirit.

There are all kinds of people in church. Some are new Christians some have walked with the Lord for years. The ones that God uses however are the ones that are consecrated to him.

The journey of life is by no means easy and Jesus encouraged us to take it one day at a time. There is freedom in learning to trust him with every step along the way.

In our world there is a constant pressure to focus on physical needs and wants to make us happy. But the scripture teaches us that what we need for true life is far more than bread and water. We need the source of life... Jesus.

Many of us already have at least some idea about what it means to know someone. When applied to Jesus, Paul seems to refer to “knowing Christ” as a full-orbed term which has many layers and summarises the Christian experience. And when we think of “knowing Jesus”, we tend to personalise it to the individual. Yet, when Paul uses the term, he seems to think that it’s a community affair. What exactly...

Unity is very dear to the heart of God and is critical for the church’s mission on earth. Hence, we must be careful to pursue love and resist all forms of divisiveness. Without this we will never be able to experience the fullness that Jesus has promised for his church.