Living Rock Podcast

In this message Kim shares with us how participating in the bread and wine joins us together in unity. Although the bread symbolises Christ's body that was broken for us, it is one body that we are all sharing. 1 Corinthians tells us "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake in the one bread" and Ephesians 4 tells us there is 'one body', 'one spirit', 'one hope'...

“What kind of house will you build for Me?” asks the Lord (Acts 7:49). It’s a great question, forcing us to be clear about what we’re part of and what we’re aiming for. In this message we take a look at three biblical pictures of the church which expand our vision of what God has called us to be.

In this podcast, we ask the question, "Who is shepherding the lost?". We look specifically at how we have the mandate and commission to be those shepherds in our villages and towns and  use some practical examples and tools to demonstrate to the world: love, liberty, direction and self-worth. We explore that demonstrating our faith is important but still not enough. It only becomes enough when we...

Jesus’ compassion is for everyone. And every one of us is qualified to show and extend His compassion to every person that Jesus gave his life for. With this in mind our prayer is “Lord, move us as You are moved. Break our hearts from what breaks Yours. Drive us forwards and outwards because of Your compassion toward us, in us and through us.” Freely we have received. Let’s freely give.

Today we look at the encounter that Jesus had with Nicodemus, recorded in John chapter 3. We consider how Jesus’s insistence that this God-loving, Torah-memorising, tithing, fasting, teacher of the Jewish faith needed to be born again had dramatic life-changing consequences!

Jesus ministered to multitudes but connected with people  ONE AT A TIME . He followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to individual people and asked them a powerful question, which cut to the heart and opened up their lives, so that He could give them what they really needed.  In this first message from our Gospel Encounters series, we start by looking at three such encounters: a woman who felt tai...

When we lay our hands on others, in faith, God releases His power and His blessing into their lives. In this message Stephen shows us examples of the laying on of hands in the Bible and encourages us that if we are followers of Jesus, saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the right, ability and obligation to lay hands on others. It's good to lay hands on one another!

In a time when there is no more urgent task for the Church than to be fulfilling our great co-mission, this message urges us to believe that in every way we really are ‘ made for mission ’ - it's the way God has created us, designed us and saved us!  Reaching-out with compassion to the people and worlds around us is not too hard, or unnatural, or beyond our comfort zones - it’s exactly what we wer...

Prayer is an essential and life giving part of being a Christian. In this message we will look at some practical tools that we can use to help us in our prayer life and engage with our Heavenly Father. 

At the time of year when we often think of making new year resolutions, the words of Jesus from John 15 come to us loud and clear: Choose to remain! Jesus says that apart from Him, we can do nothing. Dare we dream of the fruitfulness we will see if Christ-following men and women commit their whole selves to Jesus and His mission in 2020?

As we reach the end of the year it’s vital we do all we can to ‘finish well’ - so that we can start the new year in the best possible way.  Hebrews chapter 11 describes some ‘heroes of faith’ - men and women who pressed-on and finished well, and whose lives still speak to us.  And the writer to the Hebrews follows these tails of faith and heroism by urging us also to "fix our eyes on Jesus...lay a...

In the second of two messages from John’s letters looking at 'The World' (how we relate to it and how we should live in it), we turn to John’s amazing statement that we are, AS HE IS , in this world (1 John 4:17). John instructs us not to love the world (1 John 2:15), but he also shows us that ' AS HE IS ' means that by our very nature we are, SENT  into it, and LOVED . Once again, starting in Gen...

In both his letters and his gospel, John often refers to his readers as ‘children’. John really wants us to be confident of who we are as children of God. From the account of King David and his covenant faithfulness to Mephibosheth, we gain further insights into being God’s children – we’re invited to sit at the King’s table as sons and enjoy relationship with Him, enjoying all the good things he...

From the opening chapters of Genesis onwards, the practice of tithing - giving God the first tenth - has been a distinguishing hallmark of God’s covenant people.  But is tithing still relevant? Is it outdated now we’re part of a new covenant?  Or is it a timeless, eternal principle to be taken-up by the church today?  This message provides biblical answers to these questions, together with practic...

For many of us, fear can be one of the most controlling influences in our lives. However 1 John 4:18 tells us that "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love." In this message Stephen shares what this 'perfect love' is that dispels all fears. We look at how to foste...

In the first of two messages from John’s letters, looking at the world - how we relate to it and how we should live in it - we start with John’s instruction not to love the world. Firstly looking at what John and the other NT writers meant by ‘the world’, and then considering the 3 fundamental elements John describes as being 'in the world'. We trace them back to their roots in Genesis, so that we...

The apostle John describes Jesus as “the Saviour of the World” (1John 4:14), a description also used by the many Samaritans who followed Jesus after He stopped to speak with a woman at their well (John 4:42).  The story of Jesus’s encounter with that woman (John 4:1-42) provide us with vital insights about the nature of our mission, and the way in which Jesus demonstrates His great love for the lo...

Speaking in tongues has at times been extremely controversial in the modern day church and yet it remains absolutely essential for the Spirit filled believer. This practical message looks at both the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 and at Paul’s teaching on the use of tongues in the gathered church. It lists 10 reasons why speaking in tongues is so beneficial and it examines some common questions t...

God created us to be an expressive people and in this lively all-age gathering we consider the word ‘praise’ as found in the Psalms. We discover that by looking at the original Hebrew words used for ‘praise’ brings freedom to expressively worship God in a way that is wholehearted, sincere and in line with scripture.

John sets a precedent for us in his writings of being totally fixated on Jesus. His call for all believers throughout his writings is to abide in Christ is pivotal for us and influences everything else that John writes about. As we follow John's directive to abide in Christ we understand that Jesus is more than a moment and that He is the motivation for the mission.

In Johns first letter, particularly in chapters 3 and 4 we read many times, that “we live in God and he lives in us”, all who live in love , live in God, and God lives in them”. God lives inside us and His love inside us is to be revealed to those around us, both our church family, and those around us in the world.  When we live “inside-out” lives, the love of God can transform our fellowship as b...

At the end of His earthly life Jesus shared a last Passover supper with his closest friends. Filling it with fresh meaning and fulfilling all its prophetic dimensions, He thus inaugurated a new Lord’s Supper for all who follow Him. For us, this simple but sensational meal is an act of Remembrance, a time of Reflection and Recommitment, and a moment of Rendezvous with our Lord and Saviour.

1 John 3:11 - “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another”  In the letters of John we find the exhortation to love one another repeated again and again.  John commands, encourages and pleads with his ‘Dear Friends’ to love one another. So why does John focus so heavily on this aspect of our Christian lives? We consider WHY loving one another is so important a...

The Apostle John was the ultimate witness for Jesus. At the outset of a new teaching series, based in his affectionate and timely letters to the church, we start with the historical and cultural backdrop in which he wrote them. Writing toward the end of the first century AD, John was most likely the last of Jesus’ original Apostolic company. After a life witnessing events of eternal significance,...

As we start a new series - "Why do we do that?" - Stephen shares with us about why we fast . Fasting is something practical that we do but with enormous spiritual benefits. As we fast (and accompany it with prayer) we seek God for more of His power in our lives, to see miracles, salvation, a change in attitude and to grow closer to Him. Fasting allows us to rely less on ourselves and what our natu...