NCF Sunday Talks

There is only one God. How does that fact affect your life?

Listen to Galatians 5:16-26 being reading from the New Living Translation, then three short Talks summing up the nine Fruit of the Spirit that we have met in July and August. At the end we hear a song that was written for this particular Service.

In this Talk we are again encouraged to remember that fruit doesn't just appear or mature in our lives. We have to intentionally decide to move with God to see our character grow and develop.  Every day we are asking ourselves questions and we should answer in a way that would glorify God by what we think, say and do. Like a rocket, we all have tremendous power in the way that we interact wit...

Gentleness in Paul's time was seen as a vice. Even today the role models we see in film, television and other media don't generally encourage us to be gentle to others. How do we react when people annoy us? How do we react when the ills of our society speak strongly? Let's decide to act and react in the way that Jesus would do - gently, because the Lord is near. 

God is faithful! As we desire to be like Him, so we should want to be faithful too. Loyal. Trustworthy. Dependable. In this Talk we look at several people in the Bible who didn't act faithfully all of the time, but when they realised what had happened they got back to Jesus.  If we commit sin in our lives we should always get back to Jesus. Run to Him and don't hide. God will help us to...

Jesus describes us as branches that are part of the vine. Asking God to mature us, by actively sticking close to Him, we will more often do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

Just as physical fruit originates from work and effort over a period of time, so the Fruit of the Spirit do too. Maturity takes time and doesn't just happen. We need God's supernatural help to meet peoples' real needs and we certainly need to do it in God's way and at His time. Let's plan to be kind beyond the bullseye - being known by our actions of going way beyond what...

What does patience mean to you? It certainly involves self-discipline. It is certainly good for us and for others. Like with all of the Fruit of the Spirit, we are all still learning and maturing in them.

Everyone in the world goes through heartache, failure and disappointment at different times in their life . As Christians we know that God is with us. Often we will find that He gives us supernatural peace in those difficult situations.  Peace is really knowing that God has tied all the pieces of your life together. Our futures are in God's hands. He will often lavish His peace on us.

We are reminded that as God continues to show His love towards us, then we can grow in maturity at displaying the Fruit of the Spirit, but we need to intentionally want to grow in them too. There are various circumstances where it is easy to be joyful. The Bible describes many people who were aware that even though life was sometimes tough for them, they recognised God's grace and favour on t...

As we sow, tend, cultivate and then harvest physical crops, so work and determination is needed to grow in the Fruit of the Spirit too, but that is what we're called to do. Displaying the Fruit of the Spirit can sometimes be difficult but it is always worth it.  It may not be our first choice to always show God's love to others, but it is a neccesity. As we are grateful for God showing H...

What dreams do you have for yourself and others? What does God dream about you? Jesus came to save us and reconcile us to the Father. There is only one Meditator between God and man. Let's pray and work towards seeing God's dreams fulfilled in our lives.

The Church at Ephesus (now in Turkey) is mentioned several times in the New Testament. We can learn important lessons from what they did in that large Roman city. How do we show love and unity in practical ways today?

Have you read the Old Testament Book of Job recently? God knew all about this man. He knows about us too. How will we let this fact influence our lives?

The Christian Festival of Pentecost has its roots in the Jewsish Festival of the Feast of Weeks. It is a time to give thanks to God for who He is and for what He has done.

With HM the Queen's Platinum Jubilee being celebrated, we delve into the origins of this term. It was a trumpet blast of liberty for the Israelites and it is still is for us today. We all need Jesus in our lives - He sets us free from the chains we wear. Let God interrupt your status quo. 

The origins of this Festival lie in a brave group of Jews who fought against a large Greek army over a long period. We read in the Book of 1 Maccabees, in the Apocrypha, that the Temple had been desecrated by the actions of the foreign invaders. The faithful people of God took time to cleanse and rededicate the Temple of God. We too are called to dedicate our lives to God, as we allow God to initi...

God has everything under control, as this story from the Old Testament Book of Esther shows. God wants what is best for us. We can celebrate throughout our lives because of this.

Shavuot is a time of thanksgiving for what God has done. It is always good to give thanks. This doesn't make us triumphalistic, as we do need to weep and weep with those who weep. However, there is great blessing, power and healing in thanksgiving.

The Day of Atonement was totally necessary. It would be of no benefit to celebrate the other Festivals if God hadn't allowed for people to come to Him. God desires that we be holy. Whilst Jewish traditions would tell us that being holy is not contagious and is difficult to attain, God has made a plan for us to be like Him. Let's ask Jesus to open our eyes to what He has done and what He...

This Feast remembers and celebrates how God looked after the Israelites as they made their way out of slavery in Egypt and around the wilderness, towards their Promised Land. They had to travel light, but God provided for them. Do we trust God as part of our lifestyle? He loves us. We can be totally dependent on Him and abandoned to Him.  A video was shown from YouTube as part of this Talk. This i...

Where is Jesus? Often in the Gospels, Jesus isn't where you would expect Him to be. Why was this? Every good Jew would Jew would be in Jerusalem for the Passover and we find Jesus there as He prepares to be crucified. Where do you stand with Jesus? Are you willing to carry your cross as you follow Jesus? As part of our Service today, we listened to an update on Lynne's health and then pr...

Why did the Israelites celebrate the Passover? Why was it so important to them? Did they remember to celebrate it throughout their history? Jesus is our Passover Lamb. What a wonderful thing to celebrate!

God is awesome and brilliant. He is phenomenal! It is fitting and right to remember what He has done in our lives and then to celebrate with zeal. He called the Israelites to do this formally in a series of regular Festivals and many Psalms recount what He has done in the life of the psalmist. God created the earth and heavens in six days and then rested from His work. The fourth of the Ten Comman...

In Numbers 13, the Israelites had a past (slavery in Egypt), a present (the wilderness) and a future (the Promised Land). They had to actively move from the present to the future. They needed to break new ground. Breaking new ground isn't always easy for us as we often prefer the comfort of the past as it is familiar. However, God wants us to move on in our character - the things we think, do...