Sunday Talks

The questions in Galatians 3 are Paul’s way of shocking his deluded friends back to reality. Who or what has bewitched you? Reading Galatians, take the opportunity to move away from any distortions of the gospel that could have some kind a hold on you – and then move back towards the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is momentous. Like the original recipients, we need to listen as Paul warns against the watering-down of the gospel and highlights the truth of the gospel. That’s where we are headed. A warning and a highlight . Listen in.

Paul describes three stages of his personal testimony in this autobiographical part of the letter. He wants the Christians in Galatia to know that what they had responded to was God's Gospel. Any distortion of this would have tragic consequences.

What has in any way convinced you to drop back or drop out in your Christian living? There are so many different feels-like-gospels calling on you, so which ones are you in-conversation with? Just asking that question underscores the relevance of this NT letter for Christians. Listen here.

Can you see that here in 1 Timothy 4 we have a message to a Christian leader that really sets out a vision for all Christians in our local churches?

The Christians at Ephesus needed to buckle-in. Paul instructs Timothy (1:3) to stay onboard and make some corrective manoeuvres. Listen in as Paul outlines 3 necessary realignments for churches then and now.

In every generation, for every local church committed to proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ – there’s the danger of obscuring the light of the gospel from view. Listen to this first message from 1 Timothy.

The dramatic scene in Exodus 24 brings this section of the book to a climax. Reading the description is like watching back the video of a great and historic ceremony. Here God confirms or ratifies his covenant with his people. We are going to get insight into the relationship between God and his people before reflecting on what this means for us.

This part of Exodus in not just dull case law. Nor is it a set of shockingly controversial rules. The Book of the Covenant was designed to show God’s holy rescued people how to live out their relationships with him and each other and that all of their lives should come under his sovereign rule. How does it apply to Christians? Listen in to find out more.

Why don't you park some of your own ideas about what God is like as you read the 10 Commandments today. Ask the question that this part of the Bible is posing: What is God like?

Why don’t you listen to these messages from Exodus and read it with revelation and relationship in mind? To find out what God is like and how he has revealed himself and how to relate to him. Here we will see the God who reveals himself.

When life has its not-quite-rightness, the writers of the Bible don’t just describe it, they profoundly diagnose it. Rather than just accepting our problems as the norm, they go on to describe a remarkable way out. This is a message that reads differently.

You might have noticed that John, one of the key eyewitnesses of the resurrection, is very clear where he wants us to land. Unapologetically John is presenting his compilation of the events of Jesus' life and death, including his account of the resurrection, so that people like us will believe. Believe and have life in his name. Listen to how he describes the events of the first Easter Sunday...

In this final instalment of his letter, Peter launches two countermeasures to help Christians to thwart a potentially devastating campaign. It is a call to: Think clearly – with a profound reliance on God’s Word; Remember that the Lord will keep his Word; Live for Christ now.

The Bible shows us that there will be a calculatedness to the efforts of false teachers among communities of faithful Christians. Carefully considering Peter's analysis of malicious insider antics will provide training for genuine, growing and stable Christians.

Big companies talk about the phenomena of Insider Threats. One of these comes in the form of malicious insiders - people who maliciously sabotage systems because they have grievances, and who decide to expose sensitive data out of revenge. They can do a lot of damage, especially if they go undetected. Peter warns the Christians about this kind of threat in the churches here in 2 Peter 2. Listen in...

Peter realises that those uprooted and carried away as Christians are people who have stopped growing and who have lost confidence in God's Word. His efforts are about rebuilding a robust confidence in that Word of God.

Can you lose your stability as a Christian? Yes, you can. Writing his last letter to the churches, Peter’s aim is about preventing faithful Christians from losing their stability. Listen in.

The Bible raises our awareness of the sly, deadly, and life-breaking nature of adultery. Proverbs 5 serves as a warning. Listen in.

Repetition is needed because people like us are so easily deviated. In Proverbs 4, there are some messages that repeat what we have already been encountering in this book so far. As you listen to what the Bible says again and again, you'll see that you have at least 3 decisions to make.

What is your most valuable possession? God’s word is telling us about the value of God's wisdom: urging us to find it, to value it, to keep our eyes on it, and apply it. The writer of Proverbs presents us with 4 calls to action here. Listen in.

Trust in the Lord. That’s the central message of this text, this book. The Bible itself. The writer begins this chapter with a START HERE! instruction, followed by a call to nurture a life of commitment to the Lord.

Today at the start of a new year, and the start of the next 5 years, God’s Word sits each one of us down for a serious chat. As we are in the Proverbs, you could probably sum up the message of this serious chat proverbially … a bit like this: Start a search, find a fear, live the rescue!

In the war for your identity that is being waged, when you are enticed... who will you listen to?

We are part of a world that often says that the worst choices are ok choices. Immersed in that culture, navigating life becomes a real challenge for us. If we are Christians, we will need to learn how to take the best and right course of action. Where does reading Proverbs come in? Listen and find out.