Sunday Talks

Have you ever had the experience of seeing your understanding of something completely overturned? For years you might have had a very settled way of thinking about something, and then it changed completely. In Matthew 5 it can sound like Jesus is setting out the visa requirements for entry into his kingdom. But, instead it’s the complete opposite. Listen in to find out more.

People might think that if you are a Christian, it’s like a you have a kind-of really super-involved hobby . But that's not it. Matthew traces the powerful link between Jesus Christ’s unmistakable authority and the compelling way people respond to him. What about you? Perhaps there is some real-time responding to be done in your life and understanding where Jesus is concerned. Will you take a step...

Even as people can talk quite rightly about “my faith,” Matthew invites us to recognise that Jesus came as the king for all people, not just a few. And to consider the full implications of that. Here we see how Matthew describes the dawn of something big in Galilee. 

Matthew wants us to see the victory of Jesus Christ in his toughest of tests. Against the mockery of the world, and the repeated failures of God’s son Israel, Matthew urges us to see Jesus’ spectacular triumph. This message from the Bible, should stabilise us. It can strengthen your trust in the one who despite his hunger, proved his resolve not to serve himself but to serve God alone. 

Matthew will have us consider a king like no other before or after him. A king not to marvel at in terms of historic events, but a servant king who sets out on a remarkable, planned course to save his people from their sins. And that includes people like us. The right response is not a gesture of acknowledgment but something much, much deeper. 

Matthew records the Bible’s urgent and repeated message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . Every time I have sat, as you are now, listening to it read out and explained, there’s a urgent, necessary, God-spoken force applied to our lives. The obvious question is: how will you respond?

What Matthew’s describing with the arrival of Jesus Christ is on an extraordinary scale of putting things right . It’s about the rescue of broken, disoriented people from the root of their deepest problems: sin. Sin that has distorted and disrupted everything. Until an arrival that changes things.

We don’t know exactly what Matthew is doing with the list he starts his account with. But here’s what we do know: It marks the start of a spectacular piece of writing. Matthew is part of God’s revelation to us, Gospel. In it Matthew describes God’s long-awaited, yet long-delayed plans to save people from their sins (1:21). 

Here in Chapter 2, Paul continues his personal appeal to Timothy. There are direct lines of application for both pastors and those who are Christians. His message? You must suffer. You must endure. When there is a landslide against Christ, you must resolve to stand and suffer and you must endure.

With powerfully direct instruction and a remarkable few lines describing the gospel, Paul rallies a could-be deserter, Timothy. And us too. The gospel is nothing to be ashamed of. The message of these verses is: Don’t be ashamed of the gospel. Guard it! 

Ours is a church landscape roundabout us where desertion is almost endemic. Christian leaders and Christians in general need to hear what Paul is saying. You and I have been entrusted with the gospel. Don’t ever abandon it or turn your back on it! Guard it, proclaim it faithfully, even suffer for it. 

These are some pretty plain instructions, Hebrews 13. The writer’s aware of Christian struggles with persecution, with weariness and even the flirtations with rebellion. Will we choose to live by them ? 

This week we welcome back Oz Muwaniri from our sister church - Ballycullen Community Church to examine 1 Peter 2:1-12.

This week Tim Houston preaches from Ephesians 3:14-19. 

If you are a follower of Jesus, you find yourself sitting at a busy airport. As you sit there, you have two boarding passes in your hand. The question is,  “Where are you going?” The two places on these two boarding passes couldn’t be more different. Two destinations the writer to the Hebrews describes in detail in Hebrews 12. And yet, there's a big surprise...

Chris McGuire brings us our final sermon from our brief series in Mark. 

The latest in our short sermon series in Mark's Gospel

There's a recurring theme in Mark: blindness. How is this resolved? Listen in.

Part of our human condition is a tendency to make up our minds and then become quite resistant to any movement from those settled ideas. Having settled categories for understanding the world can be helpful, but they can sometimes get in the way, too. Rightly understanding who Jesus is requires moving away from previous judgements we may have settled on. And Mark forces us to do that. As he simply...

If you were at the shops yesterday they were handing out free samples of a new energy drink. You’ll have noticed the shelves in shop refrigerator cabinets increasingly packed with these over the last few years. People are looking for and willing to buy liquids that’ll fix their weariness. But what about Christian weariness? What’s the answer to that when it sets in? In our Bible reading today, the...

When extraordinary events take place, we tend to look for evidence. On the morning of 24 February the news media hurried to present us with evidence and confirm the reports of the invasion of Ukraine underway. Soon eyewitness reports and pictures and videos were filed and the facts corroborated. People are sceptical. People have always been sceptical. Those who recorded the final chapters of Jesus...

Personally I don’t know anyone who, after training for a marathon, started running when the big day came – and then failed to finish. Sadly I do know many people who, having started the marathon of the Christian life, have since dropped out. Reading Hebrews, I think the writer probably has his own experiences – like us – of people who were running but have now stopped. Which is why he speaks very...

When we faced the threat of Covid 19 Pandemic there were the repeated messages: wash your hands, keep your distance, wear your mask, self-isolate if you have symptoms. The goal of all this? Well, it was to change our behaviour and so help our health system cope through the emergency. What’s the writer to the Hebrews’ goal with his repeated message in Chapter 11? By faith is repeated 20 times from...

I recently read some life advice – don’t look back at old photographs as it can make you sad. At the time I thought about it and wondered how that advice sits with the Bible’s frequent encouragement to look back – and then it struck me. While there is a place for looking back on our lives, and it can even be spiritually beneficial to remember times of great endurance (10:32-34 – remember those for...

We are taking a second look at this powerful section from Hebrews 10 this weekend. In it, the writer to the Hebrews issues one of the severest warnings to Christians, quickly accompanied by his sincere reminder, and then came that prompt to look forward to the future. Keep going so that you may receive what is promised (36). Live by faith. In the meantime, live by faith. Eventually, the writer say...