Each week, our preachers, teachers and ministers speak in the church…
to explain the scriptures,
to glorify Jesus
and to reveal God’s love and eternal purposes for his people.
Addresses, messages and sermons. Just click the black audio bars to listen.
N. B. - the small triangular ‘PLAY’ buttons do not change appearance but the audio WILL nevertheless play.
PLAY BUTTON:
ON MOTHERING SUNDAY
“A consideraton of ‘mothers’.. especially Mary, the mother of Jesus!”
On the occasion of ‘Mothering Sunday’, our speaker gave an address in three short parts, focusing on some of Mary’s experiences as related in selected passage from the bible.
Speaker’s Message
The angel appears to Mary to tell her she will give birth, despite all the conditions and circumstances telling her that it surely CANNOT be possible!
Mary was at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, scene of Jesus’s first miracle. She was present at the foot of the cross when her son was crucified… and became mother to John.
HYMN
Click the screen below to begin the video hymn. Feel free to join in if you know it and sing along or, if you prefer, just listen as the lyrics appear verse by verse on screen as the music plays.
“God’s care”
We hear the story of Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar's story is a story of exile and a story of meeting God in the midst of her pain and abandonment. Her experience living in a foreign land was both agonizing and clarifying. Hagar and her son, Ishmael, survive, adapt, and meet God in a place of painful endurance, just as Israel did in Babylon.
Bible reading
This passage will be read for you in the audio below. The text is shown beneath the recording fpr you to follow.
Hagar and Ishmael
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Preacher’s Message
HYMN
Click the video screen below to play this well-known hymn. The lyrics will appearv as the music playsnso that yo
Themes of ‘Lent’ :
The Spirit - Satan - The Scriptures - Service
LENT : Is it a time of self denial or something much more than this?
BIBLE READING
Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 to 11
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Preacher’s Message
Our speaker breaks down the Christian elements of Lent into four parts, shedding light on the bible passage above from Matthew, in which Jesus rejects Satan’s advances by denying EVERY offer of cheap fame and glory put to Him.
Of course, as our preacher goes on to explain, this should also be OUR response… exactly the same!
A HYMN
Click the screen below to begin the video. Feel free to join in and sing along as the lyrics appear on screen with the music.
“It’s time…”
Bible Reading
This famous passage from Eccesiastes is read to us in the audio below and the text is shown beneath so that you may follow it.
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
Preacher’s Address
HYMN
A hymn about God’s love and His availability for each of us (..despite our faults, doubts and worries) every hour of every day - i.e. right now! FANTASTIC! “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”
Click the screen below to start the video and join in as the words appear on screen with the music.. or, if you so wish, simply watch and listen as part of your devotion.
“God’s plan: we need to learn from Him and from each other”
Bible Reading
The following passage is read to us in the audio below and the text is shown beneath for you to follow.
Cornelius Calls for Peter
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants.
8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Video Hymn
Click the screen below to begin. The lyrics will appear as the music plays so that you may sing along or, if you prefer, just watch and listen.
“Where? When? What now?”
First, we have a hymn which refers to many of the areas of our Christian life which our speaker addresses in his message below.
IN 1920, To the tune of “The Londonderry Air”, W. Y. Fullerton wrote the lyrics of “I cannot tell why” and this hymn has become WELL known world wide.
Just click on the screen below to begin the video, which will display the lyrics of each verse as the music plays. Feel free to join in or, if you prefer, just watch and listen.
Bible Reading
This passage is read for us by one of our younger church worshippers and the text is shown beneath the audio bar for you to follow.
6 So, when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
PREACHER’S MESSAGE
In his address below, our speaker sets out to answer four key questions, which many believers and followers of Christ find themselves asking and pondering… as indeed did the disciples who spent time with Jesus. As we shall hear, there is cause for great joy, not worry!
“Godlessness in the last days”
Our speaker - and his wife who delivers our bible reading below - are both Christian missionaries who have been working in the far east for many years. The message grows out of Paul’s second encouraging and personal letter to Timothy, who was continuing to grow and teach the early church. This letter was written when Paul was in prison in Rome.
We begin, then, with the the reading of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, the text of which is laid out below the audio bar for you to follow as it is read to us.
Godlessness in the last days
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
A Final Charge to Timothy
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
PATIENCE, LOVE, ENDURANCE…
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
PREACHER’S MESSAGE
Fish brought out from the muddy river…
Now a hymn, which speaks of faith, patience, hope, love, endurance and all the Christian attributes that are found within and around Godliness
“Love Divine”
Click the screen below to play the video. The words of all the verses are displayed as the music plays. Feel free to join in or just watch and listen.
“The Truth Will Set You Free”
Our preacher explores a key bible passage in which Jesus engages in a dispute with the Jewish folk of that day as to whose children they really are! The passage from John’s gospel is read to us in the audio below by a member of the congregation. The text is shown beneath so that you may follow it as you listen.
Bible Reading
John, chapter 8, verses 31 to 36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Preacher’s Message
A HYMN
“Life in all its fullness”
LIFE IN ALL ITS ABUNDANCE…
We look at John’s gospel for our message today. The bible passage in question will be read to us in the audio bar below and the text is shown beneath for you to follow.
JOHN chapter 9, verses 39 to 41 and chapter 10, verses 1 to 10
John 9: 39-41
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
John 10: 1-10
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Preacher’s Address
A HYMN
“Jesus Is King”
Our preacher speaks about the Kingship and majesty of Jesus.
First, a hymn which points us in the right direction. Just click the video screen below to play the song. The lyrics appear as the music plays so you may sing along if you wish.
JESUS IS KING AND WE WILL EXTOL HIM
Bible Reading
Click the audio below to hear the passage.
The text is shown beneath the audio bar so that you may follow it as it is read to you.
John’s Disciples Follow Jesus
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” 50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
PREACHER’s ADDRESS
“God disruptions”
…the normal way is disrupted!
Our speaker invites us to take a closer look at that well-known account in John’s gospel in which Jesus, who many see as “meek and mild”, becomes outraged and turns over the money tables in the temple. The normal business affairs are disrupted… and Jesus goes even further - asserting to the Jews that he will rebuild the “temple” in THREE DAYS if they destroy it!!
BIBLE READING
John chapter 2, verses 12 to 22
This passage is read to us in the audio below. The text is shown beneath the audio bar so you may follow it
Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
PREACHER’S MESSAGE
A HYMN ABOUT CHRIST’S LOVE FOR US
“Rejoice! ..again, I say, Rejoice!”
As you may expect, our preacher speaks on the third Sunday in Advent all about JOY.
With three bible readings to follow (you can hear all three in the audio bars below), his message points us in the direction of Christ’s birth and the joys that come from this extraordinary and ‘out of this world’ (yet very much ‘in this world’) event… prophecied long, long ago.
Three Bible Readings
…a reading in which we hear John the Baptist explaining to those who had come to be baptised and to the gathered crowds how they should respond to his prophecy and news of the coming Saviour…
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
Message
“Here comes the Son of Man”
For her 1st-Sunday-in-Advent message, our preacher takes the passage in Luke chapter 21, verses 25 to 36, as the basis of her address. This is read to us lower down the page, together with the text from the N.I.V. bible for you to follow. But before this.. and our preacher’s message, an advent hymn: just click the video screen below and both music and lyrics will play so that you may join in.. or, if you prefer, just listen and watch.
HYMN : “Come Thou long-expected Jesus”
Bible Reading
Luke 21: 25-36
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Address
(Psalm 68, v.19)
“…day after day he carries us along!”
Our speaker recalls some important words of Paul in his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 31…
“So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can defeat us?”
Romans 8, v28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”
”Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13, v.34
HYMN
Before the speaker’s message, we first listen to (or even join in with) this well-known song, which reminds us that it’s Jesus who carries our burdens. Click the video screen to begin and the music will play.. together with the lyrics which will appear on screen line by line.
A Prayer
In the audio bar below, our speaker leads us in prayers for our world - its leaders and for those who, in their grief, their daily struggles and suffering, need lifting up to our Lord.
We pray for each other and for the Church of Christ... both at home and abroad.
Preacher’s message
“Carry each other’s burdens”
Our preacher’s message below centres on Paul’s letter to the Galatians in which he underlines Christ’s commandment to his disciples that they “Love one another as I have loved you!”.
This, of course, involves carrying one another’s burdens… serving one another as the Holy Spirit guides us and, in every case, treating everyone as equal in God’s sight.
Specifically, she explores Galatians, chapter 6, verses 1 to 10. This bible passage is shown in full below.
Galatians 6: 1-10
Paul speaks to the Galatian church…
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.
6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
“Abigail - a channel of Your peace.”
Bible reading
1st book of Samuel, chapter 25, verses 1 to 17
This is read to us in the recording below. The full text has been printed beneath the audio bar for you to follow.
David, Nabal and Abigail
1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.
Abigail
2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.
4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”
9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
The meeting of David and Abigail
14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
Preacher’s Message
“Relationship”
What is a ‘relationship’? More particularly and specifically, what ‘relationship’ does a Christian have with Jesus?
In his message to church below, our preacher will shed light on this important theme and the peace and joy which comes through a commited relationship with the risen Christ.
First, a call to worship.
and now a prayer
“Testing”
Before our speaker gives his message, he reads to us a passage from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, namely chapter 13, verse 5. Paul asks the members of this church to examine themselves. The verse is shown beneath the audio bar belo so that you may follow the text as it is read to you.
Bible passgage - 2 Corinthians 13: verse 5
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Speaker’s message
“Firstfruits - The Resurrection Promise”
We are still in the season of harvest (in the UK) and today’s message is very much about this important, joyous and key Christian theme.
Before she delivers her address to the congregation, our preacher opens with a bible reading from Leviticus. The passage is shown below so that you can follow the text as it is read to you in the message below.
BIBLE READING
The book of Leviticus, chapter 23, verses 9 to 14
Offering the Firstfruits
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Preacher’s Message
“Favouritism forbidden”
We look at a passage from James, chapter 2, in which we are reminded about the love Jesus had for ALL people, rich and poor alike. Sadly, this isn’t always true today… even in a church community. Fine clothes and adornments are all very well but, in God’s world, they don’t lift anyone up the pecking order above those who are impoverished.
Bible Passage
James 2:1-17
(from the N.I.V. bible)
Favoritism Forbidden
1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
PREACHER’s ADDRESS
“The Game of Life.”
Bible Reading
The preacher’s sermon emerges from a reading given during the morning worship from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1-20, which is shown below in full (from the N.I.V. bible) for you to read beforehand.
EPHESIANS 5 : 1-20
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Preacher’s Address
“ROCK”
Our speaker takes as his text the passage from Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 to 21 in which Peter declares that Jesus IS the Messiah. In ‘The Message’ bible, verses 15 to 18 record…
15 He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17-18 Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are.
You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
SPEAKER’S ADDRESS
“I am making everything new!”
BIBLE READING
The message in the address below is drawn out of the Revelation 21, verses 1 to 8, the text of which is not only shown below but also read to us in the recording here.
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
MESSAGE
During our services and devotional times, if you would like prayers to be spoken aloud for you, your family or friends in need - or if you would like to talk with someone from the church about the messages you have seen or heard on this website, do not hesitate to contact us here.