Last week we learnt that pretty much 9 times out of 10, we can get what we need by just doing the basics: reading our bible, being in prayer, serving through our local church, looking after ourselves physically...Occasionally though, life d...

Us believers say with pride: "true Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship."And that’s true and it is wonderful. Thanks to the decision we made about Jesus, we get to enjoy a relationship with God.But, we can forget, that o...

Two weeks ago we said, as concerning The Good Fight of Faith, to win it we have to stay in it.Last week we learnt that to win it, we have to train for it.This week we'll see that to win it, we have to focus on it.What <...

Let me start by showing you a training schedule that will benefit your faith......and we look at this and, though it may well be a benefit to our faith, we think "eurgh! That looks less like a relationship with Jesus and more like a week in...

Today, we look out on a new battlefront. We have studied the battle front of doctrine (chapter 1) and the battle front of authority (chapters 2 and 3). Chapters 4, 5 and the first two verses of 6 focus on the battlefront of people....

Growing up as kids, we’re always told to ‘behave properly’ in church.Usually this meant keeping quiet, dressing slightly more smartly than we would usually, being polite to people, not mucking around during the songs.Those might be good...

We have some family chores in our household: Isaac is in waste management, Robin is in hospitality. The boys, of course, want a raise. Like good capitalists, they’re thinking 'if I had a little more money, I could use it really effectively.'

Today we see that a pastor needs to be proven.He's not the only one...

1 Timothy 3:1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.Here’s the truth: if a man wants the job of pastor, he wants something very good indeed.Last week we saw that, for a church to Fight th...

"This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." (1 Tim 3:1)If a bishop/pastor is supposed to watch over themselves whilst overseeing the flock, meant to be sharing the gospel with the lost and minis...

It is easy to identify a successful woman. How?Not because she has a lot of money and is dressed in some kind of power suit...Not because she is forthright and assertive and is reading a book on women in leadership...<...

Ever watch a movie right to the end, past the final scene, when you get to the credits?There are a lot of names listed there, those credits roll for a little while…Spielberg is the director, Leonardo di Caprio is the star, supported by ...

Welcome to the second battle front that 1 Timothy deals with: the battle over authority.Authority was an issue in the garden, before the garden, in Ephesus, and in the church today.Just who is the boss? And what should I do about it?

Not all competitions are inclusive. Take sumo wrestling for example, probably a few requirements in there that would prevent us fighting sumo effectively.Thankfully, the good fight of faith is not like that. This is a battle anyone can figh...

Signs we love to see:Buy One Get One Free; Free Parking; Train on Time; Free breakfast bap with every hot drink.These are all positive signs; they are signs we want to see.I...

Here comes another sermon on the importance of bible doctrine.<Exhales> The bible tells us doctrine is important, but man, do we have to keep going on about it? Can't we have some lessons on heaven, angels or gifts instead, or at leas...

For big cats, often the primary place for them to attack their prey is in the neck. Whatever animal they are facing, they know they can bring it down if they do some damage in that area (like the expression says: 'go for the jugular').For a...

Success in war often comes down to the outcomes of particular key battles. Take the American Civil war, for example. There were a many key battles in there, but two that really influenced the outcome of the war were the battles at Vick...

Joy seems to be a bit like a nice red Ferrari - we all want one, but not that many of us seem to get one...So we can be thankful for the book of Philippians, which, as we know from our Tuesday night bible study, has the theme of ‘Joy In The...

We've finished the book of Haggai! There is a lot of content in these two chapters, so today we are going to step back and summarise what we've learnt. What do we see when we consider the book of Haggai in its entirety?We see that the r...

Today we hear Haggai's final sermon; this one is directed personally to Zerubbabel. What does the word of the Lord say to Z to ensure that he finishes the building?Let me show you 3 things that are guaranteed to happen when the bui...

Holiness is like this cauliflower here. I know it’s good for me, I know I should eat it, but I really don’t want to because I know it is not going to taste good… whereas sin, that’s the cake.So the plan for our Christian life has to be to e...

We have learnt that we need to build with strength (chapter 2 verses 1-9); next we will see that we need to build with holiness (chapter 2 verses 10-19).This presents a problem for us because holiness is a challenge.What is the challeng...

Building his house is going to take strength. Haggai 2:1-5 gave us two places we can find that; Haggai 2:6-9 gives us one more.We will see that strength to build does not come from looking longingly back at the past, but instead looking lon...

The physical house of the Lord (i.e. the temple Z and Josh and the remnant were building) required physical strength; the spiritual house of the Lord (i.e. the one we are building) requires spiritual strength.Do we have any?Where can we...