#39 - The Promised Son of Man (Daniel 7:9-14) Date - 24 November 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The prophet Daniel receives a vision that the oppressive kingdoms of the world (and the evil spiritual power behind them) will one day be defeated and a new king will come to lead God's kingdom.
#38 - Preparing for the End (Mark 13:1-13) Date - 17 November 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings As Jesus leaves the Temple for the last time he tells his disciples that very soon this building which had been so important to Israel would be completely destroyed, and that they must be prepared for the trials that would come afterwards and which would last until the end of the age.
#37 - Kingdom Platform and Person (Mark 12:28-44) Date - 10 November 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings As Jesus finishes his teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem he leaves the crowd with some challenges regarding what the Kingdom of God truly stands for and how it should be represented by the King and those who follow him.
#36 - Healing Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) Date - 27 October 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Before Jesus completes the final part of his journey to Jerusalem he heals Bartimaeus of his blindness. This miracle is shown to be more than just a demonstration of God's power, but also how through a confession of faith the way of God becomes clear.
#35 - The Kingdom and Power (Mark 10:32-45) Date - 20 October 2024 Preacher - Mal Bullock Jesus is approached by his cousins, James and John, for prestigious jobs in the coming Kingdom, but Jesus reveals that they have the wrong idea about what it means to have true power.
#34 - The Cost of Eternal Life (Mark 10:17-31) Date - 13 October 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings A man who appears to be very blessed by God comes before Jesus with a genuine question about inheriting eternal life. Jesus' answer reveals that such a guarantee would cost more than he was prepared to pay, but does this mean that the Kingdom is so exclusive that getting in would be impossible for any of us?
#33 - The Law and Love of God (Mark 10:1-16) Date - 6 October 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The Pharisees come back to test Jesus with a question that would have been as difficult and painful at that time as in our own day. Jesus uses the opportunity to put the focus back on the Pharisees' hardness of heart and to address what true fulfillment of the Law of God looks like.
#32 - Not Division, But Peace (Mark 9:38-50) Date - 29 September 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The disciples are trying to control the growth and order of the Kingdom, but Jesus warns them that their behaviour could lead others away from growing in true faith.
#31 - The Greatest in the Kingdom (Mark 30:30-37) Date - 22 September 2024 Preacher - Rev Steve Neuhaus The disciples get into an argument about which of them is truly "greatest", but Jesus reminds them that the values of the Kingdom are not those of the world.
#30 - Who Do You Say I Am? (Mark 8:22-9:1) Date - 15 September 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The disciples make a declaration about who they think Jesus really is. However, it soon becomes clear that the Kingdom of God that Jesus has come to bring in is quite different to what the disciples were expecting.
#29 - Who Is Truly Clean? (Mark 7:1-23) Date - 1 September 2024 Preacher - Bishop Mark Short The Pharisees accuse Jesus and his disciples of being "unclean" for not washing their hands in a particular way. However, Jesus turns their accusation around and shows that it is something other than defiled hands that makes a person truly unclean.
#28 - The Full Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) Date - 25 August 2024 Preacher - Rev Steve Neuhaus As the apostle Paul brings his letter to the Ephesian church to a close, he encourages his readers to be prepared to go out to the world equipped with the proper tools for the spiritual job they will face.
#27 - Light, Wisdom, and Marriage (Ephesians 5:11-33) Date - 18 August 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Paul instructs the Ephesian church to live as people of light and wisdom in order to show up the spiritual darkness of the world for what it truly is. This new pattern is to extend into our family relationships, which are to be living examples of the relationship of grace between Christ and the church.
#26 - Renewed Lives (Ephesians 4:16-5:2) Date - 11 August 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Paul gives a strong direction to the Ephesians that their lives must no longer be shaped by the dominant culture around them, but should instead reflect their new identity as the family of God. He gives them some practical directions about what they are to leave behind and what they are to take up as part of their new lives
#25 - Unity In The Faith (Ephesians 4:1-16) Date - 4 August 2024 Preacher - Mal Bullock In Ephesians 4 the apostle Paul makes a shift to focus on the practical applications of unity between Jew and Gentile that come out of the truths of the gospel that he has discussed in the first three chapters.
#24 - Know the Dimensions of God's Love (Ephesians 3:1-21) Date - 28 July 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Paul reminds the Ephesians that they share in the glories of his suffering on behalf of the Gentile believers, and prays for them that they would be strengthened in their knowledge of the full dimensions of God's love.
#23 - One New Humanity (Ephesians 2:11-22) Date - 21 July 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The grace of God through Jesus Christ means that the Gentiles of the Ephesian church are no longer strangers to God, but are united with the Jewish believers into a new household of God.
#22 - Eternal Union With Christ (Ephesians 1:1-14) Date - 14 July 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings In the opening chapter of the letter to the Ephesian church, the apostle Paul lays out why the praise of God is grounded in his plan of election to salvation that began before the beginning of time and is directed towards the final consummation of all things being put under Christ at the end of time.
#21 - Where Is The Prophet Honoured? (Mk 6:1-13) Date - 7 July 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Jesus returns to his hometown, but he does not receive the warm welcome that might be expected. Instead, Jesus sends out his apostles on a mission to grow the Kingdom in new places.
#20 - Faith That Heals (Mk 5:21-43) Date - 30 June 2024 Preacher - Rev Steve Neuhaus When Jesus returns from the far side of Lake Galilee he brings healing to two people whose faith overcame some major obstacles.
#19 - Where Is Your Faith? (Mk 4:35-41) Date - 23 June 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings After teaching his followers about having faith in God to grow and sustain the Kingdom, Jesus takes his disciples on an unexpected and difficult journey where their faith is severely tested.
#18 - God Grows the Kingdom (Mk 4:26-36) Date - 16 June 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Jesus uses two short parables about growing seeds to teach his disciples that the growth and flourishing of the Kingdom is fundamentally in God's hands, not theirs.
#17 - A New Holy Family (Mk 3:20-35) Date - 9 June 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings As Jesus' ministry continues to grow, his immediate family are worried that he is losing control of the situation. However, when they arrive to take him back home, Jesus reveals that who is truly "family" in the Kingdom of God is not just a matter of flesh and blood.
#16 - Lord Of The Sabbath (Mk 2:23-3:6) Date - 2 June 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings Jesus comes into conflict with the Pharisees about the issue of keeping the Sabbath. Jesus' answer to their challenge shows the importance of understanding why God's Laws were given to his people.
#15 - The Spirit Arrives (Acts 2:1-21) Date - 19 May 2024 (Pentecost) Preacher - Rev Luke Collings The disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as a sign of hope for all nations as the last days of God begin.
#14 - Be Confident in Prayer and Understanding (1 Jn 5:13-21) Date - 12 May 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings In our final talk on 1 John we take a last review over John's message to the churches and look at his final instructions to be confident in prayer and to remain committed to using our understanding to reject the idols of this age.
#13 - Spirit, Water, and Blood (1 Jn 5:1-12) Date - 5 May 2024 Preacher - Rev Luke Collings John tells the churches he is writing to that they should have confidence in the testimony of the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. What does each of these mean, and why should the church still continue to have confidence in them?
#12 - Test the Spirits (1 Jn 4:1-21) Date - 28 April 2024 Preacher - Rev Steve Neuhaus Not everything that may appear spiritually sound is really from God, but may actually still reflect the values of the world. John encourages his readers to test spiritual experiences in the church so they may not be taken in by false prophets, and to hold on to the true Holy Spirit as a mark of faithful identity.
#11 - Love Your Brothers and Sisters (1 Jn 3:7-24) Date: 21 April 2024 Preacher: Rev Luke Collings John encourages his readers not to fall back into the patterns of hatred and violence that mark the world out for judgment, but instead to embrace practical Jesus-centred love for one another.
#10 - Love God, Not the World (1 Jn 2:15-3:6) Date: 14 April 2024 Preacher: Rev Luke Collings The world and its powers and priorities are passing away, but in the meantime we will see many people presenting different pictures of Jesus in order to justify their own worldliness. The apostle John warns the churches about these people, and encourages them to remain faithful to the Christ they have always known.
