‘Faith’ is the Christian calling. And one could ask: ‘How do I know my faith is real?’ or ‘Does doubt mean I have a shallow faith?’. Yet, you don’t need to be Christian to have questions about ‘faith’: ‘How do I get faith?’ or ‘What does faith achieve?’.
This talk, the second in a series on ‘Faith’, looks how faith comes to a person.
Read the Bible Text – Hebrews 11:1-39 Joshua 2:1-24
Talk Outline – Hebrews 11 and Acts 10
– Ken Noakes
What is faith? We use the term ‘faith’ all the time. Do we stop and think about what it means to have faith, especially when it comes to having faith in God.
This is the first of three talks exploring the biblical idea of faith – and hopefully they will help us to think about how great it is to be a person of faith in God.
Read the Bible Text – Hebrews 11:1-39; Joshua 2:1-24
Talk – Hebrews 11 & Josh 2 (Outline)
– Ken Noakes
Christians are called to be godly in giving. That could be giving in attitude, time, energy or money – all are important. Here we will focus specifically on the area of money and the way we generously and responsibly use the resources that God has put in our care.
Let me make four points from 1 Timothy 6 which may help our thinking.
First, Godly giving is not a means to financial gain.
Universal Church Only – a vertical relationship.
From time to time, I will hear a believer say that they don’t have to be a member of particular local church – because they are ‘in Christ’.
Draw Near to God and to Others
Hebrews is helpful for anyone wanting to think about the importance of Church.
In Chapter 10 the author writes to Christians who were losing confidence – some were persecuted, some were leaving the faith to avoid suffering, and others were abandoning Christ because they wanted to fit in with the world around them. His advice? – draw near to God and draw near to others!
What does it look like for Christians to love the other? It has something to do with that which is true and something to do with obedience. We considered ‘Love’ last time (Part 3 of this series), so this time let’s focus on ‘Truth’.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:16-20)
When we honour God and put him first is there a risk we will miss out? Bernie explains what the Bible assures us of – the extent and richness of God’s promises when we trust him and obey his Word.
Preacher: Bernie Leo
5 AWAY Weekend Away Talks – by Ken Noakes
Talk 1 – Scaring the Hell out of You!
Talk 1 Outline – Scaring the Hell out of You!
Talk 1 Script – Scaring the Hell out of You!
Discussion Group Questions – Hell
Talk 2 – Heaven Sent!
Glenn Clarke gives a very quick summary of what the Protestant Reformation was all about – you can view that here followed by a sermon by Paul Harrington on ‘Christ Alone’ (Psalm 45 & Hebrews 9:23-28) by Paul Harrington – available in audio and video: http://bit.ly/2ylc4W2
Read the Bible text: http://bit.ly/2yalaVw
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