Read the text – 1 Peter 3:8-22
Suffering is an unfortunate but common fact of life. And as Christians, we will at one point in our lives be confronted with suffering for our faith. In this sermon in the series ‘Stand Fast’, spoken at LMAP Glenbrook evening service, Nick Lindeback encourages use to fearlessly proclaim Christ, even with the prospect of the suffering that comes with it.
Read the text – Matthew 18:15-19:2
Sin and hurt come hand in hand with the human experience – forgiveness not so much. For how hard it is to forgive when you have been hurt by others? Jesus taught his disciples how to deal with sin among believers such that the sin is not swept away or forgotten, but so that believers might know how to truly and genuinely forgive those who trespass against them.
Gary Haddon carefully handles this personal and tricky teaching of Jesus – and in doing so helps us to see the value of forgiveness.
Read the text – 1 John 2:28-3:10
Central to fellowship with God the Father is acknowledging his son and in turn living as a child of God. This talk is about confidence in the Christian faith – confidence that comes from being adopted as a child of God and experienced in the new birth that the Christian person enjoys.
In this talk Ken Noakes describes the process of moving towards a confident faith. And also, the process that person may go through in moving away from a confident faith.
Read the text – 1 John 1:5-2:2
Sin is serious, and even Christians can live as if it isn’t! In this talk, Ken Noakes looks at what the Bible calls sin and helps us to understand more of what sin is and means for our world, our church and our person. Yet to sit right alongside the trauma that is sin, is the wonder that is forgiveness in Jesus. Sin we love yet we should hate. Whereas Forgiveness we want and we all need.
Read the text – 1 John 3:11-24 & 1 John 4:7-21
Love that is Christian, is a love for others that is both pleasing and acceptable to God before it is to the world. This is a huge topic and so contested today. For today, love is often determined by popular opinion or consensus – and as directed by the loudest voices. In this talk, Ken Noakes looks at the importance of understanding Love in the context of truth and obedience. God indeed wants Christians to be loving – love that is truthful, sacrificial, obedient even if different to the way the world looks for love.
Read the text – 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
This Bible talk is about how the church is like a body – it has many parts with different gifts that all act to serve each other, where a missing part affects every other part. As a church in unity under Christ, do not let our selfishness exclude others and bring division. Instead let us all care for one another, suffer together, and rejoice together.
Read the text – 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 & 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
As a society we have never had more freedom, yet we often use that freedom to serve ourselves. The Corinthian Church know they are free in Christ, but they use this freedom to love themselves and not others. How will we, who are free in Christ, use our freedom? Will we follow our society and the Corinthian Church by loving ourselves? Or will we use our freedom to build up the church in love?
In this Bible Talk, Nick Lindeback looks at the how some actions are permissible for the Christian person and not not inherently sinful, but in exercising that action may cause others to stumble (thus sin) in their faith. The point: consider whether your actions are loving to other fellow Christians before doing them.
Read the text – Philippians 1:1-11
The Apostle Paul writes to his friends in the church located in Philippi – and he is thankful for their partnership in the gospel. In this talk, Ken Noakes looks at the importance of partnership when it comes to gospel mission and ministry. It is the gospel that shapes our partnership together in church. And it is this partnership that helps us defend and confirm the gospel as we all share in God’s grace together.
In Thessalonica, the church is being battered and bruised… how should they respond? Paul writes 1 and 2 Thessalonians to encourage the church to stand firm in the good news of Jesus. Today, the world remains full of uncertainties and hostile to the presence of the church. What can we learn? We can be challenged to likewise stand firm as we await Jesus’ return.
This sermon emphasises the importance of faith and love in the mess of the world – COVID or not. Christian encouragement really matters, where standing firm in your faith is one of the greatest encouragements. Prayer is also our first and last resort – this should not be forgotten in a world of suffering!
Read the text – 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13
In Thessalonica, the church is being battered and bruised… how should they respond? Paul writes 1 and 2 Thessalonians to encourage the church to stand firm in the good news of Jesus. Today, the world remains full of uncertainties and hostile to the presence of the church. What can we learn? We can be challenged to likewise stand firm as we await Jesus’ return.
This sermon challenges both the individuals of the church and the church as a collective – a Godly reputation is what matters most, and the church needs to stand up and stand out!
Read the text – 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
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