Message Recordings

Seed, soil and fruitfulness – are we receptive to God’s word for us?

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In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a story about seed being sown that lands on all different kinds of soil - a hardened path, rocky shallow soil, soil that is choked by weeds and thorns, and good soil that helps a healthy harvest grow. It is tempting to simplify the story down to those who accept the gospel of God's kingdom and those who reject it. But the story is more subtle than that - it talks about the heart condition that promotes receptivity towards God, and the kinds of things that can prevent us from having fruitful lives in Him.

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Am I a Pharisee?

First century Jews respected and revered the group of religious leaders known as the Pharisees. Their devotion and meticulous observance of the law was seen as the way to achieve holiness and good standing with God. To them, Jesus' words would have been confronting, “But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:20). Jesus was not saying, "Do better, be better." On the contrary, he was exposing how that kind of religion that can never lead to true holiness and cannot bring us into right relationship with God. A fear-based 'holiness' leads to pride and comparison, isolation and control. It blinds us, causing justification of behaviours that are not in alignment with Jesus’ heart for His people. 

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#Van-life may be a great adventure, but it is not multi-generational

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There are a lot of people who do life on the road, exploring our amazing country and living a minimalist lifestyle, enjoying the freedom and adventure that comes with #vanlife. Doing van-life is low maintenance, low-cost, low-needs and low-commitment. But it is also has severe limitations.

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The king will say, ‘You did it for me.’

Still on the topic of Kingdom, this message looks at two passages Matthew 7:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46. In their own way, both describe the future reality of Jesus Christ, crowned in glory, judging his people. Both passages demonstrate that kingdom actions absent from intimacy with God and carrying his heart is religion and is met with harsh outcomes. The message invites us to consider what it looks like to prioritise relationships with Jesus so that we have more than self to offer a hurting world. 

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God sees you; He knows you.

While recently walking the crowded and busy streets of London, I became acutely aware of the masses, the ocean of humanity, who I was passing by and would never see again. Literally thousands upon thousands of faces, who each represent lives, families, generations with entire existences that I will never know anything about.

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The True Bread of God’s Presence

Bread is a consistent and powerful image through the Bible, a symbol of physical sustenance, divine blessing and community. It serves as the central element of hospitality, and beyond food, it represents the spiritual nourishment and the covenant of deep intimacy between YHWH and his people. The bread of God's presence, the true 'bread' of heaven - communing with Jesus, the 'bread of life' (Jn 6:51).  In Ezekiel, as a result of their choices to not value intimacy with YHWH, the people of Judah ended up separated from him, symbolically eating defiled bread that could not sustain them. Likewise, some settle for second hand bread which is an over-reliance on other people's intimacy with Jesus that we partake of without ever going to Jesus - the source. The invitation in this message is to pursue the presence of YHWH, feast on his bread so that we offer the world something more than religion.

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