Sunday

A prayer based on Psalm 103. Living God,You have established your throne in the heavens,Your kingdom rules over all.There is no-where we can go and you do not reignThere is no time when you take a break or nip off for a holiday.You reign forever. Gracious God,You are good.Your rule is just and fair; your actions are always right. You don't sit back and watch from your throne,no - you are bringing about righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.We praise you for the

A prayer based upon Joshua 9 Sovereign God,You are Lord of all.You rule over your church.You work through the mess of our sin and failing.We are so thankful that your purposes do not fail,that your plans are not thwarted.We praise you for your faithfulness,for you steadfast love and grace.Gracious God,You do not treat us with justice,You do not give us what we deserve,And you don't give us simply what we need.Your grace runs deeper, your love is more generous.You lavish your

A prayer based on Colossians 3:12-15 Lord God, Thank you for chosing us as your people. We cannot understand why you would set us apart, we have nothing to commend ourselves to you. Yet you love us deeply. Thank you. Our Father, As you love us, so we are called to love each other. We are sorry for the ways we have failed to love each other. For ignoring or avoiding certain people. For holding onto wrongs. For spreading lies and gossip. For treating each other as objec

A prayer based on Colossians 2:6-23 Lord Jesus, We look to you. We have received you as Lord and we keep holding onto you. You are our head, our life, our all. In you we see God. In you we ourselves have come to fulness. Forgive us, For the ways in which we have wondered from you. For the many times we have thought we don't need you. For the ways in which we seek wisdom, power, help and strength in things other than you. Forgive us for not being thankful - you have gi

A prayer based on this mornings passage - Colossians 1:1-14

Praying in response to Acts 7:54-8:8 Lord of the church, We praise you that nothing is able to crush your church. Foes come, Satan rages, your people are persecuted, but the light is not snuffed out. Your church is not extinguished. We thank you for the example of Stephen. For his Spirit filled witness to you, in the face of a hostile and raging crowd. We thank you for the stories we have heard down through history, and across the world today, of your Spirit filled people

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7 Our passage this morning, ends with this huge encouragement. The number of disciples increased - rapidly! Why? Was it because... A new effective structure was put in place? The apostles facing up to the problem of injustice in the church? All the believers where cared for? All the believers where serving one another? Fresh l

I have always been challenged and encouraged by Acts 4:13 "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." This morning, we seen the need to spend time with Jesus. Here are some practical suggestions about how to do this. Read an advent book We recommended two this morning. Love came down at Christmas by Sinclair Ferguson or Come, let us adore him

We come to the last two commandments in this weeks catechism Q12. What does God require in the ninth and tenth commandments? Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us. Some thoughts. Truth and love belong together Oil and water don't mix; truth and love do. Sometimes we think the best thing to do is to spin the truth slightly. At other times we are tempted just

Often when we sing, we both declare a truth and express a longing. Take the song Jesus, be the centre, as an example. Jesus, be the centre Be my source, be my light Jesus Jesus, be the centre Be my hope, be my song Jesus Be the fire in my heart Be the wind in these sails Be the reason that I live Jesus, Jesus Jesus, be my vision Be my path, be my guide Jesus This clearly expresses a longing for Jesus to be the centre of our lives. That he is the one who directs and drives u

After the service on Sunday morning, I had a chat with some of the young people in our church family to see how we could help each other get the most out of the sermon each week. Here's some things we shared: Expect God to speak! Mindset matters - think this is boring, and you usually find it is! Read the passage before coming to church. Make every effort to be on time - take a few minutes at the start of church to pray, asking God to speak. Don't worry if you don't understa