3 wrong reasons for giving: Because it will earn God's favour (it won't!); Because God needs it (he doesn't!); Because the church needs it (it doesn't!)
1 right reason to give: Because of what God has done for you
Why you need to listen to this letter
You need to listen to this letter because it is a message from God (not man), because the gospel itself is at stake and because believing a false gospel robs God of his glory | Gal 1:1-5
The Church - A Family!
The Bible expects the church to function as a family - if it doesn't, both we and our witness will suffer
He has been raised
The amazing, hope-giving and challenging conclusion to Mark's gospel | Mark 15:40-16:8
The Unchanging Significance of the Cross
If you get the cross wrong you'll miss out on Heaven. In these verses, there are four statements which make crystal clear what the cross is about | Mark 15:33-39
The Church: Branches of a Vine
On his last night on earth, Jesus gave the disciples his final description of what the church should be like | John 15:1-17
Where is God?
We live in a world of terrorist attacks, murder, injustice, deceit, cancer, mental illness and death. Why doesn’t God intervene? To answer that question we need to look at the cross | Mark 15:21-32
The Church as the Bride of Christ
The Church is pictured as the Bride of Christ:
- Marriage exists as a picture of Christ and the church
- For the church to be Jesus' bride, there was a great cost
- The church is like a bride because she's most radiant on her wedding day
- The church must submit to Christ in everything
Who is King?
This chapter confronts us with some uncomfortable truths about ourselves, but also with the amazing fact of what Jesus has done to save us from our in-built, self-destructive tendencies | Mark 15:1-20
The Church as a Light
The world is in darkness, and the church is to be a light. In the face of growing darkness, the church is to act like the church and not be too perturbed when the world acts like the world