It was great to be together yesterday morning to join our voices to celebrate the good news of the gospel – how Christ’s reconciling work has restored us back to God, and joined our lives together as a new community – the church!

Yesterday’s sermon from Ephesians 2:19-22, entitled: “The Wonder of the Church” is available to listen to or download from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.

The “Take-It-Home” Sheet for this sermon is available here.

And don’t forget, there’s the weekly memory verse song you can download to help you memorise portions of God’s Word.   This week’s Ephesians Memory Verse Song – “A Holy Temple in the Lord” is available now!

(To download this song to your computer… For Mac Users, ctrl + Click and download linked file. For PC users, right click the link and “Save As” the file.)

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.

And finally… For all those who like to have the quotes from yesterday’s sermon, here they are:

James Montgomery Boice:
“In the last 20 years something terrible has happened. People no longer relate to other people or care about them – at least not very much. Instead the majority focus on themselves and deal with others only for what they can get out of them. [There has been] a tidal shift in values by which many people have begun to seek personal self-fulfilment as the ultimate goal in life rather than operating on the principle that we are here to serve and even sacrifice for others, as people for the most part had previously done. In a recent survey it was found that 72% of people spent most of their time thinking about themselves and their inner lives. So pervasive is this change that some commentators are calling it the “Me Decade.” It wasn’t meant to be this way, of course. At the very beginning of human history, God created a woman for the man, saying, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). Then, 2,000 years ago in Palestine Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). He did not come merely to call individuals to salvation. He came to build a church. Christians are created to be that church and community.”

Dave Harvey:
“God does not call us out from this corrupt generation so we can meander aimlessly over the Christian landscape; a meeting here, a teaching there, an occasional small group just for variety. We have been called out to be added in.”

J.I Packer:
“That justification — by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future — is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else… But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship — he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with the God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.”

John Stott:
“If the church is central to God’s purpose as seen in both history and the gospel it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the outside what God has placed at the centre.”

It was great to be together yesterday morning to join our voices to celebrate the good news of the gospel.

Yesterday’s sermon from Ephesians 2:11-22, entitled: “The Walls Come Tumbling Down” is available to listen to or download from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.

The “Take-It-Home” Sheet for this sermon is available here.

And don’t forget, because we’re back into our Ephesians series, there’s a weekly memory verse song you can download to help you memorise portions of God’ Word. This week’s Ephesians Memory Verse Song – “Brought Near By the Blood of Christ” is available now!

(To download this song to your computer… For Mac Users, ctrl + Click and download linked file. For PC users, right click the link and “Save As” the file.)

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.

And finally… For all those who like to have the quotes from yesterday’s sermon, here they are:

John Stott: [Referring to Galatians 3:28)
“When we say that Christ has abolished these distinctions, we mean not that they do not exist, but that they do not matter.  They are still there, but they no longer create any barriers to fellowship.  We recognise each other as equals, brothers and sisters in Christ.”

John Stott:
“It is marvelous to look back and trace the sequence of the apostle’s teaching.  He paints on a large canvas with bold brush strokes.  Once, he reminds his Gentile readers, you were alienated from God and from his people.  But Christ died to reconcile you to both.  So now you are no longer the aliens you were, but the kingdom over which God rules, the family which he loves and the temple in which he dwells.  More simply still: you were alienated, you have been reconciled, and Christ has brought you home.”

It was great to be together yesterday morning to join our voices to praise and magnify our great God and rejoice in the glorious, transforming truth of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s sermon from Ephesians 1:1-2:10, entitled: “Let’s Recap Ephesians!” is available to listen to or download from here, or via our iTunes podcast feed.

The “Take-It-Home” Sheet for this sermon is available here.

And don’t forget, because we’re back into our Ephesians series, there’s a weekly memory verse song you can download to help you memorise portions of God’ Word.  This week’s Ephesians Memory Verse Song – “The Exceeding Greatness of His Power” is available now!

(To download this song to your computer… For Mac Users, ctrl + Click and download linked file. For PC users, right click the link and “Save As” the file.)

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.

And finally… For all those who like to have the quotes from yesterday’s sermon, here they are:

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:
“Paul’s great concern here is to give the Ephesians, and others to whom the letter is addressed, a panoramic view of this wondrous and glorious work of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Puritan Thomas Brooks (Heaven on Earth):
“I am His by purchase and I am His by conquest; I am His by donation and I am His by election; I am His by covenant and I am His by marriage; I am wholly His; I am peculiarly His; I am universally His; I am eternally His. Once I was a slave but now I am a son; once I was dead but now I am alive; once I was darkness but now I am light in the Lord; once I was a child of wrath, an heir of hell, but now I am an heir of heaven; once I was Satan’s bond-servant but now I am God’s freeman; once I was under the spirit of bondage but now I am under the Spirit of adoption that seals up to me the remission of my sins, the justification of my person and the salvation of my soul.”

John Calvin:
“In Christ every part of our salvation is complete. As all mankind are, in the sight of God, lost sinners, we hold that Christ is their only righteousness, since, by His obedience he has wiped off our transgressions, by his sacrifice appeased the divine anger, by his blood washed away our sins, by his cross borne our curse, and by his death made satisfaction for us. We maintain that in this way man is reconciled in Christ to God the Father, by no merit of his own, by no value of works, but by gratuitous mercy.”

O the riches in the Gospel! (By Kevin Hartnett)

O the riches in the Gospel!
Purposes no man conceived!
Grace unfailing; love astounding,
Given those who have believed!

Pardon full for helpless sinners.
Justified- though guilty be!
Jesus cursed for our transgressions;
We made righteous by decree!

Peace with God, oh timeless marvel!
Christ’s blood our security!
Holiness at one with Favor;
Heaven opened wondrously!

Purpose in the Master’s kingdom;
We, His worksmanship by grace,
Cleansed to serve; alive in conscience;
Spirit-filled to run the race.

Pleasure in His highest priv’ledge:
Sons of God by name are we!
Heirs with Christ through God’s adoption;
Called in love eternally!

O the riches in the Gospel!
Purposes no man conceived!
Grace unfailing; love astounding,
Ever theirs who have believed!

It was great to be together yesterday morning and join our voices together in joyful praise to our great God, who has saved us and transformed our lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s sermon, the fourth and final part of our “Worship His Majesty” series, entitled: “The Spirit, the Body & The Worship of God” is available to listen to or download from here, via our iTunes podcast feed.

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.

Here’s the quotes from the sermon:

Donald Whitney:
“God will manifest his presence to you in congregational worship in ways you can never know, even in the most glorious secret worship.  That’s because you are not only a temple of God as an individual, but the Bible says – and far more often – that Christians collectively are God’s temple.  God manifests his presence in different ways to the living stones of the temple when they are gathered than he does to them when they are apart.”

Donald Whitney:
“How is your service quotient?  Is your church stronger because of you?   Nutritionists speak of “empty calories”; in order for these calories to be processed the body must use some of its nutritional resources, yet empty calories do little or nothing to nourish the body in return.  Calories from other types of food however, not only take from the body’s strength as they metabolise, they replenish it.  Do you receive more ministry from the church than you minister to it?  God intends for every member of the church body to be served by it, and there are times when even the most spiritually mature members will receive more ministry than they give.  Nevertheless, the goal for each of us should be to serve in the church in such a way that it is stronger because we are there.”

Sam Storms:
“Prophecy is not based on a hunch, a supposition, an inference, an educated guess, or even on sanctified wisdom.  Prophecy is not based on personal insight, intuition, or illumination.  Prophecy is the human report of a divine revelation.”

It was great to be together yesterday morning and join our voices together in a joyful response of praise and worship to our great God, who has saved us and transformed our lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s sermon, the second part of our “Worship His Majesty” series, entitled: “The Expression of Worship” is available to listen to or download from here, via our iTunes podcast feed.

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.

Here’s the quotes from the sermon:

Nancy Leigh De Moss:
“Worship is a believers response to God’s revelation of himself. It is expressing wonder, awe and gratitude for the worthiness, the greatness and the goodness of our Lord. It is the appropriate response to God’s person, His provision, His power, His promises and His plan.”

John Piper:
“Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.”

John Piper:
“Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth. It is not a mere act of willpower by which we perform outward acts. Without the engagement of the heart, we do not really worship. The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart. Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.”

Jonathan Edwards:
“If the great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart. He who has only doctrinal knowledge and theory without affection, is never engaged in the goodness of faith. We find that people exercise the affections in everything else but religion! When it comes to their worldly interests, their outward delights, their honour and reputation, and their natural relations, they have warm affection and ardent zeal. In these things their hearts are tender and sensitive, easily moved, deeply impressed, much concerned, and much engrossed. They get deeply depressed at worldly losses, and highly excited at worldly successes. But how insensible and unmoved are most men about the great things of another world! How dull then are the affections! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small. How can they sit and hear of the infinite height, depth, length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, of His infinitely dear Son offered up as a sacrifice for the sins of men, and yet be so insensible and regardless!”

Bob Kauflin:
“God is particularly interested in our joy. He tells us, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!’ (Ps 32:11). When the church gathers, the sense of confident joy in God should be pronounced. When we fail to demonstrate delight and satisfaction in God, we’re not only dishonouring God, we’re disobeying him. More than anyone else on earth, Christians have a reason to celebrate.”

Vaughan Roberts:
“Those of us who come from the United Kingdom can be more British than biblical. We tend to be scared of showing any emotion. We can sing of the most wonderful truths with an expression on our faces that would be appropriate in a morgue!”

It was great to be together yesterday morning and join our voices together in a joyful response of praise and worship to our great God, who has saved us and transformed our lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was also a great joy to be able to have Dave & Emma Taylor and family with us for the morning, before they jet off to the other side of the world to plant Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney.

Yesterday’s sermon, from John 20, entitled: “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” is available to listen to or download from here, via our iTunes podcast feed.

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, here’s the “Weekly Info” that we hope will serve you in following up with your children on what they sang and learned this week, and the verse to memorise for next week’s Sunday school.