City Bible Church, Nz

Kia ora Agora, We are starting our series leading up to Christmas. Woooooooo! We are working through the first eight posters in the windows of the auditorium. Today we're looking at the mind-bending reality of the Trinity. Do the members of the Trinity have independent thought or not, considering they are of one essence?

Kia ora Agora, Today we will finish off the 'Story of the Bible' series. We will look at the development of the church and some of the wild end-times truths we see in the Bible.

Kia ora Agora, The Bible can seem like a book of many stories. We can be like little children playing with jigsaw pieces and not realising they're designed to fit together into one big, over-arching story. Until we see the picture on the lid! Pastor Craig has been showing us the lid. Today we meet Jesus Christ in the unfolding story. Who is He? Why is He the glorious high point of biblical history and the crucial turning point of human history? Most importantly, who is He to you? Whatever your answer, could it ever be enough?

Kia ora Agora, Today we will be carrying on looking at the 'story of the Bible'. We are going to look at the conquest of Israel and Judah and see that there are many similarities to some of the struggles we have as Christians today. The second half of the Old Testament in 30 minutes - can it be done?????

Last Sunday we looked at an overview of the whole Bible in just over 30 minutes. We discussed key themes of imago dei and therefore God's desire to be with His people.  This Sunday we looked at - Baptisms and the Exodus of Israel. In my list of tricky subjects to combine this is way up there. But, when you look into the amazing story of plagues and frogs and darkness, the Passover, and the exodus of Israel from Egypt you will go 'Whoa! So many similarities' to baptism and the salvation Jesus offers. 

Kia ora Agora, Today we are beginning a new series looking at an overview of the Bible. First, we'll start with the easy task of summarising the entire Bible in 30 mins - ekk. An interesting exercise to do and find the core threads that weave their way through the Bible.

Kia Agora, Today, we look at the life of David and how he learned to trust the Lord both when life was out of control and when circumstances turned in his favour and he had the power to influence the outcome.

This Sunday we finished James 5 and looked at the power of prayer. Is there ever a time in our life when we shouldn't pray? What things that we deal with are just too big for God and prayer? 

Kia ora Agora, How well do our actions mirror the faith that we proclaim? This is a question we all struggle to answer well, and James doesn't mince words when he challenges believers to act in accordance with our faith.    In chapter 4 today, James continues to help us see the gaps in our lives and shows us how the Gospel is God's wisdom and provides the answer for us.

This Sunday is Father's day - wooooooo Most of us have fathers but some of us had pretty rough fathers. This Sunday we talk a bit about this, and also celebrate fathers and have a great service together.

Kia ora Agora, Today we are looking at chapter 2 of James - and I honestly think this is a 'hold on to your seats' chapter as James goes super hard on showing love to everyone and proving our faith is real through the lives we live. Whoa!   There is a video near the beginning (1:37) as an illustration, it is an old Toyota ad with Barry Crump. If you are interested in watching, the link is attached: Crumpy and Scotty 2nd Hilux Commercial - YouTube 

This Sunday we started looking at the book of James. Such an amazing book of blunt calls to us on how to live as followers of Jesus. How do you thrive in life when you are hit by troubles or temptation   Book of James Summary: A Complete Animated Overview - YouTube

Kia ora Agora Today we have two young lads being baptised! We will be talking about why baptism is so important and how it is not an extra option in our journeys as Christians. 

Last week we were reminded that our true identity is found in who God made us to be. The world tries to pull us away from our God given identity and lead us to make wrong choices. But God can redeem our mistakes and even our wrong choices if we anchor ourselves in who we are in Christ. This Sunday we considered how life can at times feel like we are constantly climbing a mountain range and it takes courage and strength to keep going. How do we look for, and find hope, in the crisis? 

This Sunday we considered how well-meaning people we meet constantly ask us questions like: "What do you do?". "Where are you from?" "What are your plans after that?"  Are there answers to these questions, or how we look or feel, is what define us?  We explored why it's so important to know and hold onto the identity God has given us and not let that go when other pressures surround us, and we saw through an often skipped-over story in the Old Testament, that our true identity is found in who God has made us to be.

This Sunday, we will continue with the How to Thrive in Life series, but it will be a little different as we look at the topic of suicide awareness. We have the team from Scripture Union coming in to lead us through an excellent interactive service discussing how we can be better equipted to help someone struggling with this horrible burden.

As we continue in our series on How To Thrive In Life, today we will be looking at one of the biggest struggles that every single one of us has to deal with - the struggle of waiting.  We wait for so many things in our lifetimes, and the last few years has brought this reality into our lives with a greater intensity as we have had to wait for things we had previously taken for granted: When was flour going to be available to buy again? When am I going to be able to visit my family/friends again? When will I ever be seen by the Doctor? Waiting is an uncertainty in life that can stress us to the point of popping. So how can we learn to wait well? This is what we will be thinking about today - Waiting Well.

Kia ora Agora, We are in the middle of our sermon series How to Thrive in Life designed to help us face the struggles of life in light of the truths of scripture. Last time we focused on how we are so fully known by God, and how we are treasured and valued by Him despite what we might have done. As Christ followers, our thriving in life depends on God being more than a concept that is fitted in alongside our existing beliefs and activities. He has to become our ultimate reality, overtaking all other aspects of who we are and what we do. Unless God is our ultimate reality, we can forget about a life of lasting peace, fulfilment, and joy.  Today we look at what the Word shows us about this and see one of the main obstructions to thriving with the reality of God in our lives. 

We will be looking at how we go through life picking up narratives about ourselves. Some of these can be positive, however it’s the negative narratives that seem to stick. These negative narratives can work to bring us down such that when we’re struggling, they become detrimental to our wellbeing. Today we want to look at these stories and put them to the test. We will open the word of God and challenge them to see if our worth is greater than what we tell ourselves. 

This Sunday we discussed the heavy topic of Anxiety. How do you THRIVE in life when it feels like you could explode or pop at any point? Does the Bible say Anxiety is a part of life, is wrong, or even did Jesus experience Anxiety?