Living Rock Podcast

As we look at Ezekiel 47:1-12, we see how God has a ‘River of Life’ that comes from heaven to bring abundant blessing on earth. We can see this river being an image of: the life of Jesus poured out for us; and then at Pentecost a pouring out of the Holy Spirit; and then as a river of life in the Spirit that flows through believers from house-to-house. The pattern of God’s increasing purpose to fill the earth is seen in the different depths of the river, and shows us how we can be led by the Holy Spirit into greater depths of fellowship together and of reaching others with the power of the gospel. Finally, we see how being led by the Spirit and drawing upon our relationship with Him will cause us to be like the abundant trees who are fruitful every month and have leaves for healing.

Jumping out of Ephesians chapters 2 & 4, in this episode, we think again about the contrast in the life of the believer before and after encountering Jesus. We explore how that change happened and then how in the church we work hard together to preserve the unity that Christ has won.

When God declared “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26) He was expressing not only His own ’three-in-one’ togetherness, but also His great purpose in creating men and women who would join together in unity and reproduce His image in all the earth!  The story of the miraculous catch and the calling of the first disciples (Luke 5) is a powerful example of what can happen when we prepare for a new day, make ourselves wholly available, go deeper, join together, and help each other handle the great increase He wants to give us!  This is the power and potential of churches working in partnership with one another…

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.” It encompasses all that God is about, all that God feels about us, all that God feels towards us, all that God is. Because God is love. He is a father that loves you! This morning it is vitally important to know this: He is filled with "love and compassion" towards us, even if we are a "long way off”.  We have a loving Father; He “sees” us, He is filled with love and compassion towards us, He will come to us - we walk, but He “runs” to us.

In Part 1 we looked at the Holy’s Spirit’s work of Sanctification in our lives. In Part 2, we consider how the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to show us who God has made us to be, and what aspects of our personalities are influenced by sin. We also look at what it means for us to be transformed from one degree of glory to another through a growing REVELATION of Jesus (2 Co 3:18), by REFLECTING His image, and REFRACTING His glory through our lives.  The key to surrendering to the sanctifying work of the Spirit is VALIDATION and VULNERABILITY – drawing our value and worth from Him, and being willing to let the Holy Spirit strip away sin’s influence on our personalities. What remains is the true person, created and designed by God to individually refract His glorious light – a unique and precious Living Stone!

In part 2 of this message we are introduced to God as the master architect, who has a master plan - for his Kingdom be be extended and established on earth. How does he choose to do this? Through his people, the Church. We therefore learn that God's plan for our lives is never independent of the Church. Actually we can only fully outwork his plan for our life in the context of church, because it's the church that is his master plan. When we realise what the church is (which we find in the book of Ephesians), and who fills it, it stops being something that we attend. It starts to become part of our everyday lives, as we see His Kingdom established.

All in! Ephesians 1:3-14 - In one incredible sentence, Paul launches into a breathtaking eulogy praising God as he describes profound bedrock truths that underpin and shape our lives as Christians. We are In Christ, In Together and In For Purpose!

God’s House is built with Living Stones (1 Pe 2:5), each carefully selected and put in place by the Holy Spirit. In Part 1 we consider how the Holy Spirit shapes each stone - that great work of the Spirit in the Sanctification of believers, shaping us into the likeness of Christ (Ro 8:29). We’ll also discuss how our new birth into God’s kingdom, restores God’s original design for His tripartite humanity, by which our spirits are promoted to the driving seat of our lives (the proper seat for righteous decision making!). Through His work of Sanctification, the Spirit helps us to bring our souls and bodies into line with God’s restored special arrangement within us (Ro 12:1-2). In Part 2 we’ll consider what unique aspects of ourselves are preserved, in the process of the Spirit making us more like Jesus, and how they might diversely and richly display God’s glory. 

Luke 15. The widow searched everywhere for the lost coin, and she celebrated when she found it. This is God's nature for us, and He rejoices when we turn to Him. We are God's treasure.

The Bible begins and ends with descriptions of a river flowing out from God’s presence to carry His love and life into all the world (Genesis 2, Revelation 22), and this powerful imagery of life-giving water recurs in the Psalms, Prophets and Gospels.  Against this backdrop we consider four key prophetic words spoken into our church that have shaped us over many years and helped us in our mission “from the heart of the nation to the ends of the earth”.  These words continue to carry his love and life into the DNA of our church and are now more relevant than ever, as we look ahead to all that God wants to accomplish in and through us!…

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God's 'masterpiece' - the pinnacle of creation, made in the image of God himself, declared to be "very good". But this can sometimes be difficult to hear and believe. There are many lies that we hear about ourselves which are designed to stop us living in our true identity as God's masterpieces. In this message we look at some of those lies and what the Word of God says about us instead.

Ephesians explains how the Church comes to full spiritual maturity in Christ. It explains the nature and purpose of the church, the body of Christ.Major themes include: Chosen and sealed Saved by grace Unity in the body - that the church is living! The practice of believers, in relation to each other, spiritual gifts, our former life and evil, the Holy Spirit, home life, and work - that we have come into a new family!  Ephesians shows that out of the reality of our being seated with Christ flows our walk (how we live this out) and our standing in the face of any spiritual opposition. When we start to see that “reality” our whole life changes. Ephesians speaks of the love story between God and his Church for the last 2000 years, and that story reveals that Christ did not only give himself for the Church, but he also gave various gifts so that the Church would come to a place of maturity and fullness. Paul provides significant teaching on salvation, reconciliation, the nature of God's family, and the Christian

The resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday is the centrepiece of the Christian message. In this all-age Easter gathering, Phil describes how the resurrection of Jesus allows people with no hope, no value and no power to know hope, know value and know power.

God makes it clear in His word how important it is for us to walk humbly with Him. Humility is a virtue that Jesus exemplified. He showed us how to live with a humble mindset and so we explore in this message how to "walk humbly with our God" and how this humility facilitates living full of the Spirit.

When we walk at God's pace we walk in God's grace. For such a time as this - when Kingdom advance is essential in us and through us - we need to know what it means to follow God's lead and move it His pace, ensuring that we rest, stay close and keep going.

Being Spirit-filled is fundamental (who we are) and foundational (how we build and grow together) for us as God’s people. The House of the Spirit is being built by the Holy Spirit, using living stones, each of whom He wants to fill with the fulness of Christ. In this message we look at the practical implications of this for us all, and each of us personally, by considering the three main aspects of the ‘fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (2 Co 13:14) – communion, community, and contribution.

In Colossians 1:13 we read "For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son". We often talk about "Kingdom", and "the Kingdom of God", but what does it mean and how does it affect us as children of God? The Kingdom of God is the fulfilment of God's will on earth. We know this because Jesus prayed - "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) In other words, it is His will to bring heaven to earth. For all of us we have the ability to get off this planet, to be free from the past, and the issues that so easily pull us off track. We are all ready for launch!

In this timely message, Keri reminds us of three wonderful, unchanging truths concerning the nature of God and describes their power to bring great security, peace and fruitfulness into our lives today and always. 

Rob and Cindy share with us 4 important truths about breaking bread and the impact it has on us!

We look at the Colossian Hymn, what it says about Jesus & what our response should be as His followers.