Sunday 8 November 2026: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Remembrance

What does it mean to remember?

Remembrance is more than a sentimental glance back through a photo album. True biblical remembrance is an active, living anchor. It grabs hold of what God has done in the past, plants it firmly in the present, and uses it to shape how we walk into the future.

The Apostle Paul has spent much of the chapter before our reading today defending the physical resurrection of Jesus. As he reaches the end of the chapter, in verses 50 to 58, he does not just leave the Corinthians with a comforting but inaccurate idea about the afterlife. He calls them to remember, to re-orientate, and to stand firm.

When we look at this passage through the lens of remembrance, we see three distinct movements: the reality we remember; the enemy we defeat; and, the resolve we maintain.

1. The Reality We Remember

In verses 50 to 53, Paul addresses the frail, temporary nature of human existence, noting our bodies wear out as we age, but revealing a sudden transformation raising up an imperishable creation.

Someone once said that there are seven stages of life. The first stage is as a baby when we have spills, the second stage is when we learn as a child and go through drills, the third stage is as a teenager when we have our thrills, the fourth stage is as an adult where we pay our bills, the fifth stage is when we are older and we have our ills, the sixth stage is that for our ills we will need pills, and just before we die, we had better make our wills.
 
So, that is a humorous, if slightly cynical, suggestion of seven stages from birth to death, but for the Christian, death is not the final word. It is not the end of our existence. It is, I think, accurate to say that, in Jesus, death is not a full stop, but a comma that leads to the resurrection life.
 
So, as we speak about the resurrection today, we note there were some in the church at ancient Corinth who disputed the reality of the resurrection. We see that topic raised earlier in the chapter at verse 12, where Paul says, "How come some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"
 
And so, in our reading at the end of the chapter, he sets out to explain and to give us the details with regard to the resurrection.

As we remember the fallen – all those brave men and women who gave their lives for our freedom – like their death, our present physical decline does not have the final say. God’s future certainty is that He makes all things new.

2. The Enemy We Defeat

Death has long been considered ‘the last enemy’, but through Jesus’ sacrifice, it has been swallowed up in victory. Jesus absorbed the penalty of sin, transforming the grave from a final end into a doorway.

As we move to verses 54 to 57 of our reading today, perhaps the most striking line is the taunt against death. Paul asks where death's victory and sting have gone, and then explains that the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

These are not throwaway remarks. They go to the heart of why death is so terrifying. Death is not merely the end of biological life; it is the wages of sin. It is the enforcement of a verdict. To be stingless, death must be disarmed, and it can only be disarmed if the sin that gives it its power is dealt with. That is exactly what Jesus has done at the Cross.

Paul's logic seems to run like this: the law exposes sin, sin brings death, and death holds its prey.

But Jesus bore the judgement of the law, satisfied its demands, and rose again. Because He rose, the verdict has been overturned for all who are in Him. The sting is gone. Death still happens to believers, but it no longer has the final word. Paul can speak of those who have fallen asleep precisely because death for the Christian is temporary and reversible. The grave is a resting place, not a prison.

This is why the passage ends in thanksgiving rather than fear. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus. The victory is not something we achieve; it is something we receive. It is given, and it is given through Jesus. We do not conquer death by our own strength, our own goodness, or our own resolve. We receive a victory that has already been won. The last trumpet is not the moment we finally earn our place; it is the moment the gift is fully and visibly delivered.

For the Corinthians, this was a direct answer to those who said there was no resurrection. For us, it is a direct answer to the fear that death will have the last word over our bodies or our lives of service.

Paul does not play down the reality of death. He calls it an enemy. But he announces that the enemy has been defeated. The trumpet sounds, the dead are raised, and the living are changed. Those who lived in weakness are raised in power. Those who lived in shame are raised in glory. The sting is gone, and the victory belongs to God.

In remembrance, we look back at the Cross with deep gratitude, knowing our guilt is paid for and victory is given through Jesus.

3. The Resolve We Maintain

Because an imperishable future awaits, Paul urges believers to remain steadfast, immovable, and active in the work of the Lord. Nothing done out of love and obedience in the Lord is wasted.

In the final verse of our reading, verse 58, Paul does not end with a run-down of end-times events. He ends with a command: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord's work. This is the practical application of the resurrection. If the last trumpet is real, then the present is not the end, and nothing done in faith is wasted.

Some Corinthians were tempted to think that if the body is not raised, then perhaps they should live for the moment. Paul reverses that logic. Because the body is raised, we should live as though our service to the Lord matters, because it does. The resurrection makes present obedience worthwhile.

Notice the connection between the resurrection and perseverance. Paul does not say, since the resurrection is coming, withdraw from the world and wait. He says, since the resurrection is coming, keep working. The certainty of the future produces stability in the present.

The word steadfast carries the idea of standing firm under pressure. The word immovable suggests refusing to be shifted or blown off-course. Paul is calling the Corinthians to a settled, durable faithfulness that flows from confidence in God's promises.

In our fallen world, there is much that we do that seems futile. Crops fail, buildings crumble, plans collapse, and people forget. But Paul says that our work in the Lord is something that will not be lost. The resurrection guarantees that the work of faith has a permanent place in God's economy. This is not a promise of earthly success or measurable results. It is a promise that God does not forget. The same God who raises the dead will gather up what His people have done in His name.

For the believer today, this means that the last trumpet is not merely a future event to be awaited. It is a present source of courage. It steadies us when we grieve, when we serve without visible fruit, and when we face our own mortality. Paul's goal is not to satisfy our curiosity about the end times, but to produce steadfastness.

If the perishable will be clothed with the imperishable, then we can work, love, and endure with confidence. The trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised. And our work in the Lord will be shown to have been worthwhile all along.

Remembrance supercharges the present. Remember that Jesus broke the power of death, our lives are remade for eternity, and our work in Him is never in vain.

Sunday 1 November 2026: Romans 12:1-21

As we move into chapter 12 of the book of Romans, Paul answers the questions of how should those who have been justified by grace respond in everyday life. Paul urges us in verse 1 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. God died for us and therefore there is no sacrifice that can be too great for us to make for him.

There are four key points to draw out of Paul’s message. 

1. Verse 2 ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’

I am sure you have heard of the term ‘swimming upstream’. It gives us a visual image of fish such as salmon swimming against the flow of a river. It is not an easy task, and it would be quite understandable for the fish to give up and just allow the river to wash it back out to sea. But fish are steadfast in their aim to reach their spawning ground where they will lay their eggs in the gentle slow flowing areas of the river.

As Christians we are called to go against the flow – in other words, God asks us to sometimes do the opposite to what everyone else around us is doing, or to ignore popular trends. He calls us to persist through difficult obstacles, hard work or strong opposition when we are serving Him. God does not call us to walk the easy path or quickest path, instead we are told to ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’

The world that Paul refers to is not the physical world but society and the system that man has built for himself rather than aligned to what God wants. A world that is full of sin, selfish desires, and own ambition. Christ died to deliver us from this world and anyone who has put their faith in Jesus has been transformed by Him to be different from the world.

2. Verse 6 ‘We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us’.

Our gifts have been given to us by God, and this is His blessing. Through His grace we have each been given gifts according to the grace that is given to us. God does not want us to all have the same gifts, that would be like a body being made up of all legs or all arms, it would not work. Each part of the body plays an important and unique part in making the whole body work. So it is the same with the body of Christ. There is unity, diversity and interdependency when we each use our gifts for God. God gives the necessary strength and ability to use whatever gifts we have, and we are responsible for being good stewards of these gifts.

3. Verse 9 ‘Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good’.

In verse 9 Paul lists some characteristics that we are encouraged to develop in our dealings with others, whether they be fellow brothers and sisters, or unbelievers.

We are called to love others without hypocrisy. Our love should not be behind a mask but should be genuine and sincere.

We should hate anything that is evil. This means to firmly reject whatever harms people or goes against God’s goodness such a being cruel to others, dishonesty, injustice and selfishness. Because God puts this alongside ‘love must be sincere, hating what is evil’ does not mean hating people or treating them harshly. God calls us to love others while refusing to excuse what they do is wrong. God also calls us to recognise and resist evil in our own attitudes and lives and not just point fingers at other people. Loving and forgiving someone does not mean allowing sin or wrongdoing to go unchallenged.

Paul goes on in verse 17 to say ‘Do not repay anyone evil for evil’, and in verse 19 ‘Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath.

When someone does something bad to us, it is natural to want to cause them pain as well. That is human nature. When a small child is hit by another child, the natural reaction is for that child to hit back. Someone has hurt them, so they want to hurt in return. Men speak of giving ‘tit for tat’, giving someone what they deserve. But this type of vengeance has no place in the lives of those who have been redeemed by God. God calls us to a different way of life. God tells us that when someone hurts us or does something bad, we should not be mean back. This is what paying back evil for evil means. But God calls us to break the cycle of pain, hurt and evil by repaying with love. We have to resist the temptation of avenging wrongs that are done to us. Instead ,we give it over to God for Him to do His Will.

4. Verse 21 ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’.

When we love our enemies, it can overcome evil with good. Have you ever noticed how the behaviour of someone changes depending on the behaviour of others. In conflict resolution training they teach how to use calm soft language with open body language, in other words avoid raising your voice, clenching your fist, or using aggressive body language such as invading someone’s personal space as this can make matters worse. Instead, we are to turn situations on their head by overcoming evil with good.

Have any of you heard the story of the lion and the mouse?

A lion caught a mouse and was about to eat it. The mouse begged for mercy and promised to help him one day. The lion laughed but let it go. Later, the lion was trapped in a hunter’s net. The mouse gnawed through the ropes and set him free. The lion’s act of mercy had returned to him as kindness.

Like the lion, we can choose not to hurt someone when we have the power to do so. By responding with kindness rather than revenge, we stop evil from controlling our actions and overcome evil with good.

In loving our enemies, we can allow God to change hearts. We are told not to do bad things to others when they have done bad things to us, because in doing so we become just like them and allow sin to enter into our hearts. In giving in to this temptation, we have allowed them to control what we do, and how we react, and allowed their bad behaviour to conquer us and make us respond in a bad way.

Paul tells us that, instead of being overcome by evil, we should overcome evil with good. In other words, do not allow the bad things that people do to us make us do bad things back.  

In this part of the letter from Paul to the Romans we are encouraged to give our whole life to God as a living act of worship. He instructs us to not copy the evil habits and ways of the world, but instead to allow God to change the way we think to renew our minds. In accepting this instruction, we can start to make small impactful changes to our lives, the lives of those around us, our communities, our towns, our country or our world. Paul says that we are called to use our unique gifts to love others and live at peace. 

Sunday 18 October 2026: Romans 3:9-26

If we were to walk into a courtroom today to watch a trial unfold, we would expect a clear dividing line. On one side would be the prosecution, and on the other the defence. We would expect to hear evidence and arguments, and a struggle to find the truth.

But when the Apostle Paul brings us into God’s heavenly courtroom in our reading today, there is no debate. There is no defence team presenting a counter-argument. Instead, Paul uses the ultimate divine x-ray to look at the human heart.

Our passage today begins with a dark diagnosis of humanity, but it transitions into a most breathtaking, beautiful, declaration of freedom.

So, starting with verse 9, Paul asks: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.” To be ‘under sin’ does not just mean making a mistake here or there. It means being under the dominion, power, and crushing weight of a cruel master.

To prove his point, Paul stitches together several quotes from the Old Testament. He diagnoses human sin across three distinct categories: our character, our conversation, and our conduct.

Firstly, in respect of our character, in verses 10 to 12, he says: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God." This means that, left to our own devices, our natural human state is to run away from God, not towards Him.

Second, in respect of our conversation, in verses 13 and 14, he says: "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips." That is to say, our words betray the sickness of our souls.

And thirdly, in respect of our conduct, in verses 15 to 18, he says: "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways." And the root cause of it all? "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Paul concludes that the law was never meant to be a ladder we climb to reach heaven. It was meant to be a mirror that shows us how dirty our faces are. Imagine trying to jump across the River Thames from Essex to Kent. The elite athlete might jump further than an ordinary person, but both will fall tragically short and land in the water. In the same way, compared to the absolute perfection of God, our best moral efforts fall disappointingly short.

If this message ended here, it would be a tragedy. But praise God for verse 21 which

contains two small but crucially hopeful words: "But now." When we were completely helpless, drowning in our own spiritual bankruptcy, God intervened. “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known.”

God did not change His standards. He provided a substitute. He revealed a way to be right with Him that does not depend on our performance, our heritage, our church attendance, or our checklist of good deeds. It is a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

In verse 24, Paul lays out the core message of the Gospel, using two heavyweight theological words that every believer should cherish:

First, justification. We are "justified freely by His grace." It means to be declared righteous in the sight of the Judge. Think of it as a divine exchange: Jesus takes our list of sins, and we are given His perfect record of righteousness.

And second, redemption. Paul says this justification comes "through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." It means to buy back a slave or a prisoner by paying a ransom. We were captive to sin, and Jesus paid the ultimate price with His own life to set us free.

Look at how Paul wraps-up his message up in verse 26. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, “so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

On the cross, God didn't sweep sin under the carpet. He dealt with it fully. He remained completely just by punishing sin, and He became the justifier by lovingly giving that righteousness to you and me.

If we have been feeling like we are too far gone, too broken, or too sinful for God to love us, we should remember verse 23. We all started in the exact same place of bankruptcy. Our sin is not bigger than His grace. If we have been trying to earn our way to God by being a ‘good person’, then we should stop running on that exhausting treadmill. God’s grace is a free gift. We cannot buy what has already been paid for.

Let us not try to defend ourselves in God's courtroom. Let us silence our mouths, open our hearts, and accept the radical, life-changing gift of justification through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Sunday 11 October 2026: Romans 1:8-17

We live in a world that is loud, demanding, and constantly shifting. Everywhere we turn, we are offered a new philosophy, a new self-help remedy, or a new cultural idea telling us how to find peace, how to be right, and how to find meaning.

Yet, underneath all that noise, the human condition remains the same as it was two thousand years ago. We still have a need to make changes in our lives, and we still have a need to be made right with our Creator.

In the year AD 57, the Apostle Paul sat down in the city of Corinth and penned a letter to a church he had never personally visited, where its believers lived in the very heart of the Roman Empire. Rome was the superpower of the ancient world. It was a city built on military might, political prestige, philosophical sophistication, and, frankly, pagan idolatry.

To drop a message about a crucified Jewish carpenter into the capital city of Rome seemed, by all human standards, completely foolish. It was a message that was easy to mock. It was a message the Roman world told believers to be embarrassed about. Almost two thousand years on, nothing much has changed, except that, maybe, the mocking is louder and more widespread.

But Paul writes this letter with an unshakeable, iron-clad certainty. In the passage we are reading today, Paul opens his heart to show us why he is so utterly compelled by this message. In ten short verses, he transports us from his polite opening greetings right into the heart of what many scholars believe to be the key message of the entire Book of Romans.

Here, he tells us he is ‘not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’

Today, we are going to look at three issues that Paul draws out in this text: the heart of Christian fellowship; the eagerness of Gospel ministry; and, the absolute power of God's Good News.

1. The heart of Christian fellowship

Paul begins his address to the Romans, not with a theological lecture, but with a profound expression of gratitude and longing. Look at verse 8: ‘First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.’

Imagine living in ancient Rome. It was the centre of global trade, politics, and culture. If you were a Christian there, you were a minnow swimming upstream against a strong cultural current. You faced social isolation, economic pressure, and the early rumblings of state persecution. Yet, Paul says, "Your faith is famous." It wasn't their wealth, their architecture, or their political influence that made waves; it was their unwavering loyalty to Jesus.

This tells us something important about our local churches today: true Christian faith is never meant to be private or hidden. It is meant to be public and visible to a watching world.

But isn’t that often the hardest thing for us today? We know so many of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world face persecution. And that persecution includes physical violence and even death. But we don’t suffer in the same way here – not yet at least. Our persecution is the risk of mocking and ridicule; being told we believe in a fairy story.

Just last week, Saturday afternoon in fact, I was sweeping-up some of those huge red berries that drop from the trees outside the church at this time of the year. There are so many of them that we can’t avoid squashing them into the pavement as we walk by. I am not looking for any praise for sweeping-up, by the way. I mention it because I naively think that working outside the church is a quiet statement to those who pass by about what I believe.

Last Saturday told me that is not necessarily the case. As I was sweeping, a lady came by whom I know, but not very well. She commented that I always seemed to be working hard around the church. I corrected her, of course, by telling her that it was only pure coincidence that she catches me on those odd occasions!

When I asked how she was keeping, she told me that, actually, she was recovering from a medical procedure and was feeling quite fragile. So, I asked her if it would be okay if we prayed for her. Although she said that would be nice, she added a comment to the effect that she thought I just did odd jobs at the church and didn’t know I was a believer.

I was pleased that I had corrected her perception, but at the same time, I was quite disheartened, because I began wondering how many other people might have drawn that same conclusion. Perhaps, sometimes then, we have to speak up first, or make it more obvious what we believe in, so that our faith is more visible to the watching world?

In verses 9 and 10, Paul draws back the curtain on his own prayer life by telling those Roman Christians that he prays for them "without ceasing". Why? Because he longs to be with them. Notice his language in verses 11 and 12 where he expresses a deep desire for mutual encouragement: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”

True friendship in Jesus relies on this mutual support rather than isolated worship. Although we are a small Church family, I do feel that sense of mutual support here, and I hope it is the same for you. I believe it is vitally important for us to lovingly encourage one another in serving our Lord as best we can.

2. The eagerness of Gospel ministry

Verses 13 and 14 show us how eager Paul is to visit Rome, but he had been prevented from doing so, because as yet it had not been God’s will. How often have we desperately wanted to do something, but not had the means or capability? Do we ever seek God’s guidance in our prayers to see if our desires match-up with His Word or His will? Paul’s desire was worthy, but he wrote his letter because it was not God’s will for him to travel to Rome at that time.

And thankfully he did not travel, because, like those Roman Christians, we now have his letter to encourage us in our faith and service. That surely demonstrates how God’s plan is greater than our human wisdom and fulfils His purpose perfectly? Our eagerness to share the Good News must sometimes yield in obedience to God’s just and perfect plan.

3. The unashamed power of the Gospel

Paul reaches the peak of his introduction by declaring his lack of shame regarding the Gospel in verses 16 and 17. In fact, Paul quotes from Habakkuk 2:4 at the end of verse 17 when he writes: “The righteous will live by faith.” This quotation emphasises that he is not ashamed of the Gospel; rather it is a way of saying that he is proud of it.

Paul especially is not ashamed of the Gospel in Rome because the Romans appreciated power. The Romans prided themselves on their power. They had military might that could conquer all the nations that stood in their way; they had a tremendous programme of road building; they had some of the greatest law-makers in history; they had the power to write literature and to create art.

But Paul knew that the Romans also lacked power when it came to changing hearts. They lacked power to eliminate slavery. They lacked power to change stubborn, hostile, hateful hearts and to eliminate violence. Paul says that is why he is so proud of the Gospel – because it is the power of God to do those very things that humans cannot do. We never need to apologise for the Gospel. It is absolutely without rival.

Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel because it reveals a righteousness from God. Righteousness is an old word that maybe we don't understand very much? Perhaps we could substitute it for the word ‘worth’ – a worth before God? A sense of acceptance before God that He has given to us. We can't earn it, we certainly don't deserve it, but it is given.

God accepts us because of the Gospel; because of the Good News of the work that Jesus undertook on our behalf. Therefore, by the grace of God, it is something that we, and anybody else, can have, and it is complete and perfect.

The last thing Paul says is that this righteousness is received by faith. Whilst it is not something we can ever earn; it is something we can take anytime we need it, and that is Good News. Our worth before God is not simply something we receive just once, by faith, at the beginning of our Christian lives. It is also something we can remind ourselves of every time we feel down, discouraged or defeated.

God has loved us, restored us, and we have perfect standing in His sight. He already accepts us and loves us as much as He possibly can; nothing more can be added to it. That is the righteousness, or the worth we are given, that is revealed in the Gospel, by faith, to all who believe.

So, in conclusion, when we consider the magnitude of God's gift of unearned, undeserved righteousness or worth, we are called to respond with gratitude and worship. 

As believers, we are called to maintain bold confidence in the face of persecution and ridicule, standing firm in the loving support of our Church families, unashamed to proclaim the saving power of the Gospel. 

Sunday 4 October 2026: Haggai 2:22-25

Do you wear a ring? It could be a wedding ring, the promise of sharing a married life together – typically a single band that has no end signifying no end to married life until death. Or t could be an engagement ring, the promise of being married to your betrothed. Or it could be an eternity ring, symbolising never ending love.

In our reading, God says that He will make Zerubbabel like His signet ring. A signet ring was a symbol of importance and would have been engraved with the owner’s name or design to identify his authority. This ring would then have been used to prove the authority of royal messages. A seal of wax would be applied to a message and the ring used to create an imprint of the royal seal. It may also have been used to mark precious items to prove who owned them. Typically, a signet ring would have been carried by the owner and worn on the right hand so that it was inseparable from the owner.

This is what God wanted to make Zerubbabel. He wanted to make him like a signet ring which meant that firstly he was important and was leading God’s work, secondly, it symbolises that he is working on God’s authority to help rebuild the temple, and thirdly he is carrying an important message from God to His people that He wanted to encourage them to rebuild the temple.

Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus as the ‘radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’. Jesus is God’s living signet ring, the ultimate stamp of God’s character and authority on earth. Zerubbabel was a living man, whose authority eventually passed away when he died. But Jesus is the eternal King, the eternal signet ring that marks us as God’s children.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, ‘You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.’

We are told in this passage that God chose Zerubbabel for this purpose. Despite all the failures of God’s people in the past, God still wanted them to be reconciled to Him and chose Zerubbabel to help with this restoration. God chooses His people for a purpose – what is the purpose that God has chosen for you?

Zerubbabel was from the line of David, and he serves as a historical sign of restoration pointing forward to Jesus. God promised that the line of David would not fail. In the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke we can see Zerubbabel explicitly mentioned as a direct ancestor of Jesus. The signet ring line remained unbroken and God kept His promise.

When we feel a bit overwhelmed, insignificant or defined by things we have done wrong in the past, the messages we can gain from Haggai should speak directly to our heart.

Through Haggai and Zerubbabel, God reversed the wrong doings of the Jews by breaking the cycle of disloyalty and disobedience. Your past mistakes do not define you. God forgives and you can receive His grace to wipe the slate clean, start again. God will still welcome you and use you for His purpose, even with all your failures.

Zerubbabel wasn’t some great King leading multiple nations. He was leading a small province and leading a struggling nation who were living under the shadow of the massive Persian Empire. And there are many examples in the Bible when God uses the most unlikely of people, seemingly unimportant people from small villages and towns (Mary, mother of Jesus being a great example). If you are feeling small, or overwhelmed, or that you are not important, remember this: God chose you, and He has chosen you for a reason. Your success is not dependent upon your own authority but by the authority and resources that God has blessed you with.

For us, the signet ring of promise is Jesus, and it is under the power of this signet ring that we been delegated the authority to do God’s work. When we pray, serve and love others in Jesus’ name, we are acting with the official seal and approval from the ultimate King – the King of kings. 

Sunday 27 September 2026: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

There is often a distinct smell to autumn in Britain. It could be the scent of damp earth, or freshly mown grass receiving its last few cuts before winter, or drifting woodsmoke from a fire warming the cooler days. Whether we live in a rural farming community or the middle of a bustling town like Basildon, Harvest Festival touches something deep inside us. We look at the tins of soup and other produce stacked at the front of the church, and we remember: we do not make the sun shine; we do not make the rain fall.

We are receivers, before we are givers.

Today, our reading takes us not to the majestic mountains of Scotland, or the deep-carved valleys of Wales, or the green fields of England, but to the Apostle Paul writing a letter to a church in Corinth. He is talking about a financial collection for suffering believers in Jerusalem, but he uses the timeless, earthy, language of the farmer – sowing and reaping – to get his message across.

Paul takes the physical reality of the British harvest – where what goes into the ground determines what comes out of it – and lifts it into the spiritual realm. He shows us that God is the ultimate provider, and that a true harvest is never just about wheat in a barn. It is about a harvest of generosity in the human heart.

Let’s start with the obvious. No British farmer walks out into a three-acre field in April with a single grain of wheat, drops it into the mud, walks away, and expects a trailer-load of bread by August. Obviously, that is sheer fantasy. If you sow a thimbleful, you reap a thimbleful. Verse 6 of our reading says: ‘Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.’

Paul isn’t launching a commercial pitch for some kind of heavenly lottery here. He isn't saying, "Give a pound, get a tenner back." He is describing the fundamental nature of God’s creation. Generosity is a seed.

In our culture today – facing economic pressures, high energy bills, and worries about the future – our natural instinct is to clutch what we have tightly to our chests. We might think, "I will be generous when I am safe. I will share when my own barns are full to bursting."

But the law of the Sower says the exact opposite. The seed does not multiply while it sits dry and safe in the canvas bag in the shed. The farmer only gets an increase after the seed leaves his hand, hits the cold and wet soil, and undergoes a kind of death.

So here, we might pause to reflect: where in our lives are we holding back our time, our resources, or our care because we are waiting for absolute security?

In our communities, we see neighbours isolated, food banks working overtime, and local charities stretched thin. Paul reminds us that stepping out in generosity – perhaps giving of our time to volunteer, or ministering to the homeless, or helping at a local club, or offering hospitality, or giving financially – is the first step of faith. We have to let the seed go.

Verse 7 says: "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

And nobody likes a grudging giver. If we have ever accepted the offer of help for a difficult task, only to suffer the helper complaining about how much time, effort or money it has cost them, then we know the feeling of reluctant giving. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Paul says God doesn't want our spare change shaken out of us like reluctant dust from a pocket. The word ‘cheerful’ implies a heart so overwhelmed by the joy of God that giving is an act of real delight, not grim duty.

So, how do we get that kind of heart? Let us look at verse 8: “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Notice the absolute scale of God’s provision. It is abundant; it is in all things; it is at all times.

God is not a tight-fisted accountant. He is the Creator who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air. When God supplies us, His goal is not to upgrade our personal comfort to luxury, but to equip us for every good work.

Think of Hanningfield Reservoir, just a few miles up the road towards Chelmsford. It doesn't hoard water for itself; it receives the rain from the skies, and from the rivers and streams that flow into it, so that it can bring life to our whole region. If the reservoir tried to lock its gates and keep every drop, it would become a stagnant swamp. But even during this summer’s drought, it kept on giving without concern for its own depleting stocks.

God pours grace into us so that grace can flow out through us. Our sufficiency is God's guarantee that we never run out of the capacity to love, to forgive, and to give.

Verse 10 says: “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”

What is the end result of all this sowing and flowing? Well, next, verse 11 tells us: “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”

Paul closes this section by pointing out a double harvest.

First, physical needs are met: the hungry are fed, the poor are supported, and the practical burdens of the community are lifted.

And second, relational and spiritual praise breaks out: people look at what has happened and they don’t just say, "Aren't the Corinthians nice?" They say, "Praise be to God."

Harvest in the UK has always been communal. Historically, villages gathered together to bring in the sheaves because no single family could do it alone. The celebration wasn't a private party either; it was a shared feast.

When a church or an individual lives out the generous life of the Gospel, it creates an outpouring of gratitude. The gift travels from our hand to someone else's need, and it returns to the throne of God as an offering of thanksgiving. Our generosity becomes the catalyst for someone else's worship.

As we celebrate Harvest today, let us look past the decorative pumpkins, the packets of rice and the tins of beans. Let us look at our own hearts and our local community.

The fields around us – whether quiet rural acres or concrete urban streets – are ripe for harvest. People are hungry for dignity, hungry for community, hungry for the Good News of a God who does not abandon His creation.

God is ready to supply the seed. The question is: will we open our hands to accept it and to share it?

Let us be people who do not sow sparingly. Let us be people who trust the Abundant Sower, who give with a joyful heart, and who live in such a way that our lives prompt a harvest of praise to our generous God. 

Sunday 20 September 2026: Haggai 2:10-19

There are three truths I want us to see from this passage: first, holiness must be distinguished from what is common; second, defilement spreads more easily than holiness; and third, God’s discipline is meant to bring His people back to blessing.

Most of us want to obey God, but none of us does that perfectly. We all know what it is to be tempted, distracted, half-hearted, or drawn away from what God wants. That was the situation in Haggai’s day. The people had eventually returned to the work of rebuilding the temple, but God wanted them to understand that restarting religious activity was not the same as returning fully to Him.

The Jews were governed by many laws and rituals. They were told how they had to dress, how they had to live, how they had to wash, how they had to store food, how they had to carry out certain rituals, etc. In fact, in the Old Testament, there are 613 different commandments (and you may have thought there were only 10)! There are 248 positive commandments – things that people were told to do, and 365 negatives commandments – things people were told not to do. Most of these were to explain what was holy and what was not holy. Holy things were objects that had been set apart from God for use in the Temple for worship and, because God is holy, only holy things could be used to come into His presence.

The big question that God asks through the prophet Haggai is this: does something that is clean (holy) make something unclean (unholy) clean? Or does something that is unclean (unholy) make something clean (holy) unclean?

Something that is clean will never make something unclean become clean. Think about if you wash your hands and then touch something dirty like a knife or fork, it won’t make that clean. In fact the reverse happens, and the dirty cutlery will make your hand dirty. If you walk into the house with dirty shoes, they will make the carpet dirty – you won’t clean dirty shoes by walking on a clean floor. Dirt, in the same way as sin, has a way of spreading. It can spread quickly and it can spread widely.

Haggai uses some illustrative examples such as consecrated meat touching other food, or someone coming into contact with a dead person.

Haggai’s point is not that the people were lazy, or that building the temple was wrong. The problem was deeper than the work itself. Their hands were busy, but their hearts were still compromised. They had assumed that doing holy work would make everything acceptable again, but God showed them that outward obedience cannot cleanse inward defilement.

God wants our whole heart, not just our outward activity. He is not satisfied with worship that looks right on the outside while our minds and hearts are far from Him. We can sing, pray, serve, give, and work hard, but if we refuse to turn from sin or come to God honestly, those actions do not cleanse us. Holiness begins with a heart that is surrendered to the Lord.

In verses 15 to 17, God moves on to remind the people what things were like before they got their act together and started to rebuild the temple. God showed them that, no matter what they did, they were never satisfied or fulfilled. There was something big missing and they were just surviving. But God wasn’t punishing them because He likes to see people suffer. God was disciplining them in order to restore them to Him. It’s a little bit like when you discipline a child. Most people don’t do this because they like to see a child suffer. in fact, disciplining a child can be hard on the parent as well as the child. But you discipline the child for a purpose, to teach them right from wrong, what is acceptable in society and what is not.

When God disciplines us, He is not trying to push us away; He is calling us back. His discipline exposes what is wrong so that He can restore what is broken. If we want to serve God rightly, we need to listen when He corrects us, learn from our mistakes, and return to Him with honest hearts.

When the people turned back to God, He promised to bless them. That blessing did not mean all their problems disappeared overnight. They still had work to do, and they still had to wait patiently for the fruit of their obedience. But from that day on, they were no longer just working with defiled hands; they were being invited back into a renewed relationship with the Lord.

When God blesses us, we do not always see this immediately. Sometimes we have to wait to see or experience Gods blessing. Next week is our harvest supper and harvest service. When we sow seeds, we know and accept that they do not instantly grow into an abundant harvest. It takes time, the right ingredients (good soil, water and sunshine) and nurturing (weeding and protecting from birds, pests or weeds). When we serve God, then, why should we immediately expect to see instant results. We were discussing a similar point in our weekly Bible study the other week – over 17 years ago someone had the great idea to host a weekly coffee morning at the church. In the first few months there was very little uptake and hardly anyone came. But we kept praying and persevering and, eventually, God’s blessing came and so did the people and the Coffee Club is still going strong to this day.

God teaches us to be patient, don’t expect instant results. Sometimes we have to work at things in order to serve God. That may be turning away from things that are wrong in our lives. We serve God because we love Him, not just to get a reward or blessing. 

Sunday 13 September 2026: Haggai 2:1-9

We are working through the book of Haggai; a really small book in the Old Testament, but a really important book, because it is packed full of strong spiritual teaching.

In our reading today, Haggai deals with a really important question, which is how to cope with discouragements, especially in mission.

It is something we all face. All of us get discouraged from time to time, and when we are discouraged in life, it can be really hard to stay focused on God. When we try new things in our mission, the truth is that some of them will work, and some of them won’t.

One very recent disappointment for us comes from our Children’s Fun Day that we planned for the school holidays. Despite some really creative ideas and very real enthusiasm from folk in our Church, we had to cancel the event due to a lack of interest. When we take risks in our mission, there will be times when we face disappointment together; times when we will be discouraged because something that we hoped would work, just didn’t catch on for one reason or another.

So how do we cope with these disappointments and discouragements when they come? Well, Haggai is dealing with that issue in the nine verses of our reading today, and let us see what he has to say.

In verses 1 to 3, we learn why the people of Israel are feeling discouraged. Quite simply, it was because they thought their efforts in rebuilding the temple were insignificant.

The dates in Haggai are really important – and this date in verse 1 is really important too. It was the 21^st day of the seventh month in 520 BC – which apparently is the equivalent of 17 October 520 BC in their calendar. This was the exact date when, 430 years earlier, King Solomon had dedicated the first temple to God. We have all heard about Solomon’s temple: its beauty, its glory, a true masterpiece of architecture that was the envy of the ancient world.

And the people of Israel would have been thinking about that first temple and looking around them as they stood there with their hammers and chisels – and they would have felt very discouraged. They would have thought that their efforts were insignificant.

Perhaps sometimes we might feel like that? We will undertake a new initiative at church, like the Children’s Fun Day, and it may seem, after a period of time, as if we are not making progress or much of a difference. We might think about the heritage of our church at Ingaway which has been here for 64 years now, and before that the Gospel Hall which was in what we now know as Wickhay. We might think about the once thriving congregations, the saintly leaders and all their successful activities, and believe we cannot possibly match-up to what has gone before.

If we – or any church today for that matter – compare ourselves with times-past, then it is quite likely to bring discouragement.

And that can be true in other areas of our lives too: in our parenting, in our marriages, in our friendships, in our work lives, we can often be found comparing ourselves to others and feeling discouraged as a result.

So, what is the remedy to feeling discouraged? Haggai addresses this in verses 4 and 5.

God says through Haggai: “But now don’t be discouraged, for I am with you. When you came out of Egypt, I promised that I would always be with you. I am still with you, so do not be afraid.”

When we feel discouraged in our lives or our mission, we need to be reminded of God’s promise to us – “I am with you”. When we are feeling discouraged in life, we need to remember that God is with us. He has promised to be with us and will never leave us, regardless of how we might feel.

God is on our side. He is with us.

And to be convinced about that, God reminds us to look back through history. The history of the people of Israel proves God’s constant love. The history of the church proves God’s constant presence.

But, just as importantly, when we look back through our own lives, we can gain a sense of God with us always – even when times have been tough, we can sense the hand of God in our lives.

Jesus’ final words to His disciples before He ascended to heaven are recorded in Matthew 28 as being this: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. That is the ultimate promise of God: His presence with us, through thick and thin, in good times and in bad.

So, if we are feeling discouraged in a particular area of our lives, we can remember God’s promise to be with us and to take comfort in that promise, just as the people of Israel were called to take comfort in that promise as they rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.

We are not insignificant. Our hard work and our waiting is not insignificant. The effort we put into making our mission effective will not be insignificant.

God is with us.

And, as we remember God’s presence with us, what is the result we can expect? Haggai outlines that for us in verses 6 to 9.

If we remember God, He will use us beyond the limits to which we believe our capabilities extend. This is what verses 6 to 9 say: “Before long I will shake heaven and earth, land and sea. I will overthrow all the nations, and their treasures will be brought here, and the Temple will be filled with wealth. All the silver and gold of the world is mine. The new Temple will be more splendid than the old one, and there I will give my people prosperity and peace. The Lord Almighty has spoken.”

If we stay focused on God and trust in His presence with us, He will shake things up in our lives. He will shake things up in this church.

God’s promise is that, if we stay focused on Him, the glory of the future temple will outstrip the glory of the old Temple. In other words, the future will be more glorious than the past.

And the future will be more glorious than the past for one simple reason: because the future will be filled with the presence of Jesus’ Spirit. Just as Jesus walked into the Temple on the first Palm Sunday, so He will be present in our lives and in the life of this Church into the future. Your life, my life, this church, is the dwelling place of the Spirit of Jesus. So how could it not be a glorious future waiting for us?

And what is so good is the final word of his promise: “I will give my people prosperity and peace”. A promise of wholeness and healing and forgiveness, as Jesus said in John 10:10, “Life in all its fullness”.

So, in conclusion then, God knows that we all face discouragements in life, and that can be especially obvious to us as we wait on God. God knows that we will face discouragements in the future as we take forward our mission.

But God says through Haggai, if we are feeling discouraged, we should reflect back on the past and remember God’s presence with us. If we are feeling discouraged, reflect on the presence of God with us in the present by His Holy Spirit. If we are feeling discouraged, trust in the fact that God has a beautiful future for us filled with His own prosperity and peace.

God is with us always by the presence of His Holy Spirit. In our discouragements in life, that is the promise and the reality we need to hold onto. 

Sunday 6 September 2026: Haggai 1:1-15

A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Today’s passage asks us to consider our ways: delayed obedience is disobedience, and material wealth without God leaves us spiritually empty. Haggai shows that the issue was not simply unfinished building work, but misplaced worship. The people had found time for their own comfort while postponing God’s call, and their comfortable lives still left them restless and unsatisfied.

Haggai was written after the people of Judah had returned from exile in Babylon, the story in which God redeemed His people from Egypt and gave them the promised land, and were saved to worship and glorify Him by living as His holy people. The temple was built in Jerusalem as a sign of God’s presence. Sadly, God’s people turned away from Him and they started worshiping idols. God brought judgement on them and they were conquered by Babylon, the temple was destroyed and they were exiled from the land.

Through all this, however, God remained faithful to His covenant with them. In time, the Babylonian empire fell and the Persian empire took its place. God raised up Cyrus, king of Persia, who permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and its temple. However, when faced with opposition the Jews stopped work and this is the time when the prophecy came to Haggai. The rebuilding of the template had still not started and it lay in ruins. The Jews were distracted by other things and other priorities. They started to become more involved and worried about their own lives than they did with things about God. God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the Jews to build His house.

What difficulties and distractions draw us away from God and His work? It is easy to become comfortable, or to get so caught up in the ‘here and now’, that we forget to involve God in our plans. We may be so busy organising our lives that we forget to ask what He wants for our lives. Our lives can become so full of “stuff” that we try to squeeze God into the gaps. Do you ever think I am too busy for God, too busy to pray, too busy to go to church, etc?

An American author Wanda E Brunstetter wrote: ‘If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be’.

This is our sign to pause, take stock, reflect and rebuild God into our lives. God wants to be part of our lives, the whole part, not just the edges. God wants us to have time to spend with Him, not always being so busy that we have to squeeze God into a tiny bit of what is left, too exhausted to spend time with Him.

God confronts our delay

God spoke through the prophet Haggai in order to encourage His people to rebuild His house. God did this by rebuking them about what they had been doing, living life for themselves rather than for God.

The people had been taking way too long to start rebuilding the temple and God wanted them to get on with the job. It had been prophesised by Jeremiah that Judah’s exile would last 70 years from the fall until the temple was rebuilt. We know from the opening chapter that sixty-six years had already gone by, meaning that there were only four years left and yet the people had not started.

God is persevering with His people because the temple matters. It matters because it represented the place where God could dwell with His people. In rebuilding the temple, it would show God the devotion of His people and their continued faith in Him. It was the place where His people could draw near to Him.

Unfortunately, God’s people had lost sight of the significance of the temple and were simply dragging their heels and doing their own thing rather than the thing God wanted them to do. God refers to them as ‘these people’ in verse 2 rather than ‘my people’. God is basically stating that if they were truly ‘His’ people then they would want to get on with the job and finish rebuilding the temple rather than spending time on other things.

Do we ever see that today? Children often find many other things to do rather than their homework. Adults will often start a task to then get sidetracked on something else because they want to put off the thing they are supposed to be doing. What excuses do we make for putting off what God wants us to do? It’s not the right time? I don’t have the skills? I’m too busy doing other things? I need to wait until I have more time? Etc, etc. We keep waiting for the right time to put God first, but the truth is, that time is now, today, this moment.

We learn in Haggai chapter 1 that God does not give up on His people. He loves them despite all their faults and indifference to Him. He confronts them directly and speaks to their heart, so they won’t ignore Him.

When God speaks to us, we can have two responses. We can harden our heart, ignore God, go the other way, block Him out, or we can accept what He is telling us.

Verse 7 says, ‘Give careful through to your ways’. This was as relevant to the Jews back then as it is to us today. It calls us to think about how we are living, what we are doing, how we are spending our time, our attitude to God, how much time we devote to God. It encourages us to reflect. Busyness is not always wrong, but it can reveal what we value most. If we are too busy for prayer, worship, service, or love for others, then is our time being used wisely? The issue is not simply a lack of time, but a lack of desire to give God the place He deserves. We give our energy to what we value, so what does our use of time say about the value we place on our relationship with God?

God exposes our emptiness

Haggai calls us to consider our ways. In our passage, Haggai wrote that the people had ‘planted much, and harvested little, never have enough to eat and drink, cannot get warm despite putting on clothes and had wealth slip through holes in their bags’. The point here is that these physical things will never be enough as we will always need more, and we are left being spiritually empty. Material possessions do not satisfy our heart, but when we put God at the centre and trust him, this fills us and provides us with what we need.

God comforts us with His presence

When people obey God in Haggai 1:12, their obedience shows that delayed obedience must come to an end. They do not merely feel sorry for what they have done wrong, they take action. It can sometimes be hard to admit we are wrong to start with, but even more so to start being obedient when previously we had been disobedient.

We are told in verse 12 that the people feared the Lord, but I am not sure this is the reason why they turned from delay to obedience.

Haggai brings his message with one of comfort. Yes, the people feared the LORD, but Haggai tells them God’s word in verse 13: “I am with you.” God’s presence is not an excuse to delay; it is the strength that enables obedience. God comforts His people not by ignoring their disobedience, but by bringing them back to Himself.

The people had tried to find security in their own homes, plans, and possessions, but those things could not satisfy them. What their panelled houses could not give them, God now gives: His presence. When God is with His people, they have the courage to obey, the grace to begin again, and the only comfort that can fill the emptiness left by life without Him.

Even our repentance, faith, and obedience are gifts from the gracious God. Look at Haggai 1:14. It is the LORD who stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people. Having considered their ways, they no longer postponed obedience. God stirred them, and they came and worked on the house of the LORD.

Haggai 1:15 tells us they began on the twenty-fourth day of the month, only twenty-three days after God first spoke through Haggai. Their delay came to an end because God’s Word had awakened them. They did not merely agree with the message; they obeyed it. This is what true repentance looks like: not just feeling sorry, but turning back to God and acting on His Word. Delayed obedience is disobedience, but God’s grace can move reluctant hearts to become obedient to Him.