King's Church Hastings

Abraham Lincoln carried eight newspaper clippings in his wallet - eight articles that were positive about his leadership. Hebrews was written to a group of people who needed a wallet-full of encouragement. There are five things in this passage that are encouragement for us to put into our 'wallets'.

James gives a lot of attention to the evidence of faith. We are saved by faith alone, but faith alone is not real faith. Real faith works out in actions: it will have an impact on your life. One of the fruits that comes from real faith is perseverance. Real faith may not always be tidy, but it always goes back to God because it knows where to find the words of life. Prayer is another fruit of real faith. And real faith is also preserved – your conduct doesn’t determine the relationship; the work of God does. It’s not about your performance it’s about your heart.

Isaiah 56-66 bring together the themes of the first two sections of Isaiah. They teach us how to live God's way in the light of God's coming salvation. Please note that the final session on Thursday 20th July has been cancelled.

In the next of our Vision & Values session, Aled Cousins shares about the importance of worship.

James is nearing the end of his letter, but he’s not done challenging us yet. In two ‘Listen up!’ sections, two of the most punchy paragraphs in the letter, he challenges us about our heart attitude in planning for the future and about how we handle our material wealth.

Session 3 focuses on the second main section of Isaiah 40-55. Through exploring the Servant Songs we trace out the message of these chapters as they explain how God is going to solve the problems laid out in Isaiah 1-39.

Our attitudes on refugees and migrants in general can be shaped so easily by what we hear from politicians, journalists and social media, but what is God's view? What does He have to say about foreigners moving from one land to another, and how we should treat them?

James desire is to root out the issue of arguments among the Christians he’s writing to, with the aim them developing as disciples. He does this by asking a question (verse 1), answering it (verse 1-2), explaining the effects of the situation (2-4), showing a way forward (verse 6-12). Arguments happen from their own individual desires that battle within, which in tern affect their prayer life and relationship with God and others. But James tells us there is more grace for us, that we should repent (change) and we should obey the word (choice).

In session 2, we explore the first major section of Isaiah, chapters 1-39, which is focused around the theme of trust in God. We look at the overall shape and message of the chapters and their teaching about the Messiah.

Great to have Santino Hamberis back as a guest speaker on the subject of knowing God and knowing His power!

In this session, we ask some key questions about Old Testament prophecy and prophets, as well ask looking at how we can learn to interpret them well. The session ends by introducing the book of Isaiah.

Steve Young talks about the church: how does the Bible describe the church and how do we seek to live this out?

James reminds us that though the tongue is only a small part of our body, it has incredible power and can do great harm. Taming the tongue is impossible for us as humans, but nothing is impossible for God. If we want to learn to control our speech, we need God to work in our hearts.

Aled spoke on James 2:14-26

In Psalm 7:1-2 David doesn't have the same confidence in God that James has. In trials, do we reflect Psalm 7 - the desperate cry - or the confidence of James 1.

Partiality (favouritism) and judgements (passing judgment on someone) are two sides of the same coin and both sins exist within the church, within our hearts. Although to many they may not be seen as bad as adultery or murder, James is keen to deal with this issue early in his letter. He uses the example of partiality shown to the rich over the poor within a church gathering and how offensive this is to God. But it isn't only limited to this example and we find it in many areas of our lives... either judgements or partiality.

James tells us that God wants us to be religious; he doesn’t want us to be legalistic or hypocritical, but he wants our relationship with him to be evident in the way we live; we are to be doers and not only hearers. Having explained this, James gives us three examples of the religion that God accepts.

Paul Mann talks about one of the three things we want to focus on doing : care for the poor.

James is a very provoking and stirring book. His style is punchy and it can take time to let his words settle and fully appreciate the implication of what he is saying. His opening words are no exception, he starts with an outrageous statement, 'count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds!' James says that these trials can become stepping-stones to maturity, if we respond in the right way. He then unpacks his logic, shares a practical example and highlights some dangers that we can fall into.

James is a very provoking and stirring book. His style is punchy and it can take time to let his words settle and fully appreciate the implication of what he is saying. His opening words are no exception, he starts with an outrageous statement, 'count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds!' James says that these trials can become stepping-stones to maturity, if we respond in the right way. He then unpacks his logic, shares a practical example and highlights some dangers that we can fall into.