King's Church Hastings

The Psalms are beautiful examples of how ordinary people interact with God. In Psalm 139 we learn about the God who knows us, pursues us, is with us, created us, and gives us His heart.

God is a great encourager (see Romans 15:5, 2 Thess. 2:16, etc). He has called His children to encourage one another and everyone we encounter. To encourage is to build up, to fortify, to spur forward. We are to encourage when someone has blessed us, when people are succeeding (which actually just means stepping out, whether or not it went well), when people are failing, and in all of life, to people who aren't in the Church. Encouragement is powerful: it instils courage and helps us to see things how God sees them.

Psalm 107 describes four groups of people in dire need, some through their own making, others through no fault of their own. How does God respond to them? And what does that mean for how we should treat people in need?

In Psalm 19, David tells us how we get to know God. He reminds us that all of creation proclaims the glory of God, so we can know Him through all that He has made. We also get to know God through His Word, which is trustworthy, perfect, pure, true and dependable. As we read the Bible, God works in us and it does us good: it revives the soul; it makes wise the simple; it rejoices the heart; and it enlightens the eyes. Another way we get to know God is through Jesus, who is the exact representation of the Father, and who came to Earth to show us exactly what God is like.

David is described as a man after God's heart, who served the purposes of God in his generation. How did he do that? Psalm 27 shows us the journey David went on. He knew exactly where to turn, and made His home in God's presence.

In this final session we address one important motif found in each of the four Gospels, tackle two difficult passages and seek to give a conclusion to the question we posed at the very beginning, 'Why are there four Gospels rather than just one?'

We cannot flee from God - He is everywhere. There's no physical space where He is not. God is always present with us and wanting to speak to us. But are we listening?

We cannot flee from God - He is everywhere. There's no physical space where He is not. God is always present with us and wanting to speak to us. But are we listening?

After some exciting announcements about changes to the church leadership team, Paul spoke on seven things we can learn from Joshua 5.

In session 6 we look at John's Gospel. When compared with the Synoptics, John seems quite distinctive. We explore some of these distinctives and the rich theology of John's Gospel.

Baptism symbolises that, for the Christian, everything has changed...

Session 5 looks at Luke's Gospel. We see how Luke has written his account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection to present Jesus as the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost and how he uses the life of Jesus to teach us about how to live as a Christian.

God "dwells in unapproachable light" and "in him is no darkness at all". That is why holiness and purity is important. We are called to a wonderful relationship with Jesus, which means we take off the things of darkness and are clothed in light. It effects every area of our lives. When we want to see how we're doing in terms of holiness, we like to look at people around us and feel like we're doing ok, rather than looking at God, who is perfect in holiness. The closer we walk with Jesus, the more aware we become of how much we need a saviour. But Jesus' blood cleanses us from all of our sin; the mercy of God gives us the wonderful gift of Jesus' righteousness. When we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us because we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, who is our guarantee of salvation!

The greatest privilege we have as Christians is that we have been adopted into God's family. We too can offer adoption and fostering to the many children who need homes in the UK today.

In session 4 we explore Matthew's Gospel. Through looking at four key elements of the Gospel (the infancy narratives, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables and the resurrection account) we see how Matthew has presented Jesus as the obedient Son of God who comes to continue and complete the story of Israel.

If you have given your life to Christ, you have been made brand new! You've been reconciled to God, who has given you a message to carry as an ambassador for Christ.

Session 3 focuses on Mark's Gospel. By walking through the Gospel we explore the journey that Mark wants his readers to go on. This journey reveals the true meaning of Jesus' identity as the Son of God and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

Through the story of Ruth and her kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, we learn much about the extraordinary redemption Jesus has given us.

In session 2 we explore some of the contexts which are vital to a good understanding of the Gospels. We start with the scriptural context, asking what has come before the Gospels in the Bible story, before considering the religious context of Jesus' day. Placing Jesus and the Gospels' accounts of him in these contexts helps us to appreciate more of what they are saying about who he is, why he came and what he achieved.

In the gospels we read that Jesus marvelled at the centurion's faith (Matt. 8), but he also marvelled at the unbelief in his hometown (Mark 6). Three things that attack our faith are disappointment, fear and offence. But we can grow our faith by knowing who God is, who we are, and what we carry.