King's Church Edinburgh

Three Ways to Start the New Year Well -

As we looked ahead to a new year, three preachers spoke on different ways we can start out well.

God is Always Enough and You must Trust Him -

2 King 13: 10–20: Knowing and trusting God is the most satisfying thing a human soul can experience.

The Completer–Finisher -

2 Kings 9: The judgement of God gives us great hope for a future free from injustice, cruelty, and oppression.

Seeing the Unseen -

God isn’t just a God who sees everything; He opens our eyes so that we might see things as they truly are.

It’s Time For An Adventure -

Going on an adventure with God is not about our personality type but about the access we have to God and our intimacy with Him.

Four Different Reactions -

2 Kings 5: Matthew looks at four characters in this story and how they responded very differently to the situations they found themselves in.

God Saves -

2 Kings 4: 38–44: God sometimes use the most unusual-seeming stories to tell us the most important thing we can ever know: that He is a God who saves.

Making Room For God -

2 Kings 4: 8–37: God calls us to radically alter our lives to make room for Him. By giving everything to God and trusting Him completely, we leave space for Him to do amazing things.

God Is Your Provider -

2 Kings 4: 1–7: God will always provide for you when you entrust yourself to Him. The story of a widow in serious debt demonstrates this amazing truth that God can always be trusted.

God’s Power for the Impossible -

Living the Christian life is impossible without the power of God, but God is willing and able to give us exactly what we need: His Holy Spirit.

Why I Believe In Jesus -

On our Alpha Launch Sunday, Will Tant shared his story and explained his confidence in Christianity.

God Calls -

1 Kings 19: 19–21: Elisha’s immediate response to God’s call is a great example to us of how to respond in a life-changing moment. The cost was high but God demands nothing less than wholehearted followers.

A Day of Good News -

2 Kings 6:24–7:20: This story teaches us that God delivers His people from the darkest of situations and He uses the least likely people to share His story.

A Living Hope Through Leadership -

Godly leadership is a gift from Jesus, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep, who cares for us through leadership, and who will bring us to be with Him forever.

A Living Hope Gives Confidence -

In 1 Peter 5: 5–11, Peter tells us to humble ourselves, resist the devil and allow God to establish us in His grace.

A Living Hope Whilst Suffering -

The themes in 1 Peter 4: 12–19 are centred on the fact that many believers were shocked at the kickback they were receiving from unbelievers following their conversion. Peter makes it clear that God uses these tribulations to His advantage in helping to purify their faith, and fashion them to be more Christ-like.

Explaining Our Hope -

Christians are told by Peter to always have a ready answer for the hope they have in Christ. But what does that look like and how do we express it in modern society? Ultimately, Peter sees the hope we have as outshining any fear or power in this world.

A Living Hope for Marriage -

Peter shows that Christian marriage is a beautiful relationship between a man and woman who love each other and put their hope in God. The mutual respect assumed here was unprecedented in the ancient world and shows how the gospel gives value to all of us.

A Living Hope at Work -

Peter encourages us to respect and honour our earthly bosses even when they mistreat us (1 Peter 2: 18–25). We should imitate Christ’s example by bearing up and not letting sin gain a foothold in our lives.

A Living Hope in Public -

God calls us to live out our lives like Jesus, who perfectly demonstrated our need to live as sojourners and subjects. As we do this, God uses us, and draws people to put their trust in Him.

Jesus our Rock of Hope -

We’re living in times that can feel uncertain, unpredictable and unstable. As Christians, even if the world is falling apart around us we’re to be those who are characterised by hope.

A Living Hope means Non-Conformity -

Verse 13 of 1 Peter 1 starts with the word therefore. Peter instructs us that our behavior and conduct needs to be fashioned by Christ and his values, rather than this present world; but to do this we need to be very aware of the truths he has outlined in the preceding verses.

A Living Hope -

In 1 Peter 1: 1–12, Peter begins his letter by describing the hope that all Christians have, in a jumble of phrases which reference eternity past, the Old Testament, the life of Jesus, and the future. It’s a big picture that’s meant to stir our praise to God and our gratitude to Jesus for doing all this for us.

Isaiah 6: A Hope and a Calling -

The Gift of Prophecy Today -

The Bible tells all of us to expect God to speak today through prophecy, and shows us what this looked like in the life of the apostle Paul and the first Christians.

Isaiah 42: What does a prophet look like? -

What does a prophet look like and what do they do? Isaiah 42 shows us that they are both radically loving and radically truthful. This is an unusual combination but Jesus lived this way and enables us to do so too.

Lamentations: The least-read book of the Bible? -

Lamentations is perhaps the least read book of the Bible. It was written at the time of the exile of Judah. The author, probably the prophet Jeremiah, personifies the nation of Judah as a grieving woman throughout the book.

Jonah: Shaped By Mercy -

The book of Jonah is prophetic not because of the words Jonah speaks (only one sentence of his is recorded), but because his story speaks prophetically to us as the church today that we are to be people shaped by God’s mercy. If God can work with people like Jonah and use them, he can certainly use you and me.

4. Overcoming Intimidation -

We closed our fantastic Together for Scotland conference weekend in 2016 with this message from Dave Holden on the Sunday morning.

1. Churches That Impact Their Communities -

2. A Vision For Church Planting and How It Might Work! -

3. Gospel-Centred Discipleship -

Hosea: Lessons in Faithfulness -

The book of Hosea, although it tells the strange story of a man marrying an adulterous woman, is ultimately about God’s love for his people. Today, it calls us to respond wholeheartedly to God.

Total Provision -

What happens when we give to God’s Kingdom? Paul finished his letter to the Philippians with a description of six things that God does when we give. Comprehending all of these helps us to give with faith and joy.

Total Contentment -

Christians can be content whatever the circumstances, according to Paul. We can see how this is possible and what it looks like in Philippians 4:10–14.

Total Joy -

Being joyful isn’t an option for Christians – it is commanded! But more than just commanding this, God enables us to be joyful by sharing Himself with us. Luke explores how we can rejoice in the Lord always.

Safe Families For Children Launch -

Jen Rawson shared about the opportunity for us as a church to partner with Safe Families for Children, helping share God’s love with vulnerable families in our community. Dan briefly explained how the Bible teaches how we’re to respond to the many needs in our world we come across as Christians.

Total Imitation -

Christians are not meant to be original. In Philippians 3: 17–21, Paul encourages his readers to imitate people who are following Jesus. This is different to how most of us think but it is part of God’s great plan to make us like Jesus.

Total Righteousness -

Everything that Paul once considered to be in his ‘credit’ column, he now counted as loss compared to his righteousness in Christ. Through this passage in Philippians 3, Dan Hudson shows us that a relationship with God is our greatest possession, our greatest experience, and our greatest purpose.

Easter Day 2016 -

Through looking at the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Matt Clifton-Brown invites us to encounter the risen Jesus.

Total Confidence -

Everyone puts their confidence in something. Paul says that anything other than Jesus, however good it may be, is total rubbish in comparison to Him, so we must make sure that we put our trust in Him only.

Stories of Hope -

Following another morning of hearing about the hope that Jesus offers, Andy Wall concludes by looking at the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4.

Stories of Hope -

Following another morning of hearing about the hope that Jesus offers, Andy Wall concludes by looking at the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4.

Mothers’ Day -

This Mothers’ Day, Ann Clifton-Brown looked at three different mothers in the Bible, and what we can learn from their stories.

The Strength of the Lord -

At our Women’s Breakfast, Susanne McLeister of Hope Church Borders spoke about the strength and courage of the Lord, from Habakkuk 3: 19 and the story of Gideon.

Total Trust -

We live in a world devoid of trust. Our lives our built around routines of distrust, from locking our doors to carrying ID cards. Worldly thinking at it’s extremes might say “trust no-one”, because no-one is trustworthy. But God’s intention is for us to completely trust in Jesus (the only fully trustworthy person to have ever lived) and also to grow in relationships of trust within marriage, friendship and church community.

Total Obedience -

Philippians 2 shows us what Christ’s obedience looks like: total obedience means not just doing what God says, but delighting in doing it. How can we do this? Note: The first 10 minutes of this message is missing; we apologise for any confusion this causes.

Total Victory -

Paul takes us on Jesus’ journey from heaven to earth and back again, showing His eternal divinity and incredible humility and looking forward to the glorious certain hope to come. God’s victory is total and we can share in it, even in our daily lives.

Total Humility -

At the centre of the Christian faith is a saviour who took on the confines of humanity, served them and died on their behalf. Christians joyfully follow Jesus in his attitude towards others.

Vision Preach 2016 -

God is calling us to glorify him in our city, and reflect the multifaceted nature of God to our city. In this message Matt outlines God’s vision for us in our city, and challenges us to mix it with faith as we move into the year ahead.