Episode 01 | Matt 5:1-12 | Dave Miles | 26/04/2026

Dave begins a new series on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), beginning with the Beatitudes and focusing on Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

Dave presents righteousness as a new way of living—obedience from the heart that seeks God’s kingdom and will “to the max.”

This talk explores why believers would crave God’s will, arguing from Ephesians 1 that God’s will and pleasure are one and the same, reflecting the Old Testament concept of God’s “ratzon” (favour/pleasure/will), illustrated in Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah 61 as the Messiah’s announcement of the “year of the Lord’s favour.”

Dave challenges fear-based views of God, frames obedience as entering God’s delight, and addresses spiritual apathy by showing how Jesus awakens desire, using John 4 to reveal misplaced pursuits that don’t satisfy and invite people to living water and true fulfilment.

Episode 07 | 2 Peter 3 | David Miles | 19/04/2026

Dave reflects on 2 Peter 3, explaining that the “day of the Lord” answers scoffers by affirming Jesus’ future return and judgment, delayed not by unfaithfulness but by God’s patience so more may repent during an ongoing global missionary period.

He argues verse 10 is best translated “the earth and the works in it will be found/exposed,” not “burned up,” based on older Greek manuscripts, reshaping the view that creation will be discarded. “Destroyed” is explained as dissolved and radically transformed, like the world after Noah’s flood, with God pictured as a refiner whose purifying fire yields a new heavens and new earth—this world renewed, not replaced. Implications include the lasting significance of good works, God’s loving judgment that purges evil, and readiness for Christ’s sudden return amid continued gospel expansion worldwide.

Episode 04 | 1 Thess 5 | Tim Small | 12/4/2026

Tim closes our series on 1 Thessalonians by comparing preparing for “the day of the Lord” to preparing for his wedding, arguing that believers should order their whole lives toward readiness.

He explains the Old Testament background of the phrase, noting Israel’s mistaken expectation of automatic blessing and Amos’s warning that religious activity without acceptable preparation leads to judgment, though with a promise of restoration.

From 1 Thessalonians 5, he outlines practical preparation in relationships: honour and submit to church leaders (noting the recent appointment of new elders), live in peace, correct the idle, encourage the disheartened, help the weak with patience, and do not repay wrong for wrong, especially amid persecution. He adds spiritual practices—rejoice, pray, give thanks, test teaching, and abstain from evil—then reassures that God faithfully sanctifies and keeps believers blameless through Jesus’ death and resurrection.