The task of prayer is to bring everything we are and feel before God. Raw emotions are the language of prayer. Psalm 6 is not pretty, but it is real and that is what God delights in. The psalmist asks God why? What will happen to me? When will I be rescued? But he comes to rejoice in a prayer-answering God. A casual faith cannot sustain us in difficult times. Real faith is sustained and grown through prayer.

We are called to demonstrate God’s love through practical action. God has a mission to find lost and hurting people and He invites us to participate in that mission. An important, yet sometimes unrecognised, aspect of evangelism is caring for others. How can we care for others? (a) Be on the look out for needs we can fill; (b) Ask about their story and listen; (c) Share your humanity; (d) Listen and co-operate with the Holy Spirit; (d) “Love them until they ask you, “Why?”

When it comes to evangelism, many Christians feel apprehensive and under confident. Simply put, evangelism is cooperating with the Holy Spirit and others to bring one person one step closer to Christ. This means that there is no set style or methodology. The New Testament presents many different ways the gospel was shared on different occasions by different people. Evangelism is also a process that involves others. It's about developing relationships within community. Often we are just one link in the chain that brings someone to know Jesus, and God is responsible for the results anyway! Sometimes we wrongly associate evangelism with preaching and crusades, but Jesus frequently dealt with people individually. Bringing a person one step closer to Christ involves us taking steps too. What's your one step? Note: The video referred to at the beginning of the sermon is called 'The Pizza Evangelist'. The original audio recording of this video has been replaced with silence (from 0:00:24 to 0:00:30) to allow listeners to pause and watch the video.

Parenthood is difficult due to the lack of tangible rewards, the relentlessness of the task and the fact that results aren’t assured. Motherhood is a channel of love and caring that reminds us of God. It attempts to install Godly character and values, and it involves constant prayer and sacrifice. Are we living out such an example? Our response should be to honour our mothers. The greatest gift you can give a Christian mother is to give your life to Jesus.

The resurrection is central to Christianity. Its significance is that we can put our trust in Jesus, we can have a fresh start and we can have the power to live life right. If God's Spirit can defeat death, there is no sin, habit or attitude that we face that He cannot defeat. We can choose to give up or look ahead in faith to what He can do. The fact that Jesus rose, gives us hope that new life is possible for us too. God is inviting us constantly to a better way of life where we're growing in obedience to Him, overflowing with love, joy and generosity to others and where our lives have a larger purpose and we're in touch with that, so we can have hope for the future. And we have a future that extends beyond death...