Toddlers will start back on Monday 10th September our first theme is Yellow so if you want to wear something yellow you can! We will also be doing some leaf rubbings!

The Spirit’s presence when we preach is more than an attractive option.

Moreover, the Spirit is not the sole property of preaching’s often fanatical fringe.

Instead, He—the Spirit is a Person, not an It—is an imperative part of any sermon worthy of the name.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified” (Isa. 61:1-3).

There, in one paragraph, is Isaiah’s justification for being a preacher.

(Extract: Leslie Holmes Sermon Central)

Polycarp, bishop of the church of in Smyrna.

His martyrdom stands as one of the most well documented events of antiquity.

Polycarp’s martyrdom is [a] historical reality. He died for one reason—his unyielding faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Yet Polycarp’s well-recorded death is only one of many lives that were given to reveal and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.

In light of the cruel and torturous deaths of the first and second generation Christians, all theories that Christianity is a fabricated myth, created for the personal gain of its followers, must be rejected.

Even today, many will die for a belief, but none will die for a lie. God allows the deaths of His saints not because He is a helpless or indifferent Lord, but because their deaths are powerful declarations of the free gift of life that is offered to us through the Person of Jesus Christ.

If you have any doubts about the truth of Christ as revealed in the Bible, reexamine the biblical text in light of the wilful deaths of nearly all of its writers, men who were eyewitnesses to Christ’s life and ministry.

Polycarp, like many other Christians to this day, was only able to die for Christ because he lived for Christ. His life was radically transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit—the desires, worries, pains and fears of this world no longer bound him. Polycarp’s life and death provides an inspirational example for all Christians.

He gave his earthly life for Christ, and in the midst of his sacrifice, he gained eternal life.

(Theopedia.com)