Lewis Varley delves into the final chapter of Ecclesiastes, bringing to light its core message about life’s ephemeral nature. With references to "Hebel" (or "vapour" in Hebrew), Lewis explores the contrasting themes of futility and hope, asserting that while life’s meaning may appear fleeting, there is a larger divine plan. Through the wisdom of Ec…

Geoff Smith dives into Ecclesiastes 9, reflecting on themes of life, death, and meaning. Geoff discusses the inevitability of death, regardless of one's moral standing, and emphasizes the transient nature of worldly pursuits and pleasures. Drawing from Solomon's reflections, he urges us to find joy in life’s simple blessings, like companionship and…

Sam Crosbie delivers an insightful sermon based on Ecclesiastes 8, delving into the complexities of wisdom, justice, and life’s limitations under the sun. Sam explores the preacher's message on the futility of searching for meaning solely in earthly pursuits, encouraging us to align our purpose with God’s intent. He reflects on how wisdom, while va…

Billy Hanna delves into Ecclesiastes 6-7, exploring the contrast between a godless and a God-centered life. Billy emphasizes that life without God is ultimately meaningless, while a life with God at its core is fulfilling and purposeful. Ecclesiastes offers wisdom on the futility of pursuing material wealth or even personal righteousness without Go…

Bradley Joubert guides us through the profound themes of the book of Ecclesiastes. Bradley opens with reflections on the nature of life, emphasizing how everything under the sun is ultimately vanity—fleeting and without true meaning. However, he contrasts this with the call to fear God and keep His commandments, where true purpose is found. Through…

Tom McIvor reflects on the wisdom found in Ecclesiastes chapters 3 and 4 Tom explores the themes of life's seasons and cycles — from joy to sorrow, creation to destruction, and friendship to loneliness. Through a biblical lens, he emphasizes the importance of recognizing God's presence in every season, urging us to make God central in our lives. By…

Billy Hanna looks at Ecclesiastes 2, exploring the theme of life’s pursuits and the ultimate meaninglessness of seeking satisfaction through worldly pleasures, wisdom, and toil. Billy discusses "the preacher’s" investigation into pleasures like wealth, status, and indulgence, showing how all these pursuits end in vanity. However, the message shifts…

Dan Pettersen embarks on a journey through the book of Ecclesiastes, exploring its themes of life's meaning and purpose. Dan introduces the background of Ecclesiastes, commonly attributed to King Solomon, who, despite immense wisdom and wealth, grapples with the concept of life's futility "under the sun." He emphasizes that life can feel meaningles…

Billy Hanna wraps up our sermon series on the Book of Ruth, focusing on chapter 4, verses 13-22. Billy highlights the profound themes of redemption, God's providence, and how He works through even the most challenging circumstances. He explores the "double ending" of the book, where the immediate redemption of Naomi is followed by the broader signi…

Peter Sun dives into the story of Ruth 4:1-12, exploring themes of redemption, restoration, and divine sovereignty. Peter unpacks the clever plans of Naomi and Boaz, leading to Ruth's redemption through a carefully orchestrated series of events. We see how Boaz, a symbol of Christ, redeems both the land and Ruth, restoring hope for Naomi and her fa…

Jeff Samuel explores the relationship dynamics between Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, focusing on Naomi’s plan to secure a future for Ruth. Jeff discusses the cultural context of ancient Israel, explaining the significance of "rest," the concept of redemption, and how Naomi’s clever plan leads Ruth to approach Boaz as a potential redeemer. He brings out th…

Gavin Lynch continues the church's series on the Book of Ruth, focusing on Ruth 2:15-23. Gavin shares a personal story about attending a friend's father's funeral, highlighting the impact of genuine kindness and grace. He then delves into the passage, exploring the profound kindness Boaz shows to Ruth and how Ruth reciprocates by caring for Naomi. …

We take a break from our series in Ruth to celebrate a second lot of baptisms at HBC in a little over a month. Dan Pettersen explores the significance and meaning behind the Christian practice of baptism. Celebrating the baptism of Emma and Adam, Dan discusses the historical and biblical foundations of baptism, tracing its roots back to ancient Jew…

Mark Linton explores the profound narrative of Ruth and Naomi's return to Bethlehem. As they navigate life as widows, we witness Ruth's loyalty and obedience in her determination to support Naomi. Mark discusses the pivotal moment when Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi's late husband, and finds unexpected favour. Through this be…

Dan Pettersen delves into the first chapter of the Book of Ruth, exploring themes of faith, loyalty, and divine providence. Dan introduces our new series by setting the historical context of Ruth during the chaotic period of the Judges, a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. He draws parallels to modern life, urging us to priori…

Tom Leslie delves into the final section of the book of James, focusing on the profound power of prayer in various life circumstances. Our discussion is anchored in James 5:13-20, where we explore the transformative impact of prayer in times of suffering, cheerfulness, and sickness. Listen as Tom reads and unpacks James 5:13-20, a powerful passage …

Chris Ayers from Pioneers Aotearoa joins us this week to share about the work being done worldwide, and also talk about our commission. Chris starts us with an overview of who Pioneers NZ are and their work, while also giving us a small update on the Pothula Family in Australia and their move currently in progress. Chris then moves his attention to…

While Professor Darrell Bock is in the country for Winter Bible School in Te Puke, we grasped the opportunity to have him pop over to Hamilton for the day to speak at HBC. Prof. Darrell starts us off by discussing how Americans view sports vs the Commonwealth before tying these concepts into his topic for today, discussing what has happened to the …

Jeff Samuel brings us our message this week looking at "How To Develop Patience" from James 5:7-12. Jeff dives straight into a review of what Kotie spoke on last week to see how that ties into today's passage before looking at our passage for today in detail. He takes a look at how to hurt someone with grumbling, the opposite of what we should be d…

Kotie Smith discusses "How To Be Wise With Your Wealth" from James 5:1-6. Kotie opens with a reading of our passage for today, before breaking it down, starting with discussing who this was written to. Kotie then moves verse by verse, looking at how they can be applied to us today, especially focusing on how we view money vs God. He breaks them int…

Dan Pettersen discusses facing our future this week, taken from James 4:13-17. Peter Sun opens up our service today with a Pastoral Prayer over our children before Dan Pettersen jumps in to discuss "the future". Dan looks over three key mistakes that are commonly made about the future as outlined by James, and the warning that he gives. Recorded at…

Sam Crosbie brings us a shorter message this morning, focusing on just two verses from James 4. While our passage is short, Sam jumps right in and reads the two verses that he's covering. He then talks to us with a warning about looking at things on the surface, rather than being able to see the deeper level and root cause of what may be going on. …

Peter Sun follows up the message from Tim Norris last week, looking at "Friendship with the World" from James 4. Peter gets right into it and reads our passage for today before looking at how it builds on what was spoken about last week. He then breaks the passage into four sections - The Context; Our Actions; Consequences; and Solutions. Recorded …

Tim Norris discusses "Earthly Wisdom" and "Heavenly Wisdom" and what that means from the end of James 3. We jump into Tim giving us a quick overview of what has been covered in the last couple of chapters before he starts going through the passage for today. Tim looks at how we define wisdom based on people around us and their "status", and how the…

Gavin Lynch looks at how to manage our mouth as James discusses in Chapter 3. Andrew Linton starts us off with a pastoral prayer before handing over to Gavin who gives us a brief intro before asking Jonathan Linton to read the passage for today. Gavin then looks at the clarity that James hopes to give here, with the theme "Our words have the power …

While we take a break from our current series, Lewis Varley challenges us to summarise what the Bible is all about in 12 words or less. Lewis dives straight in with the question for this week, breaking for a couple of minutes to allow those present to discuss their answers. He then turns to Luke 24 to see how Jesus answers the question. After readi…

Kanda Sami brings us a special Easter Sunday message this morning. Kanda starts with a couple of anecdotes about preaching and the journey he's been on to speak this morning, before turning to Romans 5 and looking at the paradise that Adam lost being re-gained through Christ. He then looks at 1 Corinthians 15 and the Ressurection story presented he…

Peter Sun brings us into chapter 2 of James in our new series, looking at the pitfalls of partiality, Peter takes us for a quick overview of our study, reminding us of the overall theme of James being "maturity in Christ". He then tells a story of a conservative church in America, and how it relates to our passage for today regarding partiality. Pe…

Andrew Linton wraps up James 1 in our new series this week. Andrew begins with a brief overview of what we know about James, before getting James Broadbridge up to read our passage for this morning. After the reading, he follows up with a survey on how many people skipped lunch that morning, before swinging to look at the concept of "no Bible, no b…

Dan Pettersen brings us verses 12-18 from James 1 this week in our new series. Dan does a quick review of prior weeks before starting with a story of his time in Korea and the test for the English language school, which leads to the discussion of the homonym "peirasmos" which James uses in this part of the passage. He then looks at the homonym and …

Kristopher Stout joins us from Word of Life (Executive Vice President of International and Youth Ministries) and shares about righteousness as discussed in Ephesians 6:14. Kris takes us through why this topic has been on his heart before reading through the text on the Armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-17. He then looks at the importance of the Armou…

Billy Hanna continues our study in James this week, while also taking a chance to chat about baptism. Billy jumps right into it, reviewing the passage from last week for context before looking at verses 5-11. He then looks at his statement "In order to face our trials with a Godly perspective, we need God’s wisdom", looking at three points that thi…

Sam Crosbie jumps right into the book of James in our new series, looking at the first four verses this week. Sam looks at the passage right away, starting in verse 1 of James chapter 1, to introduce us to our audience. He then looks at the analogy of running for the sake of running, or for doing something for an "end goal" but no other purpose, be…

Dan Pettersen kicks off our new series "Putting Our Faith Into Practice" with an overview of the book of James. Dan starts by looking back at our series from last year and what we covered, which leads into the series we're going into looking at how we take what we learnt last year and make it practical. Dan then looks at who James was, and where he…

Gavin Lynch wraps up our book overview of Nehemiah, and our "Who Are We?" series as a whole this week, looking at Nehemiah 13. Gavin gives us an overview of our study this year leading to the question "What do we need to do now?" Gavin then looks at an illustration of how we can tend to "play up when the Master isn't home". Titling his message "Avo…

Bradley Joubert continues our study in Nehemiah, looking at chapters 8 to 12. Bradley gives us a very brief introduction of himself before diving straight into our text for today after opening with prayer. After reading from the passage, Bradley looks at our first point, "Confession". With four points, he looks at how "the confessions of the Israel…

Jeremy Lind continues our study in Nehemiah, looking at a detailed overview of chapters 4 to 7. Jeremy gives us a quick bio for himself before diving into "story" to give us some context to look at our passage in, looking at what story we tell ourselves that motivates our daily behaviour, and how this "story" drove Nehemiah. He then looks at the co…

Dan starts us off by taking a look at the series "Who Are We?" that we've been going through as a church over the year, giving an overview of the topics and books we've been focusing on. He then takes us back to look at the first Church in Acts and how they developed. Dan then looks at the four things that we want to become characterised by as a ch…

Caleb Wilkinson-Mackie shares a bit with us about his time in Nepal, while also sharing from Romans 10:9-15. Caleb starts with a time of prayer as part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. He then shares a bit behind the work he recently did in Nepal and the heart behind why he did it, before diving into our passage for tod…

Brian Goodwin is back to talk to us about our life from Acts 20:17-27. Brian starts with a small promo for Lake Learning in January at Lake Taupo, before sharing an anecdote about his "baptismal" story. Brian then brings us around to Acts 20:17-27, where Paul is addressing the Elders at Ephesus, and he breaks down his words into 2 points/challenges…

Lewis Varley wraps up our study of Ephesians, looking at "Christ in our problems" in chapter 6 verses 10 to 24. Lewis dives straight into reading our passage this morning before diving into some analogies that tie into our text for today, focusing on how we respond to problems in our lives as Christians. He then looks at how Paul describes how to d…

Tom Leslie brings us into chapter 6 of Ephesians, looking at the second half of the instructions for submission started in chapter 5 verse 21. Gavin Lynch starts us off with a prayer for Israel, and also our new leadership for our country before handing over to Tom. Tom launches straight into reading our passage for today, before outlining the rela…

We round out Ephesians 5 with Jeff Samuel, looking at Christ and our Church as an example of Marriage. Jeff dives straight into reading our passage today, before taking a step back and looking at what marriage on this earth actually means. He then takes us through our passage verse by verse, breaking down an understanding of them one at a time, loo…

Brian Goodwin brings us the message this week, looking at the start of Ephesians 5, discussing Love, Light, and Wisdom. Brian shares a story from a prison in Peru where a man tried to take his life but was challenged by a nurse, before leading into reading our passage in Ephesians from today. He then focuses on 2 verses - verse 2 "Live a life fille…

As we take a break from Ephesians, Dan looks at Romans 12 in regard to "Setting Christ Apart". Dan looks at Romans 12 and the discussion of being the body of Christ and functioning as such, serving, as a living sacrifice. He then interviews Rachel Randall (Sunday School Coordinator), Phyllis Egestad (Ladies Friendship & Craft), and Lynda Linton (Ke…

This week Peter Sun looks at the second half of Ephesians 4, focusing on the mind. Peter starts by reading through our passage for today. Peter then dives straight in to discuss how the mind works, looking at the difference between the transformed mind and the darkened mind, by looking at what the mind is, and how it's connected with the brain. He …

We dive into Spiritual Gifts with Gavin Lynch this week, looking at Ephesians 4. Gavin dives right in, looking at his theme of "Jesus gives spiritual gifts to grow and build up His Church", breaking this into two parts: Spiritual gifts given (v7-10), and Spiritual gifts used (v11-16). Starting in verse 7, Gavin starts a journey into looking at what…

This week we look at the start of Ephesians chapter 4 with Bardoe Besselaar. Bardoe dives head first in this morning, looking at how the world around us defines "unity", followed by an overview of our journey through Ephesians so far before diving into a reading of our passage for today. Bardoe then breaks our passage down today into 2 sections: vs…

We are privileged to have Geoff Smith back for a second week in a row to go through our next chapter of Ephesians. Geoff starts by reading through Ephesians chapter 3 this morning before looking at an overview of the sections of Ephesians. He then looks at the origin of sin, and why we need this unification in the first place. Geoff then comes to t…

Geoff Smith continues our time in Ephesians this week, looking at the second half of chapter 2. After reading through our passage this week, Geoff looks at the chapter broken into three segments - Alienation (v11-12); Reconciliation (v13-18); and Unification (v19-22). Geoff looks back at Genesis and the covenant with Abraham, alongside the genealog…