Skegoneill Nazarene

27/05/2026

20/04/2026

Here is the recording from Pastor Stephen's sermon yesterday, Sunday 19th April. The bible reading is from 1 Peter 1 and can be found at this link:

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/1PE.1.NLT

05/04/2026

Hi Everyone,

Here is a link to the recording of the sermon from this morning.
https://youtu.be/OSlafL_H6DM

The Bible reading can be found here:
https://www.bible.com/bible/116/MAT.28.NLT

And here is a link to the song we closed the service with in case you would like to listen to it as well:
https://youtu.be/u-1fwZtKJSM?si=0ztIVAi0t4zshZa9

A recording of the Sermon from Easter Sunday 2026. The Bible reading is from Matthew 28: 1-10 and can be found here if you don't have a Bible but would like ...

05/04/2026

Holy Week devotional
Day 8 - Sunday 5th April 2026. From Madge.

Reading: Mathew 28 &
John 20 v 6-7.

Verses 8-10 in Mathew really struck me. Early in the morning we are told that the women went to the tomb to anoint the body, note they were not expecting a risen Saviour but a body.
There was an earthquake, the stone was rolled away, an Angel of the Lord descended & the guards became like dead men. The Angel told the women that Jesus had risen. They left that tomb in fear &. Joy to go & tell the good news to the brethren. The fear was a Holy trembling, after all they had come face to face with the mighty power of God. They were joyous because He had risen. As they were running Jesus met them, I love that, He met them not when they got there but as they were running. No matter what we face in life the moment we turn to run to God, He meets us. The Women fell down & worshiped Him so on this Easter Sunday morning let us fall down in our hearts & worship Him.
John tell us of the men going into the tomb & seeing the grave clothes, the napkin which had covered the head was folded. In Jewish custom when the head of the family left the table if he threw the napkin down, he was finished but if he folded the napkin, it meant he was coming back. Jesus is coming back as King of kings & Lord of lords & maybe just maybe some of us will see that glorious day.

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04/04/2026

Holy Week Devotion- Saturday 4 April 2026
(By Pastor Stephen)

BIBLE READING- Matthew 27:57-66

It's Easter Saturday, the in-between day, the day of waiting, the day commonly known as Holy Saturday. It's a day of silence, a day in the life of the church where nothing significant happens. No breakfasts, no praise services, no resurrection celebration songs (YET). I say yet, because we are on the other side of the story and we know the outcome of tomorrow! Praise God.

However, for the disciples and followers of Jesus at that time, this was a day of mixed emotions; numbness, silence, grief, fear, and confusion. To those who remembered and believed the words of Jesus, it was a day to wait, to pause, and to anticipate all that could be. Remember, Jesus had told His disciples that He would be betrayed into the hands of His enemies, He would be killed, but in three days He would rise from the dead (Mark 9:31 NLT). However, Jesus' followers still had to endure that anxious time of waiting. Waiting for those words of their Rabbi to become a living reality.

On Good Friday, everything ended in darkness, death, violence, weeping, and even mockery. On Sunday, believers know that everything will change, but on that first Holy Saturday, God appeared to be distant and silent. The followers of Jesus went through an experience of what life would be like without Him. Just imagine our lives and our world today if we had no Saviour. Everything would seem hopeless, without purpose and meaning. There would be no forgiveness of sin, no morals, no peace, no real purpose to life, and no assurance of eternal life.

One thing that strikes me about Holy Saturday- is that great reminder that we have a God who works in the silence. Yes, at certain times, God can speak loudly and clearly when He works in our lives in the ways He chooses. But at other times, God's prevenient grace is at work in the silence. As the lyrics from the song Waymaker says, "Even when I don't see it, You're working, even when I can't feel it, You're working. You never stop working, my God that is who You are!"

We can learn valuable lessons from this in-between day, the day our Saviour Jesus lay in the borrowed tomb provided by a man called Joseph from Arimathea. With God, waiting is never wasted time. Whenever our circumstances make us feel like God is silent, when our world seems empty and without hope, God still keeps His word and God still works in the silence. Because God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us!

Holy Saturday may look different for each of us. Our prayers are still unanswered, our hurts and burdens are still being carried, the pain of loss is still raw, the healing has not happened, our questions have not yet been answered, and God seems silent.

On Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, remember, we are never alone in the silence! God is still present even when He seems silent. Inside the tomb that day, His Spirit was brooding, the soldiers standing outside guarding the tomb would soon be in for one mighty big surprise. Holy Saturday, silent Saturday, the in-between Saturday, is a day that we can take hope and we can be assured, that the story is not over.

IT'S SATURDAY... BUT SUNDAY IS COMING! Hallelujah!

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03/04/2026

Holy week devotional (by Carolynne McT)

Good Friday: Luke Chpt 22 v 66 - Chpt 23 v 56;

What is so good about Good Friday?

Altjough He was the Son of God Jesus was tried as a man, before other men, under laws of men. His trials were as illegal as His arrest the night before based on Jewish, Rabbinical and Mosaic laws. There were false accusations and lying witnesses. What's so good about that?

Despite Pilate and Herod being unable to find fault in Him He was beaten half to death, probably in an attempt to appease the crowd and avoid the crucifixion. However, the people still bayed for His blood and so He was sentenced to death on a cross, which He was forced to carry Himself. What's so good about that?

Based on Biblical commentaries Jesus hung on the cross for 6 hours before He died. What's so good about that?

While we have the luxury of the whole story in front of us to accept Good Friday for what it is, good news of the greatest event in history, it can be very easy to wonder why Jesus' followers were so despondent and didn't see the good. It's easy to say the scriptures and Christ Himself had said this would happen so how could they not understand, but how often does God give us a promise and when something hard, difficult or bad happens while we wait for it to come to fruition we think "Lord how is this good? How are you going to make this work?" I know I do it all the time!!!

Knowing the whole story helps us to know why Good Friday is good because although Jesus died on the cross, He did it as the final sacrifice to pay for MY sin, your sin and the sin of everyone who ever lived and will live (Romans 6:10)

Good Friday is good because it was the fulfillment of God's promise to redeem the world (Genesis 3:14-15)

Good Friday is good because it reminds us that God is a promise keeping God, even when things look like they've come to an end (Isaiah 43:19)

Good Friday is good because Sunday is coming when Jesus rises from the dead defeating hell and breaking the power of sin and death and reminding us there is ALWAYS hope in God. THAT is what is so good about Good Friday.

In good times and bad may we look to the cross and remember that hope is still there, Sunday is coming!!

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02/04/2026

Holy Week Devotional
(from Marion)

Thursday 2nd April 2026

Reading: Matthew 26: 20 – 25, 31 – 35, 44 – 50, 56, 69 – 75.

Betrayed - During the Passover Meal, Jesus gave the disciples the shocking news that one of them would betray Him. They each asked, “Is it me?” Jesus’ response to Judas’s question was crystal clear. Yes, you’re the one I’m talking about, and you and I both know it.

Deserted - Jesus told the disciples that He knew they would all run away from Him. Their bold response was that they would stay at Jesus’ side till the very end. Peter responds as if saying, “Even if everyone else heads for the hills, I will stick with you till the end!” Before dawn, every one of them would have broken their strongly worded promises.

Denied - Peter wouldn’t (or couldn’t) take it in when Jesus told him that before the rooster crowed at dawn, he would have denied knowing Jesus, not once, but three times. Focussing on himself and not on Jesus, he will end up disowning Him. When it happens and he sees Jesus’ sorrowful face looking at him, Peter runs away “weeping bitterly.”

Is betrayal, desertion or denial the end of the story? Thankfully, we know it doesn’t have to be.

Look how much He loves them and us! Jesus reminded the disciples that He would rise from the dead and His plan was to meet them in Galilee. 26 v. 32. He assured the disciples of His and The Father’s love in a parallel passage in John 14 v. 21. “…... And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

After His resurrection, meeting the disciples on the beach at Galilee, Jesus gave Peter opportunity to affirm three times that he loved Him, counteracting his three denials. He commissioned all of the disciples to go and continue the work He started. Matthew 28 v. 18,19

Jesus already knows, long before it happens, what we will do, say and think. He loves us anyway even when He knows we will mess up.

Following Jesus can be very hard at times. It needs prayerful dependence on God to do it.

When our faithfulness to Him falters, His faithfulness to us stays firm.

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01/04/2026

Today’s devotional for Wednesday of Holy Week is Mark 14v1-11. (From Karen)

If you read the whole passage you will notice the way the writer structures his account of the plot against Jesus unfolding, but sandwiched in the middle is the beautiful story of the anointing at Bethany. The toxic thoughts and actions of the religious leaders towards Jesus, their hypocrisy, and the act of betrayal that followed this lovely account, seem intentionally portrayed in this way to shine a light on it even more.

As Pastor Isabel recently opened this story to us so beautifully and movingly, I thought I’d focus today on the other verses. But the Lord was impressing the perfume story so intently on my heart, and it shone out through the pages, I just wanted us to meditate on it again.

Mark 14v3-9:
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the L***r, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

You will notice the woman who performed this act of love is not named, and yet we all know her name, probably from the parallel passage in Matthew but also because the church has fulfilled Jesus’ words and spoken of her act down through millennia. The Lord knew this was not an act of attention seeking or false humility. It came from a genuine heart of love and devotion, and of faith as she seemed to be the only follower who had truly believed Him when Jesus spoke of his sacrificial death and resurrection. She broke and spilled out what was precious to her, in order to show who was most precious of all to her, the Lord Himself!

May we be willing to be broken and used up for Jesus, thankful that he allowed Himself to be broken and spilled out for us on the cross. Through His sacrifice of Himself we have full salvation.

Thank you Lord for the unspeakable price you paid!

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31/03/2026

Holy Week Devotions,
Day 3 (from Pastor Isabel)

Bible Text: Luke 20:41–44

As we come to this part of Holy Week, Jesus is in and around the temple in Jerusalem. It’s the centre of worship, the centre of life—and in these moments, it has also become the centre of tension.

The religious leaders—the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law have been coming at Jesus one after another. They’re asking questions, trying to trap Him, hoping to catch Him out in front of the people and discredit Him.
But now, everything shifts.
Instead of answering their questions… Jesus asks one.
“Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David?” (Luke 20:41).

Luke doesn’t tell us directly who Jesus is speaking to here, but when we look at Matthew’s account, we see it’s the Pharisees—the ones who knew the Scriptures so well… and yet were missing what was right in front of them.

Jesus then quotes from Psalm 110:
“The LORD said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for you feet."

In the English translations, that can sound a bit confusing “The LORD said to my Lord”. But in the original language, two different names are used, and it opens everything up.

“The LORD” is Yahweh, the covenant name of God.

“My Lord” is Adoni, a title of authority, honour, and kingship.

So David, Israel’s great king, is speaking about someone greater than himself.
He calls Him “my Lord.”

And Jesus asks,
“If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be his son?”

The people had always been taught that the Messiah would come from David’s line. God had promised that one of David’s descendants would reign on his throne forever. So naturally, they were looking for a son of David—a king, a leader, someone who would restore Israel’s strength and glory.
They weren’t wrong… but they weren’t
seeing the whole picture.
Yes, the Messiah would come from David’s line, Jesus really did step into history as one of his descendants.
He is fully human, just as God had promised.
But He is so much more than that.

They were looking for someone who would follow in David’s footsteps… someone who fit their expectations of strength, victory, and visible success.
But Jesus didn’t come to simply walk in David’s line.
He came as David’s Lord.
Fully man and fully divine.
A son of David and the Son of God.
Not just a king like David—but the King over all.
And that’s the tension we feel all through Holy Week.

The One standing in those temple courts being questioned, challenged, and doubted is not just David’s son in a human sense…
He is David’s Lord.

Fully human—able to stand in our place.

Fully divine—able to save.

And while so many missed it then, we have the gift of seeing it now.

We know where this week leads.

To a cross.
To silence.
To what looked like defeat.
But it wasn’t defeat at all.
It was victory—like the world had never seen!

Jesus didn’t come to defeat Rome.
He came to defeat sin and death.
He didn’t come to take an earthly throne.
He came to be seated at the right hand of Yahweh.
And He didn’t come just for one nation,
He came for everyone. He came for you.

I wonder, do we see Jesus through our own expectations or do we trust Him for who He truly is?
Not just someone we turn to when life gets hard but the One who stepped into our world as fully man, gave His life in our place, and even now reigns as fully divine —
our Lord, our Saviour, and our King.

The question isn’t just what we know about Jesus… but whether we truly recognise Him.

Maybe today, we come to Him again, not with all the answers, but with open hearts… ready to see Him for who He truly is.

Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour.

https://youtu.be/Of5IcFWiEpg?si=YzMVUwNpc8Phc0R7