What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 7:15pm - 8:15pm Sunday 10am - 1pm

South Auckland Church of Christ, 2 Kairanga Street, Manukau (2026)

16/05/2026

🌸 Flower Power 🌸

Jesus did a lot of His teaching outdoors. He would often make a point from something close by that everyone could see.

And He would talk about the things that worry and bother us the most.

During His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed to a carpet of wild flowers:

> “Why do you worry about clothing?” He says.
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”
Matthew 6:28-29

We don’t know exactly what these “lilies” were. As a best guess, they could have been a type of buttercup known as the poppy anemone. It is admired for its stunning display of colourful flowers that “clothe” the meadows of Israel in late winter to early spring.

Now imagine you are in the crowd that day.

This great teacher asks you to consider the flowers. They are beautiful. They grow wild, without any help from man. And they don’t have a worry in the world.

God has given them everything they need.

He sends rain and sunshine. He has provided them with the means to make their own food.

If God has given them all of this, why should we worry about our daily needs?

God cares about us, and He will provide. 🌼

Jesus did not want His disciples to worry about clothes. He did not want them to be embarrassed about how faded or ragged they might look to others. He did not want them to think that they had to aim for the finery of the rich and powerful King Solomon.

> 1 Kings 10:7

Of course, no one in those days would have deliberately chosen hobo-chic.

The quality, style, and colour of clothes instantly identified a person’s social status. A rich person with a closet full of fine clothes would never have thought, “You know, I’m only going to the Temple to make an offering. I’ll dress as if I’m going to the beach.”

Even the poorest of the poor would have washed and worn what little they had, and worn it with dignity.

🌿 If this reminder encourages you, share it with someone who may need to hear that God cares and provides.

We are so rich compared to the people gathered around Jesus that day. Our closets are overflowing with clothes.

We have so much, and it is still not enough.

We want the latest fashions. We want the “it” brand of jeans or shoes right now. We drive ourselves crazy trying to “keep up with the Joneses.”

It is hard to focus on heaven when living on earth is such a struggle.

But we risk losing sight of who we are and why we are here.

> “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” Jesus told them,
“and all these things shall be added to you”
Matthew 6:33

— Trevor

🌸 What is one earthly worry that most easily distracts people from seeking God first?

If this encouraged you, please like, comment, and share so others can be reminded to trust God and seek His kingdom first.

10/05/2026

🎻 Priceless violin comes a cropper

A distinguished British violinist named Peter Cropper was such an outstanding musician that the Royal Academy of Music in London honoured him by lending him a priceless 258-year old Stradivarius.

It is the dream of every violinist to be able to play such an instrument, but a terrible thing happened while Cropper was performing in Kuhmo, Finland.

He tripped and fell on top of the Strad and broke it.

Cropper’s moment of joy turned into a horrible nightmare.

Then a London violin dealer told him about a repair shop that could fix the precious instrument.

In a telephone interview, the musician said the following:

> “I was able to find a master craftsman who, using animal glue and a lot of patience over a period of a month, repaired the neck and a crack over the bass bar of the Strad. As a matter of fact, the violin is now in better shape than ever, producing a much more resonant tone”
(NYTimes, October 3, 1981).

The repairs were so perfect they could not even be seen, and the soaring notes of the instrument were more beautiful than they had ever been before—all because the broken parts were placed in the hands of a master craftsman who applied his healing touch. 🎶

Jesus Christ is the Master Craftsman we’ve been looking for.

Something terrible happens, sin enters, and our lives are broken.

Then we turn them over to Jesus.

He takes the broken pieces and puts them back together again, and we are better than we ever were before.

– John Thomas Randolph

🙏 What a beautiful reminder: our brokenness is not the end of the story when it is placed in the hands of Christ.

💬 What part of your life have you seen God restore, repair, or make stronger than before?

If this encouraged you, please like, comment, and share so someone else can be reminded that Jesus can restore what is broken. ✨

09/05/2026

🍽️ Old Testament Food Laws Today?

God intended for Israel to be different from other nations. To this end, He gave them the Ten Commandments and hundreds of other laws to follow.

Many of these laws prohibited the eating of certain foods. Leviticus 11 mentions several items, including hares, pigs, swimming things without fins and scales, and certain birds such as eagles and ravens (Leviticus 11:6-15).

Among the clean foods were critters we might not find too appetising, including locusts, crickets and grasshoppers (vs. 22). But to remain a holy people they had to:

> “make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten”
— Leviticus 11:47

God’s dietary restrictions kept Israel separate from the surrounding nations, and protected their health. We know now, for instance, that pork carried diseases that only modern technology can detect and control.

📖 Can you follow this diet if you want to? Sure, as long as you realise it is no longer binding on Christians today.

Jesus freed us from the Old Law, including food restrictions. Paul wrote:

> “Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ”
— Colossians 2:16-17

👍 If this helps clarify the difference between the Old Law and the New Law in Christ, like and share it so others can think through it too.

At Joppa, Peter received a vision of a tablecloth covered by “unclean” food and a voice saying:

> “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat”
— Acts 10:13

Peter was horrified:

> “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”

He had always lived as a good Jew, but Christ wanted the apostles to move on:

> “What God has made clean, do not call common”
— Acts 10:15

Peter took some convincing, but the message finally sank in: if Christians could eat anything, then the Gospel was for anyone, including the Gentiles.

For a while, at least, the church observed a bare minimum of food rules. They were to:

> “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled”
— Acts 15:29; cf. 1 Corinthians 8:7-9

Like Peter, Christians should leave the Old Law and move on to the New Law of faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24-29).

— Bob Prichard, adapted

💬 What do you think? Why do you think it was so difficult for Peter, and many early Jewish Christians, to accept that Gentiles could come to Christ without keeping the Old Law?

If this article helped you, please like, comment, and share so others can be encouraged to study the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in Christ. ✝️

02/05/2026

📖 Big ‘O’ Orthodoxy

For most of us, the eastern church is a mystery.

We know a fair amount about the Roman Catholic Church and its breakaway Protestant denominations. We know very little about the Orthodox church in places like Greece, Russia, Syria, and Ethiopia.

In recent decades, there has been a renewed interest in eastern Christianity. Some people are attracted to their ancient rituals: robes, chanting, candles, and smoke.

Orthodox worship is a long way from the usual praise bands and skinny jeans of corporate megachurches.

But does “older” automatically mean “more authentic”?

Language plays a big role. Westerners who join the Greek Orthodox church will tell you that their services are still conducted in the language of Paul. Those who seek out the Syrian Orthodox Church will go one better, insisting that their services are still conducted in Aramaic—the language of Jesus.

And they will nearly always claim that their traditions are older than anybody else’s traditions. They are not just “more authentic.” They are the real thing.

But as we see from the New Testament, language was never the marker of genuine faith. An Aramaic or Greek confession of faith was as good as any other confession (Matt 10:32; Rom 10:9). The truth mattered more than the language that was used to teach it (Acts 2:6-8; 1 Cor 14:10-11).

We could also get picky and point out that the Greek spoken in Greek Orthodox churches sounds different from the koine Greek spoken in the 1st century. The same goes for the Aramaic of the Syrian Orthodox Church.

“Older” can only mean “better” if the teaching goes all the way back to Christ and His apostles (Acts 1:8; Eph 2:19-21).

For all the appeal to distant history, it is the history that lets them down. The eastern tradition has picked up a range of doctrines and practices that are not found anywhere in the NT. For instance, appointing one man as the top bishop over a huge area goes back to the 4th century. Routinely baptising babies goes back to the 3rd century.

🙏 If this article is helpful, share it with someone who values going back to the Bible.

Christians are on safer ground with little ‘o’ orthodoxy. It comes from a Greek word that means “right opinion.” Even better, we could use a NT word like “sound.” The underlying Greek term literally means healthy.

Paul used it a lot in his letters to Timothy and Titus. He referred to sound teaching (1 Tim 1:10; 2 Tim 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1), sound words (1 Tim 6:3; 2 Tim 1:13; Titus 2:8), and sound faith (Titus 1:13; 2:2).

Spiritual health can only be found in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ (Matt 9:10-13; 1 Pet 2:25).

And that is ultimately where people need to go.

They need to look past their Protestant founders.

They need to look past their Catholic and Orthodox teachers.

If people keep digging, they will find the original faith (Jude 3).

It has been there for two thousand years.

– Trevor

💬 What do you think?
When people search for “ancient Christianity,” how can we help them look all the way back to Christ and His apostles?

👍 Like, comment, and share to encourage others to seek sound teaching from the New Testament.

25/04/2026

🚲📖 Do You Hate Reading the Instructions? 📖🚲

I can vividly remember my first two-wheeler bicycle that my dad bought me when I was a boy. It was a red Huffy “Cheater Slick” with a banana seat.

When he bought the bike, he had a choice: buy the display model already assembled, or buy the bike in a box and put it together himself. We chose the boxed one because it was five dollars cheaper.

So we took it home and spread all the parts out on the living room floor. To a little boy, it all looked confusing. But one thing I did know… I knew where the hand grips went. So, without reading the instructions, I proudly popped them onto the handlebars.

To my dismay, I later learned I had been too hasty. I should have read the instructions first, because the handlebar had to be threaded through a joint before the hand grips were installed. Uh-oh. Too late. The grips were on, and they wouldn’t come off. One had to be cut off.

As a result, my red Huffy bike always had just one hand grip. 😅

That lesson, learned many years ago, has stayed with me ever since: life goes much easier when we read the instructions.

And God has given us an instruction book—the Bible. 📖

In it, He tells us truths that run contrary to the way many people live. For example, He tells us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Yet how many people spend their lives chasing happiness through selfishness, greed, and getting more for themselves?

God made us. He knows how we are designed to function. He knows what brings real joy, real peace, and real purpose. When we ignore His instructions, we often make life harder than it needs to be.

👍 If this made you think, like and share it with someone who needs the reminder.

So do yourself a favour: read the instructions before making a mistake.
For best results, consult the Owner’s Manual. 🙏📘

What’s one time in life you learned the hard way that the instructions really mattered? 💭

18/04/2026

🌉 Parable of the Ugly Ditch 🌉

Two brothers lived on adjoining farms and drifted apart. What began as a small misunderstanding slowly grew into a bitter feud. Harsh words were exchanged… and then came weeks of silence.
One morning, there was a knock on the older brother’s door. A man stood there with a carpenter’s toolbox.

“I’m looking for a few days’ work,” he said. “Do you have any odd jobs?”

A glint appeared in the farmer’s eyes.

“Yes… I have just the job.”

He pointed across the field.

“See over there? That’s my brother’s farm. There used to be a beautiful meadow between us. But now he’s dug a deep ditch filled with muddy water.
Well… two can play at that game.”

He led the carpenter to a pile of lumber.

“I want you to build something that will make that no-good brother of mine regret what he’s done. Do you understand?”

The carpenter nodded.

“Yes sir… perfectly.”

The farmer left for the day.

When he returned, he found the carpenter driving in the final nail… 🔨

But instead of a wall…

👉 There stood a bridge.

Just then, the younger brother appeared on the hill. The two men stared at each other across the ditch… then slowly stepped onto the bridge.
As they walked toward one another, they noticed the careful craftsmanship… the strength… the beauty.

And when they met in the middle, they saw a plaque carved into the wood:

“BROTHERLY LOVE.” ❤️

The brothers stood face to face… and the divide between them was gone.

👉 If this story speaks to you, share it with someone who might need a reminder about reconciliation.

They turned just in time to see the carpenter leaving.

“Wait!” the older brother called. “I have more work for you!”

“Me too!” said the younger brother.

The carpenter smiled.

“I’d love to stay… but there’s a lot of work out there for a lot of brothers. Enjoy your bridge.”

And with that, he was gone.

💭 How many “ditches” in our lives could be turned into bridges… if we chose love instead of pride?

❤️ If this touched your heart, like, comment, and share it with others.

👇 What’s one relationship in your life where you could start building a bridge today?

18/04/2026

✨ Divine GPS ✨

The Bible is a GPS — a Godly Positioning System. 📖🧭

No matter where you are in your life spiritually, the Bible can tell you exactly where you are. Further, it can tell you where you need to be and how to get there.

Unfortunately, some refuse to hear the Bible’s instructions, choosing to turn a deaf ear to its pleas and pursuing their own chosen course (Acts 7:57). Others stubbornly reject the message they hear to turn right, turn left, or turn around (Jeremiah 6:16). Still others refuse to handle the GPS properly (2 Timothy 2:15), and prefer to hear instructions from the wrong sources (2 Timothy 4:3–4).

👉 No matter where you are, the divine GPS can tell you how to get home.

💬 If this message encourages you, like and share it so someone else can be reminded to get back on the right path.

Ultimately, this is the message of Hebrews 11. All the great men and women in this “Faith’s Hall of Fame” understood that only by hearing and obeying God’s word would they end up at their heavenly destination:

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland... But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one….”
— Hebrews 11:13–14, 16

🏠 Are you navigating toward home?
If you are unsure as to your present course, please consult your GPS (1 Timothy 4:16).

— Todd Clippard

❤️ If this spoke to you, like, comment, and share.
What do you think is the biggest reason people ignore God’s directions even when the way is clearly shown?

11/04/2026

🔥 Is the Devil on the Loose? 🦁⛓️

The resurrection defeated Satan’s power over death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). What can he do now?

On the one hand, our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

On the other hand, Satan is currently held in some kind of spiritual prison: “And he [God’s angel] seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” (20:2; also see 2 Peter 2:4).

To cut a long story short, this part of Revelation pictures a long, indefinite period of time after the judgement of the church’s earthly enemies (19:19-21), and before the Final Judgement (20:7-10). We are living in that figurative thousand-year period right now.

So which is it: prowling around or prison?
In a way, both can be true at the same time. Yes, the Devil is actively working against us, and yes, God puts severe constraints on his power.
Here is a rough analogy: Satan is like the drug dealer who can still run his business behind bars. He is still a danger to us, if not directly than at least indirectly.

⚠️ Of course, we have to keep in mind that words like prowl, lion, bound, and dragon are all highly symbolic. We have to be careful not to push the imagery too far.

👉 If this is making you think, take a moment to like and share so others can reflect on it too!
Speaking of Satan’s influence, what about demon possession?

We certainly see this during the earthly ministry of Jesus and His apostles (Luke 13:16; Acts 10:28; Acts 16:16-18; etc.). Satan even comes out to challenge the Son of God directly (Matthew 4:1-11).

By allowing Satan to flex his muscles, God could respond publicly and visibly with overwhelming power (Matthew 10:7-8; 12:28). The victory of good over evil served to confirm the Gospel message (John 5:36; Acts 2:43; 14:3).

Once the apostles were gone, they could no longer pass on the special gift of casting out demons (cf. Acts 8:18-19). And so God constrained the Devil and his demons, and brought this period to an end.

But why only limit Satan’s power?

If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why doesn’t He crush Satan right now?

The fact is, we don’t know. We can’t read God’s mind. We can’t out-think an all-knowing God (Isaiah 55:8-9).

As the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, we trust that God has a plan, and He is able to carry out that plan to perfection.

He has already demonstrated His faithfulness and righteousness by sending His Son to die on the cross (Romans 3:21-26).

He has promised to judge Satan and all those who serve him – human or otherwise (Revelation 20:11-15).

✨ There will be a final reckoning, and after the dust settles, we will live in a world without death and without sin (Revelation 21:1-4; 22:3-5).

💪 Our mission is to resist the Devil, right here and right now (James 4:7).

— Trevor Major

🙏 What do you think—does understanding Satan as both limited and active change how you approach spiritual battles in your daily life?

👍 Like, 💬 comment, and 🔄 share to encourage others to stand firm in their faith!

05/04/2026

⛪ Why go to church? ⛪

A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to worship every Sunday.

📝 “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”

🤨 This started a controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

💥 “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength to do my work.”
💪🍽️

— housetohouse.com

Think about it: If we don't always remember the specific "ingredients" of a message, how does the consistent routine of spiritual nourishment change our character over time? 🤔

💬 Comment your thoughts below, Like if you agree, and Share this to encourage someone today! ✨

04/04/2026

🙏 Things Proved by the Resurrection 🙏

Christianity rests upon the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, an irrefutable proof of the sonship and deity of Jesus (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 1:4).

Often we overlook this event and its significance. We don’t realise how many things, which we believe and practice, would have no meaning apart from the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.

✨ 1. God is Faithful.
In Gen. 12:3, God promised Abraham a blessing to come upon all nations through him. In Acts 13:32-33, Paul teaches the Jews that the promises made to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) were fulfilled in Jesus. In verses 37 and 38 of the same chapter, he rests his argument upon the historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection.

How is this blessing received? Through hearing, believing and obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rom. 6:1-7; Col. 2:11-12). Part and parcel of this message is the resurrection. In 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Paul gives the blueprint of the gospel. It is the true story of the death, burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God is faithful in keeping His promises. The resurrection proves it.

👍 If this truth encourages you, like and share it so others can reflect on the power of the resurrection too.

👑 2. Christ Has All Authority.
Paul writes: “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

The authority of Jesus grants us forgiveness of sins. Repentance and remission of sins are to be preached by His authority (Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38). Peter commanded the penitent believers in Acts 2 to be baptised in the name of, or by the authority of, Jesus Christ.

If Christ had not risen from the grave, and in so doing, been declared to be the powerful and authoritative Son of God, how could we receive forgiveness? Our authority in carrying out the great commission is from Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20). It was after Jesus said, “All power is given unto Me…” that He commanded His disciples to go and preach the gospel to the world.

If Jesus is not resurrected, what gives me the right to teach the gospel to anyone?

⚖️ 3. Judgement Is Coming!
Paul’s sermon on Mar’s Hill makes this crystal clear. There is a day coming in which God will judge the world. God proves this and gives assurance to all men of this, by the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:30-31).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave is not insignificant. It is an essential stone in the foundation of Christianity. Let us hold fast our belief in the resurrection and all that it implies.

📖 The resurrection is not just a detail of the gospel message. It proves that God is faithful, Christ has all authority, and judgement is coming.

💬 Please like, comment, and share if this post helped you think more deeply about the resurrection of Christ.

❓Which of these truths proved by the resurrection stands out most to you: God’s faithfulness, Christ’s authority, or the certainty of coming judgement?

South Auckland Church of Christ

16/05/2026

10/05/2026

09/05/2026

02/05/2026

25/04/2026

18/04/2026

18/04/2026

11/04/2026

05/04/2026

04/04/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category