Sermon Series
HANDLING
CONFLICT
Sunday Evenings January 2025
Relational conflict is one of the most painful things that comes into our lives. Scripture - and Proverbs in particular - has much wisdom to help us as we navigate interpersonal conflicts.
Series available on our YouTube channel from 5th January 2025
Bible reading schedule
15 Jan Prov 1:7, Prov 16:32, Prov 15:1
12 Jan Prov 17:27, Prov 29:11
19 Jan Prov 22:24-25, Prov 12:26, Prov 27:17, Prov 13:20
26 Jan Prov 26:20, Prov 19:11
Resources for this series
Books
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Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love
Practical Guidance for Loving Others Well
Everyone needs help from time to time, especially in the midst of painful circumstances and difficult trials. In this short book, a highly respected biblical counselor and successful author offers practical guidance for all Christians—pastors and laypeople alike—who want to develop their “helping skills” when it comes to walking alongside hurting people.
Ed Welch has written out of the conviction that friends are the best helpers, this accessible introduction to biblical counseling will equip believers to share their burdens with one another through gentle words of wisdom and kind acts of love. This book is written for those eager to see God use ordinary relationships and conversations between ordinary Christians to work extraordinary miracles in the lives of his people.
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People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Comprehensive treatment of how God uses people as tools of change in the lives of others, people who themselves are in need of change.
In many ways, the church today has more consumers than committed participants. We see church merely as an event we attend or an organization we belong to, rather than as a calling that shapes our entire life.
Tripp explains how his work follows an “all of my people, all of the time” model. If you followed the Lord for a thousand years, you would still need the ministry of the body of Christ as much as you did the day you first believed. This need will remain until our sanctification is complete in Glory.
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Your best friend is suddenly cool and distant. Your spouse can't stop complaining about your bad habits. Your son refuses to talk to you. What are you supposed to do?
Plans A, B, and C might be to shut down, lash out, or get out. But consider Plan D: Recognize that God has the last word on those messy, conflict-ridden relationships. He can use them to make you into someone who can give and receive love—with God and others.
Impossible? Idealistic? Not really. In Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, Tim Lane and Paul Tripp show you how God does it, and how it can happen for you. They help you tackle the stubborn problems that plague many close relationships. They show you the deeper issues that drive our reactions, choices, and behaviors. And they show you how God steps in to help you build relationships that are all he intended them to be.
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In a World of Broken Relationships
Having successfully helped readers develop a solid prayer life with the best-selling release of A Praying Life, author Paul Miller applies his expertise to an even more important issue—love. After all, love is what holds all things together, it's what we're looking for, it's what we all need, and it's what we must learn how to give. But loving people is hard. Our neighbours, friends, kids, spouses, and even our enemies require a relentless, self-giving demonstration of love that only God can produce within us.
Taking his cues from the perseverance and faithfulness portrayed in the book of Ruth, Miller sheds light on a biblical portrait of love that is sure to give us hope and transform our souls. Here is the help we need to embrace relationship, endure rejection, cultivate community, and reach out to even the most unlovable as we discover the power to live a loving life.
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Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man
Do you crave people’s love and approval? Do you dread their rejection or mistreatment? Although we don’t always realize it, many of our lives—and identities—are dangerously contorted around such longings and fears.
Biblical counselor Edward Welch tackles this struggle head-on in a groundbreaking work that has been substantially updated and revised for this new edition. Discover a fear of the Lord that, in Christ, is filled with gratitude, love, and devotion—freeing you to need others less and love them more.
“Few books have impacted me, my family, and my church more deeply than [this one]. It introduces concepts—biblical truths—that have transformed the way we understand our relationships with God and man alike.”
—Tim Challies, Blogger, www.challies.com
“Dr. Ed Welch’s careful examination of the human spirit, the sins that hold us captive, and the liberating power of the gospel will not only set your own heart on fire but instruct you in how to lead others. . . . Whether you are a parent, a pastor, a counselor, or a friend, this book is a must-read.”
—J.D. Greear, Pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina
“This book challenges our thoughts about ourselves in relation to God and the people around us. . . . Ed Welch makes clear the goodness of fearing the awesome Lord God and the emptiness of fearing anything or anyone else. God’s Word is at the heart of the matter, and God’s Son is the point.”
—Kathleen Nielson, Author; Speaker
“Few living writers have helped me more deeply to connect the dots between my heart and my actions than Ed Welch. . . . When People Are Big and God Is Small helped me when it first released . . . and its insights never stray far from my mind.”
—Dane Ortlund, Author, Gentle and Lowly
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The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ
A Practical Devotional Guide to What It Means to Be “In Christ”
Followers of Jesus refer to themselves primarily as “Christians,” but the New Testament frequently used a more meaningful term: “in Christ.” Disconnected from this deeper understanding of the gospel, believers today can miss out on the significance of unity with the Lord and its power to enrich every area of their lives.
In One with My Lord, Sam Allberry examines the doctrine of union with Christ through a rich study of New Testament scriptures. Each chapter is short enough to be read as a devotional, giving believers a fresh lens to view the gospel daily as they pursue holiness, resist sin, build community, and worship God. In a time when people are searching for a place to belong, One with My Lord reminds believers that they have a perfect home in Christ.
Accessible: Rich exposition of New Testament scriptures through short, devotional chapters
Practical Application: Help readers view every area of their lives and faith through the lens of being “in Christ”
From Sam Allberry: Author of What God Has to Say about Our Bodies and coauthor with Ray Ortlund of You’re Not Crazy
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Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds
Helps readers move beyond the wounds and baggage of bitterness, disagreements, and broken relationships.
“True or false: most Christian pastors and counselors agree on what forgiveness is and how it should take place.” This question is part of Chris Brauns’s Forgiveness Quiz that draws readers into his book and gets them thinking about the subject of forgiveness. The truth is, pastors and counselors disagree profoundly on this subject. Unpacking Forgiveness combines sound theological thinking and honesty about the complicated questions many face to provide readers with a solid understanding of biblical forgiveness.
Only God’s Word can unpack forgiveness. The wounds are too deep for us to find healing on our own, and the questions are too complex to be unraveled by anything but the wisdom of God. This book goes beyond a feel–good doctrine of automatic forgiveness, balancing the beauty of God’s grace and the necessity of forgiveness with the teaching that forgiveness must take place in a way that is consistent with justice.
