What is our Culture?

Sunday, 8 February 2026 by

Bernard Gabbott - Sunday, 8 February 2026

What is our Culture?

‘Culture’ is as simple as ‘the way we do stuff around here’. It covers not just what a mob of people do, but also why they do those things. It covers both what a mob proclaims (about who they are) and what they practice (how they live it out). Every mob of people has one. It is worth thinking about our culture as we start the year. And that is the purpose of this short two-week series. This week, we are looking at our ‘Titus-culture’ – the culture we have inwardly, as God’s mob, who do life together. At the heart of this culture, which we see Titus establishing in Crete, is ‘sound teaching’ – the good news of God’s salvation in Jesus, which creates a people for God that are completely transformed. This ‘sound teaching’ is preserved, nurtured, passed on across generations, as men and women meet together, talk together, and encourage each other. It is the proclamation that creates the practice that is ‘the way we do stuff around here’.

Scripture References: Titus 2:1-15, Psalms 133:1-3, Deuteronomy 6:1-8

From Series: "Culture"

More From "Culture"

Powered by Series Engine

Sunday, 8 March 2026
Getting John the Baptist Right
from Warwick Stiller
As we continue down the hallway of John’s Gospel, we encounter another character that leads us to the main dwelling. John the Baptist is a familiar figure to most of us, often because of his strange behaviours, strange dress and strange diet! However, John doesn’t even mention these things in his account. Why? In John’s prologue he simply says “There was a man named John who was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him”. In today’s passage we discover who John the Baptist is, what his job is and why it is critical that we get him right so that we can get Jesus right.
Sunday, 1 March 2026
The Floorplans
from Bernard Gabbott
If John 1:1-18 is the hallway into the home that is John’s Gospel, then John 20:30-31 is the reason the house was built. John is explicitly clear about why he wrote. And his reason revolves around four truths. First, Jesus did a lot of ‘signs’ (public acts that show the significance of God), but John only recorded these ones. Second, John recorded these signs for the purpose of ‘believing’ – that his readers might know and trust a key truth. Third, this key truth is the identity of Jesus: he is God’s appointed and chosen saviour of the world, who is truly the Son of God. Fourth, this truth believed in gives life, both now and forevermore. With these two parts in place – the hallway into the house, and the reason the house was built this way, we can now begin to unpack John’s Gospel!
Sunday, 22 February 2026
The Hallway
from Bernard Gabbott
John’s Gospel is a little different to the other three Gospels. Remember that ‘gospel’ means ‘good news announcement’. And remember that the four Gospels are ‘good news biographies’ (g.n.b.) of Jesus. As John’s g.n.b. begins, we take a walk, if you like, down a long hallway. It is kind of like entering a hobbithole (for those who love ‘Lord of the Rings’) – a long hallway, with rooms and artifacts off each side, leading to the main dwelling. In this sense, John’s ‘prologue’ (1:1-18) is a long hallway into the main account. And here, in this hallway, all the main themes and ideas are laid out as we begin to consider the key question of John’s g.n.b.: ‘Who is Jesus?’ You see, once we have answered that question, then the succeeding question is clear: ‘What does this mean – what should we do with him?’