In a world where we fail to live up to the perfect standards we set for ourselves, let alone the standards God might set for individuals, churches, nations ... how could we ever be right with God? And what's this got to do with the spiritual fight in the unseen realm?

As we move through a passage in the New Testament about spiritual armour, we get to the first item on the list - a belt of truth. What might it mean to wrap truth around us for spiritual battles?

Samson is this legendary (infamous) figure in the Old Testament, famous for being super strong and voilent, for his weakness with women and for random killing sprees. But he is used supernaturally by the Spirit of God. So - in this podcast we ask: "If God seems to be moving through me or my church, does that mean we have got things right?". We'll compare Samson to King David, and keep asking that question, and we will see where it lands us.

Jesus told a parable (riddle) to one of his closest disciples when he asked how often he should forgive someone. The answer implied we should never withhold forgiveness, and then the riddle confirmed that. So - here we fuse together Jesus' clear teaching that we should forgive from the heart, with his other teaching about the need to repent and turn away from things that are wrong. If we forgive, where is the justice for the wrong things done to us? And what should our response be to those who do, indeed, keep on wronging us?

Right at the start of Luke's account of the life of Jesus there's a song sung seemingly spontaneously by an old Priest. He has been childless all his life, and when he's nearing retirement, he is given a gift of a child. The child grows up to become John the Baptist. The Priest (Zechariah) bursts into song when the boy is named, and its a song that's also a prophecy. But is it also a prophecy for who people of faith are meant to be in the here and now?

Here's a little extra - it's just the spoken word poem from the end of the S4, E4 podcast.

The way we live and the things we say are directly impacted by the things we believe. Here we allow a 2,000 year old letter from a man called Paul to help us think about how we learn to love by changing our beliefs about who humanity is and what our place in the world is.