Title: Comfortably Numb: Waking Up from Lukewarm Christianity
Speaker: Pastor Ben Smith
Date: 14th January 2026
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Summary

“We don’t want to be a people who are comfortably numb.” A Pink Floyd lyric turns up in an unlikely place here, and it lands. The subject is lukewarm Christianity, approached through two passages: Jesus warning that love would grow cold as lawlessness increased, and his blunt verdict on the church at Laodicea, a fellowship so comfortable it had decided it was doing just fine.

The name Laodicea means power of the people, and that is offered as the clue to what went wrong. A group can end up led by the mood of the room rather than by God’s word and still feel entirely settled about it. The answer sits in the next verse: the one who endures to the end will be saved. Endurance does not earn salvation, but it is what faithfulness looks like stretched over years, and it is thin on the ground in a throwaway culture where marriages and commitments get dropped faster than they get repaired.

Hebrews adds the practical edge: give earnest heed, so that what you have heard does not quietly slip away. That turns into a question worth asking often. Am I more zealous than I used to be, or less? Zeal and repentance are where revival has always started, ground also covered in Enduring to the end.

Key Points

• Jesus listed increasing lawlessness and love growing cold among the signs that would mark the time before his return.
• The church at Laodicea was judged lukewarm, and comfort was the likely cause. A settled socioeconomic climate led them to conclude they were fine when they were not.
• Laodicea means power of the people, a fellowship steered by the general mood rather than by God’s word.
• Endurance does not earn salvation. If it did, salvation could be worked for. Endurance is what faithfulness looks like over the long haul.
• Commitment is getting harder in a throwaway culture, and people walk away from marriages and fellowships rather than resolve what needs resolving.
• The warnings against slackening off were written into the early letters, which suggests the concern was live even then.
• Letting things slip is discouraging well beyond the person it happens to, and holding steady has the opposite effect.
• Repentance and zeal are the conditions revival has always come out of, and comfort is what dulls both.

Reference Scriptures

• Matthew 24:12-13
• Revelation 3:14-22
• John 14:15
• John 13:34-35
• Hebrews 2:1-3
• Hebrews 10:25-26
• 1 Corinthians 10:12
• Hebrews 12:1

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Title: Dressed For Battle
Speaker: Pastor Ben Smith
Date: 10th May 2026
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Summary: “The strength that we find in the Lord by the Spirit comes from the softness of the attributes of the Spirit, not the hardness.” This episode takes a close look at the armour of God in Ephesians 6, and why God’s approach to spiritual warfare looks nothing like what we might expect.

Drawing from Ephesians 6, Isaiah, the Psalms, and the story of David and Goliath, the episode works through each piece of the armour and explains what it actually is and where it comes from. The girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the rest are not things we manufacture or maintain on our own. They are given to us, and their power comes not from human force or strategy, but from the character of God Himself.

The episode also follows the people of Judah, who were offered the quiet waters of Shiloah but chose military alliance instead, and paid for it. That contrast between trusting God’s provision and reaching for worldly strength runs through the whole message. When Hezekiah led Israel to rest in God rather than fight in their own strength, they won without lifting a finger. The same principle holds today.

Key Points:

• Spiritual battles cannot be won with carnal methods. Trying to fight them that way means defeat before you start.
• The armour of God is not your armour. Every piece of it, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, comes from God and is received, not earned.
• Strength in spiritual warfare comes through softness, prayer, trust, and the Spirit, not through force, arguments, or self-reliance.

Reference Scriptures:

• Ephesians 6:10-18
• Isaiah 11:1-5
• Isaiah 59:16-17
• Isaiah 8:5-8
• Isaiah 30:7, 15
• Psalm 18:30-35
• 1 Samuel 17:38-40
• 2 Chronicles 32:8
• John 9 (Pool of Siloam)
• Hebrews 13:7

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Title: Find The Truth In God’s Word
Speaker: Pastor Ben Smith
Date: 20th July 2025
Location: Vancouver, Canada

This episode focuses on the power of God working in our lives through His Spirit, especially in a world filled with confusion, misinformation, and distraction. The speaker contrasts the uncertainty of modern life—shaped by technology, media, and conflicting voices—with the unchanging truth and peace that come from God’s Spirit.

Drawing from Proverbs, Philippians, and other scriptures, the message emphasizes that the real battle is not of the mind but of the heart. When we give our hearts to God, He provides discernment, peace, and stability that human reasoning alone cannot achieve. The talk concludes with a reminder of the biblical foundation of salvation: repentance, water baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

3 Key Takeaways

• The world offers confusion, but God offers peace and clarity through His Spirit.
• The true solution to anxiety, division, and doubt begins with giving our hearts to God, not just reasoning with our minds.
• Salvation is found in repentance, baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, confirmed by speaking in tongues as experienced in Acts 2.

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Title: The Church Built Upon The Rock
Speaker: Pastor Ben Smith
Date: 16th March 2025
Location: Vancouver, Canada

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Title: God’s way for families
Speaker: Pastor Ben Smith
Date: 28th July 2024
Location: Vancouver, Canada

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