This sermon, titled "Living on the Edge – Faith and Resources," was delivered by Nick Lugg at Meadowhead Christian Fellowship in Sheffield. It serves as a spiritual launchpad for 2026, challenging the congregation to move beyond mere belief into active, dependent trust in God. Sermon Summary As the church stands at the threshold of a new year, Nick Lugg explores the concept of "living on the edge"—the space where human certainty ends and divine provision begins. He argues that while standing at the edge of the unknown can be unsettling, it is the only environment in which true faith can grow. Using the context of the church's upcoming building projects (146 development) and the personal financial struggles he experienced as a missionary in Zambia, Nick emphasizes that God often intentionally pushes His people to the edge of their resources to teach them dependence. He defines a maturing faith through three distinct qualities: Generosity: Choosing to live open-handedly even when resources seem scarce, confronting the fear of "not having enough" with the reality of God’s goodness. Resilience: Refusing to interpret difficulty as God’s absence, instead asking how a challenge is an invitation to trust Him more deeply. Courage: Moving forward in obedience despite feeling afraid, focusing on the next faithful step rather than the entire path. The message concludes with a call to stop relying on bank balances or personal talents and to put one's hand into the hand of God, stepping into 2026 with an "honest" faith that makes space for the miraculous. Quoted Bible Passages (NIV) Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Philippians 4:11-12 "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Full Transcript Nick Lugg: Amen. Bit of a mixed-up day today. It's great that we've been able to share communion together. Obviously, there are things that we pray for. Great to hear encouragement from Mel there as well about how God has been sustaining her. But it's also—I want to speak this morning on the title... it sounds very grand: "Living on the Edge – Faith and Resources." I think when I say "living on the edge," many people will know what that means. We can feel like we're sometimes toppling over the edge. But I just want to spend a few minutes bringing some thoughts about what it means to live on the edge and what it means to grow in faith as we step into a new year. So let's pray again, shall we? Father, we thank you for your word. Pray that you'll bring it alive in our hearts, bring it alive in me, that I might be able to communicate what I know is on your heart for us as a church, for me, for all of us as a community. Lord Jesus, I pray that this would be a year of growth, a year of learning the reality of what it means to trust in you. And so we place it all into your hands. We just ask that you'll speak to us this morning, in Jesus' name. Amen. [Offering segment omitted for the summary; see audio for details.] So, as I said, I want to speak on living on the edge, faith and resources. This is a standalone, like a one-off thing that I want to speak about. I've planned this for a little while. And then next week, we're going to start a series on John's Gospel. It's actually two years since we started Genesis. And only about six months since we finished it. So that was a great exercise and a journey through Genesis. And many times, you know, we found that although there was biblical history and there were things that we learned by looking back thousands of years, we also see the reality of Jesus coming through those pages. We learned a lot about our faith and our response to Jesus today through looking at the first book in the Bible. But one of the things we want to do for the next few weeks and months is focus on John's Gospel, which has a very clear focus on Jesus himself—the actual account of Jesus' life and ministry and his death and resurrection. So we're going to spend some time in John's Gospel and make resources available if groups want to use them as well, so that we don't just have the 20-25 minutes we have on a Sunday, but we can have, as a church community, wherever we gather, an opportunity to look into what God is saying to us through those things. So that will start next week. But today, as I said, I want to speak on living on the edge, faith and resources. So we're on the edge. We're on the edge of a new year. It's always an interesting place to stand. You know, I'm old enough to remember the millennium and the millennium bug and all the chaos that it didn't cause, but the... and all the fireworks that went off for the first time. I think more or less the first time we had all those fireworks. Now it's every year. We've got these massive millions and millions of pounds going off, everybody celebrating, and there's almost a question of, well, we're not quite sure what we're celebrating. It's just like lots of bangs and flashes and "oh, it's a new year, how exciting it is." But for people of faith, it really is... it's nothing different from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day in actual reality, but it is important for us to stand and to reflect sometimes. And so for some, it is exciting, a feeling of fresh starts, new possibilities. For others, it can be unsettling—unanswered questions, unresolved pressure, uncertainty about what lies ahead. And often it's both at the same time, isn't it? So it can be standing on the edge of the unknown, which isn't always a very comfortable place to stand. Christmas 1939, as Britain faced the Second World War, King George VI quoted a poem in his Christmas speech, and it captured that moment. And these words—you may know them, but if you haven't heard them, I'm going to read them now. It said: "And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied: 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'" "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of Go1d. That shall be to you better2 than light and safer than a known way." So our circumstances are different than 1939. Some would have you think they're not that different, but they certainly are different. But the principle is the same. And one thing as I prepared this, I wanted to emphasize is that I believe that 2026 is not just a year for us to continue our belief in God. You know, we believe in God, we're a church, we come together Sunday by Sunday, we worship, we hear His word, and we go and we live our lives. It's not just about believing in God, but it is a year to put our faith in Him. To really lean on Him, to trust Him, to depend on Him, not knowing all the answers in advance. And it's a really powerful question to ask ourselves: are we ready for that? Are we ready not just to say "I believe in Jesus," but actually "I will trust Him. I will trust Him with everything that makes my life what it is and makes our life what it is as a church." Will we trust Him and allow Him to take us beyond that which we know and beyond that which we can see? Because faith grows where certainty ends. And as a church, we know that God is calling us to big things. We know that we've got the development of 146—God willing, all of that will begin to develop much faster now we come into the new year and builders come back from their holidays and all of that. We're praying and believing for greater impact in our community. We want to see the Gospel changing lives. Not just touching people to say "oh, that's a nice church," but actually "this Jesus has changed my life from the inside out." And that is a sustaining transformation. That isn't just a flash in the pan of people saying "oh, this was great, I had a good experience in the church," but actually it's a lifelong transformation. That's what we want to see in our lives and in the lives of our community. And we want growing clarity about God's vision for our future. Why is it that God has placed us here? We can say we have a mission to our community, we have a mission to Jordanthorpe, Batemoor, we have a mission to Sheffield, but what does that really mean? What does that really look like? What is God calling us to be? And how is He calling us to shape ourselves? And as we grapple with those questions, we know that none of them come with guarantees. And for many individuals and families, 2026 already feels uncertain. You're looking and you're not sure. There's change on the horizon. Things are moving, things are shifting. Faith doesn't mean certainty about events. It can be certain of things we hope for, certain of things we do not see, but not certainty about events or certainty about the way things will work out. And in Proverbs it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," because faith begins where our understanding runs out. We love to understand everything, don't we? Love to have a handle on everything and say "I know," that's why we... fear and insecurity makes us controlling. We try and control everything, and faith teaches us that we can't, but we can trust in Jesus. Psalm 23 doesn't promise that we avoid the valley, but it says "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." So the comfort of God's presence is discover
