What does it mean to lose our souls? How do we get it back when it’s gone? The soul is the core of a person. It’s the soul which yearns for more of God. When we’ve been disconnected from God it’s our soul that misses him. It can ache if it goes too long without him.
This tends to happen when our desires have been left unchecked. Desires, as opposed to needs - like food, shelter, warmth etc - will always have the potential to consume us because they can never be satisfied. And the more we desire, the more our desires are unmet. The more unmet desires we have the more we grow agitated, competitive and aggressive.
The Psalmist encourages us back from the chaos of unmet desires, to putting our hope in God once more. He is not something to be desired, but he is who we need. He alone satisfies all our longing. This is a call to come back to him once more.
Where Help Comes From – Freedom from Shame
We kicked off this new series by remembering first what the psalms were for. They were the ‘hymnbook’ of the Jewish people, sung and recited at every gathering and worship service, which shows us that to them, worship was more then praise and gratitude, it was the full gamut of all human emotion. Many of them were written by King David, who embodied what Israel knew itself to be: called and broken.
Psalm 32 is the perfect confession prayer for this condition - a condition that we share too: called and broken. And it builds to a declaration of what God called David, because of Jesus, we get to be called too: righteous. But as a starting place, we have to truly believe that being disconnected from self, other, and God himself (or the condition of ’shame’ as it’s more widely known) was never ever ever what God wants for us to feel. This can be the hardest part for many of us (especially if the church has historically been the place where we’ve experienced shame the most) but it’s true: God never ever wants you to feel shame.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – Mercy & Justice
As people of God's Kingdom, how should we interact with the world around us? the Bible says two almost paradoxical things; 1. This world will pass away, 2. This world is being redeemed. Living with this tension allows us to be both hopeful about and engaged in the world (God’s kingdom is here to redeem it), as well as not controlled by or conformed to it (God’s kingdom will eventually supersede this world). The presence of the kingdom now means not only can we experience God's justice and mercy for ourselves, but we can bring them to a world in need. The kingdom is for everyone, but it is always particularly powerfully present for those most in need - where Jesus is king there is justice for the downtrodden, mercy for those who have not experience mercy, healing for the hurting, abundance for those in poverty, deliverance for the oppressed, and loved for the unloved and unloveable. Lastly, hear from Raul (bread’s community engagement pastor) about the ways you can get involved in bringing mercy and justice in the community.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – Everyone Gets To Play
The kingdom Jesus establishes is one of transformative power - power from God that is given to each and everyone of us. Embracing who we are as inhertors of the kingdom means embracing that we have dynamic culture-transforming roles to play. The kingdom is also one of diversity. No two kingdom people are the same - we are individually gifted - and part of maturing as Christians is identifying and expressing our individual gifts for the good of God’s kingdom.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – Lifestyle Of The Future
What does it mean to live the kingdom lifestyle? The Sermon on the mount is the closest thing we have to the manifesto, but if we were to make that the moral standard, no one could ever hope to enter the kingdom of God. The good news is that’s not how it works. Jesus is not describing a new set of rules, he’s describing what happens to us when we pass out of the present age, enter his kingdom, and start to live as people of the age to come. This is what heaven looks like. And heavenly people, sons and daughters of the kingdom, which is already here in part, have undergone a revolution of their whole way of being.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – The Methods Of The Messengers
The good news of the kingdom was always, in every instruction Jesus gave, supposed to be accompanied by the signs of the kingdom. This is the way we were always called to announce it. Which means, for us, exactly the same thing it meant for his disciples and the early church... healing the sick, casting out demons, and showing in all the ways that Jesus did, what it looks like in his kingdom: creation restored, division destroyed, racism refused, broken bodies put back together, and all the powers of death destroyed. There are valid reasons to explain why we may not have seen it, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have every reason to get our beliefs about them in check, and start, together to have faith for more.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – Confronted With Grace
The parables of Jesus are more than just nice stories, they’re announcements of God’s kingdom being inaugurated on earth. If we’re to understand these parables, we’ve gotta ask ‘what is Jesus announcing about the kingdom?’ This is the guiding question in reading the parable of the Lost Sons from Luke 15. What we find in the story is grace confronts the lost sons, it’s how they can enter the father’s house. Like them, we enter the kingdom by grace – it breaks through to people who do not deserve it. In the kingdom, identities are returned, pain is taken away, joy is restored and we have communion with the King. The lost are found and the dead are made alive again – it all results in joy and celebration. The question we’re left is, what will we do with this kind of scandelous grace?
People In Search Of A Kingdom – The End Has Begun
Jesus is the king that we’ve all been waiting for and his kingdom has come. It’s implications can be felt in every nook and cranny of our lives: when he is king he liberates those who have been held back from all religious, societal, political and familial oppression. His inauguration of the kingdom is an end of world event. It causes us to rejoice for the future is definitively settled. This means we don’t need to be anxious. But instead we can be filled with joy.
People In Search Of A Kingdom - Living In The Interim
Jesus began his ministry and immediately demonstrated - with miraculous signs (over nature and sickness and death and evil) and very clear statements - that he was the one they were waiting for. It didn’t happen like anyone was expecting, however. This is one of the most mind-bending aspects of our faith; that we live in the in-between time, where Jesus life, death and resurrection ushered in a new era, before another has fully ended, and it might not seem like the most theologically relevant point you’ve ever heard a talk on, but actually an accurate understanding of the age we live in impacts everything - from what god is like, to what’s the point in prayer, to what he really thinks about purpose.
People In Search Of A Kingdom – Old Testament Picture of the Kingdom
The kingdom of God is at the heart of the biblical story and the Christian life. Without a full immersion in the theology and experience of the kingdom, our Christian lives will always feel deficient. This is a series challenging us to embrace the kingdom, so we might live life to its fullness. As we begin, we consider the picture of kingdom life from Old Testament. Solomon’s early reign saw a golden age of kingdom living: there is peace and prosperity; worship, celebration, art, science and abundance. It provides a taste of the kingdom to come. The challenge for us is to allow Jesus to be the King in all aspects of our lives. When he is, the kingdom necessarily breaks forth.
1 John - This is the Message - Of God's Deep Compassion
As we wrap up 1 John, we take a fresh look at John the Beloved. Why does it matter that he saw himself as “the one Jesus loved”? Perhaps it’s connected with the reality of the depth of God’s womb-like compassion for his children…and that, says 1 John, is what we are! When we reflect on 1 John in light of the gospel account of John, there’s a richness to the character of Jesus that we see more clearly. We are invited to look closer at the power of the Spirit, of testimony, and one final “p.s.” of 1 John 5.
1 John - This is the Message - To Overcome
In a pluralistic society, there are many ideas and narratives competing with the gospel for our trust and devotion. So how are we to respond? Rather than fighting back, withdrawing or giving in to these, we overcome by relying on Jesus and surrendering to his Kingdom. When we seek Jesus and his Kingdom, all the details of our lives are taken care of. We'll find that he is worthy of our trust because he knows us and his Kingdom is one that cannot be shaken. When we seek his Kingdom all the other competing stories and ideas lose power because King Jesus outshines the rest.
1 John - This is the Message - Of Love
We’re given the imperative to love one another but we must first ask ‘what is love?’ Most of human history has shown that we’re often still scrambling in the dark for an answer. While there may be many opinions and definitions of love, Jesus is the source, embodiment, and culmination of love. When we receive his love ongoingly, we can really love as we’re supposed to – not just in talk but in action. This kind of love is risky but in it we become fully alive, fully ourselves, and undeniably connected to the One who loves us.
1 John - This is the Message - Obedience
Obedience - a word destined to elicit a whole bunch of feelings in people, not usually positive ones! Nevertheless we’re called to obedience to Jesus. Yet so often what obedience is and how it works has been misunderstood. For many it seems impossibly onerous. But true obedience flows from intimacy with God - the more we are connected to him, the more we necessarily follow his guidance. So our prayer should be not ‘help me be more obedient’ but ‘help me be more connected’. As we draw closer to him, his commands stop being burdensome.
1 John - This is the Message - Of Truth
What does truth even mean anymore? It’s personal. It’s relative. Yours is none of my business and mine none of yours. But if who Jesus is, and what he did isn’t ‘true’ true, then what are we even doing here at church? This actually isn’t such a new conversation. As it spread across the region, early churches were rife with those who wanted to change or own it it make it a bit more like their own beliefs. Sometimes it’s quite important to ask what the difference between being true, and being right (because the funny thing with grace is… it never ever needs to be right)
Ruth - THE story of love.
Concluding our series on Ruth, we consider the role of hesed in our lives. Hesed is not just being kind- it’s an extraordinary, risky, honourable loving kindness that is so potent as to change people’s circumstances forever. We can all be and are called to be people of hesed. God acts through our kindness to one another. But to grow in it we must receive it too- the more we receive Gods life changing kindness the more we can give it away to those in need.
Ruth - a 21st century model of what now?
Ruth arrives in Israel - having pledged her life to Naomi - not just as an outsider, not just as a destitute woman, but as a Moabite, she is despised. As a loyal, self-denying woman she may seem like a role model of immigrant subservience we don’t really need right now, but looking a little deeper we see her courageous leadership is what opens the door to everything else. Ruth is called Woman of Valor (the OG OT highest praise) before any of her circumstances actually change though. So this story teaches us about how god loves to do that, and how he loves to use the ones everyone else rights off, and how his loving-kindness is to be the fuel of everything we ever do as christians.
Alpha Return - Be Filled
Wrapping up Alpha weekend, we see that Jesus immerses us in the Holy Spirit. When filled with the Spirit, we know ourselves as God's beloved children and his joy. From that place we are empowered to do what Jesus did and so much more. God shares himself with us so we can be the 'little Christs' that we are in our communities. Anything that holds us back can be left by the wayside as we come to him however and wherever we are. We were made for this.
Money Talks - part 2
Money in the bible is depicted neither as being all bad nor as all good. There is both a light side and a dark side to it. Christian maturity is about holding these sometimes paradoxical sides of money’s power together in tension. Used in the right way, money can actually bring us closer to God. As we give away what God has given us we are in fact giving something of ourselves back to him and we can enjoy his nearness, freedom and pleasure in turn. We want bread to be a community of reckless generosity in all things. Generosity is good for us and it is good for our world.
Money Talks
Why is it so many of us find it uncomfortable talking about money in church? Because we’ve had bad experiences with church ‘fundraising’? Because we don’t like what we’ve been taught before? Or because thinking about our relationship with money in church makes us feel uncomfortable things? Probably a bit yes to all those. (NB if you are one of the rare fish who LIKES money talks, teach us your ways!) Jesus taught about it a lot, because he knew it’s power over us, and like all power that isn’t his, he wants us to know how to be free from it. And like always always always, it starts with knowing his goodness.