As worship expands our understanding of God, we will discover God is “big enough” for all that happens in our lives – and for us. In fact, worship – having put God in God’s rightful place – puts us in our place, as well – where we discover forgiveness enabling repentance. That leads us to an intimacy with God, enabling us to hear the invitation to mission – and to respond.
By Bill Dogterom
In this last sermon of our values series, we looked at the NOW side of the kingdom, specifically in how - since Jesus' first instruction to his disciples - healing was always given to be a sign of it. It’s very simple: praying for healing is part of what it is to follow Jesus, so let’s learn how to do it together. The talk ends with a huge number of personal stories from within our community so prepare to have your mind-blown and faith expanded.
Grasping the tension of our Christian existence is crucial to a mature, Christian life - there is no other way around it. Jesus taught us that his kingdom had arrived and that it was still a way off. We are old man flesh, being changed by the spirit, more and more into the new AND we are already new creations. Jesus knows who we are and where we live! When Paul first arrived in Corinth, we see how badly he needed reminding of this too. The Now/Not Yet paradigm isn’t just a piece of theology, it will pervade every aspect of our personhood if we allow it to.
We were made for experience and the Bible is a book of countless peoples' experience of the one true God. And yet for many, their Christian faith has become more about belief and behavior than experience. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit being poured out on all believers. He meets us as a felt experience and a powerful experience. He renews and empowers. There is always more of him. And the more full of him we are, the more we will live the lives we were created for. So, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
By Ed Flint
The new church of Jewish believers in Acts saw tremendous things, but before it even spread from Jerusalem, there were problems. The reunification of disparate tribes was proving predictably tough. But in just a few verses we see how, being full of the spirit and wisdom, the pain of the past, and the problems of the present are transformed. Our brains are wired for division and hierarchy. But the gospel changes that forever.
Before bread was even a church, people connected with the idea of bread have been incredibly generous towards it. We want to continue that marker of generosity in everything we do.
This should be no surprise. To be a Christian is to be generous: it is who we are. The more we experience God’s grace - his unmerited generosity - the more generous we become. The key is having him as our bottomline, as opposed to money, or success, or anything else.
When we operate from grace, our giving becomes active and regular, rather than passive and irregular. And the benefits are invaluable- God's glory and His kingdom extended in our lives and all the lives of those connected to us.
By Ed Flint
Worship is innate to all of God’s creation including all of us as human beings. We reflect God’s glory by simply existing. But it’s also a choice. When we choose to enter into God’s presence in worship we in faith acknowledge who God is and what he is like. We can’t necessarily make God more visible to us but we can make ourselves more visible to him.
So, by being honest about where we’re at in worship; surrendering our anger, our fear, our worries, our joy and sadness to him, he meets us as he is- our all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing God, and as we are, his dearly loved creation made to be with him.
By Tavia Grubbs
In this talk, we explore the profound truth of our worthiness as beings created in God's image. Just as Eve succumbed to the lie of inadequacy, many of us believe we're not enough, striving to earn love and belonging. This struggle is compounded by societal influences like racism and misogyny, as well as clever marketing campaigns convincing us we aren't quite enough.
However, God's unconditional love assures us of our inherent worth. From this foundation, we're empowered to navigate life's challenges, free from the need to prove our worthiness. Join us as we discover the liberating truth: worthiness is our birthright.
By Anthony McLean
The importance of rest is instituted in the very first verses of the Bible. After six days of creation, God rests. We, as people made in his image, are called to rest like him. Sabbath is more than just a day off each week. Sabbath means to stop, rest - but also to delight in creation, worship God and receive from him. A regular weekly rhythm of rest is essential for us to live as the images of God we were created to be.
By Ed Flint
The goal of any church is to build the kingdom of God. And that can best be done when we work together as a team. What it means to be part of a team is demonstrated brilliantly by Barnabas in the book of Acts. Barnabas was a wonderful encourager. And we can be too. Encouragement dispels fear, promotes grace, releases potential and restores the fallen. Bread has had some excellent encouragers down the years. Let’s continue! The more we receive the encouragement of God, whose spirit is the Great Encourager, the more we will be empowered to encourage one another.
By Ed Flint
Easter is about hope: the sure, concrete, touchable hope that is found in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It’s a hope based in his power (he swallows up death forever) and based in his kindness (he wipes every tear from all faces). Easter declares Jesus as Lord of all, which sets us free from having to bear the burden of being our own lord. His lordship sets us free to worship and surrender and be made alive by his power and in his kindness.
By Ed Flint
Humans have always divided themselves into “us and them”, for the sake of belonging and safety. The goal of the Kingdom, however, is not to strengthen your group at the expense of another. It’s the difficult work of expanding “us”.
In this passage, Paul radically defends against the type of faith that includes a small print. He says there are no disclaimers to the Gospel. It is a free gift received by faith alone. We are in a new era, a new Kingdom, and it’s good news for everyone, period.
In this talk, we discuss the things that cause division, and the challenge to be the type of community that is infused with grace.
By Tavia Grubbs
It’s some of the densest, Pauliest, grittiest stuff we find in the New Testament, but chapter 3 of his letter to the church in Galatia is where Paul gets right to it: the entire story, the whole point, every bit of the law and the covenant show that it was always faith that He asked for.
From the beginning, He was a God who wanted to dwell among His people, and His plans for their rescue never changed.
By Hannah Flint
Our beliefs govern our behavior. Paul confronts Peter who has stopped believing in the fullness of the grace of Jesus. As a result, his behavior has become divisive and hypocritical. Paul reminds him and us of the truths of the gospel. When we believe the correct thing about God, ourselves, and the world, godly behavior will follow. We become people not bound by the law, but free to live lives of faith and of the Spirit.
By Ed Flint
With the noise and pressure mounting from others for the Galatians to take upon themselves more than just the grace of Jesus, Paul knows a secret: the grace of God is enough. It is enough to lead all of us on a journey into freedom - freedom from the prejudices of others, and ultimately freedom from the judgments we place upon ourselves. Simply stated, the gift of God’s grace is freedom.
By Matt Yeoman
Do you know that you’re called? Do you know what you’re called to? It’s usually a subject that often raises some difficult feelings for many, for different reasons...
Paul understood his call in very simple terms: he was chosen by God to fulfill an ancient promise that the gospel of Jesus grace would go out to the gentiles. Not by them being brought into the Jewish way of life, but by Jesus spreading out and permeating there’s (which was causing quite the rift.) His willingness to accept the cost of his call brings us to a very important truth: we have different gifts, talents and work to do, but our call in Jesus is never really about us. It’s about being His witnesses, and loving Him enough to follow wherever He will lead.
By Hannah Flint
Alpha is a six week course exploring the big questions of life. It’s for anyone interested in discussing spirituality, god and the christian faith, in a non-judgmental open-minded context. Each week there’s a great meal, a short talk, and discussion in small groups. People who come to the course are from lots of different backgrounds - no faith, other faiths, brought up christian, and agnostic. Everyone is welcome. Catch up on each week’s talk here.
There is no more important word for a Christian than the word ‘grace’. It is the beginning, middle and end of the Christian life. Its vital importance is seen in how passionately Paul responds to the Galatians who have had the gospel of grace polluted with gracelessness. We are all susceptible to doing something similar. So let us have the same no-holds-barred response of Paul. We should take no prisoners in our battle to hold the shocking grace of Jesus, in all his unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness, and unconditional rescue of us, at the very heart of our lives.
By Ed Flint
Alpha is a six week course exploring the big questions of life. It’s for anyone interested in discussing spirituality, god and the christian faith, in a non-judgmental open-minded context. Each week there’s a great meal, a short talk, and discussion in small groups. People who come to the course are from lots of different backgrounds - no faith, other faiths, brought up christian, and agnostic. Everyone is welcome. Catch up on each week’s talk here.
In this final talk on Moses, we look at how Moses passes leadership on to his successor Joshua. We, like Moses, are called to do all we can to help the next generation of leaders emerge, and to do all we can to help them succeed. And, like Joshua, we’re called to develop both our gifts and character so that we can best step up into leadership when the opportunity and God’s call come. The challenge for all of us is like Moses - to find younger leaders we can invest in; and like Joshua - be the sort of person more mature leaders want to develop. The kingdom of God is, fundamentally a kingdom of people. So when our attitude is, ‘How can I best develop my gifts to serve others, whilst working to help others thrive so they can best serve too?’ God’s kingdom grows.
By Ed Flint
