On Sunday 2nd November we answered the question, after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension what is the true role of the Holy Spirit who he sent? We answered this question by looking at what Tim Murray considers to be the top five works of the Holy Spirit, and we noted that the work we see in the New Testament is still the same today.
CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK'S MESSAGE if you missed it
Listen to the message on Acts 2 that Tim mentioned
Listen to Tom's message that Tim mentioned
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If only we could say, here is everything you need to know about the Holy Spirit, but unfortunately it's just not that simple!
On Sunday 26th October we moved from Empowered to the first in a two part series specifically on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Doctrine might sound like a scary word, but it just means putting together all that the Bible reveals about something in an ordered way.
1. The Holy Spirit is truly God and a divine person
2. The Holy Spirit is the 'giver of life', that's his role in the Trinity.
Find out more about Unravelling
Check out our teaching on the Apostles' Creed
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
God is very real.
On Sunday 19th October we read from Acts and learnt about the holiness of God, the power of his presence and how the presence of God brings to the surface salvation. Fear of God doesn't mean being afraid of him, rather it's a recognition of the reality of God and his power. God is much more real than we often think he is. We all need to know God's salvation.
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
Can the gospel cope with pressure?*
On Sunday 12th October Tom preached on Acts 4:1-34, themed boldness and resistance.
When faced with resistance we must respond the same way the disciples did, with prayer and with boldness.
WATCH this message in video form
*Spoiler alert, we think this chapter says it can!
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On Sunday 5th October we returned to our series, Empowered. We looked at the passage in Acts 3 about the healing of the man by the beautiful gate and how that and Peter's speech point to Jesus and repentance. Dave also shared really vulnerably and honestly about experiences of healing, and lack of, in his life. For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
On Sunday 28th September we were really excited to welcome Derek and Penny to our service and it was great to hear from them ahead of our trip to Kenya next month.WATCH this in video form
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So often, life is all about me, myself and I. But what if it's not just about me, it's about us?
Holy Spirit coming should reshape community life resulting in both individual transformation and collective transformation. We belong to each other as much as we are our own individual selves.
On Sunday 21st September, Adrian read from Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:34-37 and spoke about God's Power should shape our collective life.
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On Sunday 14th September we continued our new series, Empowered, and looked at how the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 was the fulfilment of promises. Understanding Jesus and the New Testament only makes sense in the light of the Old Testament. Similarly for us today, our experience of the church now is definitively marked by the day of Pentecost.
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
On Sunday 7th September, Tim Barton started our new series 'Empowered' on The Acts of the Apostles.
What is the book of Acts about? It documents the Acts of the Apostles (the early church) and it's a sequel. A sequel needs the heart and meaning of the original and also to expand it into something bigger and something new. Acts is the sequel to the gospel of Luke and it starts with some flashbacks, as any good sequel should.
This week we learnt that God has called us to be his witnesses and that God empowers us for this witness.
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
On Sunday 17th August Ben Willmott read Job 28 and spoke about the beautiful world God made, how we have been created as unique with a purpose, and he finished on the value of wisdom.For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
Isn’t the Bible inconclusive?
What the Bible does or doesn’t say about sex, marriage and sexuality is contested. Some Christians would disagree with the “Christian worldview” that we’ve presented in Unravelling. In particular, there are disagreements about the way we should read the Bible, including the handful of passages that do seem to mention gay sex. In this video, we have a discussion with Ian Paul (both a Christian minister and a biblical scholar) about why Christians disagree over these texts and how they are best understood.WATCH this podcast in video form!
To get the most out of this podcast it's important that you've caught up with all the previous content as we will be referencing things from it.Unravelling Culture
Unravelling SexYou can find all our Unravelling material here
Isn’t Christianity Oppressive?
If sex in a Christian worldview is held together with marriage, sexual differentiation and children (see 4.2), then what does this mean for gay people? Isn’t it an inherently oppressive position that denies gay people love, the pleasures of sex, companionship and family life? How is it fair to expect gay people to live in life-long abstinence just because they have different sexual desires to straight people? In this podcast Simon Byrne joins us to discuss these questions and more.
WATCH this podcast in video form!
To get the most out of this podcast it's important that you've caught up with all the previous content as we will be referencing things from it.Unravelling CultureUnravelling WorldviewsUnravelling GenderUnravelling SexYou can find all our Unravelling material here
What is sex for? What is marriage? If they are meaningful – what does that meaning consist of? These are a few of the big picture questions that every worldview needs to answer before it has anything to say about how humans can flourish in sex and relationships. In this video, we explore how the Christian worldview answers these questions, and how recovering the real meaning of sex and marriage can lead us out of slavery and into freedom.
WATCH this podcast in video form!
To get the most out of this part of Unravelling it's important that you've caught up with parts one, two and three first as we will be referencing things from them.Unravelling CultureUnravelling WorldviewsUnravelling GenderFollow along with the PowerPoint slides for this presentationYou can find all our Unravelling material here
We now live in the shadow of the sexual revolution of the 1960s which has had an enormous influence on what is a ‘normal’ or ‘common sense’ way to think about sex and sexuality. This particular manifestation of our cultural worldview (explored in part 1 of Unravelling) is now leading to drastic changes in the way we behave and the choices we make. In this video we explore what happened in the sexual revolution, what we now believe about sex, sexuality and marriage and the consequences that this is having on our society as a whole and on each of us individually.
WATCH this podcast in video form!
To get the most out of this part of Unravelling it's important that you've caught up with parts one, two and three first as we will be referencing things from them.Unravelling Culture Unravelling Worldviews Unravelling GenderFollow along with the PowerPoint slides for this presentationYou can find all our Unravelling material here
On Sunday 27th July we were delighted to have a baptism service. This is the message that Tim gave following the baptisms.
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
On Sunday 20th July, as we started our 'Summer Sundays', Gail had her debut speaking to us and asked three important questions to challenge us
- Do we know how much God loves us?
- How does God's love affect our everyday lives?
- What are you going to do with your one and only life?
Watch the video that we watched
Find out more about Unravelling
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
On Sunday 13th July Joy brought our Matthew series to a close by speaking about what has become known as The Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20.
In these few verses, Jesus affirms his authority, he proclaims to the disciples their purpose, and he promises his presence.
Although this might be a familiar passage, let's not forget that some good news is too good not to share!
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On Sunday 6th July we continued our Matthew series, with an animal theme... Adrian spoke on the parable about the sheep and the goats. It may not be as straightforward as you imagine!
If you want some further reading here is a blog post he recommends
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On Sunday 29th June we returned to our Matthew series, and dug into the parable Jesus told about the labourers in the vineyard. David also gave us a lot think about regarding the first and the last.
Listen to Martin Scott's message from last week
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website
What if we give God an opportunity and open up possibilities for him and then we watch and see what he does?
Jesus doesn't fit into what we want him to do, because he wants us to fit into what he wants to do. It's about God, not about us.
On Sunday 22nd June we had the privilege of having Martin Scott with us, visiting from Spain. He encouraged us to enlarge our thinking and to regularly ask 'What if God...?'
For more information about who we are, what we believe and how you can get involved, please visit our website