Last year on my visit to Ghana one of the attendees at the conference I was teaching at asked me as a simple question. What’s the difference between The Holy Ghost and The Holy Spirit? A simple question which belayed a misunderstanding of who the Holy Spirit really is. Jesus said: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” God’s Spirit is a gift to bless us, one that He would not have us fear or ignore. Over the next few weeks, we explore who the Holy Spirit really is and why Jesus sent The Holy Spirit to us. Along the way, we shall also bust a few myths. John 14:12-21 Acts 2:1-21 The service recording failed so please excuse this recording which has a little echo from my office. Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… Today I want to re-introduce us to an old friend who has been a little misunderstood over time. Who is it? Well as you may be aware this series we are in right now is looking at the Holy Spirit. The third person of the trinity. A helper, a guide. God himself. Over the next few weeks, we are going to explore who the Holy Spirit is. You see, It seems to me that across the church there is quite a misunderstanding of who the Holy Spirit is, not just across our family church but often in general and that is incredibly sad. So... Read More The post John 14:12-21 – Third Person – Demystified appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

John 15.9-17 Revelation 21.1-4 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… Sacrifice: An act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy: That is how the dictionary describes the term sacrifice. Today is the Sunday that we perhaps use that word more than any other. Today many will take two minutes to consider the service that men and women have made in the defense of our freedom. I said last year and I say again today, two minutes hardly seems enough for those who paid such a sacrifice, many of whom paid the greatest of sacrifices. Perhaps the greatest way we can honour these men and women is by using the verse we use today to remember them.   Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. When we say those words we are comparing their sacrifice to the sacrifice that our Lord and Saviour made. High honour indeed. If you have ever attended an Alpha course you may have seen a video or heard a speaker once again comparing the sacrifice of those who suffered in war to that our Lord. The story goes that on 31 July 1941 a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. As a reprisal the Gestapo selected ten men to die in a underground starvation bunker. Francis, one of the men who were selected to die cried out:, `Ah, my poor wife and my children. They’ll never see me again.’ At that moment, a Polish man — unimpressive-looking... Read More The post Remembrance 2019 – A Response of Unity & Love appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

Jesus said, “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you”, which raises the question who is my enemy? This Sunday we look at that and other questions about this teaching within Matthew. How does this teaching impact all of our daily lives? Another easy week then! 1 Corinthians 13 Matthew 5:43-48 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… Introduction We are camped out in Matthew which is our background text when we are not looking at another series. Over the next few weeks before we head into Advent we will have a couple of opportunities to move on in this gospel. So maybe this is a good time to re-read chapters 1-6 and remind ourselves of this brilliant scripture. We are currently reading Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount in Chapters 5 – 7 of Matthew. The more astute amongst you may have noticed that I have skipped a section. Matthew 5.27-32 deals with the painful subject of Adultery and Divorce. I wanted to let you know that sometimes we have to tackle difficult subjects and whilst we have jumped over them, for now, we will return to look at these difficult areas another time. Not that the subject area we land on today is easy. Far from it, it is a most difficult subject and not least of all for me. Today we look at what Jesus may have meant when he said we are to love our enemies. Outline Jesus starts off by saying. 43 ‘You have heard that it was said,... Read More The post Matthew 5.43-48 – Love your enemies appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

1 Corinthians 13 Matthew 5:43-48   The post 1 Corinthians 13 – First Be Loved appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

For the next few weeks, we return to the Gospel of Matthew. This is a good time to re-read chapter five. On Sunday we review what it means to respond to our anger as an apprentice to Jesus. “Settle matters quickly” Matthew’s text reads. It is clear that there is no place for unresolved conflict, gossip and anger among the people who call themselves the Church. To be an emotionally healthy spirit-filled Christian we have to tackle these issues head-on and with grace. Who said being a follower of Jesus was easy? This Sunday we find out what it means to live out those attitudes in our life. Colossians 3:1-14 Matthew 5:21-26 We are sorry for the sound quality this week which is not the norm.   The post Matthew 5:21-26 – Anger appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

We spend much of our time reminding each other what it means to be loved by God. That Father God came looking for us simply because He loves us. Jesus died for us simply because He loves us. Holy Spirit engages with us simply because He loves us. We do not earn this love, it is a love freely given. If then we cannot earn such love what is our response? Let us come together this weekend to consider what it means to serve as a response to the love that we did not earn. Romans 10.5-15 Matthew 14:22-33 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… Friends it has been, would you believe, 1 year, 5 months, and 12 days since Suzy and myself joined you on your journey with Jesus. That’s 530 days or if you are really feeling the pain 12,728/29/31 hours. In that time we have travelled together on our Journey with Jesus quite a considerable distance. I have watched many of you be stretched and travel with Jesus on your journey of becoming like him. Many of you have made considerable strides with Jesus, strides I thank God for. Suzy and I have made great strides in the last year. We have gotten to understand Bedhampton a lot more than we had and we have been stretched as well. We have had our hearts enlarged for the people of Bedhampton and this community. As a community, we also have made considerable strides. We have listened to God and have put down the words that... Read More The post Romans 10.5-15 – Service 2019 appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

For six months we have been seeking God in prayer and taking input for our VIP. This week we continue our mini-series looking at a summary of that as we look at our new Purpose and Vision. Purpose Serving the community of Bedhampton by sharing God’s love and friendship. Vision In Bedhampton Parish we seek: To be part of the whole community building relationships and seeing God’s Kingdom come. To be a place where the community gathers for celebration and commemoration from birth to grave. To enable all ages to grow in discipleship and faith in small groups whilst giving and receiving support, love and practical help. To be a place where all ages gather together to worship God in a range of expressions. Acts 2:42-47 John 15.13-17 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… It has been suggested that to be a church who is holistic, that is to be a church whose mission is rounded then we need to look at what we do from three perspectives. From the perspective of looking up to God and how we worship Him. From the perspective of looking out to God’s people in His community in Bedhampton, and how we act justly love mercy and walk humbly with them. And finally from a perspective of looking in, towards ourselves and asking how we are encouraging one another to walk towards Jesus. Up, Out, In a trinity of perspectives from which filter and balance what we believe we have heard from God. Out Acts reading models this mode of following... Read More The post Vision: Discipleship appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

For six months we have been seeking God in prayer and taking input for our VIP. This week we continue our mini-series looking at a summary of that as we look at our new Purpose and Vision. Purpose Serving the community of Bedhampton by sharing God’s love and friendship. Vision In Bedhampton Parish we seek: To be part of the whole community building relationships and seeing God’s Kingdom come. To be a place where the community gathers for celebration and commemoration from birth to grave. To enable all ages to grow in discipleship and faith in small groups whilst giving and receiving support, love and practical help. To be a place where all ages gather together to worship God in a range of expressions. Mark 4.1-29 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… Introduction As I said last week, we have been praying now for six months for God to reveal is purpose and vision to us as a church here in Bedhampton. And last week I introduced the purpose statement for us as a church.   Serving the community of Bedhampton by sharing God’s love and friendship. The idea behind the purpose statement is that we have an understanding of why we exist as a church. That we are not here just because we have always been here, but that we are here to share the love and friendship of God within Bedhampton. We are not here just as a social group, but we are here to share the love and friendship of God with Bedhampton. Having... Read More The post Vision: Community appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

Matthew 5.38-42 Polly brings us our reflection The post Matthew 5.38-42 – Jesus Justice appeared first on Bedhampton Church.

“Yes,” or “No” that is all we need to say we read in the Gospel passage for this weekend. Yet how often have we heard someone say I’ll try and make that event, whilst inside we know that means they won’t make it. In our world where image is everything is there an erosion of trust as we second guess what people really mean by their words? How does what we read impact our words as we walk through life? Jesus lifts us to a higher standard as he begins His teaching this weekend. Matthew 5.33-37 Speaking Notes – Caveat These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus. Now onto the content… As we continue to look at the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew today we get to a rather complex passage, that I am thankful to have had some theological training to prepare for. So I have studied the Greek and prepared an in-depth three point talk that breaks down these complex words of Jesus and gives you some understanding of what Jesus was getting at. Let me read the words of Jesus again in case you missed them earlier. Jesus said, All you need to say is simply “Yes,” or “No”; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Now bear with me because the Greek as I said gets a bit complex. But I have broken it down into these three key points. The Greek translates as: 1. Jesus said don’t lie. 2. Jesus said to tell the truth. 3. Jesus said it is evil to lie. So the greek really means. All... Read More The post Matthew 5.33-37 – Commit appeared first on Bedhampton Church.