bread church

By breadReligion & Spirituality Christianity

bread church episodes

August 01, 2021 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.
29 min
July 25, 2021 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.
36 min
July 18, 2021 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)
31 min
July 11, 2021 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.
35 min
July 04, 2021 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.
31 min
June 27, 2021 Ruth - An Introduction
When them bottom of our worlds fall out, how do we carry on? Introducing
our mini series on the book of Ruth, we look at how it is only when we know
the unconditional love of God and the unconditional hope of him who never
changes that we can face anything that comes our way with peace and
courage.
37 min
June 20, 2021 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.
36 min
June 13, 2021 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.
40 min
June 06, 2021 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.
29 min
May 23, 2021 How to Return - to the Spirit
Pentecost is the moment God's promise to fill his people with the Spirit
was fulfilled – this marked the birth of the Church. The Spirit is core to
our faith but is often missed, forgotten, or even rejected. We can do all
the Christian things and yet miss the Spirit. In this talk, we are
challenged to return to the One who refills us, who renews us, and sustains
us so we can be the people God has called us to be. This all happens as we
experience the Spirit again and again.
30 min