bread church

By breadReligion & Spirituality Christianity

bread church episodes

October 15, 2025 Devoted to praise.
Worship is an integral part of what it is to be human. All of us are
worshippers. But the only thing worthy of our worship is the God who is
infinite. Every other object of our worship will eat us alive. By contrast,
worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, means we enter into the life the
Trinity has been, is, and will always be enjoying - glorifying one another,
and being glorified by one another.
This worship, rather than robbing us of life, brings us to life. When we
worship in Spirit (our spirits connecting with his Spirit, by means of the
Holy Spirit’s direction) and in Truth (directing our worship solely to
Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Lord of Truth) we engage in true
worship. The worship that life was meant for.
By Ed Flint
42 min
October 06, 2025 Devoted to sincerity.
In Luke's characterization of the early church, he describes them as having
"sincere hearts"...but what does that mean? In the context of our modern
culture, the definition of sincerity seems to shift depending on who you
ask: is it just saying what's on your mind? Is it being "real" (whatever
that means)? Does integrity have any role?
Examining the story of Ruth, we see that in God's design for how to live,
you cannot separate integrity and sincerity. Our sincerity costs us
something in our interpersonal relationships, in that we risk being
vulnerable with our true, authentic selves. It is our true authentic
selves, however, that God has made us to be and He will use who we are,
wherever we are.
Looking at Naomi in the story, we also see the importance of sincerity of
our worship. Naomi points us to the reality that sometimes the most honest
worship we can offer God is "I'm really mad at you right now". From Ruth
and Naomi's story, we know that when we bring our authentic selves before
God, He will use it. So we don't need to be ashamed or embarrassed of our
doubts, fears, or laments -- we just need to be honest about them and let
God lead wherever He's taking us.
By Rebekah Covington
35 min
September 30, 2025 Devoted to that which brings gladness.
‘A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms’ said William Barclay.
So where does the deep joy that the New Testament writers so regularly
describe come from? It is found not in our circumstances, but in our roots.
We are like trees planted by streams of water, drawing on the life of the
spirit. When trouble comes, our roots go deeper - so that even when we
suffer, we rejoice. This happens only when we give up pursuing happiness
first, and pursue instead Jesus’ righteousness.
When we delight in the law of the Lord (his gospel, his lordship, his care
for us, his rule of life), then we are blessed, then we are intrinsically,
fundamentally happy!
By Ed Flint
36 min
September 22, 2025 Devoted to friendship.
In this talk, we focus on a slightly more emotionally risky aspect of
devotion. The part where we share not just what we have, but who we are.
It’s the intimacy reflected in a meal in a home, a conversation around a
dinner table, a showing of our cards with the courage to be seen. A
devotion to friendship.
Friendship can look different in different seasons of life, but some
challenges get in the way no matter who or where we are. We will explore a
few of these together, and look to the bible for examples of friendship we
can look up to. The good news: wherever you are on your friendship journey,
you can become a better friend because you have access to the source of
love.
By Tavia Grubbs
0 min
September 16, 2025 Devoted to those in need.
In this talk, we discover what true devotion to those in need looks like
through the example of the early church. God's heart for those in need is
undeniable. Just as Jesus saw His own face in "the least of these" (Matthew
25), we're called to see Christ in those in need around us. We are invited
to move from awareness to action, starting where we are with what we have.
By Noah Sanford
0 min
September 08, 2025 Devoted to signs and wonders.
Whilst the text doesn’t explicitly state that the first Christians
‘devoted’ themselves to signs and wonders, it’s clear that the miraculous
was an ongoing part of their early Christian experience. This is more than
enough of a challenge to us, because for most Christians, the regular
experience of the miraculous is not their reality. And yet, the Christian
faith is a miraculous faith from start to finish. And Jesus’ clear
instruction to us who follow him is to do the things He did, and even
greater ones too! So, we would do well to learn to pray for, seek out, and
expect Jesus to do miraculous things.
But not for their own sake. Miracles are always signs, not ends in
themselves. They signal to Jesus as God the Messiah, the one whom all
humanity longs for and seeks. And, they signal that His kingdom has come.
As Christians, we’re all called to be part of this signaling work - to
preach the good news, heal the sick, and cast out demons. It is what makes
our faith so exciting and life-giving!
By Ed Flint
43 min
September 02, 2025 Devoted to prayer.
Continuing with Acts 2’s vision of the early church as a radical,
Spirit-filled community — not simply a weekly meeting or a religion of
“right belief,” but a living preview of God’s kingdom on earth - this week
we examine prayer.
The early believers were devoted to prayer, learning to pray from Jesus
Himself, who showed them prayer is rooted in love, not effort, and meant to
reorient us daily to God’s presence. Through practices like silence,
honesty, and communal prayer, we resist the hurry of life, deepen our trust
in God’s kindness, and grow as a family on mission together.
By Hannah Flint
37 min
August 25, 2025 Devoted to the Lord's Supper.
From the beginning, the first Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper
together. The spiritual significance of the meal is past, present and
future.
When we take communion we are acknowledging the once and for all work of
Jesus’ death in history; we experience his Spirit feeding us, grafting us
to him, as well as to one another in the present; and we are reassured of
Jesus’ return and the hopeful expectation of heaven. Communion is as
integral to our faith now as it was then, and the more we devote ourselves
to it, the more we open ourselves to the transformative work of the Spirit.
By Ed Flint
38 min
August 18, 2025 Devoted to fellowship.
This week, we’re in part two of our new series, Devoted—a short walk
through a few, but very important, verses in Acts 2 about what the very
first Christians gave themselves to.
Fellowship. It’s a word that might seem pretty blandly church-ish, but Luke
has something far richer in mind: koinonia, the shared life that flows from
belonging to the Triune God. We explore how this fellowship is different
to, and more than, other kinds of community, how it’s shaped by Christ’s
self-giving love, and how it calls us to a deeper kind of commitment to one
another here and now. It’s a lofty vision, but a heavenly invitation all
the same!
By Hannah Flint
42 min
August 11, 2025 Devoted to the apostles' teaching.
Kicking off our ‘Devoted’ series from Acts, we consider what it means to be
devoted to the apostles' teaching.
At Pentecost, 3000 were cut to the heart by the message of the gospel. But
their faith did not remain solely in the realm of the emotional. They did
not disdain their intellect, but devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching.
We do the same - neither prioritizing our emotions nor our minds.
Anti-intellectualism is in fact incompatible with the fullness of the
Spirit, for the simple fact that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
So, we seek out Godly, intelligent teaching and we submit to being
teachable.
But we don’t allow devotion to the apostle’s teaching to be an end in
itself. Rather it is the means by which the Spirit flows through us to
bring the Kingdom of God to our world.
By Ed Flint
38 min