Today we consider how God was present with people at the beginning, breathing life into Adam and walking with them in the garden. Today, God is primarily present with His people by His Holy Spirit, freely given to every believer. This gift is to be received in order that we can enjoy His presence.

In this message we start to explore the Person of the Holy Spirit, by considering Him as our Closest Friend and our Comforter.  

Listen back to Stephen's message from Market Harborough on Sunday 2nd February. He speaks about the person of the Holy Spirit and how important it is to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. 

In the second part of these introductory messages we consider some choices, actions and habits that will play an essential part in helping us stay full of the Holy Spirit.  In it all, we are reminded that life in the Spirit is a day-by-day relationship, and that He wants us to draw close to Him and know Him as our Greatest Friend.

As we start a new year, we take a fresh look at the great need for Jesus's church to be filled with His Spirit.  In part 1 of these introductory messages, we see that everything that ultimately matters begins with a move of the Spirit, and we explore what that meant for the ministry for Jesus and for the mission of the early church.  And in the stories of two lame men miraculously healed (Mark 2 and Acts 3), we discover some vital characteristics that will help us be this kind of church this year... 

Our culture has three words: me, me, me! But are these the words that people who know God, who have seen his goodness and who can experience relationship with Him want to be defined by? What are the three words that we might choose to define us?

Christmas is a Christian celebration. Whatever society might think it is, at the core it is a festival about the word becoming flesh - a beautiful truth! Christmas is ours, so how should we celebrate it? In this message Mike and Lisa share 10 simple ways that we can see Christmas as ours; cutting through all the noise of this time of year, brushing off the pressure and expectations and simply celebrating our wonderful King and Saviour.

We are all part of the body and we all have a function, a God-given ability and a part to play. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about some of these things and in this message Stephen unpacks them for us; he shares about how we can prepare to share and how the body is strengthened when we all contribute. This message is part of our 'Gather' series. 

During Jesus' baptism, God the father declares “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”. Do you know that we are also children of God? When we give our life to Jesus and ask him to be our Lord and Saviour we become children of God. The enemy will always try to make you question if you are really saved, if God really loves you, if he really listens when you pray... He is fighting to bring confusion to your identity, because he knows who you are and what you are able to do as a child of God. In this message Ovi unpacks this for us and encourages us to know who we are. 

As we conclude our three-part series, this time we consider our purpose and identity as God’s image-bearers. God created mankind, as male and female to reflect His nature, in similar and in differing ways from each other. Not only to enjoy a complimentary partnership with each other, but to relate to each other through Him, thus enjoying the joy of trinity!