Podcasts - bread

The opening to the book of Ephesians was written to inspire its readers to worship. It’s a veritable kaleidoscope of the dazzling colors of the amazingness of this thing we believe in and belong to. Yet, how many of us - who were brought up with this stuff - can feel like these words have lost their meaning? Worse still - how badly have these upbringings caused us to misunderstand things? If you love a bit of demystifying and clarifying - all in massive puddle of grace, love and ‘it’s already done’ - then this talk is for you.

What does the Holy Spirit do? The Christians first experience of the Holy Spirit was powerful. In the book of Acts, there is an explosion of the Spirit's activity - violent winds shake rooms; tongues of fire appear; the disciples stumble out into the street like drunk people; Paul is blinded and knocked from his horse; the Holy Spirit falls in power on everyone - even the Gentiles. All who experienced Him were empowered to preach the gospel of Jesus, to heal the sick and to raise the dead, to prophecy and speak in tongues. This is the work of the Spirit and He is available to all of us, all the time. Christianity is not simply about belief or behavior. It is a dynamic ongoing experience of Jesus’ power and presence through the person of his Holy Spirit.

In the parable of the great banquet, Jesus is revealing truths about the nature of the kingdom; the make up and essence of God’s rule/reign on earth, in and through Himself.

What we find is that the kingdom challenges us to reorient everything we think to be right: our identity and relationships, how we use our resources, our definition of success, etc. In this reorientation is an invitation to participate in the kingdom, and those once thought to be rejected and cast out, are actually the most important guests.

The parable of the sower is not really about four types of soil, but two; Those who welcome Jesus and experience the joy and abundance of His kingdom, and those who don’t. He wants everyone to experience the fullness of life that He brings and He won’t stop going after a broken world, liberally and recklessly giving Himself away to it. We can all experience it here and now, and it can pour out of us, to all those we come into contact with.

The parables have been reduced and misinterpreted when understood outside of their original context, so first we kicked off this new mini-series with a bit of a ‘what IS the deal with the parables anyway?’ before taking a closer look at The Good Samaritan - a classic in all ways, because we discover that Jesus’ listeners would NEVER have seen the point of this as ‘a story about the kindness of a stranger’.

This is a story about something else entirely. Listen here...

You, are infinitely significant because you’ve been made in the image of an infinite God. We all share something of his DNA, but we don’t always feel that special. The God DNA has been, and continues to be marred in us, but Jesus is on a mission to restore it all. If only we let Him. He uniquely has the power to make us new so that we can experience the infinite significance, infinite love and infinite purpose for which we were all created. Jesus is the one we need. The more of Him, the more we become fully ourselves.

Ok - New Year, New You? Whether you’re full to the brim with excitement, less than impressed about the new year, or somewhere in-between, a fulfilling 2019 can only be found when we turn from looking inward at ourselves to looking outward towards God. He it is, who we can be completely honest with. He it is who, has gone to extraordinary lengths to show us his love, healing, forgiveness and empowerment once and for all - and again and again. At the start of this year, let us come back to him and be made new.

In a world where it seems increasingly difficult to know what to believe, and where life at times can feel stark raving bonkers, what we’re all yearning for is something real, true and dependable. We don’t need more words or speeches right now, we need universe-altering action. Christmas says God became a human. One of us. He showed us he knows exactly what it is like to be human and he showed us exactly what it is to be God. That’s action. He it is who makes sense of our world, even when the world seems to be losing its marbles. He is what we’re made for and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. Thank God for Christmas

The overarching vision for bread is one where everyone gets to play whilst everyone’s diversity is celebrated. You are just as important as the next person, and the more people involved and honored we all are the better. This is when we properly reflect the diversity and unity of the Trinitarian God we serve. Let’s build one another up, and look after one another when we suffer.

Having explored the idea of Koinonia - this Jesus-like level of community we’re supposed to have as His church - the obvious next question is ‘What then?’ Are we to huddle together on a holy hill? A Koinonic Commune? Clearly not. But how are we to engage with our culture, when even the words ‘christian cultural engagement’ make most of us shudder? This talk examines what it actually means to be salt and light, and how we’re supposed to achieve it, and breaks down the root of the brokenness, the division and the duality that’s played out in recent church history. There is very very good news, and lots of hope for those of us who want to do this differently.