St Matts Weekly Message

This week Adrian our Churchwarden began our series ‘Teach us to pray.’ Most Christians say they find prayer difficult so let’s learn from how Jesus did it! Join us  as Adrian takes us through the Lord’s Prayer- the way Jesus taught his disciples to talk to God- in private, with praise, needing his presence, asking for provision and seeking his providence and protection.

This series is inspired by the discipleship tool ‘Practicing the Way.’ For more resources and information head to: https://www.practicingtheway.org

This week was a ‘Preachtastic’ week - we had different people from across our church family, at all different stages of life, having a go at a mini-talk. This was the last in our ‘One Thing’ series, looking at Paul’s encouragement in Philippians 3: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Have a listen to Clair, Derek, Hannah, Dave and Amy share their experience of ‘leaving behind’, and ‘straining ahead’! Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties recording our final speaker Els's brilliant message - hopefully you were there to listen in person for that one!  

What is the one thing you would ask God? As we go through life, with all its difficulties, we inevitably come across those ‘why God’ moments. David’s question of God in Psalm 27 is the only one that can help us to deal with all those other questions: ‘One thing I ask of the Lord, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.’ Join Mike as he goes through Psalm 27 looking at how we can ‘dwell’ — remember all that God has done, sit in the present moment of his presence, and wait in confidence and hope for the reality of what God intends to do in the future.

Continuing our ‘One Thing’ series, Teressa spoke about 3 things that Jesus doesn’t do in a story about a man who was born blind but is healed by Jesus. No blame, no barriers, no bragging no expectation of deep theology of healing. Instead a simple recognition of what has happened — a beautiful ‘say what you see’ moment — ‘One thing I know, I was blind, but now I see.’

Sally Pearson carried on our ‘One Thing’ Series at the Five looking at the story of Martha and Mary. There are so many questions plaguing our lives — all of the answers are found in Jesus, in intimacy with him, in His face! Mary found her place of devotion with Jesus but how can we learn to gaze on the face of Jesus without the answer simply being to go and live life as a hermit? Listen on to find out!

Jeff Stephenson carried on our ‘One Thing’ Series at The Ten looking at the story of Martha and Mary — Mary had chosen the better thing, relationship with Jesus! We are created for relationship and Jesus values our friendship with Him above our service to Him so let’s invest all we have into that ‘one thing’ we need.

Mike kicked off our new series ‘One Thing’ looking at the story of man who came to Jesus with a big question, but didn’t go away with the answer he wanted. Jesus knows us better than anyone and the challenge is not to take on more for Jesus but to look at what we need to lay down to pursue the one thing that really matters!

People all over the World celebrate Christmas in different ways. Just like the Wisemen gave gifts to Jesus, we give gifts to others. But the greatest gift of all is the gift that God gave us, Jesus. Our Kids Pastor Amy shared a brilliant talk for children and adults alike. She reminds us that the festivities are lovely but let’s remember the reason for the season – the gift of Jesus. 

Graham Smith, retired vicar and part of the St Matts family, shared an Advent message at the Ten as we wait for and celebrate the profound and supreme moment of ‘heaven invading earth.’ He encouraged us to tap into both the word and spirit as we seek God invading our lives today!

'To all our questions God offers us the story of his life with us.’ 

Our good friend Sarah Yardley who is the Mission and Ministry Lead at Creation Fest spoke at St Matts Evening Carols challenging us again to receive the impossible truth- ‘God is with us.'