St Matts Weekly Message

‘The Beatitudes are how you spot a local in the Kingdom of God.’ This week Teressa finished off our ‘Blessed Life’ series by looking at the final Beatitude on ‘The Persecuted.’ 

Life as a Christian wasn’t meant to be easy and this beatitude reminds us that we are not expecting to be airlifted to safety in the midst of life’s troubles. Instead, we are encouraged to keep pursuing right relationship with God and doing what is right knowing that God will re-purpose persecution for his glory.

In his final talk at St Matts our vicar Olly shares thoughts on Jesus’ penultimate beatitude: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."  We’re invited to make peace with God; peace with others; and peace in the world.

 The heart is not only central to physical life but also spiritual. Claire shares wisdom on how to grow a pure heart resulting in better spiritual health.

There was an issue with our recording for this week but the audio is back to normal from 1:41 in - so stick with it! 

Mike shares three moments of remembrance in the scripture and how they can lead us to a deeper understanding of Remembrance Sunday and of our faith in general.

God calls everyone into a relationship with him and to make a positive difference in the world. Hannah shares ways in which we can discern and live out God’s call for our lives.

Olly shares thoughts on the fifth beatitude, ‘Blessed are the merciful’ - know that God is merciful; be merciful to others; show mercy to yourself.

This Sunday was a Preachtastics Sunday where we got to hear from six members of the St Matts family across the day.

Each of the speakers are continuing our Blessed life series looking at the 4th Beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’ – Matthew 5:6

It’s always so inspiring to see how God speaks to everyone so individually. We’d recommend listening to all of them as each bought a different perspective and angle to the passage, but if you want to listen to someone specific, use the timestamps below:

Jason Gilbert | 0:00

Paula Reeves | 11:24

Adrian Boughton | 23:07

Kwaku Owusu | 35:07 - Unfortunately part of the recording for Kwaku’s brilliant talk corrupted, but we’ve included the last few minutes!

Georgia Grinham | 37:06

Louis Winstone | 45:32

Phil shares wisdom on what it is to be 'meek' and apply Jesus' third Beatitude: 'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.' (Matthew 5:5)

Mourning can deepen our humanity, grow community and cultivate character. Olly shared wisdom from Jesus' second beatitude: 'Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.'

Our curate Mike begins a new series ‘Blessed Life’ looking at some of the most famous words of scripture - the Beatitudes. What are the Beatitudes? What does it mean to be blessed? And who are the poor in spirit? Have a listen and find out more about these questions… and about piles of rubbish, bears, Brother Andrew and what these beautiful Jesus blessings can teach us about the surprising upside-down kingdom of God!