Hello, it’s Mick here and welcome to Tuesday’s podcast. We continue in our reflections in Acts today as this week we are hearing again the story of how the early church began and developed – how a group of ordinary people like you and me became disciples, apprentices of Jesus and how they began a movement of love that changed the world.

Today’s reading is Acts1: 6-8 and I will read it now rather than after the prayer.

ACTS1:6-8

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth .” …

REFLECTION:

V8: you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses,

The Christian life is one of blessing and battle. The Christian life is one of observation and witness – we see and hear what Jesus did and then we do what he did and say what he said.The Christian life is one of invitation and challenge. Jesus invites us to be with him, to walk with him, to receive from him all the blessings of heaven. However, he then always offers us this challenge to ‘go and do likewise’ – to pass the blessing on. The Christian Faith is a give away faith!

Someone once said that the Church is the only organisation that exists primarily for those outside the organisation. Acts tells of the birth and growth of the church and here, right at the beginning of the church is this truth – V8 ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you’ – the invitation to receive miraculous power, the power from on high, the power of heaven. Then comes the challenge ‘you will be my witnesses‘. A ‘witness’ tells their story no matter what the cost. Indeed, the word used for ‘witness’ in today’s reading is the Greek word ‘martur’ from which we get the English word ‘martyr’; someone who is willing to count the cost and stand up for what they believe – in essence, to simply tell their story.

What is your God story? How did you come to accept Jesus into your life? Who were the people who introduced you to Jesus? What difference has your faith in Jesus made to your life day by day? Do those around you notice the difference in you? What about you church community, your cell and cluster; how is the goodness of God impacting you and your church community?

The theme of witness runs throughout Acts. Before ‘the power from on high’ was poured upon them they were still the church behind closed doors – when the power of heaven came they were filled with joy and hope and became the church on the streets. The power of God is not just for church services but for the streets – that we may witness to our friends, family, neighbours, colleagues that God is real, that God is good and that God has a purpose for every life!

The Holy Spirit comes to empower us, to fill not just the ‘spiritual parts’ of our lives but every part of our lives. Everything we have comes from God. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring us closer to Jesus every day, to become more like him in thought, word and deed; You and I are Jesus to our world – we are his witnesses. Over these next weeks at our Sunday Gatherings and in the Grow Project modules we will hear the word ‘witness’ many times as Jesus calls and equips us to be his witnesses – we may not think we can do this but the important truth is that Jesus KNOWS we can do this. Let’s trust him and see what happens – now I think that’s really exciting!

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you that your Holy Spirit now lives in me. Thank you that every day you invite me into your presence to be loved and blessed and encouraged and to be then sent out as your...

Hi everyone, it’s Mick here; with my wife Tricia we have the great privilege of leading STC Sheffield, truly an amazing church family! It’s September and welcome to a new week, indeed a new year of STC Podcasts; a free, Monday to Friday resource to help us to build Bible based spiritual foundations in our lives as we follow Jesus every day. Each day has a reading from the bible, a thought for the day based on that reading given by one of our experienced STC staff team followed by a prayer for the day and a great worship song, again from our STC worship team. 

 

You can find these daily Podcasts on our website or on the the iTunes Store. If this resource is blessing in your life why not pass it on to someone else perhaps through a conversation or social media or a carrier pigeon! Pass on the blessing – it might just change someone’s life!  STC Podcasts are a great way to daily connect with Jesus!

 

Over these next weeks and months we will be hearing again the story of how the early church began and developed as we read passages from Acts and Paul’s letters. We will see how a group of ordinary people like you and me, who had met with and followed Jesus, became a movement of love that changed the world. I am excited about this year of STC Podcasts because it reminds me again of the power of God’s love – because if it happened then with this small group of followers, it can happen in our day through us! 

 

Let’s ask Jesus to speak into our lives every day as we listen, read and reflect upon these familiar Bible stories. September 2019 – let’s go with Podcast number 1.

REFLECTION:

Before we get into these stories in Acts this week, first some background. The book of Acts  was written by a man called Luke about 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus. This is the same man who wrote the gospel of Luke. Acts is a kind of companion book to Luke’s gospel; a kind of bridge for the writings of the whole NT as it joins what Jesus “began to do and to teach” (1:1) as told in the Gospels with what he continued to do and teach through the apostles’ preaching and the birth of the early church. Its full name is Acts of the Apostles but perhaps it should really be called Acts of the Holy Spirit as the work of the Spirit is seen in every chapter and every story.

Luke was a physician and was with Paul on his missionary journeys and indeed Paul refers to him as ‘the beloved physician’ (Col4:4). Luke is a great writer – he tells stories from the front line and you can feel the vibrant growth of this early church!  Acts reveals the potential of the church when it is guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit – that’s why it is so relevant for us today because we so need the church in our nation to be released in the power of the Holy Spirit and to grow. Let’s start to believe again that the church can actually grow and thrive!

Let’s listen to these first verses in Acts and let’s imagine we are hearing them for the first time …

Acts1:1-5 MSG

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptised in water; you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”

Our verse for the day is V4 ‘wait for what the Father promised, the promise you heard from me’

So what is this promise? Here what Jesus says in Luke 24:49

I will send to you what my Father has promised ...

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 24 May 2019.

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Welcome to Friday’s Podcast. Our reading today is John 2: 1-11. Next week my colleague James Brown will pick up the baton and continue to lead us through this incredible gospel.

Today I’ll focus on verse 5-7: His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from eighty to a hundred and twenty litres. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.

REFLECTION:

I saw this article written by Pete Grieg, author, church leader and founder of the global 24-7 prayer movement. He says this:

Can I be honest with you? I’m actually not that into prayer, it’s Jesus I’m into, so we talk.

I don’t believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of God. So I ask for his help. A lot.

I’m not into evangelism. I hate evangelism. I’m into Jesus. So I talk to people about him.

I’m not into social justice. I’m into Jesus. So I find myself picking fights with his enemies.

I’m not into worship – all those soft rock songs, over and over again – I’m into Jesus. So when I see him I smile. I bow. And yes, OK I admit that I sing quite a bit too.

I’m not into church. Have you seen the state of it? But I’m into Jesus. So I like his people. (they’re a little weird, but hey, so am I…)

THE VISION IS JESUS.

Not Christianity. Not rules and religious observance. Not prayer, mission and justice. Not church planting, miracles or mission. If you love Jesus I guess you’ll do all that stuff: you’ll pray and worship and go to church and preach the gospel, but in doing all those things, in pursuing all those things, too often we lose Jesus. In all the clutter of Christianity we bury Christ.

Some of us need to stop being Christians for a bit – we’re just too good at it. It’s become habitual.

Urgent voices call us to abandon the familiar comforts of Christianity to strike out into the unknown and rediscover Christ. Get back to that place where we are so bewildered and enthralled by his actual presence that we will do anything, go anywhere, say anything he tells us whenever.

We are over familiar with holy things. We talk to God and he talks back, for crying out loud. That means you’re either insane or experiencing an actual living, conversational, interactive relationship with the creator of the cosmos. No middle ground. You’re insane or a saint.

Jesus was so uninterested in starting a religion that he never thought of a name for his way of life, never started a bible school, never wrote a book, avoided the rich and famous, and barely stuck around long enough to secure succession. The way of Jesus is viral not structural, relational not religious, revolutionary not predictable.

As with the first chapter of John’s gospel – chapter 2 is packed with punchy and powerful meaning.

In today’s passage we read that Jesus and his disciples are attending a wedding in Cana in the Galilee.

A faux pas of epic proportion unfolds. They run out of wine. In 2019 if you went to a wedding and the wine ran out you’d give feedback or have a grumble and if you’d paid for the wedding a strong conversation may well ensue with the organisers. But in Jesus’ time – this would have been an incredible embarrassment. A huge shame to the family and would have probably meant that the village or community would have assumed that the newly married couple were cursed.

This story is famous. Jesus is the perfect guest. Turning water into wine. Wow – not only wine but the very best wine. I heard a joke once: ‘Jesus walks into a bar and orders 12 pints of water. Turns and winks at the disciples…’

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 23 May 2019.

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Welcome to Thursday’s podcast. Our reading today is John 1: 35 – 51 but today I’m going to focus on verse 41-42:

‘The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).’

REFLECTION:

Have you ever had to search for someone?

A few weeks ago I visited London to attend the HTB Leadership Conference at the Royal Albert Hall. I managed to meet up with a friend who lives in Asia. I hadn’t seen him for 5 years. We’d arranged to meet at one of the main doors opposite Kensington Gardens. Simple? The issue was that my mobile phone battery had died about 15 minutes before we were due to meet. With my handy mobile charger I set off to find him. As I approached the Albert Hall they had just finished and 6000 were leaving the building. No phone – loads of crowds – it suddenly dawned on me that agreeing to meet at the entrance of Kensington Gardens was a much bigger area than I thought.

I panicked slightly – just how would I find my friend? So I began to pray. Mercifully after wandering around for what felt like an age – I found him! Turns out he’d also been wandering about looking for me – we must have missed each other in the crowd.

In today’s passage we read about the calling of the first disciples.

The gospel writer John tells a story of when a time when John the Baptist sees Jesus and he exclaims: ‘The Lamb of God’ – a prophetic statement regarding Jesus’ mission but also the purpose of his death and resurrection. When John the Baptist’s disciples (one being Andrew & the other [we think] the gospel writer John) hear this, they follow Jesus. In fact Andrew tells his own brother, Simon, they have found the Messiah. In the Greek language Messiah = ‘Christos’ where we get Christ.

Andrew takes his brother, whom based on the strength of all that John the Baptist has said, takes his brother to meet Him.

They search him out.

What happens next is really interesting.

When Jesus meets Simon he says: ‘you are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas’ – Cephas is the Aramaic for Rock. In the Greek Rock is ‘Petros’ where we get Peter.

While Andrew (possible the gospel writer John) along with John the Baptist are searching out the Messiah – so too is Peter, as he’s so keen to meet Jesus; it’s also very clear that Jesus too is searching out followers.

As we follow Jesus – it’s not a one way thing. It’s not on our terms. It’s always on his terms. As soon as Jesus meets Peter he confers upon him a new name and a new call.

When we are baptised we are baptised into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is a wonderfully encouraging thing – it’s deeply powerful and speaks very significantly into our new identity in Christ. But, it also says something about our new call, our new mission and our new task. We don’t just seek out Jesus to experience life transformation and sin management. He seeks us out to continue and work his purposes wherever we find ourselves.

As I reflect on these words and think on the incredible way in which Jesus recruits his disciples – I’m struck by Andrew’s love towards his brother, Peter. It says ‘the first Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him ‘we have found the messiah…’

Yesterday after dropping my daughter at school I was walking towards church in the beautiful sunshine. I bumped into my neighbour and we walked together before she headed down the hill and I carried on towards church. They’re awesome neighbours and we get on well as a family.

As she headed down the hill I felt a gentle nudge from the Lord. ‘So when are you going to invite her in?

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 22 May 2019.

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Welcome to Wednesday’s podcast. Our reading today is John 1: 19-34 but today I’ll focus on verses 32-33

Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.”

REFLECTION:

I inherited my Grandfather’s 1973 Volkswagen Beetle. It had been handed to me Dad and then onto me. I loved that car.

It had a few quirks which made for a fascinating driving experience. For example the petrol gauge was at best vague. This caught be out one night driving home from a friends’ house. I could see the gauge hovering over the red – this is decades before you got an electronic warning or anything fancy like that. The gauge was unpredictable, as it would move about as the petrol sloshed around the tank. I thought I had more fuel than I actually did… the car coughed, spluttered and juddered (I thought this isn’t good) and then it ran out of fuel. This was pre-mobile phone days and so I had to walk the rest of the way home on foot.

It was late when I got home and my Dad about to go to bed was not best pleased but came to help me get the car going again.

He asked me this very simple question spoken with great clarity: ‘How did you manage to run out of fuel?’

There are definitely times in life when I feel like I’ve metaphorically run out of fuel. My wife Clarissa & I work with families here at STC. It’s often common for young parents to experience that feeling of running on empty. The combination of extreme tiredness and the phenomenal change in circumstance can be so draining!

How about you? Have you ever experienced that feeling of running on empty? Perhaps it feels like that right now. A last minute push before half term or you’re waiting to get through the exams or the stress of work means you have that you know your internal fuel gauge is hovering over the red.

I’ve heard, as fuel is the source that empowers an engine so the Holy Spirit is the very presence that that empowers our lives.

Billy Graham, the late great American Evangelist, said this:

‘Everywhere I go I find that God’s people lack something. They are hungry for something. Their Christian experience is not all that they expected and they often have recurring defeat in their lives. Christians today are hungry for spiritual fulfilment. The most desperate need of the nation today is that men and women who profess Jesus be filled with the Holy Spirit.’

Those words are as true today as they are when Billy Graham said them.

In today’s short passage we read of John the Baptist’s testimony of what he saw at Jesus’ baptism. There’s much to say about John the Baptist. He was a incredible character – well known – who spoke of Jesus’ imminent arrival. Someone describes him in this way: a bit like a politician on the campaign trail who had the ability to draw a huge crowd and by his actions a significant amount of attention but not to himself – ultimately to Jesus. And he takes a lot of heat from the religious rulers who are deeply concerned about John the Baptist and who he’s preaching.

As with all of the very early chapters of John’s gospels there’s so much meaning and imagery in each of the words but what strikes me is the significance of Jesus’ baptism.

He describes an incredible scene where as Jesus emerges from the waters a dove descends upon him. John hears the audible voice of the Lord ‘the Man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit..’

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit empowered specific for specific tasks at specific times. In Jesus the Holy Spirit would remain with him.

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 21 May 2019.

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Welcome to Tuesday’s podcast. Yesterday we finished Mark’s gospel and today we’re jumping into John’s gospel at chapter 1vs 1-18 but today I’ll focus on verse 14:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

REFLECTION:

Do you like camping?

As a child I loved it. I have very fond memories of camping. It’s probably nostalgia but I can remember warm summer days with friends and thinking it was utter bliss.

For the past two years we’ve camped with our children at a Christian festival. It was a different experience to the one I remember as a teenager.

Camping with kids we became very aware of the following: You can hear literally people’s conversations. You can hear exasperated parents parenting their children. Not to mention night time. This is when people’s different approaches to parenting really kick in… Last year one family quite close to us had a very young child that didn’t like to sleep. We could hear the parent use the ‘hush technique’ and as the child’s screams got louder so did the parent’s hushes – so did my levels of frustration.

What we learned about camping as a family is that is that one can become very connected to the people around you whether you want it or not – separated only a thin layer of canvas.

First, some background.

As we start this epic journey through John’s gospel we read verses 1-18 known as the ‘prologue’ – in other words it’s extra – really significant – information the gospel writer John provides at the start of his gospel. There is so much to unpack and there’s much to say on the prologue (and I don’t have the time) but it’s worth saying that John tells us some significant things about Jesus.

He tells us this: before the creation of the world – Jesus existed. Just hold that thought for a moment. Before everything was made – He was there. He has existed from the beginning.

John tells us that he’s called the ‘word’. What is the ‘word’? To Jewish people it an aspect of God. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘you’re as good as your word’ – to know what someone is like we can observe them; read about them; learn about them – but we only really know them when we hear them speak – when we hear their words. Their thoughts reveal their inner life – their thinking, their mind and their heart. The ‘word’ is so powerful and so revealing. The spoken and written word reveal who God is.

In fact, verse 3 says that God’s word has such power ‘through him all things were made’ – in fact he speaks creation into being. His word brings life, it’s the definition of life – he is the source of all life.  And John is telling us that Jesus is the ‘word of God’ – in fact he tells us that Jesus is the ‘word became flesh’.

So what about the camping story then? How does that fit?

In fact verse 14 states ‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…’

In this context ‘dwelling’ is another way of saying – ‘he has pitched his tent among us…’ This has huge significance. For people first reading this – it would have been huge. But what about us today on this Tuesday in May?

God pitches his tent next to us.

Just think about that?

One of the incredible truths of the Christian story – which people of other religions find really hard to grasp – is that God chooses us. He enters history. He’s born both human and divine. He enters the muck and rubbish of this world. He literally gets his hands dirty. He draws alongside the people who would never darken his door and says “you’re mine”.

Because the ‘word’ becomes flesh – it means that God experiences humanity on an unprecedented scale. Just look at Jesus’ life – all that he experienced.

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published on 20 May 2019.

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Welcome to Monday’s Podcast. My name is Tom Finnemore – I’m part of the team at STC and I have the honour of picking up the baton from my colleague Dave Saxton.

Today we’ll conclude our journey through Mark’s Gospel by reading Mark 16:1-20; today I’ll focus on verse 4-5:

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

REFLECTION:

How do you react when things don’t go to plan?

I recently caught a train to London. I’d booked my train tickets a month beforehand. I got two singles as it was cheaper. The day before I travelled I thought I’ll check the times. To my horror I had a made a mistake. I had bought a ticket from Sheffield to London and then another one for the next day for Sheffield to London at the time & date I should have been returning home.

I freaked out. I read the small print and freaked out some more. It said they could only change the tickets to another day and the same journey i.e. Sheffield to London.  I emailed, I googled for help and got in touch via the website chat – it looked as though I wouldn’t be able to change my ticket. I prayed! Lord I don’t want to buy another ticket!

So I called trainline.com and spoke to a very kind man in Hyderabad who, after I explained my stupidity, very kindly changed my tickets as a goodwill gesture.  I was so very relieved and extremely thankful. God was so good and I was so thankful -and a little bit surprised too! I was like –wow Lord- you really sorted this out for me. Thank you!

And then I got thinking – why am I so surprised? Why do I react and freak out at stuff? Do I lack that much faith?

How about you?

What do you face today – this Monday? That dreaded performance management review? That boss at work that is on your back? Revision? Exams? Questions about what next? As you step into this day – how will you react to stuff that doesn’t go to plan? That broken boiler that you didn’t budget for or that sick child that means you have to juggle childcare to a million other things…

What do we do?

We ask ourselves – who is Jesus?

Throughout Mark’s gospel Jesus has told his followers that he will rise again – in fact he tells them five separate times that he will rise again.  It’s puzzling to me that even though he’s predicted it – promised and declared it, yet when it comes to it – they don’t believe him – to such an extent they turn up at his tomb to anoint his dead body only to be greeted by an Angel saying he’s risen.

What an incredible thing! I was overjoyed over my train tickets – a resurrection is off the scale.

Their view of Jesus has dramatically changed – the resurrection reveals the reality of his divinity and his awesome power.

When we experience something significant like this – like a story of provision – something does something for you totally out of the blue or God sorts your train tickets – it’s like the good news, the ‘evangelion’ of God, coming to bear on our hearts again. Alex Absalom (you’ll know his name from the Grow Project) says this in one of his books that we don’t just ‘convert’ to Jesus and then start the journey of discipleship. Every day the gospel appeals to our hearts – it reveals to us who Jesus really is – and it challenges the parts of our hearts – our mind, our will our emotions – that don’t totally yield to who Jesus really is.

Just as the disciples had to reconfigure the risen Jesus – had to repent of their lack of belief – so we, if we’re to grow this year, need to ask Jesus to reveal to our lives afresh where unbelief has taken root.

If you’re in a situation when you’re finding yourself freaking out – ask yourself – what does Jesu...

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published in Holy Week, on 19 April 2019.

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Speaker: Mick Woodhead

Topic: The Power to Change

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published in Holy Week, on 18 April 2019.

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Speaker: Helen Ward

Topic: The Power of Love

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

SUMMER REBOOT – this podcast was originally published in Holy Week, on 17 April 2019.

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Speaker: Tom Finnemore

Topic: The Power of the Spirit

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.