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Advent 2007
Advent is such an important time in the calendar of our lives - rooting ourselves in the story of the universe and starting our year off where the whole story concludes. Advent is a gift to the church that shapes it's life and puts everything else in perspective.
Doing the teachings of Jesus
Content not just to hear the words of Jesus, we want to be a community of people who work out how to apply them to our lives. This series takes a number of Jesus teachings from Luke 10 and 11 and unpacks them for today
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doing the teachings ofJesus | |||
| Oct 21 | Authority | Richard | Download |
| Oct 28 | Neighbours | Gavin | |
| Nov 4th | One | Dilys | |
| Nov 11 | Pray | Richard | Download |
| Nov 18 | Evil | Robert Pimm | |
| Nov 25 | You | Richard | Download |
Formation
A new series on Sundays... We are entering a period of mission, but for what end? We are wanting to grow as a church, but for what purpose? What are we aiming for and what's the point of it all? In this series we are introducing a the idea of being 'formed into the likeness of Christ' as the central aim of our lives and for our world. Looking at what this means in reality, over the next few weeks we are laying out a practical and helpful strategy for living that aims to make this goal attainable for each of us. It's about shaping our character, finding ways that help us resist temptations, growing through taking up intentional disciples that help us, using other gifts God has given us for the benefit of others and reaching out in love to our neighbours and community. Foundational stuff for what lies ahead.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation | |||
| Sept 02 | Character | Richard | Download |
| Sept 09 | Discipline | Richard | Download |
| Sept 16 | Gift | Richard | Download |
| Sept 23 | Mission 1 | Gavin | |
| Sept 30 | Mission 2 | Gavin | |
| Oct 07 | Mission 3 | Richard and Gavin | |
Freedom
We live in a free country. We are free to say what we feel and do what we like. But to what extent do we know real freedom in our lives? Are we trapped in habits that just wont die no matter how hard we try to conquer them? Do we feel boxed in by our pasts? Do we feel constrained by the things people tell us and by what they expect of us? What does it mean to be free in Jesus and how do we use this freedom properly? What did Jesus say about sex? What did Jesus say about violence and anger and envy? What does it mean to be free form God's judgement and wrath? All these are big questions and in this seires we are looking for answers that will help us live live well - to live it in freedom...
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freedom | |||
| June 03 | Trinity Sunday | Richard | |
| June 10 | Freedom in Mission | Dave Wiles | Download |
| June 17 | Freedom from guilt and shame | Richard | Download |
| June 24 | Freedom from judging | Richard | Download |
| July 01 | Freedom from your past - Baptism Service | Richard | Download |
| July 08 | Freedom from Violence | Richard | Download |
| July 15 | Freedom and sex | Richard | Download |
| July 22 | Freedom from envy | Dilys | |
| July 29 | Freedom from wrath | Richard | Download |
I believe in resurrection
What makes Good Friday good? Answer - Easter Sunday. In this Easter series we revisit the central truth of Christianity - the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing is more important than this for our understanding of the gospel and giving us hope. Without the resurrection our faith is futile. But can we believe it, and what did the early disciples make of this incredible mind-blowing incident? Looking through the eyes of Mary, the first eye witness, then Peter, and then Paul, we want to rediscover the meaning of resurrection for us today. Along the way we will be thinking about our own lives and deaths, what happens when we die, heaven, the return of Jesus and the importance of it all for reaching out to others. Not much really...!
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| I believe in resurrection | |||
| April 08 | Easter | Richard | Download |
| April 15 | Mary | Richard | Download |
| April 22 | Peter | Richard | Download |
| April 29 | Paul - New Bodies | Richard | Download |
| May 06 | Paul - Power and weakness | Richard | |
| May 13 | Paul - Resurrection life today | Andy Piggott | |
| May 20 | Ezekiel | Richard | |
Proclaiming the cross
Leading up to Easter we travel together through Lent, reconsidering how Jesus death impacts our lives and the state of the world. Proclaiming the cross is a series not only intended to refresh our view of all that Jesus has achieved for us, but also renew our confidence in the message and enable us to communicate it simply and effectively with our friends. Taking the Victory of God as the primary lens through which to see everything else the series explores not only how Jesus' death deals with our sins but also has a message for a world destroyed and brutalised by suffering.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lent: Proclaiming the Cross | |||
| Feb 25 | Proclaiming the Cross - Victory | Richard | Download |
| March 04 | Proclaiming the Cross - Making peace | Richard | Download |
| March 11 | Proclaiming the Cross - Sacrifice | Mike Watkins | |
| March 18 | Proclaiming the Cross - God and Suffering | Richard | Download |
| March 25 | Proclaiming the Cross - Freedom | Jo Childs-Evans | |
| March 25 | Proclaiming the Cross - Palm Sunday | Richard | Download |
God and his people ...
My thinking is that there are two big things that we need more confidence in if we are to move forward. The first is the message itself. All of us are great at talking about things we think are good for others. All of us are naturally good at talking positively about things and people we feel positive about. Perhaps one of the first things we need to feel is simply a more positive conviction and feeling about the message itself.
The second big thing I think we need more confidence in is ourselves.
Over the next year my hope is that all of us will increasingly grow in confidence and enthusiasm for our message and in our ability to share it with others. I think this is vital for us as a church. The truth is that, as a church, we exist for those who don’t belong. We are a light for ‘the world’. We exist for others. Or as we have it on our notice board, “St Michael and All Angels – a church for you”. This is really important for us to get hold of. The church exists for mission. Pray that this series might help us regain this confidence!
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| God and his people | |||
| Jan 07 | God and His people - People as God sees them | Richard | Download |
| Jan 14 | God and His people - Why Jesus is good news for people? | Richard | Download |
| Jan 21 | God and His people - Inviting others to be part of God’s people | Richard | Download |
| Jan 28 | God and His people - Baptism and the people of God | Richard | Download |
| Feb 04 | God and His people - Breaking Bread and the people of God | Richard | Download |
| Feb 11 | God and His people - Giving in the Old Testament | Richard | Download |
| Feb 18 | God and His people - Giving in the New Testament | Richard | Download |
Hopes and Fears
Advent is countercultural and over these weeks before Christmas we were trying to get in touch with the centre of the message... Difficult to do in our culture but worth doing!
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Kingdom of God in three weeks | |||
| Nov 5 | The Kingdom’s king | Richard | Download |
| Nov 12 | A kingdom calling | Richard | Download |
| Nov 19 | A kingdom community | Richard | Download |
| Hopes and Fears | |||
| Nov 26 | ‘A people prepared for the Lord’ | Robert | |
| Dec 3 | ‘A king forever’ ‘A king forever’ | Dilys | |
| Dec 10 | ‘Nothing is impossible with God’ | Richard | Download |
| Dec 17 | ‘My soul glorifies the Lord’ | Dilys | |
| Dec 24 | ‘The tender mercy of God’ | Richard | Download |
| Other Christmas services | |||
| Dec 22 | Reflective service | Richard | |
| Dec 17 | Carol service | Richard | Download |
| Dec 24 | Midnight Communion | Richard | Download |
Following Jesus ...
Recently we have been looking at the role and work of the Holy Spirit and for the next few months we are going to be following Jesus around as he makes his way through the countryside and towns of first century Palestine. The point is that we want to learn from Jesus about how to live. He is our Rabbi, our teacher, our leader... and we are going to follow him no matter where he leads...
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Following Jesus around - Luke 4-7 | |||
| Aug 6 | Down to Capernaum | Richard | Download |
| Aug 13 | Down by the lake - Luke 5:1-11 | Richard | Download |
| Aug 20 | Around town - Luke 5:12-26 | Beth | |
| Aug 27 | At the tax office - Luke 5:27-39 | Dilys | |
| Sept 3 | Out in the fields - Luke 6:1-11 | Richard | Download |
| Sept 10 | Up and down the mountain - Luke 6:12-26 | Dilys | |
| Sept 17 | Vision Sunday | Richard | Download |
| Sept 24 | Out in the open1 - Luke 6:27-36 | Richard | Download |
| Oct 1 | Out in the open2 - Luke 6:37-42 | Dilys | |
| Oct 8 | Out in the open3 - Luke 6:43-49 | Richard | Download |
| Oct 15 | Back to Capernaum - Luke 7:1-10 | Richard | Download |
| Oct 22 | At Nain -Luke 7:11-35 | Richard | Download |
| Oct 29 | A dinner party - Luke 7:36-50 | Dilys | |
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| The New Year series: Living on purpose | |||
| Jan 08 | What shape am I? | Richard | Download |
| Jan 15 | Being part of a team | Beth | |
| Jan 22 | Gifts are for giving | Richard | Download |
| Jan 29 | The shaping of character | Richard | Download |
| Ancient future worship | |||
| Feb 05 | Does sacrifice have any relevance for us today? | Dilys | |
| Feb 12 | Does the Sabbath have any relevance to us today? | Beth | |
| Feb 19 | Does the Tabernacle have any relevance for us today? | Richard | Download |
| Feb 26 | Jesus on life - The smartest teacher in history | Richard | Download |
| March 05 | Jesus on life - Jesus' gospel | Richard | Download |
| March 12 | Jesus confronts the powers - Jesus and the Pharisees | Beth | |
| March 19 | Jesus confronts the powers - Jesus and Satan | Robert | |
| April 02 | Jesus confronts the powers - Jesus and Death | Richard | Download |
| April 09 | Palm Sunday - | Richard | Download |
| April 16 | Easter Day - Thinking out of the box | Bob Hurley | |
The Easter series continued through the Easter Story after Jesus' resurrection and offered us a chance to dwell on the reaction of those early guys who had to come to terms with the brain stretching idea that Jesus was in fact alive even though they had seen him killed just days before... It's about renewal of hope, expanded expectations, being reinstated and forgiven, being chosen despite our past... it's about resurrection - unbelievable but true...
The ABBA series is all about the Holy Spirit. As it's 'Pentecost' (the time of year when the church reflects on the role of the Spirit in our lives) we are going to take the opportunity to have a thorough look through the bible at who the Spirit is and what he does... The Abba thing is me playing around and looking for a hook... Can you remember the tunes...?
| Date | Title | Speaker | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Easter series: Resurrection Stories | |||
| April 23 | Cleopas and Mary | Richard | Download |
| April 30 | Thomas | Beth | |
| May 07 | Peter | Dilys | |
| May 07 | Peter - Sunday Live! | Richard | Download |
| May 14 | Paul | Richard | Download |
| The ABBA series: God’s Empowering presence | |||
| May 21 | Arrival - The Spirit as the renewed presence of God | Richard | Download |
| May 28 | That's me - The Spirit as a person | Richard | Download |
| June 04 | Pentecost Celebration | Richard | Download |
| June 11 | I have a dream - The Spirit ushers in the future | Richard | Download |
| June 18 | Knowing me, knowing you - The Spirit & the people of God | Dilys | |
| June 25 | Hole in your soul - Starting over again | Beth | |
| July 02 | Moving on - Living the life of the Spirit | Richard | Download |
| July 09 | Under attack - The battle for our soul | Richard | Download |
| July 16 | SOS - The Spirit, weakness and prayer | Richard | Download |
| July 23 | Thank you for the music - The Spirit and worship | Charlie Groves | |
| July 30 | Take a chance on me - How to receive and use his gifts | Richard | Download |
