Teaching

Sunday 14th July, 6:30 service, Dan Bright.

As a young boy, Jesus was taken to the temple in Jerusalem, at Passover. It was on their way back that they realised Jesus wasn’t with them, but still at the temple. He was found listening to the teachers and asking questions. People were “amazed” at his understanding and questions. Jesus tells his parents he had to be in his Father’s house, pointing to his identity and ministry. Jesus was one with God, and prioritised his relationship with his heavenly father.

Each of us is invited into this story – to be lost and then to be found by a loving God who isn’t hiding, but just needs to be sought after.

Sunday 12th May, 9:30 service, Dan Bright

Dan and Alyssa take us deeper into the Christmas story.

God can turn up anywhere! Encounters with God are transformative, and they happen in the course of life with all its ups and downs. They happen in the places we find ourselves in regularly. They happen, too, in the places that we find ourselves unexpectedly. This particular encounter with God happens when Jacob is in serious conflict with his brother. Esau wants to kill him (Genesis 27:41). Jacob, his grasping younger-by-minutes twin brother, has tricked him out of his birthright. He has taken Esau’s future security from him and left him with nothing (Genesis 27:39–40). As Jacob runs away, he meets God in the last place he expected.

Dan shares how, in 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Paul prays that God would shape the church in Thessalonica, and that the people of the Church would be blameless and holy with love overflowing for one another.

Dan Bright speaks from Matthew 25: 31 – 46 about compassion: feeding the hungry, caring for the refugees and visiting those in prison are all part of what it means to be a disciple. Jesus tells us that in serving others in this way, we are serving and worshipping Jesus himself. How are we obeying these challenging words of Jesus in our lives?

Dan Bright speaks from Acts 2: 1-4 and Matthew 10: 1-20 on how God continues to fill us with his Holy Spirit so we can share something of his presence to those around us.

Dan Bright asks us to reflect on Matthew 8: 5 – 13 on how Jesus calls us to show faith in tangible and trusting ways. How are our levels of faith and trust in God? Do we lean on our own ability or surrender to God’s power in our lives?

Dan Bright, Debs Jeffries and David Morgan speak to us from Matthew 6: 16-24, challenging us on what is driving us: are we exclusively devoted to God?