MCC - Sunday Talks: Recent Episodes
Middlesbrough Community Church
Martin spoke about the Human Calculation Factor and why has he chosen this as his title and explains about the Faith in Future grace from the scripture.
Hannah spoke about what giving and praying means through the scripture and how god tells us to give and pray from the scripture.
Adam spoke on the topic of the sermon on the mount looking through the Scripture of Mathew 6
laura spoke on the topic of ask seek knock through the Scripture of mathew 7 of understanding prayer persistent of God's generosity.
Blessing spoke about what the Scripture says about loving your enemy and what God tells us about love.
Helen spoke about attitude and how holy spirit leads somebody that is blessed and taught why blessed are the one who are poor in spirit.
Mark spoke about the Scripture of mathew : 5 explaining what it means and what jesus has done and how we go and learn from it.
Ross finished the series the power of the tongue with various testimonies from each ministry throughout MCC.
Femi spoke about the power of confession and declaration continuing the series the power of the tongue.
Joe spoke about what role do we play in spreading the gospel and how will they believe Jesus if someone doesn't tell them about him.
Samuel spoke about the power of the tongue and what the tongue produces and how are impacting with our words.
Helen spoke about what is fasting?, what is fasting in relation with heart connection and god and fasting as intercession.
Blessing spoke about the secret about contentment continuing the series the unshakeable joy.
Margaret spoke continuing the series the unshakeable joy about press on and what it means and what scripture says about pressing on .
Nino spoke about Knowing Christ and what it means to us and he explains what the apostille Paul spoke about knowing him through scripture.
Ross spoke briefly continuing the series of The unshakeable joy and explains what shine like a star means through the scripture.
Martin Dunkley spoke atTG Celebration-Christ Centered Churches With World Changing Impact.
Laura spoke about Joy and humility and the importance of it and how we can replicate that in our own lives.
Gladys continuing the series unshakable joy spoke about living in Christ and what it means to us .
Jonny spoke about the importance of palm Sunday and holy week and what happened in the time of crucifixion.
Jamie spoke about how important marriage is and what bible says about marriage and what marriage actually is....
Jonny talks about world wide family and how each church is shaped through christ and talks about what kind of church we are in.
Margaret spoke about heaven and how we would be worshipping god in eternal life and what eternity is.
Samuel talks about world wide church family and how MCC church community makes as an international church.
Ross young has spoken about how to become adopted by god and be in the spirit of adoption.
Laura spoke about adoption and how we become part of the God's family through adoption.
Terry spoke about the importance of reading bible and how the story of Abraham helps in building relationship with god and helps in reading the bible.
Jonny spoke on carol service and talks about the reflection and what is all about Christmas and what Emmanuel is who is he.
Margaret talks about Advent and what Advent means and talks about eager expectations for the coming of the lord and preparing for it.
Sam spoke about how we must trust in the holy spirit and how we must spread the gospel and love the gospel and share it to everyone.
Beth spoke about God in the dark and hope is coming and shares about 400 years of silence and some of her personal testimony.
Terry and Judy share their wonderful testimony about how did they serve God in Kenya and how God has been with them all those years helping them build a great foundation in their lives.
Evans spoke about holiness and how holiness helps us to examine our lives and the need to discuss about holiness.
Neil Strike talks about how even if there's nothing else in your life there is so much that god can give us and spoke about how to hear god in your life.
Ross young has discussed how God's plan for people to interact with holiness has looked different. Holiness has always been the same but how people have become holy, more holy, less holy has actually defied from beginning to the end.
MIles shared - as we are a family who share our resource in common and give and share is from our heart and it is an active love , there is a response that comes from when we give and share to each other which is a thanksgiving that goes unto God.
Paul king has spoken deeply about what evangelism and discipleship is and shares his own experience about how God has encountered him, saved him and changed him.
Femi spoke about how important is in denying yourself and be like a servant, the selflessness that we find in Jesus words and actions. Emphasizing the importance of denying ourselves, picking up our cross and becoming servants of Jesus Christ.
Miles spoke on Jesus's teaching and giving us an overview of why it matters what Jesus taught and gave us detailed thoughts on what he taught.
In the series of knowing our God, Blessing has spoke about loving our neighbor and how god teaches us in order to have eternal life what things must we do.
In the series of knowing our God, Laura spoke about what it means to love your God with all your soul, all your mind and all your heart.
Joyce has explained in the sermon on how we must communicate with the God and hear the word of God and respond to it.
Samuel has spoke about the kingship and what it means and what it means to us from the word of God.
Jamie has spoke about what God is doing on Teesside and little bit of festival Teesside.
Miles speaks on the series of God who is and about the trinity, God is three persons and of the holy spirit.
Margaret talks about the love of Christ and what that love is and shares her personal encounter she had about gods love.
Post recording correction from Margaret - The word eros is not actually used in Song of Songs as it's Greek and the OT is of course written in Hebrew!
Jonny speaks about how we can actually know God not as a son or aa a myth or a legend but a person who walked on this earth and lived among us.
Miles spoke about how faithful our God is and what faith is in continuing the series of who our god is.
Evans Boakye talks about the importance and how powerful the name of Yahweh i am who i am is.
Pete spoke about how to face reality of the situations and how importance it is to stop for Jesus our god.
Joyce talks about who is our god is and how beautiful his creations are and how great creator he is.
Terry Young talks about what proximity to god is and how to live out with proximity in our lives and what proximity to god means to us.
Femi has spoken about how Holy spirit works and has worked in him through his testimony and how holy spirit works in each and everyone of our lives.
Samuel talks about how receiving holy spirit changes our life and if you receive Jesus in our lives how everything comes with it.
Rick Thomas spoke briefly about Enoch from the bible and what we can learn from the life of Enoch.
Helen spoke about why we should pursue baptism in the holy spirit , what baptism in the holy spirit looks like and how to receive baptism in the holy spirit.
Jonny talks about how holy spirit works in leading church, how the spirit works in a church and how the spirits moves in a church.
Femi spoke about the great commission and what commission actually means and what it means to us in our lives.
Sue Omerod spoke about resurrection and how god is continuously doing new things in our lives and how abundantly and immeasurably he is doing.
Empty tomb
John 17.26 — 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
It is such a let down to rise from the dead and have your friends not recognize you. The writer John tells us that Mary saw Jesus after his resurrection but did not realise it was Jesus. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” “Thinking he was the gardener, she said . . .” I love that line “thinking he was the gardener.” It is so loaded.
Jewish writers like John did things like this all the time in their writings. They record what seem to be random details, yet in these details we find all sorts of multiple layers of meaning. There are even methods to help decipher all the hid- den meanings in a text. One is called the principle of first mention. Whenever you come across a significant word in a passage, find out where this word first appears in the Bible. John does this in his gospel. The first mention of the word love is in 3:16—“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” We then discover that love is first men- tioned in Genesis 22 when God tells Abraham to take “your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love” and offer him as a sacrifice. John is doing something intentional in his gospel: He wants his readers to see a connection between Abra- ham and his son, and God and God’s son. John’s readers who knew the Torah would have seen the parallels right away.
Back to the empty tomb and Mary’s inability to recognize Jesus. She mistakes him for a gardener. Where is the first mention of a garden in the Bible? Genesis 2, the story of God placing the first people in a . . . garden. And what happens to this garden and these people? They choose to live outside of how God made them to live, and they lose their place in the garden. Death enters the picture and paradise is lost. John tells us that Jesus is buried in a garden tomb. And Jesus is mistaken for a gardener. Something else is going on here. John wants us to see a connection between the garden of Eden and Jesus rising from the dead in a garden. There is a new Adam on the scene, and he is reversing the curse of death by conquering it. As one writer put it, “It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” And he’s doing it in a garden. He’s reclaiming creation. He’s entering into it and restoring it and renewing God’s plans for the world. Jesus is God’s way of refusing to give up on his dream for the world.
Stop and breathe.
Thankyou, gracious Father, that through the death an+d resurrection of your Son Jesus, you have fulfilled your plan to save the whole world.
Silence
John 17.26 — 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
There is something of an echo to the Genesis story here, for just as the Father rested after the work of creation had been complete, so here we see a Father resting in Christ, silent, in the tomb. There is a pause which is filled with the expectation of the dawning of new life of resurrection Sunday but just now, there is silence.
What Jesus accomplished on the cross was something far more significant than simply on Good Friday. Rather, the im- pact and trajectory of the cross would resonate with the whole of creation. By this, the whole world would know that the death of Jesus defeated the evil that is in the world.
Again, as the mediator and Great High Priest, Jesus prays for those who one day, will join the band of the disciples, in years, decades and centuries to come. Consider how the disciples may have reacted at this point, probably confused and somewhat disturbed. That sense of hearing something you just don’t understand yet it doesn't feel comfortable.
But he prays something incredibly significant for us as a church, that we would be one. In the silence of Saturday pray for believers across Teesside. That we might be one as our God is one. Think about one of the other churches in Mid- dlesbrough and pray God’s richest blessing upon them.
Stop and breathe.
Father, may all your people be one, as you through the prayer of Jesus resounded so clearly. Help me be a blessing to other believers around our town. Show us, as MCC, what we can do to fulfil this part of your prayer.
Friday...Jesus prays for his disciples
John 17.6-19 — 6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you
have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but
they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your
name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hat- ed them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
In the midst of our reflections and thoughts about this solemn day, we find ourselves in the middle of Je- sus’ prayer for his disciples. The prayer he prayed before he was arrested and killed.
Jesus prayed that he would be glorified, in that, through the crucifixion, God would fully reveal himself as the One true God, the lover of Israel and the world. Even in this incredibly intense and emotional moment , Jesus’ thoughts turn towards his disciples, the ones whom the Father had given him as
their mediator, he stands in the gap prays for their sanctification. This Hebrew word points towards
a consecration, where a person is made holy by God. Through the cross and in His own body, Jesus took upon himself the shame, failings, sin and agony of all people, in order that they might know healing and ultimately embody the love of God.
It is out of that desire that he prays for his people, those who earlier, sat around the table, the names we know and those we do not know the names of—but people who had seen a glimpse of the God in Him and chose to trust him with all their life.
In our sanctification, we are placing our lives in God’s hands, for his use, his glory and his mission. In the words of Mary, ‘Let it be to me, according to your word.’
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, be with us as a church as we watch and wait on this solemn day. You loved us until there was no breath left in your body, may we also be faithful to you and because of what you have done through the cross, may we be consecrated for your service.
Return
Matthew 6.33 — 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.
The remaking of this world is why Jesus’s first messages began with “T’shuva, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The Hebrew word t’shuva means “to return.” Return to the people we were originally created to be. The people God is re- making us into. God makes us in his image. We reflect the beauty and creativity and wonder of the God who made us.
And Jesus calls us to return to our true selves.
The pure, whole people God originally intended us to be, before we veered off course. Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be. We need you to be you. We don’t need a second anybody. We need the first you. The problem is that the image of God is deeply scarred in each of us, and we lose trust in God’s version of our story. It seems too good to be true. And so we go searching for identity. We achieve and we push and we perform and we shop and we work out and we accomplish great things, longing to repair the image. Longing to find an identity that feels right. Longing to be comfortable in our own skin. But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else.
It is right here.
And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together. Trust that through dying to the old, the new can give birth. Trust that Jesus can repair the scarred and broken image. It is trusting that I am loved. That, I always have been. That, I always will be. I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing.
That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance. God knew exactly what he was doing when he made you. There are no accidents. We need you to embrace your true identi- ty, who you are in Christ, letting this new awareness transform your life. That is what Jesus has in mind. That is what brings heaven to earth.
Stop and breathe.
Today, O lord, I choose to return back to you. I choose you—your ways, your thoughts, your deeds. Please fill us with your love and peace so that we might be a blessing to others.
A renewed vision
Matthew 6.33 — 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.
On another occasion, Jesus is asked to mediate in a monetary dispute between two brothers. Jesus uses the moment to tell a story about a man whose crops do well and who becomes rich. He then decides not to share the bounty but to build
bigger barns for storage and then take it easy for the rest of his days.
Jesus told this story at a time when many of his countrymen were losing family land and having trouble feeding their families. Being hungry was a very real issue for a lot of people. In the story, God is so offended by the man’s selfish ac- tions that his very life is taken from him that night.
It is one of the only places in all of Jesus’s teachings where someone does something so horrible in Jesus’s eyes that they deserve to die right away. And what is this horrible thing the man did? He refused to be generous. He brought hell to earth. Jesus wants his followers to bring heaven, not hell, to earth. This has been God’s intention for people since the beginning. Jesus is not teaching anything new for his day.
God walked in the garden, looking for Adam and Eve. God told the Israelites to build a tabernacle so he could live in their midst. King Solomon built a temple, God’s house, so God could live permanently among his people. And when Jesus comes, he’s referred to as God “taking on flesh and dwelling among us.” Another translation of this verse is, “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.” The entire movement of the Bible is of a God who wants to be here, with his people.
True spirituality then is not about escaping this world to some other place where we will be forever. A Christian is not someone who expects to spend forever in heaven there. A Christian is someone who anticipates spending forever here, in a new heaven that comes to earth. The goal isn’t escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. The outworking of our salvation is that God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work.
Stop and breathe.
Father God, may we be a people who embrace your h+eart and vision for this earth. Help us be fit for service and have a heart that beats like yours.
A new reality
John 3.16 —16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus tells a parable about a young son who leaves home, hits rock bottom, and returns in shame. His father sees him from far off, runs to him, embraces him, and announces a party in honour of his return. In this story, God is the God who stands
in the driveway, waiting for his kids to come home. So the party starts and everybody is celebrating, and the older
brother comes in from the field mad. He wants to know why his brother gets a party and he doesn’t. The parable ends
with the father telling the older son, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
The father wants the older son to know that everything he wants he has always had; there is nothing he could ever do to earn it. The elder son’s problem isn’t that he doesn’t have anything; it’s that he has had it all along but refused to trust that it was really true. We cannot earn what we have always had. What we can do is trust that what God keeps insisting is true about us is actually true.
Let’s take this further.
As one writer puts it, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were unable to do anything about our condition, while we were helpless, while we were unaware of just how bad the situation was, Jesus died. And when Jesus died on the cross, he died for everybody. Everybody. Everywhere. Every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every people group.
Jesus said that when he was lifted up, he would draw all people to himself. All people. Everywhere. Everybody’s sins on the cross with Jesus. So this reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross, he was reconciling “all things, in heaven and on earth, to God.” All things, everywhere. This reality then isn’t something we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making.
Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, your arms are open wide, ready to rec+eive us, ready to embrace us, ready to forgive and renew us. May we live in this new reality.
Palm branches
John 15.18-19 —18 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
It would appear that Palm Sunday was a roaring success for Jesus. Probably at this time, more than any other, the crowds were pouring adulation upon Jesus—waving their palm branches, laying cloaks as though a conquering hero was returning from a great battle. And yet, the great paradox was that he was not riding in victory but riding in broken- ness, he wasn’t riding proclaiming victory but riding to his sacrificial offering.
Over the next week, the adulating crowds would slowly dissipate and the few loyal would remain.
Sometimes when we consider the mission of God through the life and person of Jesus it is heart breaking. After all, He came to His own, but His own rejected Him. He was visible in the world, yet the world did not recognise Him. Jesus was painfully aware that if His disciples were to take up the Jesus way and embody His ministry through their own lives there would be opposition and persecution. No wonder Jesus declared that if the world hates us, remember the world hated him first.
As followers of Jesus we are called not simply to be nice people, but to challenge the structures that set themselves up against the purposes of God. Followers of Jesus can not simply turn a blind eye, or indeed be complicit in ethics, busi- ness, decisions, vision that opposes the kingdom of God. We need to be an active ingredient in the renewal of this earth. This means that in our schools, colleges, universities, work places and in our homes, the decisions, influence, and actions need to be in the pursuit of the kingdom of God. We need to understand it will not be an easy walk. There will be times when we are misunderstood and mis quoted. In essence our love, though it sounds paradoxical, is a confronta- tional love, a love that pursues God’s best for our world.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, we need your help and we need your grace to be evident in the areas of influence I
am in. Lord God, bless our families, our communities and our work places.
A new destiny
Colossians 3.16 —“Let us live up to what we have already attained.”
Read these words from the letter to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” God has declared who we are in His eyes. And we are learning to live like it is true. Essentially, it is letting what God says about us shape what we believe about ourselves. This is why shame has no place in the Christian experience. It is simply against all that Jesus is
for.
This is repeated by the writer of Romans who states, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
None. No shame. No list of what is being held against us. No record of wrongs.
God is not interested in shaming people; God wants people to see who they really are. “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” You are not who you were. Old person going away, new person here, now.
Reborn, rebirthed, remade, reconciled, renewed. Jesus put it this way: “You are in me and I am in you.” So when the first Christians went all over the Roman Empire telling people the Jesus message, they spent most of their time explain- ing who people are from God’s perspective. Who we already are. They insisted that people can live a new life, counting ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God.”
Jesus said that as this new reality takes over our hearts and lives and minds and actions, we are crossing over “from death to life.” He called this new kind of life “eternal life.” For Jesus, eternal life wasn’t a state of being for the future that we would enter into somewhere else; it is a quality of life that starts now
Stop and breathe.
God help me understand what it means to live in eternity now, not when I die. Today I choose to live the kind of life through your eyes. May I choose each day to be dead to sin and alive in Christ.
A new name
Colossians 3.12 —“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved . . . “
Yesterday we considered our new identity in Christ, Paul continued in this vein when he wrote, “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” These first Christians kept insisting that something so transformational was happening in the lives of followers of Jesus that they could refer to their old lives as “the life [we] once lived.”
It is not that we are perfect now or that we will never have to struggle. Or that the old person won’t come back from time to time. It’s that this new way of life involves a constant, conscious decision to keeping dying to the old so that we can live in the new. Paul describes it as Christ being our lives. Paul goes so far as to insist in another letter that if we are having this new kind of transforming experience with Christ in which we are taking on a new identity, we are literally now a “new creation.”
We are being remade. We are not who we were. We are a new creation. We are “in Christ.”
When God looks at us, God sees Christ, because we are “in” him. God’s view of us is Christ. And Christ is perfect. This is why Paul goes on to say, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved . . . ”
Imagine that, God calls us Holy. Not “going to be holy someday.” Not “wouldn’t it be nice if you were holy, but instead you’re a mess.” But “holy.” Holy means pure, without blemish, unstained. In these passages we’re being told who we are, now. The issue then isn’t my beating myself up over all of the things that we have done but the issue is in our learning who this person is who God keeps insisting we already are.
Stop and breathe.
Mighty God, how can it be that view us in this remarkable way? I fall on knees in gratitude of who you are and how you have transformed my life. And I rise from my knees, I stand in awe of you— the One who gave me this renewed life.
A new name
Colossians 3.3 —“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
The first century Christians insisted that when we become a follower of Jesus, a profound change occurs in our fundamental identity. In who we are at the very core of our being. In who we are first and fore- most, before we are anything else. In our awareness of ourselves.
The first Christians were convinced that in identifying with Jesus’s death on the cross, something within us dies. They called this person who died the “old man” or the “old woman.” The person we were before we had a spiritual re-birth.
Now this idea of death and rebirth is not a new idea at all—in fact it has been around in almost eve- ry religious tradition since people first started talking about these things. But the first Christians be- lieved that this idea had been lived out in a new and unique way in Jesus’s death and resurrection. Paul put it like this in the book of Colossians: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” So this old nature of ours—the one that was constantly pulling us down and causing us to live in ways we weren’t created to live—has died.
And no matter how many times that old nature raises its ugly head and pretends to be alive, it is dead. And not only did that old person die, but we have been given a new nature. Again, Paul writes in Colossians, “You have been raised with Christ.” We have this new life, this new identity that has been given to us. We have taken on the identity of Christ.
Stop and breathe.
Loving Lord Jesus, thankyou that you have given us a new identity, a new nature and renewed sense of what we were created for. Thankyou that before anything else, you chose us and our identity is in you.
I send you
Matthew 28.19—And as you go into all the world, baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Ho- ly Spirit.
At the end of his time with his disciples, after his death and resurrection, Jesus has some final words for them. He tells them to go to the ends of the earth and make more disciples.
And then he leaves.
He promises to send his Spirit to guide them and give them power, in fact more than that, he prom- ised to send another one like Him who would be so close and so intimately tangible to be with them every step of the way. The reality is though, Jesus himself leaves the future of the movement in their hands.
And he doesn’t stick around to make sure they don’t screw it up. He’s gone.
He trusts that they can actually do it. God has an incredibly high view of His people. God believes that people are capable of amazing things. As Christians we know that we are told that we need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me. As Chris- tians we are told that we must have faith in God. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that God has faith in me. The rabbi thinks we can be like him.
Stop and breathe.
Lord God, you are the potter and I am the clay. You do not make mistakes, you do not have sec- ond thoughts. You made us exactly how we should b+e. Now Lord, may we respond by living in that greatness.
I chose you
John 15.16 —16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear
fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
At one point, Jesus’s disciples are in a boat and Jesus comes walking by on the water. And one of the disciples says, “If it’s you, let me come to you on the water.” It’s a fascinating story, isn’t it? And of even further interest,
when the disciple Peter jumps out of the boat because he wants to walk on water like Jesus.
But it makes sense—maybe not the water part, but the disciple part.
If you are a disciple, you have committed your entire life to being like your rabbi. If you see your rabbi walk on water, what do you immediately want to do? Walk on water. So this disciple gets out on the water and he starts to sink, so he yells, “Jesus save me!” And Jesus says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Who does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus; Jesus is doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. Peter loses faith that he can do what his rabbi is doing.
If the rabbi calls you to be his disciple, then he believes you can actually be like him. As we read the stories of Jesus’s life with his talmidim, his disciples, what seems to frustrate Jesus? When his disciples lose faith in themselves. He even says to them at one point, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” The entire rabbin- ical system was based on the rabbi having faith in his disciples.
Let’s pause for a second and consider the implications for you and I. A rabbi would only pick a disciple who he thought could actually do what he was doing. Is it possible that in our lives, Jesus is more likely to become frustrated with our ‘greatness’ rather than our ‘failure’? Or rather, the lack of understanding of how great God has made us and therefore what we are capable of through him.
Stop and breathe.
Lord God, you are the potter and I am the clay. You d+o not make mistakes, you do not have second thoughts. You made us exactly how we should be. Now Lord, may we respond by living in
Dusty feet
Matthew 11.29-30—29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
To be a disciple (talmidim) essentially meant that you didn’t want to miss anything the rabbi might say or do. This kind of devotion is what it means to be a disciple.
One of the earliest teachers of the Mishnah, Yose ben Yoezer, said to disciples, “Cover yourself with the dust of [your rabbi’s] feet.” This idea of being covered in the dust of your rabbi came from something everybody had seen. A rabbi would come to town, and right behind him would be this group of students, doing their best to keep up with the rabbi as he went about teaching his yoke from one place to another.
By the end of a day of walking in the dirt directly behind their rabbi, the students would have the dust from his feet all over them. And that was a good thing.
So at the age of thirty, when a rabbi generally began his public teaching and training of disciples, we find Je- sus walking along the Sea of Galilee. “He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.” Surely they weren’t good enough; surely they didn’t make the talmidim cut. Jesus calls the not-good-enoughs. The story continues: “At once they left their nets and followed him.” This is strange, isn’t it? Why do they just drop their nets? Why would they quit their jobs for some rabbi they had never met?
It is quite simply because a rabbi saw them and said ‘you can be like me’. This incredible affirmation is the same affirmation we also receive from Christ.
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, as I continue in my journey of discipleship with you, may I be so close to you that I too may see the dust upon my feet. May your words, your compassion, love and grace fall upon my life and remain with me.
The way of the Rabbi
Matthew 11.29-30—29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
At the time of Jesus the position of rabbi was an important one. Moreover, to be a disciple of a rabbi was an incredible honour—in some way it was deemed ‘you’d made it!’ When the rabbi would ask a student a question, he would seldom
give an answer. Have you noticed how rarely Jesus answers questions, but how often he responds with another ques-
tion? Rabbis had no interest in having the student spit back information just for information’s sake. They wanted to
know if the student understood it, if he had wrestled with it. This notion is difficult for the modern mind to grasp be- cause we generally think of education as the transmission of information. The better a student is, the better they are able to produce the right information at the right time.
In the world of rabbinic education, the focus was on questions, which demonstrated that the student not only under- stood the information but could then take the subject a step further. When Jesus’s parents found him in the temple area, how old was he? Twelve. Notice what the text says here: “They found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Jesus later says to his disciples, “Remember, everything I learned I passed on to you.”
It was most Jewish boy’s dream to become a talmidim - a disciple of the rabbi. They would desire to take on the yoke of the rabbi and the rabbi would have to consider whether they were ‘good enough’. If the rabbi believed they could do it, they would say ‘come, follow me’.
When Jesus called out to the ‘not good enoughs’ he declared come learn from me because my yoke is easy. Having understood the significance of this phrase, to all of us who feel like we are just not good enough, for those of us who sometimes feel like cracked pots, Jesus says, ’come, follow me’.
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, thankyou that you call out to the not quite perfect ones, the ones who know they are have fragility and vulnerability, to the ones just like me. I choose to follow you, make me your talmidim today.
Go in peace
Mark 5.34. —“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
A woman has had an illness for twelve years and no one can cure her. She pushes her way through a crowd to get to Jesus, and when she gets close to him, she grabs his cloak. Now remember, Jesus is a To- rah-observant Jewish rabbi who keeps the scripture commandments word for word, including pas- sages like Numbers 15, which means Jesus would have been wearing a prayer shawl. So when the woman grabs the edge of his cloak, she is demonstrating that she believes Jesus is the Messiah and
that his tassels have healing powers. She believes that Jesus is who Malachi was talking about. She touches his tassels and is healed, just like Malachi said.
But I don’t think the physical healing is Jesus’s point here. I think it is what Jesus says to her as they part ways, “Go in peace.” The word Jesus would have used for peace is the Hebrew word shalom . Shalom is an important word in the Bible, and it is not completely accurate to translate it simply as “peace.” The Hebraic understanding of shalom is far more than just the absence of conflict or strife. Shalom is the presence of the goodness of God. It’s the presence of wholeness, completeness. Jesus was placing the blessing of God on all of her. Not just her physical body. He is blessing her with God’s presence on her entire being. For Jesus, being saved or reconciled to God involves far more than just the saving of your physical body or your soul—it involves all of you.
God’s desire is for us to live in harmony with him—body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions—every inch of our being.
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, thankyou that you are working out your salvation in me. Help me to remain in the place of peace. That you would flood my whole being with your peace. And may this peace touch other people’s lives as you work through me.
Walking on water
John 6.20 —20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were willing to take him into the
boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
Following the miracle of food and provision, John’s gospel immediately brings his reader’s attention to an- other miracle. Jesus himself stated that Moses pointed Israel to Him (John 5:46). John then pulls a
story into his narrative that isn’t necessarily chronological. This miracle happened sometime later, but John thinks it’s helpful to tell the story now, linking it back to Jesus’ words about Moses through its connection to Passover.
Immediately after this story, John will tell his readers about Jesus walking on water. In John’s readers’ minds, these two stories will be directly linked to Moses and Exodus. The feeding of the 5,000 linked back to Israel being fed by manna from heaven whereas, Jesus walking on water would have been a reminder of Moses leading God’s people through the Red Sea.
Why did John do this? Ultimately, he was demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah, and John’s Jewish audience needed to see that. They needed proof—evidence that Jesus was not simply yet another wannabe Messiah. Through careful construction under the influence of the Holy Spirit, John revealed the power and authority that Jesus has.
Today, can we call out to God, as the disciples exclaimed, ‘Give us this bread’? Will we be a people that long for Jesus, not simply as robots following rules but as a groups of followers that dedicate and un- swervingly give of ourselves for Him as we desire to eat and nourish on the Bread of Life.
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, thankyou that you are our daily bread. You give life and spiritual sustenance. May we come to you daily and recognise your Messiahship in our lives. May we be a people who willingly submit to your ways and embrace your grace and love for others.
Feeding to overflow
Matthew 14.17—17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
The miracles of Jesus demonstrate his presence and power in many different circumstances and to differ- ent audiences. The feeding of the 5000 is no exception.
Imagine the scene. The crowds had gathered around a spectacular teacher, words that seemed different from those delivered by the average Rabbi. As you absorbed and was gripped by His words, time ran away with itself and you begin to realise that you had been there for some time. You start to get hungry and tired. The disciples that surrounded the Rabbi begin to discuss where they will get food from to feed the huge crowd. A boy steps forward and offers what he has. You can see from the faces of the disciples that they were clearly not impressed, after all, barley bread was a symbol of poverty. Then the Rabbi asked the crowd to sit in groups of 50 and 100, he spoke like someone with authority, like the captain of an army...
You see, as Jesus began to order the crowd into groups it was reminiscent of the way Moses grouped his people when they were in the wilderness. Why this parallel? This miracle not only demonstrated that Jesus was able to provide for all his people but made the direct link between Moses and Jesus, while Moses led the people of Israel, Jesus will lead all the nations of the earth.
The detail of the barley bread should not be overlooked. This gospel, our gospel is a story that is indiscriminate, it is a story of extravagant grace that allows you and I to partake in, to journey on, towards the path of the cross.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, may we be delighted again in the understanding of this miracle. You do not hold back
your love, your providence and your grace. May I reflect this generosity in all I do in your name.
Magic spit?
John 9.6—6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the
man’s eyes.
Some of the miracles of Jesus raise some interesting questions. Why didn’t Jesus just heal the man? Why use spit? In the first century many Jews believed that the Rabbi (teacher) not only had special in-
sight into religious ideas but also special powers. After all, if they were ‘closer’ to God than the av-
erage Jew, it would seem quite logical.
One of those associated beliefs was that the spit of a Rabbi carried special healing properties. Was Jesus mixing magic and mystery? It is helpful to consider the character of Jesus in the many interac- tions he has with the vulnerable and those in need. Essentially, Jesus met with people exactly where they were and not where they ‘should’ be. When we consider the authority of Jesus, who He was and who He is.; he could have easily cut to the heart of the matter. Instead, he invites people on the journey of faith. A journey without judgement or pre-requisite behaviours. He simply says, ‘Come...’ Just as is echoed in the prophet Isaiah, ‘Come let us reason together, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow’.
As Jesus spat into His hands and mixed it with the mud, he was inviting the blind man to enter a journey of faith. A journey that would change his life forever. In our interactions, do we mirror the same attitudes.? Do we invite people into and onto the journey of faith?
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, may we be a people that have open arms to welcome the stranger and invite them into a journey of faith with us. May our words reflect yours, our actions reflect yours and our hearts reflect yours.
The invitation
John 7.37-39—37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let an- yone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
In this extract from John 7, we are reminded of the great feast of the Tabernacles . In the incredible narrative of God’s providence during the escape from Egypt, He provided them with water when they were thirsty and food when they were hungry. As Moses struck the dry and arid rock, thirst quenching water erupted from it. Giving life and sustenance.
The fascinating addition to this Jewish expectation of God’s providence is that not only will God provide but the recipients will also become a source of life for others. These strong images were well developed in Jewish thinking so, when Jesus declared these words, the people would have al- luded to the Old Testament prophet and priest, Ezekiel, as he also declared a similar theme at the restoration of Israel’s fortunes.
Jesus’ addition of ‘living’ water added a new dimension to this declaration. It spoke of the new cov- enant, a new dimension—the Holy Spirit. This beautiful section gives you and I a window into our commission. But first, we must come and drink of the living water so that we ourselves experience the life giving Spirit that has been given to us.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, may we be refreshed by the power of your life giving Spirit. May we experience our hearts and minds being renewed by you. May we as your church be a place that others can find refreshment and life.
Open family
Psalm 68.6—’He places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.’
Time after time, we see the image of family being described in the pages of the Bible. We see references to oneness, unity, a tree with branches, a vine, brothers and sisters amongst other images. It is one of the great themes running through the vein of the Old Testament into the New.
But what does it mean? Family is a place of growth, a place of joy, making memories and building together. That doesn't mean that it is always plain sailing. Sometimes there are strains, disagree- ments and challenges. But above all, as Christ is the head of our family, we can see this living or- ganism grow to be a place where people can flourish.
As MCC, let us keep pushing forward in the mindset of kingdom values. Where the stranger is made a friend, where those who feel without hope can receive hope, where the broken can find healing, where those who feel far from God can draw near.
Every single one of us has a part to play in our family. From the welcome at the beginning to the cup of tea at the end, what happens on Sunday morning is often the first glance of who we are. So let us be that place where people find green pasture for their souls.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, as your Church, let us be mindful of the many people in our city that are lonely and without hope. May we be a church where people find family. Open arms, an open table and an open door.
Open table
Songs of Songs 2.4—He brought me to His banqueting table and His banner over me is love.
There is something quite special when the people of God gather together. The union, the agreement, the shout of praise that rises up as we declare the truths of God through prayer, song and Bible study. Like any allegorical type of textual reading, there is a degree of interpretation and cultural understand-
ing that can lead us to some beautiful imagery of how extravagant our God is.
Here in this verse we read that this table is not merely a table but a table laden with food. The poor in society could not have afforded a banquet and yet God invites them. We see the same imagery used again in the parable of the wedding feast told by Jesus.
In the upside down kingdom of God, money, social standing, notoriety, influence and power play no role in who gets the VIP invite. Instead, this table signifies a security and protection in the pres- ence of the King. This idea of a banner (sometimes interpreted as a standard) was something that meant a great deal to the people of God in the Old Testament. It was normally associated with an army, a herald that went before and declared who you were. In this incredible juxtaposition, we see this banner is ‘love’.
In our pursuit of loving God and loving people, may our great city see the standard above our church—the banner of love.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, we desire to represent you in your fullness and glory here on earth. We long for the people of our city to see how gracious, loving and forgiving you are. We declare to our city, come and eat at our table.
Open door
Matthew 25.40—Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
What did Jesus mean when he said ‘whatever you do’? Is it simply about loving and caring for one anoth- er in the same way Jesus did? Moreover, it is worth noting that here in Matthew’s gospel he has
the words ’for the least of these’. Let us not forget where Matthew came from. A tax collector and someone quite despised by society and in turn, someone who despised the poor who definitely
couldn’t pay their taxes.
Just prior to these verses, there is a description of judgement day using the analogy of sheep and goats and then this is followed by the words, ’for I was hungry and you gave me food’. The disciple’s response probably frustrated Jesus, ’when did we see you hungry?’ They just hadn’t quite grasped what the kingdom looked like.
Earlier in this series, there was a stark reminder that we have been given the Spirit as a deposit of the guarantee of what is to come. God has given us an incredible opportunity to partner with Him in bringing about a renewal of kingdom thinking, kingdom words and kingdom actions. Today, con- sider what you could do to be a part of this incredible mission.
Set yourself a goal, make it happen and act. Stop and breathe.
Loving God, thankyou for the challenge we find in scripture to act with justice and mercy to those who are considered the least in society. Lord, help us to be a church where the door is open for those to find safety and acceptance in the arms of your Son.
Open minds
Romans 12.2—’Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’
Paul’s letter to the Roman church is an incredible charge to be people of the Spirit. To have our mind re- newed is not simply to move from a to-do list of the flesh to a to-do list of a new moral Christian
code. It is the all-sufficient transforming power of the Spirit that enables you and I to be ministers
of the new covenant—a renewal that is a profound, blood-bought, Spirit-wrought change from the inside out.
In the letter to the Romans we read of a transformed church that is enslaved and utterly submitted. Verbs that seems to suggest a contrary message to the Spirit of freedom—but when we are desiring God’s best for our lives from the inside out, we willingly submit, willingly become enslaved to his ways.
Why our minds? The mind is not simply a computer data system that needs a reboot every now again because it has become clogged up with cookies and notifications. The mind has a spirit and therefore a mindset. Imagine a church, whose collective mindset is so kingdom focussed that it be- comes a powerful and yielding force that the Lord can use to transform our beautiful city of Mid- dlesbrough.
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, we hear the groan and longing of Heaven for your bride to be transformed by the re- newing of our minds. Almighty God, may we, your church in this city, have a kingdom mindset that we may display your glory through our story of salvation.
Open ears
Hebrews 3.15—
’Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.’
Sometimes when we read stories from the Old Testament of the incredible and miraculous power of God,
for example a pillar of fire and of smoke guiding the Israelites through the wilderness, we can not fathom
that they still rebelled against God. Or, what about the disciples who witness first hand the miracu-
lous feeding of the five thousand and yet just shortly after when faced with around 4000 people,
they had seemingly forgotten all about a previous miracle?
There are times when we simply can not see the way ahead. Maybe there are struggles and strains
on our finances, in our work place or in our families. And sometimes, in those moments, we can
not see the wood for the trees. We become so consumed by our circumstance and place all our en-
ergy into just surviving it.
It is in these times that we need to stop and breathe. Hear the still small voice of God. The voice of
our Lord is like the sound of many waters. He knows what we need in those moments, he under-
stands and sympathises with our challenges and our fragility. This verse is not a ‘telling off verse’
but it’s a desperate plea from Heaven to stop and hear His voice. We have a choice to believe one
of the following:
GODISNOWHERE
GODISNOWHERE
Stop and breathe.
Loving God, may we take the time to stop and listen. And in that stillness, may we hear your
voice. Help us Lord to not ignore your providence which can be right in front of us and may we
see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Open arms
Galatians 3.28—There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and fe-
male, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
As we make our way to Holy week, this movement will act as a bridge between the life of Paul, into a fo-
cus on the church and then onto Christ. The verse that aids our focus today epitomizes God’s wel-
coming attitude. In the first century, this verse was a stark contrast to the cultural attitudes. The
extraordinary nature of God’s generosity is found at the heart of this verse.
The commitment of God to you and me, that irrespective of background, culture, age or gender, his
love and grace, his forgiveness and restoration is unswerving.
There is a call upon our church to be those same open arms. When we consider Paul, who was
steeped in the most religious form of Jewish elitism, this verse only stands as an even more power-
ful reminder of that truth. Are we willing to allow the Spirit to challenge us in this area? To sit and
listen to someone who is the polemic of your life, experience or culture can be incredibly enriching.
We can learn so much from each other and our different experiences of how we relate to our God.
For as this verse states, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
Stop and breathe.
Lord Jesus, may we be the kind of church that can welcome the stranger with open arms. May
we be the kind of church is enable to learn from one another, from our lives, and experiences of
you.
Open hearts
2 Corinthians 6.13—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
Just prior to this verse, Paul again, spends some time defending his work and ministry to the church of
Corinth and wider afield. He bares his soul to them and therefore places himself in a vulnerable position.
Sometimes we can allow culture to shape us in such a way that to wear your heart on your sleeve is
seen as embarrassing or too exposing. We can sometimes bury negative emotion in favour of pre-
tending that ‘all is well’. And of course, there is a danger that in church life, we can make a link be-
tween negative feelings and lack of faith.
By no stretch of the imagination is Paul suggesting we should say everything we think or feel but
there is a call to integrity of emotion. A call to the people of God to be the kind of church where you
and I can be honest without fear of judgement. As the church, we are the community where the
Spirit dwells and therefore where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
As we work together as a community of believers, so in turn, we should grown in loving and caring
for one another—having hearts that are open and full of generosity—because this is what God has
displayed through his glory in our salvation. In turn, as this glory is displayed through our stories of
salvation, we ourselves can then be a witness to a waiting world.
Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, would you enable us, to bear with one another with integrity and open hearts, that
in turn this glory would be displayed for a waiting world.
Fashioned for grace
2 Corinthians 6.1—As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
Culture is a hugely shaping force in many people’s lives. We have to be honest and admit that sometimes even church culture can have a not so dissimilar affect or impact. Paul was concerned for the church in Corinth that the pursuit of power, influence and pride, which was endemic in the first century
Greek culture, would negate all that they have gained in Christ.
It is incredibly easy in the face of changing culture, ideas, societal norms and what is deemed ac- ceptable, for this to permeate into our thinking and understanding of God. And in so doing, shape God in our image rather than understanding God for who He is actually is. Therefore, Paul urges the Corinthians to grasp the grace of God.
In these opening lines and the few that follow, Paul refers to Isaiah 40-55 which centres around God’s covenant love through the work of the Servant of the Lord, who would die and resurrect. Paul was again urging the church to be that continuation of the promises of God. To grasp the grace and not conform to the pattern of the world but be renewed in their thinking.
You and I are conduits of God’s grace—this is our calling and our vocation. Stop and breathe.
Loving Father I ask that you would enable me to grasp the grace you pour out upon our lives. May I be a conduit of your grace to others.
Fashioned for righteousness
2 Corinthians 5.21— 21 God For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.
In the final verses of this chapter, Paul creates a summation of all his thoughts so far and centres them around the act of God that is crucial for our salvation—the cross. Paul declares that we are ambas- sadors for Christ. It is important to note how Paul understood the word Christ. Naturally, this can
get lost in our English language. For Paul, ‘Christ’ was not simply a pronoun but rather a title, a sig- nifier of who Jesus is. Christ is Messiah, King, ruler of Israel and even more than that, as is echoed throughout the Psalms, king of the world. No wonder Paul was compelled to drive forward in the mission of Christ—that all people should be reconciled back to God.
And why? Not only because of the extraordinary act of grace that was demonstrated on the cross but also, that we might become the righteousness of God. To understand this lets consider what Paul also wrote in Romans. The righteousness of God signified God’s faithfulness to his promises. The promises he made to Abraham, Moses, David and now, through Christ in his life, death and res- urrection.
And now to us. An incredible mission awaits us. As Paul called the Corinthians to prepare and ready themselves to become the embodiment of the promises and faithfulness of God, so now that charge is with us also.
Stop and breathe.
Holy Spirit, may we be a community of believers that ready themselves to be ambassadors for Je-
sus. Open our ears, sharpen our eyes, ready our hearts.
Fashioned for creation
2 Corinthians 5.17—17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the
new is here!
As Paul was writing in a society where there were clear and distinct roles and a hierarchy, he purposefully chooses to use the word ‘anyone’. This same inclusive language was used to describe the outpour-
ing of the Spirit on all flesh in Joel’s prophecy. He sets aside the societal norms by which people are judged and classified to declare that anyone who chooses to believe, follow and love Christ, creates
a burst of new creation upon the earth. By God’s Spirit, new creation occurred when Christ was raised from the dead and now that same creative Spirit is the agent of change in us, as that same Spirit propels us to Christ.
Sometimes, we speak of heaven as though it is the ultimate escape route out of this life. But, as was described earlier in this third movement, our mission here is not to escape but to transform and be a part of the renewal of this earth. It is because the Spirit is at work in us that we become the agents of change where heaven touches earth.
When you and I engage in acts of social justice, compassion, love and sharing the gospel message, we take part in as one writer described, God’s symphony. The work of reconciliation (the reconnec- tion and healing of the broken relationship between God and his creation) was one of Paul’s, and our, main tasks. We read in John 3:16 that this great mission of reconciliation is only possible through the death and resurrection of Christ. And now, this great mission has been entrusted to us—the church and bride of Christ.
Stop and breathe.
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God, may you renew me and in so doing, may the world also be renewed.
Fashioned for hope
2 Corinthians 5.14-15 — 14 For Christ’s love urges us on, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
At the heart of who Paul is and what he is about is the strong sense that he has been gripped by the grace and love of God. This is so evident when we analyse some of his letters, where he clearly got so carried away sharing all that God has done and will do, that he forgets some of the standard rules of rhetoric and writing. I love it!
His central motif and message is love. It is the love of Christ that both contains and constrains, it is a driving love, passionate and ultimately that which fuels him to the goal and mark at which he is aiming. He goes way beyond just the church of Corinth but much wider. When Paul entered a vil- lage or town where they had never heard the gospel, his longing was to explain to them how deeply they are loved by Christ.
In 2005, Tommy Tenney wrote a book called God Chasers. Following an extraordinary move of God, in a church where he was the visiting preacher, he urges his readers to lose the complacency of having a polished church, with polished people and a polished pastor with their polished mes- sage. He writes, ‘God is tired of having long distance relationships with His people. He was tired of it thousands of years ago in Moses’ day, and He is tired of it today. He really wants to have intimate, close encounters with you and me.
Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, today I pray for MCC. I pray that increasingly we would become more aware of your presence. I pray that we would not shy away from seeing you at work and all the holy chaos that can bring when we make room for you to move. God let your kingdom come!
Fashioned for faith
2 Corinthians 5.7— 7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
I’m sure you have heard the phrase ‘I know them, but not by sight’. Often referring to someone we have a connection with but no real relationship. In the same way, when we begin the journey of faith in God it takes on a similar nature. As we grow in our knowledge of Him, our understanding of His ways and
our deepening love and intimacy with Him, so our faith increases too. Our trust deepens and our reliance on His life-giving Spirit yearns even greater.
And as we grow, our understanding of who we are in Christ and what we do in the Spirit, becomes increasingly pleasing to God. Furthermore, the sobering words of verse 10 take on a deeper and less superficial message of judgement and rather a message of God looking for when we speak words of kindness, undertaking acts of mercy driven by our compassion for God’s creation, speak- ing on behalf of the voiceless because of injustice—it is these things that God is looking to credit us with.
It is no wonder this same message is echoed in Philippians 1—make your life count. No matter where you are, which area of work or ministry you are in, you are the fragrance and presence of God and His kingdom, in that place.
Make it count. Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, as you delight in us so we delight in you. May our thoughts, words and actions bring you pleasure. Today, may the family of Middlesbrough Community Church be influencers and agents for justice, love and compassion wherever our sphere of influence is.
Fashioned for glory
2 Corinthians 5.5— 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us
the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
One technique used in public speaking is the use of rhetorical questions. Those questions which don’t require an answer but cause you to internally respond. In these few verses, Paul commences with a rhetorical statement, ’For we know’. You can imagine that the church hearing this letter, who thought they were very well versed in knowledge of God’s ways, would immediately have respond- ed with, ’of course we know, yes Paul, we know’. But did they? And do we?
Paul again appeals to the early Christians to see the bigger cosmological picture. Even if what we have now is taken away, or destroyed, we have something which is bigger, better, and everlasting. In our current existence there is something in us that groans for more of God. When Paul was de- scribing this in another letter, he compounds three Greek words to create a new word (which has caused some translation issues!), this sense of groaning.
Now, what is Paul getting at? This body we are in now, is not simply going to rot away and there- fore we become disembodied. Rather, what he is saying is that our future body is even more tangi- ble, more glorious, more aware of who God is and even more physical than we have ever known. That which God created in the very beginning, when there was dust and he breathed His Ruach, we will become perfectly in tune with the rhythm and movement of God.
Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, thankyou for the gift of your Spirit that guarantees that which is to come. In the middle of those days where it feels like our inner most being is groaning, give us courage and faith to believe in what you are preparing us for.
Fashioned for expectation2 Corinthians 4.16—16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are beingrenewed day by day.Paul moves from discussing his own circumstances to now describing the situation for all Christians.There is a reality that there are days when we conclude that there is nothing much more the worldcould throw at us and yet still remain in the belief that God is carrying us. There are days when it istough to believe it.But God.This impermanent world that we reside in, this impermanent body we inhabit, is as Paul describes,’momentary’. There is a charge from Paul to look beyond what we can see to what we can not see.To see beyond the present world, to the hope of eternity. In essence, to gain God’s view over ourown present situation. To prepare for the ‘weight of God’s glory’ which is yet to come.How is this possible? Because what we see in each other, in our brothers and sisters, their story,their testimony, the grace of God, the transformation, the moments of Divine exchange betweenheaven and earth – this is how we see with the eyes of faith. For we overcome by both the bloodof the Lamb and the words of our stories of redemption and transformation. And in those mo-ments, we dig deep, we hold fast and we believe.Stop and breatheLoving Father, give me faith to see beyond that which is infront of me to gaze with gratitude uponyour glory. That which we now see in part, will increasingly come to wholeness.
Great treasure
2 Corinthians 4.7— 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us.
Paul seemed to have a grasp on the gospel message in such a tangible way. He understood his past, he embraced his redemption and now in the face of suffering and trials, not only at Ephesus, but else- where too, he is still adamant that this message is treasure in jars of clay.
By using the imagery of a clay pot, like a terracotta flower pot, Paul is describing us as fragile yet beautiful. The same imagery is echoed from Isaiah, when he wrote, ‘You are the potter and I am the clay, and we are the work of your hand’. The gospel message that we hold in these vessels—us—is pure treasure. Beyond worth. Beyond description. Yet Paul attempts to help the church in Corinth understand what the real treasure is.
They had become misguided and focusing on accolades, being the best, being the biggest, being the most influential. Effectively Paul said to them, ‘you are a cracked pot—it’s the treasure of the gos- pel that has the worth, not you in your own self-importance’.
A tough message but a message that is as real today as it was then. We are surrounded by material- istic gain and wealth. We so easily fall into the trap of believing our own propaganda. As Paul ech- oed, we must die to ourselves in order that the resurrected Christ may live and shine through us.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, forgive me where I have forgotten what the treasure really is. I am reminded to- day of your grace, my fragility and your loving, embracing, rich gospel. May I understand what real treasure looks like in my life.
Great proclamation
2 Corinthians 4.5—5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus’ sake.
Paul chose to describe himself as not simply a servant but as a ‘slave’. The Greek word [doulos] indicates not the type of slave where a master owned and abused them but a bond-servant. Therefore when Paul described himself as a being a bond servant to Christ, he was comparing his life before Christ when
he was a slave to sin and his new life where he chose to be a bond servant to Christ. In many ways
Paul mirrors John the Baptist who also offered himself as a voice, a witness and a signpost to the coming Messiah.
Paul goes onto write about the link between the voice that brought light and life in the creation narrative and how that same voice is now shining his glory through us in the ‘face of Jesus Christ’. For Paul, the new creation occurred the moment Jesus was resurrected out of the tomb, and now, that same resurrection light is emanating in and through us by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Crucially in this scripture is that if we are to be the people that God wants us to be, then we also need to see the glory of God in the painful journey of Jesus on his way to Calvary. We can some- times find ourselves in some way being called to follow in the way of the cross. It can be painful.
God has not forsaken us.
Jesus himself was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, and ultimately coming out in the power of the Spirit. Similarly, driven by the Spirit, Jesus underwent the way of the cross, but was resurrected in the power of the Spirit.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, when I feel I am journeying alone, and in some way mirroring the way of the cross,
help me remain steadfast in the knowledge that you have not forsaken me.
Miles kicks off our new series looking at the Finite and the Infinite but exploring Death & Life.
Great heart
2 Corinthians 4.1— 1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Paul wrote this with his own personal experience in mind. He had just come from Ephesus, and things were not looking good. His friendships in tatters, the churches he led no longer wanted him and he felt like giving up. The mighty man that we know as Paul was pretty much reduced to a retired life in Tarsus where he could write a few books in his older age. But that’s not the ending the Bible demonstrates.
Paul knew that his calling, his ministry, his new life in Christ was given to him by the mercy of God— and therefore he will not lose heart. He sets his face like Middlesbrough steel and does not lose his focus. He remarks, ‘we are not crushed or overwhelmed by the present evil we face’ [that’s a more literal understanding of the Greek in these verses].
When we know that what we are doing is a commission from God and not some fanciful idea, we do not have the liberty to simply hang up our coat and retire. As God in his mercy has given this call, so faithfully we must continue to the action but also the words of the Bible.
Similar to Paul’s context, his words were not always the politically correct message the people of the first century wanted to hear, and neither will ours. We must continue to speak and act in love and the grace of God, but without compromise.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, help me to hold true to your word, true to your calling and true to your service. May I demonstrate patience, love and grace to the people around me that they too may experi- ence Christ the way I also have.
Great boldness
2 Corinthians 3.17— 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Paul continues to explain to the church in Corinth the incredible greater glory that we have since the rev- elation of the Spirit has been given. You can recall in yesterday’s reading that Moses had to cover his face because the people were afraid of the reflection of God’s glory on him. Now, Paul introduces the
word, ’boldness’ [v.12]. The meaning in Greek is ’to be open-faced’ or as we might interpret, ’bare- faced’. Effectively, Paul was able to say it as it is without fear of judgement.
The hope and life we receive through the revelation of the Spirit enables us to be bold not only in the proclamation of the gospel through our words, actions and lives but also in relation to our com- munion with God. Paul explains to the church that the Hebrews had a veil between them and God but our veil is lifted because of what Christ achieved through his death and resurrection.
We do not need to hide our glory because it is His. We reflect it. Therefore, because the Spirit has given us freedom, let us be real with each other. We don’t need to dress up with fancy language or pretence. But rather, let us bare one another’s burdens, let us prefer one another to ourselves, let us be the kind of community where broken people can be honest and bold—for this is what it means to have the law written upon our hearts.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, it is incredible to know that where your Spirit is, there is freedom. Today, I pray for my church, that we would be a community of bold, bare-faced people. A community where peo- ple see integrity and open hearts. A place where the weak are made strong, a place where the broken are made whole, a place where the friendless are placed in families.
Greater glory
2 Corinthians 3.7-8— 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glo- ry, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul attempted to explain to them something that even today can sometimes muddle our thinking. As Moses stood upon the mountain, an incredible encounter with God took place. In fact, the Bible records that his face was shining, so much so, that he cov- ered it with a veil. Paul went onto explain that the gift of the law was a revelation of God’s glory but now, the revelation of the Spirit is an even greater glory.
Paul was challenging their understanding of what an apostle should look like, not dancing around performing miracles, but a man with bruises, war wounds, and even affliction. It was these marks, stated Paul, that were proof of the Spirit’s work in his ministry, not glamour and a social media fol- lowing. It is important that we not only bare the successes of what the world would recognise as success but also the wounds of suffering that have arisen through the church doing what it was des- tined to do. Standing in the gap, where the world is in pain and sorrow, a visible representation of the suffering Christ in our community.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, thankyou for my church family that continue to serve you and love you and be a presence in this world. Thankyou for ministries like The Message, Foodbank, Credit Union and others who are visibly bringing light and life in the heart of Middlesbrough. Help me in my work- place, my family, my street to do the same.
Great expectations
2 Corinthians 3.5-6 — Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. Not that we competent of ourselves...our competence is from is from God, who has made us competent to be min- isters of the new covenant.
Paul had a difficult job in writing this letter to the church in Corinth. In many ways he was walking a tight-rope. There were expectations that Paul was needing to be a mega-church leader (ie. Look who leads our church) and then conversely, he is having to explain himself to those who think he should have been more present in Corinth. Paul didn’t need to present to them his credentials, they came from God. His authority, leadership skills, ability to teach and speak truth came from God. Hence he says, that his message is not written on tablets of stone but on tablets of the heart.
There maybe occasions when you simply do not feel up to the job, where you feel there is a better person, more intelligent, eloquent or just simply more charismatic.
But God called you.
I want to encourage you to take a few moments to consider where God has placed you, in your family, workplace, community and church. God has made you competent to be a minister of the new covenant in those places. This truth is not written on stone but in your heart; it is a living mes- sage, a message formed by the Spirit.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, thankyou that my confidence and competence are deeply rooted in you. It is not because of who I am but because of who you are. It is because of how you are working through me in every circumstance.
The great aroma
2 Corinthians 2.14—14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and
through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
The sense of smell is one of the first senses to develop in human beings, the cells that enable us to smell, renew approximately every 30 days and 75% of our emotional responses are driven by smell. You
might go into a bakery and the smell of freshly baked bread evokes a myriad of memories and im-
ages of home baked bread. Similarly, a high quality perfume will fill a room. Here in this scripture
there is a deliberate image created that you and I are to be partners with Christ in His great proces- sion of kingdom values and therefore spreading His fragrance.
In 2 Corinthians Paul lays bare his weaknesses and fragility. He has fear and tension in his own life, he is being attacked by others both from those who he thought were loyal and those who were just out to get him.
In the opening to his letter, also known as the orientation, the focus is on how Christ suffered and therefore is able to sympathise both with our challenges but also our weaknesses. Moreover, that in some way we are able to share in his sufferings through our own experiences and in so doing, we can help those who are also suffering. I wonder what a perfume designer would make of that aroma?
But this is our story. This is our song.
Through his sufferings, we are made whole. Through his sufferings we are able to face challenges, persecution and infirmity, in the knowledge that the aroma that we permeate is unlike any other.
Stop and breathe
Loving Father, may the words of our mouth and meditations of our hearts be pleasing and fragrant offering to you. May I use my thoughts, words and actions to the glory of your name.
WaitingMalachi 4.2But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.Imagine waiting for a whole year for something to happen. Or maybe 10 years. Or maybe 100 or 1000. Or more. The people of God were longing and waiting for a deliverer. There were those who wanted a warrior, those who wanted a ruler, those who wanted a supernatural figure. All made in their own image of what they wanted a Messiah to do and be. There are hundreds of inferences, both implicit and explicit throughout the Old Testament and here in the final book of the Old Testa- ment we hear of a sign that an indicator of the Messiah is that he will have healing in his wings. The Hebrew word for wings is Tallit. This is also the name of the prayer shawl worn by Jews at the time of Jesus and also Jews today.In the gap between the Old and New Testament there is about 400 years. And in that time sur- rounding this verse there grew a tradition that the Messiah would be able to heal through his Tal- lit—a sign he was the real Messiah. To us, this probably sounds a lot like superstition.And yet, to a woman with internal bleeding, in her desperation, longing for wholeness and recon- nection with everything she had lost, it was her final hope. She pushed through the crowds and reached out to touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak [Tallit] in the vain hope that she might be healed.Who touched me? Jesus responded for he knew power went out from him. The disciples, bemused by Jesus’ question were rendered pretty much speechless. But there she was, on the ground now healed. [Matthew 9.20ff]Stop and breatheFather, help me to be patient in the waiting. Help me to trust you and know that you are my deliverer. Thankyou that I can reach out to you in the knowledge that you hear both the words of my mouth and the thoughts that remain silent.
MysteryPsalm 145.33 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.The moment God is figured out with nice, neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.Are we comfortable with not knowing everything? I am sure we have heard people say things like ‘him upstairs’ or ‘if its God’s will’ as though we are forgetting that the extraordinary mystery of the incarnation is that we are invited to be in close relationship with God in a manner that many of the people of God in the Old Testament never had or could have dreamed of.I sometimes find myself contemplating the vastness of God, the majesty, the splendour and how this is juxtaposed with the intimate nature of following Jesus. That we talk to him and expect to hear his voice in some way, shape or sign. We call on his presence, his power, his healing but do we ever pause and remember the holy ground that Moses encountered, the pillar of fire that must have been simply awesome. The parting of the Red Sea, enabling the people of God to journey on to the Promised land.We are invited to know and be known and yet understand that which we know in part one day we will know in full. Today, take a moment to thank God for his vastness and yet his compassion that we are held in His hand.Stop and breatheFather, thankyou for who you are. You are awesome and vast and yet you chose to come to the earth in human form that we might identify with you in a way that had never been known before. How great you are. How awesome is your name in all the earth.
The coronation
I am who You say I am
Psalm 8.5
1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour.
It is incredible to reflect upon Psalm 8 that commences with the greatness of God, his splendour, majesty, authority and combine this with the fact that God has chosen to crown you and I with glo- ry and honour. Yet, as we contemplated our origins in the dust of the ground and yet by Divine providence we are made alive in Him. The glory and honour is you and me—the Divine dirt that we are; we are fragile, yet we are His.
Today, what is filling your head space?
What is causing you to lose your balance?
What is burdening you?
What do you need to breathe out?
The Bible teaches us that God gives His Spirit without limit [John3.34] As you breathe Him in, breathe out those things that no longer take up your head and heart.
Stop and breathe
Father, help me to recognise those things that are crow+ding my thoughts and my head space. Help me to release those things to you. Like a new born baby that cries out for the first time so enable me to cry out to you and breathe you in.
Holy ground
Take off your shoes - this is holy ground
Exodus 3.4-5
4When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. 5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
God heard the cry of his people to be liberated from slavery. God chose Moses, a shepherd, to lead His people to freedom. And whilst Moses was out in the arid ground of Midian, God called to him from a burning bush. Moses had been walking that ground many years and so it is not so much that the ground suddenly became different but rather, that Moses became aware of the presence of someone far greater than himself. Moses asks God what his name is, God replies to him, ’The LORD sent you’. In Hebrew God’s name is made up from four letters: YHWH, (yodh, hay, voe, hay). In or- der to pronounce these sounds in Hebrew, you have to breathe as you say them. Many rabbis in the early centuries believed that these sounds were literally like you were breathing in God or even that this extraordinary name of God is simply the sound of divine breathing.
As you start your day, or end your day why don’t you take a moment to utter the four sounds that make up God’s name.
Stop and breathe
Father, amidst the many things I have to do and accomplish today, may I stop, pause and not miss the burning bush in front of me. May I be the kind of person that hears your voice, recognis- es your call and follows your lead.
Stop, breathe and receive
His breath:
When dirt becomes life
Genesis 2.7
Then the LORD God formed a man from the mud of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being
Every day we take around 26,000 breaths. 4-6 breaths per minute. In the rhythm of life do we ever think about the act of breathing. When God made the first person we read in Hebrew that the word for dirt is the root word for Adam (the first man) What an incredible paradox that the fragility of humankind, made from mud but when God breathes his Ruach into the dirt life springs forth.
And so it follows that as we are made alive by the breath of God so we also take on the supernatu- ral, divinely created humanity and identity that God has given us.
We were made for a purpose not to ‘do’ but to ‘be’. Be in him, found in him, made alive in him.
Stop and breathe
Father, thankyou you are here right now. As I slow down and pause and listen to my breath, I
take in a deep long breath knowing it is your Spirit that has made me alive in you.
Stop, breathe and receive
And God spoke:
We continue our journey by considering the evocation in Genesis
Genesis 1.2ff
2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
What does it mean when we read, ‘and God said’? In Hebrew the word, davar (word) is so much more than the words on this page that you are reading now. When God spoke it is as though his very essence, his nature, his compassion, his energy, power and life evoked and brought about something to be created out of nothing. And even more than this, the root word of davar means to bring about order. Why is this important? Because, when God speaks, he brings order in the chaos, light in the dark.
No matter what we face, whether it be trial or tribulation, the valley or the mountain, we can hold on to the knowledge that there is something different about God’s words.
His words, sounds, utterances, bring life.
Stop and breathe
Father, thankyou that when you speak , your words bring order. No matter what I might face to- day, or in the coming days, your words bring life. God may I have ears to hear the strength of your voice. Amen.
What’s in a name?
We start this journey by focussing on the very beginning:
Genesis 1.2
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The phrase ‘spirit of God’ contains the word ‘Ruach’, which when applied to God, is often indicative of creativity and divine activity. God creates, empowers, emboldens, and sustains all things, and the name Ruach Elohim reminds us of this power and facet of God’s character.
With every single breath we take, we can remind ourselves that our life force exists because of God. His breath filling our lungs as we breathe in and out. This Spirit or wind that we cannot
see, empowers us and drives us to live for the Creator in everything we do. With every breath we take, we seek to serve our God who fills us with this supernatural life.
Today, breathe
Stop and breathe
And as you do so, invite the Holy Spirit to fill your heart, mind, soul and body. A Prayer:
Father, we forget what power You’ve placed within us; your life giving Spirit that enables us to feel what you feel, love like you love and act the way you would act. Help us today, in the here and now, to stir up the dry bones within us, to call ourselves to com+e alive, so that we may be able and ready to speak forth life and resurrection in Your name. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
We are joined by Martin Dunkley, leader of our Taking Ground family of Churches. Martin challenges us about being distinctive in the world.
Kevin joined us for a Saturday morning workshop unpacking Intersession & Spiritual Authority.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Margaret continues our series 'The Upside Down Kingdom' looking at the Beatitudes together.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Femi continues our series 'The Upside Down Kingdom' looking at the Beatitudes together.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Miles continues our series 'The Upside Down Kingdom' looking at the Beatitudes together.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Joyce packs what it looks like to flourish in the house.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Samuel rounds off our series 'If You Want To Be The Greatest…'.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Miles continues our series 'If You Want To Be The Greatest…'.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Laura continues our series 'If You Want To Be The Greatest…'.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Jonny kicks off our new series 'If You Want To Be The Greatest…'.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Terry from 'The Message's North East Hub shares with us from the title 'Jesus Is Lord'
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Evans concludes our series 'Feeling Biblical' where we've explored what God has to say about emotions.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Miles continues our series 'Feeling Biblical' where we'll explore what God has to say about emotions.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Miles continues our series 'Feeling Biblical' where we'll explore what God has to say about emotions.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
This week MCC joined with our Taking Ground family for our Taking Ground Celebration.
Martin Dunkley speaks at our Taking Ground Network Celebration about how to win the battles that we all face daily.
Where does your inner strength come from?Whether life is good and going well, or you feel you are battling on through, if you are not drawing your strength from God, you are missing out!
This week we are joined by Joe from The Message Trust (North East).
Joe brings us some of the stories of how MCC people are involved with The Message Trust projects across Teesside and the North East.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church. Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Jonny continues our series 'Feeling Biblical' where we'll explore what God has to say about emotions.Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Laura continues our new series 'Feeling Biblical' where we'll explore what God has to say about emotions.Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Jamie kicks of our new series 'Feeling Biblical' where we'll explore what God has to say about emotions.Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Jonny talks to us about Easter & baptism as we celebrated both on Easter Sunday.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church. Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Miles helps up to reflect on Palm Sunday.Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
This week we are joined by Dave Mumford & Ste McFarlane from Three13 part of Taking Ground.
Dave shares stories from the work of Three13 and talks to us though Isaiah 61.
o bring this week's talk. Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church. Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Martin, leader of our Taking Ground Apostolic Team, network joins us to bring this week's talk.Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Nino concludes our series looking at Prayer.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Miles continues our series looking at Prayer.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Helen continues our series looking at Prayer.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Samuel continues our series looking at Prayer.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Joyce kicks off our new series looking at Prayer.
Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
This week we were joined by guest speaker Neville Wright, part of our Taking Ground Apostolic Team. Recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Femi brings us this week's talk from Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Miles brings us this week's talk recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org
Laura brings us this week's talk recorded at Middlesbrough Community Church.
Find out more at middlesbroughcommunitychurch.org