Mark's account of the life and ministry of Jesus is the shortest of the four gospels, yet it is packed full of drama, in signs, wonders and teaching. Through his work, Mark wants us to encounter Jesus 'The Messiah', who came proclaiming God's Kingdom, and showed what it looked like in ordinary, day-to day lives. Modern readers, like the first disciples, are left with the same question that Jesus asked Peter (Mk 8:29), "Who do you say I am?" May we, over the coming weeks, through what we read, hear and discuss, discover more of this Jesus and his Kingdom, which is both here and on its way.
The Narrative Lectionary follows the story of the bible over a four year period. It picks out the main moments in the story of scripture and gives an overview of the bible. This term we'll be looking at stories in the Old Testament.
Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth contains some of the most well-known words in the New Testament. His message is both pastoral and challenging, as he encourages the church to follow and imitate Christ, as people who are "temples of God's Spirit". We'll spend six weeks looking at some of the key themes of this inspiring work.
"Following Jesus" is another strand of our vision. As we enter Lent, we'll spend time in the Gospels, being inspired again by Jesus' invitation to follow him in the great adventure of faith.
During February we'll look at the theme of 'hope'. Part of our church vision is "Sharing Hope", through our lives and our communal life together. This series will look afresh at what it means to hope; the role of hope in our ongoing journey of faith; and what it looks like to share that hope with others.
The book of Proverbs forms part of what is known as the Bible's "Wisdom Literature". We'll look at four key themes found in this great work that speak of what it means to live wisely.
Creation, Crisis and Calling - Who are we? Why are we here? What’s our purpose? These important questions are asked by every generation. They were certainly issues of great concern for the ancient Israelites and are reflected in stories and drama of their earliest texts, found in the Old Testament. Moreover, these stories explored issues such as humankind’s predicament - our tendency to rebel and go our own way, to compete with one another, even to the point of violence. Despite all this, they discovered that God, rather than simply solving humankind’s problems, called them to be part of the restorative plan - to be a great nation who would be a blessing to the world. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be spending time in some of these amazing stories and considering the same questions the Israelites asked all those years ago. We’ll ask God to teach us afresh, who we are and why we’re here, to help us understand the human predicament and how God calls us to respond.
In his letter to the churches in Philippians, Paul addressed some of the pivotal issues facing the early church. We'll look at some of these over the coming weeks.
Paul's Letter to the Galatians. In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul addressed some of the pivotal issues facing the early church; a church rapidly spreading beyond its Jewish roots into the world of the Gentiles. His mission to non-Jewish, Gentile communities raised critical questions regarding how people relate to God, religious identity, the nature of freedom, and much more. In this series, we'll join Paul in wrestling with those issues and consider how they affect our lives today.
"The Emergence of the Church". The book of Acts gives a unique perspective on the life and events of the early church. From the amazing and catalytic events of Pentecost, to threats and deadly persecution, the story charts the highs, lows and unique challenges of life in the first Christian communities. We'll gain insights into what kind of church was emerging and reflect on what that could mean for the church today.
"Lord, teach us to pray", Jesus was asked one day. Prayer is a discipline we learn as we walk the journey of faith. Many times we desire to pray, but feel like the Apostle Paul who wrote "We do not know what we ought to pray for". In this series we'll look at five great prayers of the Bible; prayers that teach us, challenge us and inspire us as we say, "Lord, teach us to pray".
In the second half of February, as Lent begins, our focus will turn to Jesus, and specifically, his parables. Through these short lessons and stories, Jesus challenged his hearers to see and hear with new eyes and ears. Our prayer is that as we look at these parables afresh, we'll be stirred with a fresh vision of God at work in our world.
He started out as a shepherd boy, raising and guarding his father's flock, but through a series of events, found himself anointed King and ruler of his people. King David went from relative obscurity, to the most powerful Office in the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and from his line, Jesus, the Messiah, was born. David was a man of both great success and tragic failure; hand-picked to be King based on his Godly heart, yet falling to quite devastating depths. There is much we can learn from the life of David; from his triumphs and his tragedies.
Advent
Our world is constantly changing and always offering up fresh challenges. Despite this, many of life's most significant challenges are timeless. Issue such as, "How do we handle conflict? What does it mean to live with integrity? How should we view money and possessions?" are questions that face every generation. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed many of the issues that affect us all. His teaching and insights often flew in the face of culture and the popular opinion of his day. In this series we'll visit Jesus' words afresh, as we consider how we face life's biggest challenges.
Life in the Spirit - "God is spirit", said Jesus, "and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24). During this next season of church life, we're going to be exploring the meaning of God as Spirit. What does this tell us about our Creator, and what does it tell us about ourselves? How can we relate to such a God? The Apostle Paul told the early church to "walk by the Spirit", to "keep in step with the Spirit", and that consequently, each would bear the "fruit of the Spirit" - fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We want to experience together life in the Spirit, by which we discover our God-given gifts and passions, which glorify Him and build his church. We hope that together we can tune into the presence of the Spirit who counsels, guides and leads us in life everlasting.
Looking at Jesus' interactions with people and what we can learn from them
Prayer
In October we will discuss what church means for us and how it may look as we take next steps as a community of God's people.
As we begin a new season of church life together in our teaching series we will reflect on Gods promises to the new leader Joshua and the issues that he and the people faced as they prepared to move forward together.
Who am I? A series finding your identity with God.
The Kingdom of God
The impact of being in relationship with Jesus, what he calls us to be and how we can reflect Kingdom values in our lives. In August, we will consider lessons from characters in the Old Testament, their strengths and weaknesses which still inform our living today.
Jesus' miracles in John's gospel
Easter people in the bible
In 2016 we will continue to face the challenge of living out our faith in an increasingly secular society. However, we are not the first to do so in a hostile environment. Lessons from the first chapters of Daniel will inspire and encourage as the new year stretches ahead of us.
The presence - God became man at Bethlehem. An unimaginable powerful God became a helpless babe, totally dependent on his teenage Mother. After the resurrection Christ returned to his Father and is our advocate in his presence but is also willing to live in us if we invite him into our hearts.
The unexpected reality - The Jews knew how to expect their Messiah but the reality of Jesus' birth and his ministry was very different from their preconceptions. For our generation too nothing about Christ's birth and life fit in with how we would expect a powerful God to intervene in history.
The Promise - Looking at the Old Testament prophecies about how God would bring mankind's salvation; the way God planned it from the very beginning (Genesis 3) and the way the prophecies foretold both a suffering and a triumphant Messiah.
Confidence in the Gospel
Facing Tough Questions
Journey with Jesus in St John
Come Dine with Me
Listening in on Jesus
Social Justice in the old testament
Starting the year on the right foot
Our response and reasonable service
Our Awesome God
God and Life in the Workplace - how we can use our skills and talents for the good of society and the glory of God, whatever and wherever our work place.
Showing us who God is - Gospel of John series
A series about the Holy Spirit
Johah
Triumph of the cross and resurrection
Philippians - Joy in challenging circumstances
In memory of Olive Rogers (1922 - 2013). Olive worked in India for 35 years and became fluent in Telegu. Olive undertook many tasks in India: she managed a school; worked with women and with local churches; was principal of a Women’s Bible School; started a Telegu Christian press. She was associated with Christian Unions, teaching, mentoring and counselling students and graduates. She was a wonderful Bible teacher, combining her deep Bible knowledge with her experience of living in two cultures, to illuminate Scripture. On her return to the UK she befriended and mentored many overseas students through the Bristol Internation Student Center.
Moses and the Exodus. After difficult years in Egypt the people of God finally found themselves on the edge of a new beginning. God intervened on their behalf and took them to a new future. As we begin the New Year, with a new leadership team, we want to pray that God will do new things amongst us and that in the months ahead we will see Him at work touching lives through the ministry of Alma Church.
The promise of his coming
Models of Leadership for the Church.
A short series looking at who Jesus said he was.
How to read the bible for all it's worth!
"Following Jesus". At the heart of this series is a desire that we might be helped to walk alongside Jesus, and understand what he was trying to teach his own disciples about the radically different nature of the kingdom.
In this series we will be thinking about the church at Alma in terms of what God has said in the past through 2 Chronicles 7:14 and how we can respond now. Following this we will reflect on the early chapters of Acts and the grassroots nature of what church is and the priorities early Christians had as they grew in a difficult environment and saw God work with them to bring significant growth and development. We pray this for our church community at Alma and trust God to help us learn together and work to reach out in touching the lives of those around us.
Stress has been described as the disease of this generation. If we were to count how many days were taken off from work because of stress last year, the figure would be staggering! (And that's not taking into account people who don't work and are stressed). Likewise, if we were able to determine how many people are suffering from stress-related sickness, I think that we would find the results quite worrying. So no more 'side stepping' Stress, as most of us at Alma have suffered from it! This series looks at that whole area and how we might have the victory over stress.
All you need is love
Who does He think He is? A series looking at Jesus' "I am" statements.
Road signs in the desert
This sermon series is entitled 'Grace Notes'. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at some of the people that Jesus met, who felt the touch of His grace in their lives. People who had done nothing to deserve special treatment, and certainly whom other people would have considered unworthy to receive special attention from God. Grace is always undeserved yet freely given to all who would receive it. May it help us to see that God loves us all - and in turn to be gracious to one another. The truth is that to The Lord, we are all special and He wants to continually pour our His grace into our lives, and through us, into the lives of those around us.
That's life! A series looking at some of the big questions of life
I don't know many people who like rules. At times, we all find some of them petty, restrictive, pointless and boring! The truth is that many people look at God like that - a distant figure, sitting on a cloud saying "No" to all that we want to do. A moral policeman. However, for those of us who know Him, nothing could be further from the truth. In John 10:10, Jesus says, "I have come that you might have life, in all its fullness." So how do we get this kind of life? By following The Maker's instructions. The rules that The Lord gives us are actually given to enhance our lives and not restrict them - to give us a better quality of life. So we are going to spend the next 10 weeks looking at the 10 Commandments - 10 steps to The Good Life!
Unsung Heroes and Sidelined Sinners. Those people who are in the bible, but we don't usually choose to preach about. God has put them in the bible for a reason - that in learning about them we might learn more about Him.
We're all on the same team - but how does The Lord want us to play the game? We start off with an eight week series that focuses on our relationship with The Lord (and with each other). Firm foundations not just for the New Year, but for the rest of our lives!
This series looks at the story of the Shepards and the Angels and the themes that come out of it. We see God's unfolding plan for his world.
Things that Jesus never said. We're going to look at popular sayings - things so ingrained in our society that they trip off the tongue in every-day conversation. Yet actually these things also reflect our collective values as a society. We're going to measure these against what Jesus said and what his values are. If we want to see what a Church Without Walls looks like we need to look at Jesus.
A Church without Walls - Acts 4:31-35.
God's heart for his living church.
Acts 13:22 says, "I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart..." We want to be a people after God's own heart and what God requires of us hasn't changed since the time of David, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever! We'll be looking at the life of David during our morning services, and learning from this what it truly means to be a people after God's own heart.
Evangelism - yes, but how?
A morning series on the book of 2 Timothy and some evening sessions to get us into the Word of God in a deeper way. Our prayer that everyone will know a time of God's refreshing and empowering as together we seek His presence in our lives and in Alma.
"God's call on our lives" - This sermon series is about taking a fresh look at the person and words of Jesus, understanding the impact of the call of God in his life and responding to the challenge this brings to us. We are called to become like Christ - so we must KNOW the person of Christ, as our friend and Lord and must WALK with him, putting him central and allowing him to work in us, taking the place of our old self (Gal 2:20). Being a Christian is about having a daily commitment to LIVE as he wants us to. Let's allow the challenge of this series to stir up a renewed personal response to the call of God on our lives.
"Re-discovering our passion for God" - our relationship with each person of the Trinity. In this series we'll be looking again at our relationship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, asking God to re-kindle that first love (Revelation 2:4) for him. Being reminded of the richness of God's love for us in each person of the Trinity, we pray for a new revelation of the grace we have received.
Jacob and Sons (Dreams, Disputes, Decisions and the plan of God). We all know this as the story of that dreamer Joseph, but the bible actually describes it as the story of Jacob. It is a story of family favourites and feuds, of loss and lies, redemption and restoration. It is a reminder to us of the real consequences of our actions, and how, despite the mess we often make of life, God can still work through every situation to restore relationships.
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
A series looking at Faith, based on Hebrews 11
At Easter time we're looking at the meaning of the Cross
A series called Spiritual Detox, aiming to help us all "detox" our inner lives. There is a connecting sequence in this series - our past influences our thoughts and how we think; our thinking is articulated in words; our words create our actions; our actions determine our habits; our habits determine our character, and our character determines our destiny.
New Year, New Creation
In the run up to Christmas we're looking at songs of worship
A series on Discipleship - what does it really mean to follow Jesus?
The Prophet Amos delivered God's message to Israel at a time when Israel was prosperous, politically secure and spiritually smug. We are studying it because his concern for the poor, fair trade and social justice is as relevant now as it was almost 2700 years ago.
A series from the 1 Thessalonians looking at different elements of a New Testament church in action with aspects we can learn from.
This series is from 1 Timothy looking at Paul's instructions to the church, and also his mentoring of Timothy. We'll look at teaching, worship and leadership.
A series titled Christ Risen:
During the season of Lent we will be starting a new series on prayer, loosely based on John White's book "People in Prayer". We will look at different Bible characters (mainly from the Old Testament) and the prayers they prayed.
Following a series of Baptismal accounts taken from Acts, "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism". It is a study looking at what "baptised life" means in terms of the experience of God's grace, participation in the life of the church and in mission to the world.
God With Us - a series leading up to Christmas.
This series is titled "Cry Freedom!" - Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia sets out to resolve a dispute which has kicked off in the church. This dispute centres on whether non-Jewish converts should live under the Old Testament law, which would mean not eating pork, resting on Saturdays and getting circumcised (ouch!). Paul contends that is not where the gospel takes us, the law is slavery, ours is a life of Freedom.
This is a series from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. It's a story about a man who has a heart to rebuild the city walls, a vision to see change - to see the city restored. Perhaps there is something us here in the city, in the church or in our lives that God is calling us to build on... a vision to see change.
Mini-series titled "Duty or Desire?"
This is a series from 1 John, a letter which lets us learn a lot about what it means to be part of the Christian community of faith: Believing, Belonging & Behaving.
A series looking at "Why God Allows Suffering"?
In the run up to Easter we're doing a series from Isaiah 49-57, about the Servant King who comes to suffer and save not only Israel, but the whole world!
Hope 2008 - reasons for hope in 2008
Sermons in Advent
Through this series (A Portrait of Christ) 'Snapshots from Matthews Gospel' we hope to renew our vision of Christ the revolutionary, and hear his call to follow!
A series about God's Holiness.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
The aim of this series is to go back to the story of "beginnings" to try and understand what "Life on Earth" is all about! Our goal is not simply to enquire as to what life was like then, but to understand why it is like it is now... and maybe capture a vision of new-creation? In Genesis we see the inter-relationship between man, God, woman and creation. As we understand this we will be better able to live life as God intended amid the blessing (and curse) of life on earth.
A series on AMAZING GRACE: The famous hymn by John Newton sums up the Christian story, God's "amazing grace... that saved a wretch like me!" It's a story of grace that spans from the Old Testament to the New, from Israel to the nations. Why do we need saving? How has God saved us? What implications does that have for the way we live life? Join us on a journey of discovery over the next few weeks...
This month we're doing a short series looking at "Death and dying". OK, not the most cheerful of subjects, but one we all face sooner or later! What is death? Why is it so dreadful? Is it part of the natural order of creation? How can I live life in the face of death? We hope these and other questions will be answered - and comforts found!
A series looking at how Jesus' message centred on the kingdom of God (or 'Heaven'). It is a theme which binds Old & New Testament together and speaks about life under the rule of God, which is now breaking into our lives and this present age through Christ the King.
Sermons in August
Through our Joshua talks we aim to develop the courage & confidence to walk the walk of faith - taking new ground, claiming all our inheritance in Christ.
"Keep watch and expect great things from God, but men and women with no expectations cannot stay awake." - Paul Negrut (Romanian Church Leader)
A series running to Easter from the end of John's gospel - revealing the Spirit's role in bringing Christ's work, presence and character into our lives.
The Seven deadly sins! This series will examine the pervasive and destructive nature of the deadly sins - and explore how we can live more like "saints". It is about being changed from the inside out!