I count myself incredibly blessed by the church community into which I was saved. I became a Christian just before my 15th birthday (27th February 1983) at a Baptist Church in Bedford. It was a community of faith that was itself rediscovering some of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This meant that I got saved and worked out the early years of my Christian life in a community that was digging into all that the Bible said about the Holy Spirit.  Read More

In our text today we simply see Jesus in conversation with people, and we've got so much to learn from him through the answers he gives to the different questions he is faced with. I'll be focusing this devotion around only one verse, verse 8b, so I will encourage you to spend some time on your own later, letting Jesus speak to you through the rest of these conversations too.  Read More

When Jesus describes Himself as the Bread of Life, he’s making two very clear connections. The first is that the feeding of the 5,000 is not just about the miraculous act, but about the one who performs it. Remember, in this sermon series we’ve been really pressing into the idea that miracles are signs that don’t point to themselves but are meant to point us to Jesus. The Jews got caught up in the idea that Jesus provided food for them once, and therefore He could be relied on to keep giving them food on demand. While we do experience (and should expect) miraculous provision from God, we must never forget that signs and wonders should always lead us directly to Jesus Himself. Jesus does not allow us to make Him a foodbank or jukebox, but as a God to be worshiped.  Read More

There are parts of scripture which have worked their way into our very culture, not just as Christians, but also as a culture. The feeding of the 5,000 is one of those narratives. Maybe it is the drama of it that makes it so relatable. Maybe it is because if touches on one of our most basic needs – food! It is one of the only narratives that appears in all four of the gospels (Why not have a look at the other versions found in Matthew 14, Mark 6 and Luke 9). In the sermon this week we focused on the miracle itself – this was a real event, it really happened and it is amazing. As with all miracles in John it reveals to us the character of Christ – he is fully God, and God is the God of creation and provision.  Read More

This week we’ve been looking at John 5:16 onwards. We find in these verses Jesus’ response to being challenged, persecuted, criticised for healing a man on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t like what Jesus had done but also hated the fact Jesus was claiming His equality with God. They wanted to get rid of Him.  Read More

After a few weeks out of sequence we’re now back in John 4. So far John has shown us how The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We’ve seen John the Baptist point to Jesus and the calling of the first disciples. Jesus turned water in to wine and cleared the Temple. He’s taught Nicodemus and John the Baptist testified about Jesus, again. Then Jesus met the woman at the well in Samaria and a whole town encountered Jesus. Our stories today pick up where we left off in John 4.  Read More