Christ Church Selly Park

A mature life

Rachel Fasham | 1 Corinthians 3.1-13 | Colossians 1.24-29 

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

[Christ] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

We know that, as Christians, we need to grow up in our faith - though as the sketch which begins the recording shows, some of us might be more happy to remain as children. Rachel explains some ways in which we can grow and so become more like Jesus.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube. It includes some visual material, and also music that can't be included in the audio recording for copyright reasons.

A Christlike life

Bobbie Frere | 1 John 3:1-10 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

When God makes us his children, we have the promise that one day we will be like Jesus. But, says Bobbie, this is not just something for the future. Rather, it's a process that continues throughout our lives. She encourages us to co-operate with the Holy Spirit to bring this about.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

A different life

Ben Green | Romans 12:1-8 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Don't be conformed, be transformed. How can we live in and engage with the world around us without being pulled away from God? Ben Green continues our series Rooted disciples discussing why and how we should stay true to our calling.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Live by dying

Ben Green | Mark 8.27-38 

[Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

This week we begin a new series Rooted disciples based on John Stott's final book, "The radical disciple". The recording begins with service leader Graham Romp, and then Ben, introducing the series. In the sermon, Ben explains the learning process Jesus' disciples went through as he led up to his challenging, but often misunderstood, call to follow him.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Partnering with God’s global work

Allan Bartlam | Matthew 28:16-20 

Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.‘

As Allan says, the Great Commission is the church's job description. But what's the plan? Who is going to bring it about? This short talk formed part of an All-In service focusing on our partnership with people and churches who, like us, are seeking to become and make disciples in our different places and circumstances.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service, including music and a video link with one of our partners in Kenya, can be viewed on YouTube.

The world map shown by Allan during his talk can be seen here:

My eyes have seen

Ben Green | Luke 2.22-40 

There was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.

To anyone else, Joseph and Mary would have looked like just another couple with a newborn baby observing the law of Moses. But Simeon, responding as he did to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, welcomed Jesus literally with open arms, thanking God for the salvation he had come to bring. Ben challenges us to be a people who will similarly walk in step with God.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Blessed be

John Lanchbury | Luke 1:57-80 

They made signs to [Zechariah], to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, 'His name is John.' Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, 'What then is this child going to be?' For the Lord’s hand was with him.

When Zechariah, something like a year earlier, was told by the angel Gabriel that his aged wife would have a son, he was literally dumbstruck. Now, with the promise fulfilled in his own sight, he obeys the angel's instruction: the child's name is John. Immediately his tongue is freed, and he proclaims the greatness of God in a prophecy which our own John explains.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Magnificent

Graham Romp | Luke 1:39-56 

Mary said:

'My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour...
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me -
holy is his name...
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.'

When Mary, pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit, meets Elizabeth, also pregnant through God's intervention, she bursts out into a song of praise. Graham explains why the meeting was so significant, and explores the challenging and radical message of Mary's song.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

The Lord’s servant

Dan Parnell | Luke 1:26-38 

The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

Out of the blue, it seems, this teenage girl living in an obscure town is given a responsibility and a challenge that she could never have imagined. How does she respond? Dan explains what Mary was facing, and encourages us to trust God's call just as she did.

This is the image from Worcester Cathedral that Dan refers to in his talk:

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Be prepared

Chris Turner | Luke 1:5-25 

An angel of the Lord appeared to [Zechariah], standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.'

For hundreds of years it seemed that heaven had been silent. Temple worship continued, but maybe few - Zechariah among them - thought it really mattered. Suddenly, God broke in, and Zechariah was literally dumbstruck. His elderly wife, who had lost hope of bearing a child, would conceive, and through the child, hope would come to the whole nation.

Chris begins our new series Light and glory focusing on the angelic messages announcing Jesus' birth. Chris encourages us to make time to hear God's voice in our own lives.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.