Basingstoke Church

Scripture is a lamp for our feet, as we find the rhythm of reading or hearing it as a regular part of our life. We can practically root our lives in God’s word and allow it to impact us.

Scripture is the most reliable and most frequent channel through which God speaks. When we open our hearts to God as we read it, it is powerful - revealing the wisdom and character of God by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Word made flesh. God’s speech is not merely information but personal presence - communication is at the heart of who God is. Before we ask ‘how do I hear God?’ we need to be captured by the fact that God speaks, and that the fullest expression of his speaking is a person - Jesus.

God is the one who restores, strengthens, and sustains us. Hope allows us to release anxiety, humility lets us submit to God’s care, and trusting in him secures us even in trials. We can confidence that hope is enough - for life, witness, and endurance.

Watch the podcast John refers to in his sermon here, from The Diary Of A CEO: https://youtu.be/dLrvJeSugkM?t=4978 The clip starts at 1:22:58 in that video. Love is the natural evidence of hope. Above all things, love covers over a multitude of sins. Hope doesn’t require us to “add something else” to be valid - love flowing from hope is proof that God is at work in our lives.

Our hope becomes visible in daily life. People notice the difference hope makes, and when they ask, we are ready to explain it : not with arguments or doctrine, but with the simple story of hope in our lives. Your life is your testimony : hope is your answer.

Hope forms a distinctive community: compassionate, humble, forgiving, and committed. Even ordinary believers shaped by hope live visibly different lives that reflect God’s presence and character.

When life is unfair or difficult, hope changes how we respond, enabling us to continue to live in the reality of a world with broken systems. We follow Jesus' example as he endured injustice and stood against it, knowing the victory was already won in God.

Celebrating the baptism of 6 people at our 11am congregation and hearing some of their stories. Ordinary lives shaped by hope become a quiet but powerful witness to others of the power of God at work by his Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the cornerstone. Hope gives us a stable foundation in identity, belonging, and security. Building our lives on him allows us to face the instability of life with confidence and trust.

Hope restores us into the people God created us to be. Love flows naturally from hope; it’s not something extra we have to add. Purification is about letting go of what blocks love and stepping into our true selves.

Because of the security of the hope and grace we have in Jesus, we can step out of things that we are still held to. God is inviting us in to being made holy - by being found fully in him, not by working harder but by allowing God to change us.

Hope is alive, real, and grounded in the resurrection. Even when life feels ordinary or faith doesn’t feel dramatic, hope is enough. This sets the foundation: you don’t need anything else to make faith meaningful.

We celebrate that Jesus is alive today, and He knows you by name.

Everyone is invited into the Kingdom, and the invite is to come as you are and receive the best from God, freely given, clothed in His righteousness.

Jesus gives you an invite, not an invoice. We don't have anything to add to his grace, as he's already done it. We can't buy a place in the kingdom, or earn or serve our way in, in fact it involves laying down everything. Jesus is calling us to ditch the idols and gods of this world instead trust in Him and his Kingdom only.

The great power that is given to us as we take the keys to the Kingdom is to be held with great humility as ones called to serve God. How we hold the keys to the Kingdom is as important as the power within them.

The pivotal passage of the whole series which shows the power and authority that is vested in Jesus is shared and given to the disciples –which includes us in Basingstoke in 2026. We hold the keys to the kingdom, and are invited to play our part in all God is doing here.

Jesus was performing miracles, healing and setting people free, but some failed to recognise where that power came from, and that freedom was only available by the Spirit of God. Jesus’ triumph over darkness happens as we unlock the power of the Kingdom here on earth.

Jesus invites us to respond to the truth of the Kingdom, not what we want it to be. Are we listening, are we letting his word take root in our lives? Are we open to the challenge that comes when we live fully for the upside-down, unexpected Kingdom

Mustard Seed: In the Kingdom of God, even the small things you might offer and the seeds of prayer and good news that you plant can make a huge impact

The Kingdom is growing, it’s advancing and the world is standing forcefully against it. Jesus is telling us that this won’t be easy, there’s a battle ahead and not everyone will see and hear the good news and join in. But as Jesus says ‘wisdom is proved right by its deeds’ so we too, as we stick with it and join in the work of the Kingdom, will see the Kingdom come in power.

Jesus sends the disciples out, a bunch of ordinary people whom he has called, with huge power and authority that is gained from, and demonstrates, the Kingdom that is here. They are called to declare it and to show it, and we have that same power now.

When we have the keys to the Kingdom it produces good fruit in our lives. Being religious, just coming to church doesn’t mean anything until we unlock the goodness of God and see it flow in our lives.

If our ambition is for worldly things, then the concern and worry over those will consume our first thoughts and stop us from living in the fullness of what God has for us in the Kingdom. So Jesus calls people into seeking first the Kingdom, then getting to everything else afterwards! When we reorder our priorities we are given the key of freedom and provision!