Counterslip Church

Today we focused on the crucifixion of Jesus, His death and all-sufficient sacrifice, all that He went through for us. We saw how the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world was foretold throughout the Old Testament, all perfectly fulfilled in Jesus. We responded by focusing on the Holy Spirit's power in these moments and how Jesus' sacrifice brings new life for us!

Today, Ann-See reflects on Matthew 26 through the theme of the heart, contrasting the woman who breaks her alabaster jar to pour out what is most precious with Judas who sells what is priceless. She highlights Jesus’ heart laid bare in grief and obedience, choosing the Father’s will and pouring out his blood for forgiveness while remaining patient with weak, sleeping friends.

Today we talked about the three stories that Jesus shares in Matthew 25. We found that in each story the focus and heart of Jesus was to have a people who are ready, who are faithful and who are loving because they know Him as the Bridegroom, the master and the king.

Today Matt shared with us from Matthew 24. A strange passage that people often draw many conclusions from, which can lead people to look for clues, dates and conspiracy theories. But today Matt showed us how Jesus answers two questions from the disciples, one about the temple, and one about the end and Jesus second coming. In this chapter Jesus uses the tradition and language of the Jewish prophet...

Today Matt spoke to us from Matthew 23 where we see Jesus challenge the teaching and worldview of the Pharisees. Matt shared that the Pharisees had their eyes fixed on the here and now, not on the ultimate hope of God to restore all of creation. This challenges us, do we live for the surface things of this world or do we live in the hope of the return of Jesus.

Today Lara shared with us from Matthew 22, where Jesus challenged the world view of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We found from this that Jesus still brings a challenge, but now to us and our world view. Jesus does this because He longs for us to leave behind the broken world views we sometimes hold to, or live under, so that we might enjoy the world of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today Nathan shared with us from Matthew 21. Showing us that as Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, He also wants to cleanse us as the New Testament temple of the Holy Spirit so that we can encounter and know the full life of God.

Today we read the parable of the landowner, a story in which Jesus describes what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Matt shared with us about how Heaven isn't simply somewhere we go when we die, but is the rule and reign of God breaking into the present through Jesus. It is a reality into which we are all invited by Jesus to serve Him and bring life giving fruit to the world.

Today, from Matthew 19, Glenys shared that only with Him and in Him is the impossible possible - a restored relationship with God even after we meddled with His plan. Jesus came to show us that the overlooked and downtrodden are loved and accepted by the Father. All we need to do is daily surrender and intentionally keep Jesus front and centre of our lives, laying everything that comes between Him...

Today we talked about the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 18. There we saw Jesus teach seriously about the reality of hell and the hope of Heaven. Jesus was serious about our sin and its outcome which is hell, because His heart has always been to save us from that for Heaven.

In this message on Matthew 17, James emphasises that the Christian life involves ongoing transformation through being with Jesus, learning from Jesus, and becoming like Jesus, and concludes with an invitation to salvation, prayer, and daily communion with God.

Jenni shares a teaching on Matthew 16, emphasising Christian identity, relationship with Jesus over rule-keeping, and discernment of truth.

Today we read Matthew 15 and Matt shared with us how through the accounts and imagery in this chapter we discover that Jesus is the one who invites us to find Him and invites us into holiness through Him, not by works and rituals but by receiving from Him.

Today was an amazing day for us as a church, as well as celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, and hearing from Matthew 14 (which you can find here on the podcast) we also had the joy of hearing testimonies from Bev and Sam as they were baptised.

Today we read the account of Jesus walking on the water in Matthew 14, and Matt pointed out to us that this story is more than just an account of Jesus amazing power but actually the story that the whole bible tells again and again. The story of a God who has come down to stand with us in our mess and lead us through the storms of death and sin to a place of provision and life.

Today Lara shared with us from Matthew 13, looking at how people responded to Jesus and then using His parables to challenge our response to Him also. Through this passage we discovered that Jesus came as an outsider, for the outsiders, to leave no one as an outsider anymore. The invitation is there, how will you respond?

This week Mike shared with us from Matthew 12 where Jesus, after being confronted for not keeping the pharisees rules about Sabbath, says that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Mike took us back to the Old Testament, to Genesis and Exodus, to discover more about what the Sabbath was supposed to be about. There we discovered that the Sabbath was a place in time where people could encounter God, the li...

Today Matt shared with us from Matthew 11 which tells us part of the story of John the Baptist and who Jesus says he is. We saw from John's story that many things can affect the way we see and understand ourselves, but also that Jesus is never swayed by those things and His word over us is eternal.

This week we read through Matthew 10 where we discovered that Jesus invites and empowers His followers to share the good news of the Kingdom in both word and power. Matt shared with us his hope and prayer that we would be a church of followers of Jesus like this.

This week Matt shared with us from Matthew 9. There we saw a number of people who encountered Jesus, whom everything changed for because of that encounter, and a number of people who were so close to encountering Him but missed all that He had for them. In Jesus God wants to meet with us and change our world for the better - will you come to Him and encounter Him?

Today Ann-See walked us through the accounts of Jesus miracles and interactions with people in Matthew 8. There we saw Jesus revealed as the Son of God, the one who has power and authority over every realm and all the powers of darkness. In light of this Ann-See invited us again to see Jesus as He is, the Son of God, and to come to Him surrendering to His power and allowing Him to bring the hope,...

This week we read through the final part of Jesus teaching famously called "The sermon on the mount". In this final part we discovered that Jesus, having invited us to walk in and experience kingdom goodness, cares about how that is lived out in our lives because He cares about His church. And so here at the end of the talk we find some teaching that calls us again to allow our hearts to...

Having read Matthew 5 last week where we saw that we could never live up to the righteous standard of the law of God, this week we see Jesus pivot in His sermon on the mount and show us that there is one, the Father, in whom the blessing of that kingdom is found and here in Matthew 6 Jesus is inviting us into intimacy with the Father so that the kingdom He loves can take root in our hearts as well...

Today we looked at Jesus' famous teaching on the mount, from Matthew 5, and we discovered that this passage isn't so much a standard we are to strive for but instead Jesus showing us that we could never live up to the law of God. Through this what we found was that we all need Jesus, the only one who can be for us all that we fail to be, the only one who has come from Heaven to make a way...

This week Nathan shared with us from Matthew 4 looking at how Jesus has identified with us in our sin and then carried it off and defeated the enemy in all the ways we often fail, making a way for us also to overcome the temptations and trials of the enemy in our lives through Jesus.