Counterslip Church

This week we walked through the opening of the letter to the Hebrews looking at how each line shows us something of how God, and all his goodness, his love, his forgiveness, his peace, his joy and so on, are revealed in no better place than in Jesus Christ. If we want to discover God and all that He longs for us to know then we simply need to look to Jesus.

The kings of the book of 2 Kings shaped the lives of their nation by allowing, accepting and introducing all kinds of practices and cultures that ultimately stopped the people of God truly encountering their God. This week Matt asked us if there were things our lives, and even in our church, that may be stopping us from knowing and experiencing the fullness of the gospel in our lives.

This week Dennis launched us into the new year by inspiring us with the stories of faith and power from the life of Elisha, and reminding us that we, in Christ Jesus, are now children of God who are also called to walk with that same faith.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was 2 Samuel, Amos & Ephesians. You can jump through to the questions at these points: 1) The Character of David - We read of David as a man after God's own heart…. (01:53) A) Why then was it ok for him to have mult...

As a church we are reading through the bible over a two year period. In the coming weeks we will be reading from these minor prophets and so today Matt gave us an overview of their message and how they are part of the on going story in the bible to reveal the good news of Jesus for our world.

This week Matt talked us through the story of Solomon from 1 Kings and revealed that when we look a little deeper, we start to see that the Hebrew authors were telling us more than the story of a human king. As we went through, we discovered that there are hints and clues all over the text that show us that Solomon was actually part of a much bigger story involving all creation: the heavens and th...

This week Anna took us through Pauls' time in Ephesus, looking at how Paul always made space for the Spirit to work, and she challenged us about the ground we give to God in our lives so that the Spirit can be at work in and through us. All of this, of course, Paul was able to do because he was rooted in the message of good news that he shares with the Ephesians in his letter to them, and we to ne...

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Judges, Ruth & 1 Samuel. You can jump through to the questions at these points: 1) 01:25 - (Ruth 3:4) Why would Ruth be told to uncover Boaz feet when he is asleep and lay down by them without saying a word? 2)...

This week Matt took us through the closing chapter of 2 Samuel and asked what the story would reveal to us if rather than looking for it to speak to us by finding ourselves in the story instead we looked for Jesus.

This week Matt took us through the book of Amos and unpacked how God's heart for His people back then was, as it is for us today, to know Him and live.

This week Chris shared from the opening chapter of 1 Samuel with us, using the story of Hannah and the priest Eli to ask us how far are we willing to go to live a life in the presence of God? How long will we stay there? And how bold will we be?

This week Emmanuel unpacked the gospel message that Paul urgently tries to reiterate to the Galatians again - that we are free in Christ, not because of what we can do, but because of what He has done, and how through faith in Christ we are now new creations - the old has died and there is resurrection life for us.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Joshua, Acts and 1 from the Psalms. You can jump through to the questions at these points: 1. (1:39) What is the book of Jashar mentioned in Joshua 10:13? 2. (14:00) In Joshua 18:7 it says the Levites get no inherit...

This week Matt took us through Paul's letter to Titus and talked about how Pauls' heart was for the church in Crete to grow in faith that resulted in godliness. In his letter Paul gives some tips on how Titus was to set things up in the church so that this could happen, and we looked at what we could learn from Pauls' advice to Titus so that we too can grow in faith that results in godliness.

It was great this week to welcome back to Counterslip Dave Hewitt, who was pastor here from 1978-89. This week Dave shared with us from Judges 13 looking at the character of Manoah's wife, and how God used her to achieve His purposes, taking points from this story about the kind of church/people we need to be to make a difference in our world today.

This week Emma unpacked how Paul was convinced that the whole Old Testament was pointing to Jesus, and the new covenant that He would bring. This was a shock to some of the people of the Old Covenant, but Emma explained that it shouldn't have been. She used the narrative arch of scripture to show how God is the same yesterday, today and forever, but He does not do the same things yesterday, today...

This week we looked at what we could learn from Acts 1 about preparing ourselves so that we can be the kind of church God longs for us to be, as we see in Acts, a church full of the Holy Spirit.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Psalms. You can jump through to the questions at these points: 1. (2:07) What does Selah mean? 2. (9:13) What is a song of ascent? 3. (14:15) Are we really sinful at birth (Psalm 51:5)? 4. (23:09) Who was Asaph? 5....

This week Matt walked us through Joshua 7 and the issues that arise there, asking why. We discovered that there are certain things in the world that we can be drawn towards to find our worth, value and identity, but the only place we truly find these things is in God.

This week Matt took us through Joshua chapter one, a story that begins with loss, and unpacked how we, as Christians, can remain strong as courageous at all times because of Jesus.

This week Matt took us back to the very first Psalm and looked at how it teaches us to discover the nearness of God in our lives.

This Sunday we had Nigel Coles (Team leader - Webnet & Counterslip pastor from 1991-2000) come and share with us from Psalm 50. Nigel reminded us again, than contrary to our societies cultural view we as the individual are not lord, judge or god, and that we will only find the hope we need when we truly turn to the one who is Lord, judge and God - Jesus.

This week Jo took us through Psalm 31 and the journey of pleading, praising and lamenting that David went on and how it led him into deeper relationship with God.

This week Heidi took us through Psalm 27, looking at the context of the life of David and how in the midst of many things he was able to hold on to and remain confident of the goodness of the Lord.

Each month we've been taking your questions about the sections of the bible that we've been reading and then spending some time talking through some possible answers. This month it was Luke's gospel. You can jump through to the questions at these points: 1. (2:45) Can you explain Luke 22:38 in view of Matthew 26:51-52? 2. (14:34) In the Gospels there are many miracles we can relate to and identify...