Godfirst Cheltenham

You can’t think your way to Christ likeness, you need the gospel to realign the compass of your heart towards Jesus

Christopher spoke about Jesus' mission toward us has caused us to be drawn into his story as his missionaries to the neighbours and the nations, and that the greatest joy in this life is found not in pursuing self, but in being on mission with Jesus.

Guest speaker Andre Ntambwe from Common Ground Church in Cape Town, preached out of Luke chapter 1, about responding well to interruptions when God suddenly and surprisingly breaks into our lives.

Guest speaker Gareth Bowley demonstrates how the love of God through the person of Jesus busts the myths that we believe about the conditional love of God.

Adam discusses the value and importance of Discipleship THREE'S as part of the disciples formation into the image of Jesus.

Using Matthew's gospel, Christopher discusses what the empty tomb of Jesus asks of us as genuine disciples and the hope that it offers us.

The story of Palm Sunday shows us that the Jesus we want is not the Jesus we need. (This sermon was preached at Trinity Church London, the week after it was preached at GodFirst, this is the audio from Trinity Church London).

The Cross: Centrality and Foolishness by Godfirst Cheltenham

As part of our Formed series, Howard encourages us to live the Bible story and to meet Jesus by learning to meditate on scripture.

Christopher worked through 2 Corinthians 3 and discussed how Paul says that the Spirit sets us free to increasingly become more like Jesus.

Howard talks about how we are formed out of our experiences. He spoke out of James 1 highlighting how God uses our pains, trials and sufferings to continually form us into the image of Jesus.

Tom Bradbury encourages greater followership of Jesus by assessing and minimising distractions caused by abuse and addiction to our phones and digital media.

Tom Bradbury encourages a focus and prioritisation on being and making disciples of Jesus by assessing and streamlining the unhelpful distractions through the us of our phones and digital media.

Christopher highlights that the gospel creates community and that the purpose of community is to create disciples who learn to obey the commands of scripture as well as live in the good and blessing of that community.

Sean Green from Reading Family Church (https://www.readingfamilychurch.org.uk/) encourages Godfirst and the Lead Couples to trust God and expect Him to do great things through the church as he preaches out of 2 Kings 13:14-21.

We are formed by the habits, routines and rituals of our lives. Paul in scripture encourages us to enter the strict training of athletes. Yet spiritual practises are not just training and effort like rowing but training and effort like sailors to catch the wind of God's Spirit.

Pete Cornford from Redeemer Church London, walks us through the story of Abraham and Isaac. Stirring us to faith like Abraham and showing us how this story is a picture of the Gospel.

Jesus offers us a stark choice, deny yourself, pour yourself out and you'll find true life, or grasp for a life of self, gain the whole world but lose yourself. When we know Jesus is the true treasure, to sacrifice everything for him is no loss.

Howard unpacks how we are formed, looking at 5 pathways, story, experiences, community, practices and loves.

Our failure to fulfil the Great Commission is due to the Great Omission: our failure to truly live our lives shaped as Jesus' disciples.

At our carol service, Howard talks about how birth helps us to understand the story of the world. Hope, suffering, darkness, pain, turns to joy and new life. This is the story of the nativity and the resurrection.

Howard continues his advent series on 'Emmanuel - God with us'. This week Howard tells us how Jesus has come to reconcile all things to the Father, and in doing so has reconciled people with people and eventually heaven and earth.

Advent series on 'Emmanuel - God with us' This week Howard walks us through Big Story of God's presence from Eden, Moses, Tabernacle, Temple, and Exile culminating in how all these threads find their fulfilment in Jesus Incarnate, Crucified, Risen.

Stan concludes the preaching series in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ with a deeper look at what Jesus meant when He encouraged us to build our houses on the eternally unshakable rock.

Rigby Wallace who leads an Advance partner church in Cape Town served us excellently by preaching about the importance, value and means of living in the patience that the gospel brings.