Kerith Encounter Podcast

Unfortunately Simon Benham was not able to speak today since he has gone down with Covid-19. As a result, Esther decided to use a talk that she gave in early 2020 rather than struggling to prepare a new talk in a very short time. She speaks from Mark 6:30-44 about the anonymous boy who gave his lunch so that Jesus could miraculously feed a group of 5000 men along with many women and children. It d...

Esther continues our "Parables of Jesus" series by looking at The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46-49. She discusses issues about building on sand compared to building on rock and looks at the importance of having good foundations. God has already laid the foundations and Jesus is the rock on which we need to build our lives. He wants us to be doers of His...

Today's meeting was a more informal meeting where attendees had an opportunity to share some stories of what God was doing in their lives. In order to keep these within the group it has been decided not to include them in the podcast. Therefore this recording contains only the worship at the beginning of the meeting plus Esther's comments after worship and at the end.

Esther continues our series "The Parables of Jesus" by looking at The Parable of the Lost (or Prodigal) Son from Luke 15:11-32. She looks in turn at the 3 characters in the story - the younger son (who left but eventually returned home), the father (who represents God and welcomed his son back home) and the older son (who was reliable & stayed at home the whole time) - to see what we can learn...

At the start of a new school year Esther starts a new series looking at some of the Parables of Jesus to see what are the meanings behind them and how we can apply them to our lives. She starts with the Parable of the Sower in Matthew chapter 13 verses 1-9 & 18-23. This parable is actually more about the ground that the seed is being sown into - along the path, on rocky places, among thorns or...

Our guest speaker today is Michael Bentley who spoke to us from Jeremiah 2:1-13 where God states that His people had committed 2 sins: they had forsaken Him and had dug their own cisterns (gone their own way). Michael says that we Christians sometimes behave as if we think that we know better than God and he asks if we have done the same as the Israelites. See additional notes at https://kerithcom...

Esther summarises the series so far and reminds us why God chose to take the Israelites on the Desert Road - what were they supposed to be learning during the journey?, how was God going to reveal Himself to them?, how was this relationship between God & His people going to start to materialise & deepen & develop?, what were they learning & what can we learn from their experiences...

Esther continues "The Desert Road" series looking at Number chapters 12-14 where a leader from each of the 12 tribes of Israel is sent to scout out the land of Canaan. Although all 12 of them saw that the land was good and flowing with milk & honey as God had promised, 10 of them spread a negative report because of fear of the people who lived there and the difficulty of the task of conquering...

Due to various technical difficulties with Zoom today we did not manage to record any of the worship or the initial part of Esther's talk, and we had to restart the Zoom meeting a couple of times so there are a couple of short breaks in the middle of her talk. Esther continues our series "The Desert Road" by looking at Moses, the Man of Humility, and talks about 3 things that we can learn about hu...

Esther continues our series "The Desert Road" looking at Numbers 9:15-23. When the cloud of the Lord's presence lifted from above the tabernacle the Israelites moved on and when it settled over the tabernacle they camped. As they watched for the cloud rising or settling, so we need to be attentive to the Holy Spirit guiding us each day and learn to stay in the presence of God. See additional notes...

Esther continues our series "The Desert Road" looking at Exodus 19 where after spending three months in the wilderness God brings the people to Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God. Here there is an invitation to a relationship with Him and an invitation to an encounter with Him. In the same way, God will sometimes bring us to a mountain in order to develop our relationship with Him and so that we can...

Esther's family were unwell this week, so she is unable to be with us. Therefore instead we listen to a message from Sola Osinoiki titled "Close Encounters of the God Kind" in which Sola looks at 7 levels of the revelations of God - Awareness, Representation, The Voice of God, Manifest Presence, Testimonial, Views of God, and Acts of God. See additional notes at https://kerithcommunitychurch-my.sh...

Our guest speaker this week is Michael Bentley. He looks at the passage in Revelation 2:1-7 where Jesus praises the Ephesian church for their deeds, their hard work and their perseverance but accuses them of forsaking their first love. See additional notes at https://kerithcommunitychurch-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/encounter_kerith_church/EfyEhO23r41OogFMbNeRqBUBSq8SCs8IA4I64OS35lyubQ?e=QTH4...

Our guest speaker this week is Ben Oliver, the Bracknell site elder. Continuing our "The Desert Road" series he looks at Moses' hikes up and down Mount Sinai when receiving God's covenant with the people of Israel. Then he got the attendees on their tables to discuss the differences between this old covenant and the new covenant that Jesus introduced when he was on earth. See additional notes at h...

Esther continues with our series, The Desert Road, by looking at the Exodus 17 where Moses watches from the top of the hill with Aaron & Hur while Joshua & the Israelites fight against the Amalekites. She looks at 4 things we can learn from this story - the importance of prayer and worship in the midst of our battles; the importance of having other people draw alongside us; to write a remi...

Today's meeting was a more informal meeting where attendees had an opportunity to share some stories of what God was doing in their lives. In order to keep these within the group it has been decided not to include them in the podcast. Therefore this recording contains only the worship at the beginning of the meeting plus Esther's comments after worship and at the end.

Esther continues our series "The Desert Road" by looking at the story of how God provided Bread From Heaven in Exodus 16. She looks at 2 lessons that we can learn from this passage - that God expects our obedience and that God provides Daily Bread. See additional notes at https://kerithcommunitychurch-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/encounter_kerith_church/ETb74-AzJaNLp13gvh2vZRoBW5dnqFPet6vqMlRj...

This is our Easter Encounter meeting, which consisted of the following: Video - Come To The Cross - https://youtu.be/M9bB7nE3PZI Welcome - Glynis Song - And Can It Be? Reading - from Matthew 27 & John 19 - Esther Song - Here Is Love, Vast As The Ocean Reading - from Matthew 28 & John 20 - Michael Song - Forever Talk - Come To The Cross - Esther Instrumental - Once Again - Jackie & Bill...

Esther continues our "The Desert Road" series by looking at Exodus 15 where the Israelites found the water at Marah was too bitter to drink. We look at the different responses of the Israelites, Moses and God to this situation and the reason why God led them to Marah before leading them to Elim. See additional notes at https://kerithcommunitychurch-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/encounter_kerith...

Our guest speaker is Alan Lander, who spoke to us 3 weeks ago. He speaks on the topic of "Making a Difference" using the story in Jeremiah 38:4-18 of Ebed-Melek who helped Jeremiah when the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem. Like Ebed-Melek, he encourages us to listen to what is happening around us, to speak up and speak out about the injustices that God puts on our hearts, to do it with wisdom...

After last week's introduction of our new "The Desert Road" series, Esther reads Exodus 14 and talks about Crossing the Red Sea. She brings 4 things out of the passage that are relevant to our lives today: - Trusting God - no matter what! - Keep moving on! - The Presence of God is enough - Fear of the Lord and trust in the Lord - Both are needed See additional notes at https://kerithcommunitychurc...

Esther gives an introduction to a new series called "The Desert Road". She starts with a history lesson of how the Israelites arrived in Egypt through Joseph and eventually escaped under the leadership of Moses. They could have reached their destination by the shortest route but God chose to take them through the desert instead. In this series we will look at some of the lessons that can be learne...

Our guest speaker this week was Alan Lander, who used to be one of our elders. He states that it's not how you start that's important, it's how well you finish. He looks at several bible characters who started well but didn't finish at all well. He talks about the danger of pride amongst several areas that we should seek to avoid and finishes with a list of practical steps to enable us to finish s...

This week Esther completes our "Who Do YOU Say I Am?" Series, firstly by summarising the previous weeks and then looking at the final issue of testing. She talks about Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness experience to be tested and then emerging in the power of the Holy Spirit to start His ministry. If you want more of God, more of His power and His authority in your life, then...

Our guest speaker today is Michael Bentley. He speaks from the book of Haggai where the prophet encourages the Israelites to listen to God and invest their time & energy into rebuilding the temple that was in ruins rather than working on their own houses. He encourages us to stop making excuses and to get on with the work that God has called us to do for His kingdom. See additional notes at ht...