Trinity Chippenham

In the little story of Zaccheus we meet a great seeker - someone prepared to go to extreme lengths to achieve his goal. The goal was fellowship at a table, and the cost was immense.

Christmas is full of contrasts, none greater than heavenly angels bringing a message to humble shepherds. The great news? The gap is gone . . . it is not up to us to climb to God, but He has come to us!

Mary's responsive faith when told of a very complex future is inspiring. But we don't get faith like Mary by looking at her. She would be shocked how much the church has looked to her. As we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mary we can discover the truth that gripped her heart - the Mighty One is merciful, to me!

Jesus came to give us life, but the way he did it was a real shock. His self-giving motivates us to let go of all this world offers us to follow him.

Disciples have everything they need- a message of good news, an invitation to God's Kingdom, brought in by and centred on Jesus. That means Christians will look very different to the world we are part of but, when we are faithful, and out of our heart's overflow tell others about Jesus, the message will spread.

The 12 year-old daughter of the most important man in town and the woman with a shameful 12 year-old problem both desperately needed to experience the gracious power of Christ. Our faith may be very weak, but the invitation to all of us is to approach Jesus and bring our greatest burdens to him.

How do we face fear? The truth is that even in the face of death we can express thankfulness to God. Why? Because He is God and we are not.

We all have things in our lives that have not worked out as we expected or hoped, and at some point we will all go through valleys. Praise God that his heart grieves over the sadness, pain and death in his good world, and that he is with us in the valley and able to shepherd us through it.

Are you drawn to Jesus or will you keep him at arm's length? Like light, Jesus chases away the darkness in our hearts. Stop, take stock, look at Jesus and fall in love with him again.

Jesus didn't tell parables as simple little stories to please the crowd. He told them to divide. People were, and are, either responsive or resistant to Jesus and his teaching. In the parable of the soils there were four soils, not just two. What are we to make of the thorny and shallow soils?

Why is our love for Jesus often weaker than we think it should be? In today's passage we see the principle that greater awareness of forgiveness leads to greater love for the forgiver.

Too easily we miss how involved Christ is in our lives today. Our relationship with him is not dependent on our worthiness, how we work up bigger faith, or the wealth of our knowledge. What is really important is the responsiveness of our hearts to him.

We live in a culture that avoids almost all references to 'death.' But for most of the world death is a real and present reality. Jesus compassionately conquers death, for those who don't deserve it.

We are very grateful to God for our new leaders. The Apostle Paul was a Christian leader who served the church, with integrity, tears, courage, compassion, proclaiming and teaching the whole Gospel.

What is the most important thing parents can do for their kids? Our biggest need is an answer to the brokenness we see the world- it is only by meeting Jesus that we have an answer and hope.

A Disciple is a Follower of Christ, being transformed, in relationship with Christ and His people. With him we discover our part in his mission - an invitation to be a disciple-making disciple.

David showed amazing kindness to Jonathan's son Mephibosheth. It's incredible that people like us, spiritual Mephibosheths, far away from God are shown the same amazing grace by King Jesus! 2 Samuel 9

Seek Jesus in all the areas of your life, and with all the people in your life. Love Him first.

The Gospel is simple: the Son of God become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, that we might become spiritually flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. The Christian life in light of the Gospel is just as simple: Seek Jesus. Do everything in alignment with the heart and character of Christ.

Staying connected to him in a marriage union which doesn't just bring us benefits but gives us a whole new identity – buried with him, raised with him, and loved and accepted by his Father as our own Father!

Paul's ministry is all about maturity. "Christ in us" is the key to growing up and leaving the 'shallow end.'

Why does Paul encourage the Colossians to take their eyes off themselves and onto Jesus? Because He Jesus awesome! Colossians 1:15-23

The Colossian church were in many ways just like us - feeling tempted to question whether what they had in Jesus really was enough, or if there was something more. Colossians 1:1-14

Does the Bible really end with a party? And if it does, how come Christians seem to let us down so much now? We finish the series anticipating the end of the story, when the freedom of the glory of the children of God will be unleashed!

We have celebrated the promise God gave to defeat the rebellion. We have appreciated the preparation God made in the Old Covenant to prepare humanity for the coming of Christ and his New Covenant. But have we grasped the big picture of the Bible? The covenant's are described in marital terms, and Christ became one of us not only to reveal the Father and rescue humanity, but also to make the g...