Hope Baptist Church, Plymouth

This Sunday, Luke took us through the next stage of our sermon series; ‘Empowered; The movement of the Spirit in the early church' - this week's topic was ‘a Spirit formed community', read from Acts 2:42-47

Reading through Acts chapter 2, Zoe Lane continues our sermon series; “Empowered' looking at the movement of the Spirit in the early church”. Looking specifically at when the Spirit comes, how it's a big full circle moment and how the promise of the spirit is fulfilled

For the next 12 weeks, we'll be focusing on our sermon series called ‘Empowered; The movement of the Spirit in the early church'. This week, reading from Acts 1:1-11, Luke looks at how the ‘waiting room' is a place of preparation for the plans God has for us

When life can feel like it's been turned upside down, and you question all you believe about God - like in the book of Luke 24 - Luke talks us through the Road to Emmaus; all the emotions and struggles they felt on that resurrection Sunday but reminds us that the Lord isn't just present in the miraculous, he's present in the mundane too and you don't have to have it all figured out to encounter God

This post may be a week late but it is worth the wait! We had a fantastic time on Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and also celebrating new life with a baptism. Zoe led the service, reading from Matthew 28:1-10 and Luke 24:36-49

It was great to welcome Stephen Beach to lead us through our Palm Sunday service. Stephen read from Matthew 21:1-17, with the challenge of how, more than anything else, we desperately need the presence of God in our lives

This week, we were joined by Mike Robbins from Compassion UK. Mike kindly shared a word with us, reading from John 15:9-15

A slight change to the schedule saw Luke Mansfield conclude our latest sermon series; Stop. Start. Continue.  Luke looked at how God is a God who works in seasons, how there is a time for everything but it's good to reflect and review to allow God to do new things. ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.' What a wonderful challenge as we reflect back on the sermon series, what will you be stopping or starting or continuing?

Following on from the wonderful Just Living event on Saturday, we welcomed Dr Ruth Valerio who spoke from Psalm 146, talking further about environmental issues and how we live them out in our lives

Reading from Isaiah 43:19, Luke continued our Stop. Start. Continue. series. Luke questioned ‘what if the greatest move that we are to expect of God is on the other side of something new?' Is God calling us to experience a new move of his spirit? Are we ready for the new thing that he's about to share with us?

As we start a new month and prepare for Lent, Luke Mansfield leads us into our new sermon series; ‘Stop. Start. Continue.' Luke read from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and asked ‘What if there are things that we need to give up in order to embrace something new together'

What a fantastic service we shared yesterday, baptising 4 of our church family and celebrating new life with them. Luke shared a short message on hope. Hope is something that can feel uncertain, but hope is not dead! God is still moving and he's not finished with you yet!

Zoe concluded our sermon series: ‘Go: Living out the great commission - Living a life that speaks'. Recapping on the past few weeks, Zoe shared 3 clear descriptions of who Jesus says we are and looking at how we live a life that speaks of Christ?

Luke Mansfield continues our ‘Go: Living out the great commission' series and reading from John 4:4-26 and 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. This week's topic was ‘Building Bridges to Share the Gospel' and Luke asked where and who is God calling you and us to reach, what bridge is he asking us to build today so we can be a church that grows and shares the gospel

Continuing our ‘Go: Living out the great commission' series and reading from Matthew 10:16-20, Zoe looks at the question; ‘How does Jesus say we will be received as we step out in sharing our faith?'

A change of plan this week had Zoe stepping in to preach, continuing the sermon series; ‘Go: Living Out The Great Commission' - Zoe read from Romans 1:16-17 and 1 Peter 3:15

Preaching on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Luke continued the sermon series; ‘Go: Living Out The Great Commission'. Luke was looking at how our actions in life are always motivated by something, looking at what the heart of evangelism truly is

As we embrace the start of the new year and a new term, Luke Mansfield kicked things off with our first sermon series of the year ‘Go: Living Out The Great Commission'

Luke continued our short sermon series; ‘Where Heaven meets Earth' reading from Luke 57-66, looking at the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah and how we fit into this story. Luke spoke about how we should be reminded that God is at work in our lives beyond our human limitations, despite the challenge to trust in his promises when the circumstances in front of us seem impossible

Our first Christmas sermon of the year, looking at the topic ‘Where Heaven Meets Earth', we're reminded by the nativity story that God is close. That today, you can have an encounter with this awesome majestic God that we sing about, the one who changed the course of Mary's life and the one who can change the course of your life too

Zoe concluded our series on Thessalonians, preaching this week on 2 Thessalonians 3. Over the past 8 weeks, we've seen Paul emphasise points that he's made before. The message is to endure, to preserve, to stand firm in times of deception. Zoe delved deeper into his final words and asks why he says what he does?

2 Thessalonians - Chapter 2 is where Luke picked up our sermon series. This week focusing on the question ‘How do we stand firm in a world that is full of deception?'

On this Remembrance Sunday, Luke continued our series in Thessalonians, this week moving onto 2 Thessalonians, reading from chapter 1. Luke was looking at perseverance and how key it is in our day to day life, how scripture tells us of the power in perseverance and asked if anyone can relate in terms of their spiritual walk

It was great to welcome Jon Bush to continue our Thessalonians series, this week looking at 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3. Jon suggested that prayer is the classroom of the Christian life, learning of God and if we don't pray regularly, we'll remain in the nursery!

Luke reads from 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2 - looking deeper into what Paul and Silas went through during their time in Thessalonica, aiming to preach the gospel but the reality of being pushed out by mobs. Was it a failure or a number of lessons to learn from this time? To bring hope to hopeless situations we may face and how failure doesn't have to be fatal

This week, Zoe Lane kick starts a new series on 1 Thessalonians, looking at reports of how a community of faith is getting on

Luke concludes our ‘Things Jesus Never Said' sermon series. Throughout the series, we've been focusing on the things Jesus didn't say in order to see the power and life changing transformation that can happen by the words he did say, looking to dispel some myths and ideologies that can creep in and effect our thinking about God

Reading from John 8:1-11, Luke Mansfield continued the series, looking this week at ‘Things Jesus Never said: it doesn't matter what I do, God just wants me to be happy'

It was great to welcome Zoe Lane back after her summer break last Sunday and Zoe jumped straight back in by continuing the sermon series: ‘Things Jesus Never Said: You don't have to forgive that person', reading from Matthew 6:9-15 and Matthew 18:21-35

Luke started our latest sermon series named ‘Things Jesus Never Said' - preaching from Luke 16, looking at how we can make up a ‘soft and easy God' to suit our own needs but we end up being robbed of the joy and intimacy that is on offer with a relationship with God

It was a jam packed Sunday and Jon Bush kindly led us in this week's instalment of 'Fruit of the Spirit'

Our Summer series; ‘Fruit of the Spirit' continued on Sunday with Luke reading from Acts 12:1-19

On her last Sunday before her time off over August, Zoe Lane concluded our sermon series; ‘Gifted' - reading from 1 Corinthians 12: 4-13 and looking at how spiritual gifts function, looking at a ‘health check' of our gifts and asking ourselves how we could use them to gift the wider church

We had a wonderful time on Sunday, worshipping the Lord and hearing from Luke as he continued with our ‘Gifted' sermon series. This week, Luke was looking at the gifts we've been given - reading from Romans 12:3-8, looking at the gifts God has given each one of us, allowing us to explore how we use those gifts within the church

This Sunday, Luke jumped straight into our new sermon series; ‘Gifted' - reading from Romans 12:3-8 and looking at spiritual gifts and spiritual growth

Luke Mansfield ends the ‘God's Big Picture' sermon series, looking at ‘The Perfected Kingdom'. Reading from Revelation 21:1-8 - concluding the ‘big story' of the bible from start to finish - and how life is all about Jesus

Stephen Beach kindly took the mic this week to bring us ‘The Proclaimed Kingdom' - reading from 2 Corinthians 3:16-4:12, bringing us a sketch and some colouring in to highlight the age we live in, between the moment Jesus came to live out the Kingdom, died and rose again until the moment He will return

This week, Luke looks at ‘The Present Kingdom' - reading from John 1:29-34 and how the fulfilment of the promises we've already seen are beginning to come to pass; God is a God who always fulfils his promises

Continuing with our ‘God's Big Picture' sermon series, Zoe preaches on ‘The Prophesied Kingdom' and how ‘we're not there yet'

It was great to have Carl Smethurst (Regional Minister, SWBA) with us on Sunday to continue the “God's Big Picture' series. Carl spoke on the topic ‘The Partial Kingdom: Land and King' - and how God promises, through his people, to bless them so they would bless all nations including the provision of land for his people to live in

Luke continues our ‘God's Big Picture' sermon series, looking at the subject; ‘The Partial Kingdom - People and Blessing'  - covering the history of Israel, from Abraham right through to King Solomon

Week 3 of our series; ‘God's Big Picture', Zoe took us through Genesis 12:1-9 - this series gives us an overview of the bible and looks at the central, unifying theme; ‘The Kingdom of God' - this week's topic: ‘The Promised Kingdom'

Luke continues our ‘God's Big Picture' series, reading from Genesis 3; ‘The Perished Kingdom'

Luke Mansfield kicked off our new sermon series; God's Big Picture'.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be reading from Genesis through to Revelations and taking a look at how the story of God fits together. This week, we went right back to the start, to Genesis chapter 1, ‘The Pattern of the Kingdom'

Concluding our mini series on Joel, Luke Mansfield reads from Joel 3, reflecting on how when we're ‘in the pits' , there can still be hope in the darkness

Continuing our mini series on Joel, last week Zoe read from chapter 2. Zoe looked at the common question people ask; ‘where is God in unwelcome circumstances of life'

This Sunday, we were joined by Jon Bush who kicked off our 3 part series on Joel

Wow! What an amazing Easter Sunday we had, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having spent the past few weeks looking at Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, Luke Mansfield concluded the Lent series; ‘Giving It Up: Death!' - looking at the different encounters of 3 witnesses to the resurrection - asking if we're like any of those witnesses 

In the penultimate week of our Lent: Giving It Up series, Luke preaches from Matthew 16:21-28. This week's topic was ‘Our Lives', continuing to look at what it means to give up the things that won't necessarily help us in the short term but will help us be more like Jesus in the long term

This week, Luke Mansfield continues our ‘Lent: Giving It Up' sermon series, reading from Matthew 5:43-48  - breaking down the meaning of the word ‘Enemies' and what it would look like if the Holy Spirit did work in us to bring healing, learning to love as Jesus loves

Zoe took to the stage to pick up our ‘Lent: Giving It Up' series, reading from Genesis and James and looking at how we can make a commitment together to lay down our superiority as we worship and serve together as a church