Listen to sermons and services from West Mersea Free Church online.
This Sunday we meet to worship together as we continue to think about, in these world-shaking times, what it means to build our lives upon 'The Rock'. Based on one of the topics coming out of the Who Cares? survey, this week we're looking at money. Rob starts by asking us some of the questions you would go through at the start of the CAP Money Course. Money is something that can control our lives, but we should not let it. We can be content with what we have, and prioritise God in our lives. When we can give, we should give, as giving reflects the image of God. What distracts you from God? The Bible says to commit your ways to Him, and he will give you your desires for good things. We need to make our priorities what matters, and not money. The Bible talks about storing up our treasures in Heaven, as that is a firm foundation - building our lives upon The Rock. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The danger of the love of money is the focus on money at the expense of everything, or everyone else. We should be careful, and follow what God wants for us, and not be driven by money. Reading Deni and Steve gave us our reading this week, from Luke 12:13-34. Favourite song We spoke to Champa, who has spent much of her time recently reading books and cooking - trying various new recipes. Her favourite song is Make me a channel of your peace, which gives her hope. Join Alpha It's never too late to join Alpha! Alpha is a course that gives you a place to ask questions, consider who God is, who Jesus is, and explore faith a little bit more. It's a place where you're free to ask questions, learn more about the Holy Spirit, and think about prayer. We'd love for you to take part - you're welcome to join whether you're new to church, or have known God all your life. We're holding it online, so you can join from wherever you are in the world. For more information, or to sign up, visit our Alpha page or email live@merseafree.church. Share on the wall It's absolutely great hearing from you, discovering things you've been doing, and sharing your encouragement. We would love for you to continue to send in pictures, tell us what you've been up to and learn of the ways God has been speaking to and encouraging you. We'd also like to share these to help encourage others at this difficult time. There's more information about how you can share this with us on our website.
This Sunday we meet to worship together as we continue to think about, in these world-shaking times, what it means to build our lives upon 'The Rock'. This week we're asking: "why did Jesus die?" The answer is love. God loves, and He longs for a relationship with us. It's hard to love someone you like, but to love someone you don't like can be even harder - but Jesus tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves. It's our failure to love others that draws us away from God. The only way to deal with the consequences of our failures and sin was through God coming to live with us and showing us what it is to truly love. Communion We're having communion as part of this service - if you want to join in and you don't have bread and wine/juice handy, feel free to use whatever food and drink you might have available. Reading We heard from Peter and Josie - throughout the 'lockdown', Peter has been writing his memoirs, looking at people who have touched his life, and Josie has been keeping busy sorting photographs and gardening. Today's reading is from Luke 24:13-35. Favourite song This week we spoke to Andy, whose favourite song is In Christ Alone - when Andy started coming to the church it was sung quite frequently, and the words in this song are both powerful and uplifting. Prayer We're focusing this week on praying for our neighbours and the people we live near to, whether we know them well or only a little. Join Alpha Alpha is a course that gives you a place to ask questions, consider who God is, who Jesus is, and explore faith a little bit more. It's a place where you're free to ask questions, learn more about the Holy Spirit, and think about prayer. We'd love for you to take part - you're welcome to join whether you're new to church, or have known God all your life. We're holding it online, so you can join from wherever you are in the world. For more information, or to sign up, visit our Alpha page or email live@merseafree.church. Share on the wall It's absolutely great hearing from you, discovering things you've been doing, and sharing your encouragement. We would love for you to continue to send in pictures, tell us what you've been up to and learn of the ways God has been speaking to and encouraging you. We'd also like to share these to help encourage others at this difficult time. There's more information about how you can share this with us on our website.
Join us as we begin our new series, 'The Rock', together. As our world shakes, maybe more than ever we need to be ask what our lives are founded on. During this series we will be exploring our lives and discovering that the only sure and certain hope is to build absolutely everything upon 'The Rock'. Favourite song This week for our weekly 'favourite song' slot, we spoke to Lesley, one of our local physiotherapists. Reckless Love, Lesley's current favourite, had a resonance with her as it describes God's personal relationship with us.
Jesus is risen! This Easter Sunday we celebrate Jesus is alive! Join us in sung worship, learn with us through readings, and watch scenes from Neville B. Leevit, investigating at the time of Jesus' resurrection around AD 33 - is he really alive? Did he really die? What actually happened? The Easter story is a story full of surprises; Rob speaks about the changes these surprises made to people's lives, and how it can change ours. Can we be surprised by the Easter story ourselves? God had a plan for us - and he made a 'design flaw' in death, so that death might be conquered. Jesus rose from death, and made certain that death was not the end. If you ask God into your life, you too can have eternal life through Him. Share with us During our live streams you can share with us through the 'sharing box' or by commenting through Facebook on the stream. You're also welcome to share with us your photos, crafts and any Bible verses you've found encouraging - you can do this through email.
On Good Friday, we remember Jesus' sacrifice on the cross so that we might be forgiven. The service begins with an introduction, followed by sung worship and readings leading us through the story. Responding to this, you are invited to take communion with us. You don't need to have wine and bread, but any drink, and any food. We remember Christ through communion - his body, broken for us; his blood, poured out for us. Jenny then considers the story, responding the the events at the time, looking at the perspectives of those around Jesus, and what Jesus might have felt. Share with us During our live streams you can share with us through the 'sharing box' or by commenting through Facebook on the stream. You're also welcome to share with us your photos, crafts and any Bible verses you've found encouraging - you can do this through email. Coming up We are live streaming our service this Easter Sunday at 10:30am. We will be celebrating Jesus' resurrection from the grave, and we'll be praising Him for what He did for us.
This Palm Sunday we begin our series of Easter services, where we remember Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and the spreading of palm leaves before him. With a reading from friends at Orchard Baptist Church, Jenny speaks about how important songs are to understanding how we understand Palm Sunday; recognising it is God who transforms, God who listens, and God who saves. During our service we also had our 'favourite worship song' slot, where this week Celeste shared her favourite song: "Still" by Reuben Morgan. Share with us Alongside our live 'sharing box' that you can use in real-time during our live stream, we'd also love for you to share with our church family in these other ways: We've created a new 'photo wall' that you can send in a photo of you and your family to, and we can share it with our church family each week. We'd love to be able to cover our wall! If you're sending in a photo, please also send it in alongside a statement that you give us permission to share it, or sadly we will not be able to use it during our service. Send us pictures you or your family have created! God is an awesome God who can show his love through our creativity! Contribute Bible verses that have spoken to you today, this week, or this month, or that you think might encourage others. We hope to be able to share this with our church family. If you're happy to share these with us, please send an email to live@merseafree.church. We look forward to hearing from you! Coming up We're planning to stream live again this next week: Toddlers, Wednesday at 11:00am We will be running a craft activity for you and your child - it'll involve a the inner cardboard tube of a loo roll, so if you finish a roll, please keep it aside for Wednesday! Good Friday service, Friday at 10:30am Join us this Friday as we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us. It'll be similar to our other service live streams, and we'll be sharing some of the things people have sent in over the past week. Easter Sunday service, Sunday at 10:30am Our weekly service will be celebrating Jesus' resurrection from the grave, and we'll be praising Him for what He did for us. We'd be delighted if you could join us for some, or all, of our activities this week!
Continuing the 'Designed for Life' series inspired by the apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Rob speaks this week about how we should live as Christians, and how we can live "a different life". As sent out by email with the church notice sheet, each week the Evangelical Alliance is publishing a prayer for God's help during these different times, each supported by a scripture, which you can find on their website. Thanks again for joining us in worship this week, we will be live streaming again next Sunday at 10:30am through our website, and through our Facebook page.
For the first time, we live-streamed our entire service online this week. Before the service we have an interactive 'Spot the Difference' challenge (solutions below). Thank you to all who joined us this week! We hope to have you join us again next Sunday at 10:30am, either through our website, or Facebook Live. Solutions Solutions to the 'Spot the Difference' activity are below:
For the second service of the year, Rob looks at the book of Mark, asking us to consider three questions.
Our Christmas Day service for 2019 looks at the Gift of God being unwrapped for us, as we remember Jesus' birth and his coming to the world many years ago. Reflecting on the gift of Jesus, we think about what His coming means for us.
Join us for our dress-up Nativity service, as Jenny tells an interactive story of Christmas. When you're listening, you can also take part. When Jenny says: "Love/Loved" - put your hands on your heart "Listen" - cup your ears "Friend/Friendship" - shake your hands together "Big hug" - give yourself a hug
Introducing the series for Advent and Christmas 2019, Jenny speaks about the birth of Christ, and how God paid the ultimate price for us.
Peter speaks this week on the Tabernacle of Moses - what it represented then, and what it means for us today.
On the subject of "The Law", Jenny speaks this week about what the laws are, and how they affect us still today.
This week Rob speaks about the Passover - taken from the teaching in Exodus 12 & 13.
For the second week of the Exodus series, Rob speaks about Moses and his calling from God to save God's people - and although Moses was at first reluctant, he did listen, and he did save.
Jenny speaks this week about the beginning of the book of Exodus, which starts by listing names from the story of Genesis before developing to tell of Moses' travels to live with the pharaoh.
This week Rob speaks about how God's teaching applies to our lives as students, teachers, families and a congregation.
The sermon today came in several different parts - starting with Andrew French continuing his tale as Andrew, disciple of Jesus, just as he was throughout the Beach Club week. Following this, Jenny talks about the overall theme for the week and how Jesus can be a part of our lives today, just as he was for the people we learned about through the week. Finally, Jenny demonstrates Jesus' love for us, sacrificing himself for us, and always being with us, by standing and covering us when we're going through good times and bad - in this case illustrated by defending the losing contestant from the gloopy gunge. For more information about Beach Club, and for an overview of what we learned at Beach Club this year, you can visit the Beach Club website.
For the final sermon in the Impact series, Rob speaks about the lesser known Abigail - and the significant impact she had on the events recorded in the Bible.
Melissa speaks this week about the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at the well. What can we learn? How does it affect us?
This week Rob talks about Mary, mother of John, also known as Mark. Mary hosted the church in her house and although in the Bible there's only a brief mention of her as she hosts a prayer meeting, there's a lot we can learn from her, her character, and her willingness to serve God. As part of the sermon we also watched a short clip by Open Doors, where Pete Grieg (of 24/7 Prayer) talks about praying for the persecuted church.
Rev. Jenny Hughes speaks about Jesus telling his disciples to cast their nets over the other side of the boat, and what this has to do with baptism. You can learn more about baptism on our website. Following the sermon we had an opportunity to reflect listening to 'Everyday' by Tom Smith.
During the Ordination and Induction service for Rev. Jenny Hughes, Rev. Pieter Lalleman from Spurgeon's College (where Jenny trained) gave a short talk based on 1 Samuel 3:1-21
Andrew French speaks this week about the impact of John Mark, and John Mark's mother, Mary.
This week Rob looks at the story of the paralytic man and his four friends, who lift him through the roof to be healed by Jesus. Rob starts his sermon with a video:
This week Rob speaks about peacemakers, and how people can be peace-makers, but peace is God-gifted.
Andrew preaches on welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives for the new year, looking at the events in Revelation and how we as Christians can be saved through Christ.
The final sermon in the Lost and Found series, Jen focuses on being part of God's family as we celebrate Jesus' birth on Christmas Day.
Jen gives a short talk during the West Mersea Free Church carol service for 2018, following on the theme of Lost and Found at Christmas, and summarising the 9 lessons and hymns of the service.
The second service in the Lost and Found at Christmas series covers the story of Zechariah and the birth of John the Baptist, following the theme of 'Lost Voice, Found Peace'. Reflecting on the sermon, we considered what God is saying to us this Christmas, listening to "Silent Night" performed by Chris Tomlin & Kristyn Getty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pEndgvJe2s
Jen talked about the Hebrews that were up against the giants in the new land they were promised, she included a video from YouTube which was also used in a previous service, the link to this video is included and leads to the song on YouTube.
Starting a new series on the Book of Hebrews - a letter written by an unknown author that teaches upon the scriptures of the Old Testament - Jen begins by building upon the sermon that is Hebrews 1, where we learn Jesus is superior to all angels in God's Kingdom. Jesus is the son of God, sent to Earth for our salvation.
This week we look at being a follower of Jesus, based on the Education Sunday theme for 2018: Faith and Works. "The good news of Jesus Christ is not rocket science." Rob speaks this week about being a follower of God and sharing the Good News of the gospels. Rob briefly mentions an illustration involving marshmallows and the gospel from Soul Survivor - you can watch Laura Hancock's full talk online. For God so loved the world, He gave His only son, and whoever believes in Him shall not die, but have eternal life.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
