New City Church Milton Keynes

Click here to listen to Ruth chapter 2.

This week for Women’s Bible Study we will be continuing to look at Ruth 1. If you can, read or listen to again the first chapter of Ruth before you dive in here.     I hope you were able to listen to the talk on Ruth and below you will find further questions and thoughts to help you dig deeper into some of the things I talked about.  Why not ask a friend to do the study with you and talk about these things?   Ruth 1:20-21 Naomi says, “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.  I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” How have you been angry or disappointed in God? Were you honest with God about it? Do you feel it’s okay to be angry/disappointed with God?    Psalm 126 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lor

This week for Women’s Bible Study we will be starting our study of the book of Ruth.   I hope you were able to listen to the talk on Ruth and below you will find further questions and thoughts to help you dig deeper into some of the things I talked about.  Why not ask a friend to do the study with you and talk about these things? Galatians 6:9 says Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Hebrews 11:24-26 says By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. How do these verses encourage you to stand firm where God has you? In these verses in Ruth 1:16-17 we learn about Ruth’s loyalty and obedience to God.   We see her desire to change her circumstanc

Click here to listen to Ruth chapter 1.

This week’s message comes from Acts 2:14-47. Let’s see what God has to say to you through Richard speaking to us this week.

Our visiting speaker, Tom Brewer from Bath,  talks to us about where we place our confidence. We can rely on our own ability and confidence, or we can put our faith in Jesus Christ. Tom encourages us to place our trust in the Lord, whether or not we already know him. If we don’t already know God, we can rely on him to forgive our sins when we turn away from them and trust in God’s forgiveness. If we do know God, we can trust in his power – the power that raised Jesus from the dead – to change us to be more like him. This may well involve us in suffering a little of the pain that Jesus suffered when he died on the cross.

How should we stand up for what we believe in? We are not talking here about a crusade against an enemy or interminable disputes about what a word means, but about knowing what the Bible teaches in order to recognize when someone teaches something different. If someone accidentally makes a mistake about what the text means, we can help them to see the truth, but when someone is deliberately distorting the truth to excuse behaviour that should not be accepted, what then? Listen to this talk to see what one of our church leaders, Paul Sherwood, explains what the book of Jude has to say about this situation and how we can remain faithful to God’s word and the standard of behaviour He calls for.

The Book of Acts starts with the risen Jesus establishing his church in Jerusalem. He spent time with the Apostles, teaching them about the Kingdom of God, before ascending into heaven. In this talk, Richard Wardman discusses three aspects of a time of waiting that the church experienced: waiting for God’s power, rejoicing in the ascension of Jesus and trusting that God is reigning. If we acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus,  we are also going to experience the same sort of things: we are dependent  on God’s power, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven – and will return – and that in everything, God reigns as king.

In this new series on the Book of Acts, Richard Wardman starts by placing Acts in context: Luke’s gospel and Acts were written by the same person, and in many ways, Acts continues from where the gospel ends, both in the narrative and by continuing the themes important to Luke. If Luke is about what Jesus did and taught, then Acts is very much the “Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus”, through the Holy Spirit and through the church.

There are problems and there are serious problems. In this encounter, Jesus helps a man who our society would regard as mentally disturbed; what makes the problem even more serious is the root cause: the man was under the control of a large numbers of evil spirits who were causing the man’s madness. In this talk from Mark 5, verses 1-20, we see how Jesus heals the man – and the consequences of what he does. Richard Wardman also takes us through the A-B-C of how to approach Jesus. The reading for this talk was not recorded, so you might want to read Mark 5 before listening.

How do you know what you love and why you love it? In this talk, Richard Wardman looks at the lessons that we can learn from the story of the woman who loved much. She showed her love for Jesus in what she did – even though it must have been a great sacrifice of what she had long treasured. Richard also looks at the motivation, the risks to her reputation that she took, and how Jesus saw her actions.  

Richard Wardman continues this short series on what we can learn from encounters that people had with Jesus in the Bible. In this talk, he looks at what happened when some parents brought their children to be blessed by Jesus in Mark chapter 10. Jesus’ followers wanted to turn the children away: their thinking seems to be that Jesus was far too important to be bothered with kids. By contrast, Jesus wanted to bless them and commanded his followers not to stop them coming to him. What can we learn about how we see children and about how they can be encouraged to come to Jesus in today’s world?  

As we prepare for 2020, one of our church leaders, Steve Riisnaes, asks us to consider what sort of people we are: busy folk with full agendas, always doing something, or people who take time to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He wants to say, and filling our hearts with His word. In this story about Martha and her sister, Mary, Jesus points out that sometimes we need to make the effort to just sit and slow down,  and Steve considers what modern people can do to achieve that.  

In this third talk for the period just before Christmas, Richard Wardman links the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah about Immanuel and the Son who is to be given to us with Matthew Chapter 1. This talks about the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem at Christmas, the Son of God as well as a baby human being. God is with us! But Richard also introduces us to the name and title of the baby – Jesus, which means “he saves” and the title “Christ”, which means “the anointed one”. Listen on to see why that is the most important element of the Christmas story.

In this talk, we again look at the period of waiting which we call Advent. This is derived from the Latin words meaning “to come”, and is the period when we prepare spiritually for Christmas, the time when Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem. Richard Wardman looks again at the prophecies of Isaiah, this time in Chapters 8 verse 19 to 9 verse 7, when Isaiah looks forward to the birth of a child, a son, who will be King. Richard looks at the qualities of this son, and why he is qualified to be King. The words of this prophecy are very well known to Christians and lovers of Handel’s Messiah: “For unto us a Child is born; unto us a son is given. The Government will be upon his shoulders and he shall be called ‘Wonderful Counsellor’, ‘Mighty God’, ‘Everlasting Father’, ‘Prince of Peace’.” The reading that starts this talk starts at Isaiah 9 v1.

Advent is the time of waiting: waiting for Christmas, waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is easy to get caught up with the commercial side of Christmas: shopping, exchanging gifts, sending cards and eating and drinking, but Advent gives us the opportunity to press pause for a few minutes to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas: that God came to be with us on earth, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Richard Wardman introduces this short series by reflecting on one of the names ascribed to Jesus before he was born: Immanuel. This means “God with us”, and Richard takes us to Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 to see how this name was given by prophecy and how the gospels introduce Jesus as “God with us”.

Our visiting speaker giving this bible talk is Colin Poyntz from Winslow, an old friend of New City Church. His church has been working its way through the book of Galatians, and we are delighted that he was able to teach us from Galatians chapter 4. Paul is talking to the folk in Galatia (now modern day Turkey) to whom he previously preached the good  news. However, they are in danger of losing the plot, having been led astray by false teachers. Colin examines what Paull has to say about the attitudes of the Galatians both now and in the past, and contrasts the motivation of himself with the false teachers.

In this talk, Richard Wardman is continuing to tell the story of Jacob, from Genesis. Jacob was originally a con artist, chiseling his brother out of both his rightful place in the family and his father’s blessing. He’s been away with his mother’s family, who cheated him of his proper wages and tricked him into marrying both the woman he loved and her sister. Now he is returning to his family, and has to face up to the brother he tricked. Will Esau try to get his own back? Listen to the story to see how Jacob has changed and what he and each person who wants to follow God can do to grow in grace.

Can you imagine what it might be like to sit down to a meal with Jesus? In this sermon, Caleb Woodbridge looks at what Jesus had to say to a group of religious people who invited him to dinner. It is fair to say that he didn’t hold back! This talk is based on Luke 14, verses 1 to 14, but the recording starts partway through verse 5, so you might want to read the passage first.  

How can we know that we will arrive at our destination? If you’re on foot you might rely on landmarks; in a car, you could depend on a satnav. But what about the destination of our Christian lives? How can we be sure that we will get to heaven, despite our wrong-doing, a world that tries to push us into its mould, and the things and circumstances that try to stop us following God? Richard Wardman talks here about an episode in the life of Jacob, who is determined to set off home, despite his dependency on his job, his lack of resources and outright opposition from his tricksy uncle. Listen on to see how Jacob depended on God to persevere in his quest, and how this applies to us as twenty-first century people.