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All Posts By

Stephen Russell

Time To Get Off This Planet

By Market Harborough

In Colossians 1:13 we read “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son”. We often talk about “Kingdom”, and “the Kingdom of God”, but what does it mean and how does it affect us as children of God? The Kingdom of God is the fulfilment of God’s will on earth. We know this because Jesus prayed – “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) In other words, it is His will to bring heaven to earth. For all of us we have the ability to get off this planet, to be free from the past, and the issues that so easily pull us off track. We are all ready for launch!

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5th March 2023

Better, Stronger, Faster

By For Such a Time As This, Market Harborough

God doesn’t want us to be barely alive – He wants us to be “fully” alive. We read in Colossians 2:13, you were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. We can achieve this by Let (ting) your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:7)

Are you alive this morning? We don’t need to, and must not keep having “an event” to be barely alive  – an occasional shot in the arm, the occasional defib! God doesn’t want us to be “roller Coaster Christians. But instead to put on your new nature, and be renewed “as you learn” to know your Creator and become like him. (Colossians 3:10) “As we learn – it is a process and a journey, to become better, stronger, faster

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22nd January 2023

Community With No Mention of Acts

By Faith, Hope, Love, Market Harborough

In Acts 2:42 we read about  “The Fellowship of the Believers”, and whilst this teaches us valuable lessons concerning how the community of believers should operate it is important to remember that a doctrine cannot be taken from one passage of scripture, and that the bible interprets itself and has numerous themes running through it

This morning we are going to discover how community, being together and fellowship are vital to the life of the chirch and that this theme and purpose runs through scripture starting at Genesis

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5th June 2022

I So Hope So?

By Faith, Hope, Love, Market Harborough

Hope, often gets side-lined, it’s a little ambiguous to some it is often misinterpreted as the opposite to faith, “I wasn’t in faith, or I don’t have faith for that, but I can just hope?”. Just to be clear the opposite of faith is fear. The opposite of hope is doubt and confusion – a lack of direction or focus. Hope is important! Hope is not wishing for something to happen. The Bible describes hope much differently. The world is full of people hoping:

Their children’s future
Their own futures
Will their money last?
Will they stay in health?
Will they win the lottery?

So, this morning I want to get straight into the definition and unpack hope, to see how it strengthen our lives.

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20th March 2022

Breaking Bread – Feed On Me

By Central

As we come around the table this morning – it is important to remember that Jesus said this “Anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.” There is something in “taking in Christ” in “feeding on Him” Normal bread doesn’t fill us in the same way. The children of Israel eat the bread in the wilderness – but eventually they all died! But this bread – the body of Jesus – brings eternal life!

It is a strange expression – “feed on me!” But we have all heard the expressions “He was feeding him the lines”, “He feed him a load of lies”, “People just seem to feed on this situation or rubbish”. But God doesn’t want us to feed on rubbish, lies, bad situations or be drawn along by the political or devious will of others. He wants us to follow Christ – to believe in Him. He wants the things “we feed” on to be of Him.

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13th February 2022

Strength for Today and a Bright Hope for Tomorrow

By Market Harborough

If I asked you what you think “strength” is – what would your answer be? What do you think it means to be “strong in the Lord?”Your strength is the energy that you have, which gives you more than the ability to just perform various actions, such as lifting or moving things. But is it easy to say my strength is in God, when we are feeling weak in the mist of problems and issues?! Real strength comes from the Lord and is in the Lord. In life we don’t rely on our own strength and ability – we look to the Lord to supply His strength and attributes in our lives.

We may be in a place of fear or feel weak, but today God wants to teach us something – God wants our faith to be strong all the time! What is this secret? We all need to get into training! He wants us to be strong, full of life, living victoriously despite the challenges that we may face, that we will indeed rule and reign in life!
If desire is to seek first God’s presence and his Kingdom then Moses has some great attitudes to take on board!

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6th February 2022

Going The Distance

By Central, Market Harborough, Numbers: Making Your Life Count

As we come towards the end of our series on Numbers, Stephen shares from Numbers 33 about how we are on a journey, and God is with us! Even during difficult stages of the journey there is a provision and refreshing for us. God wants to fill every aspect of our lives whilst we are on this journey, and despite set backs and, sometimes, failures, we are called to press on and finish the race.

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18th April 2021

What I Have, What I Know

By Central, Gospel Encounters, Market Harborough

During times of questions, debates, conflicting opinions and uncertainties, it is vital that we remember ‘what we have, and what we know’ about Christ Jesus. We can be calm, confident and caring in every situation, sensitive to others and able to offer support, because we know who it is that lives in us. In this message Stephen shares about what we have, and what we know about Jesus.

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9th August 2020

The Centurion

By Central, Gospel Encounters, Market Harborough

In this next message from our Gospel Encounters series, Stephen Russell takes us through the story of when the Roman Centurion encountered Jesus in the gospels. He shares with us his 4 key points: ‘Be known’, ‘See the need’, ‘Know the power of your words’, and ‘God is all powerful in our lives’.

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31st May 2020

Gospel Encounters: Rest

By Gospel Encounters, Made For Mission, Market Harborough

It can be easy to let the busyness of life (and our long todo lists!) distract us from the most important thing – spending time with Jesus and listening to his word. Luke 10:38-42 describes the encounter Jesus had with Mary and Martha. Mary spent time with Jesus whilst Martha busied herself… do we identify with either of these women? God wants us to start ‘in rest’; to be in a place of peace, stillness and quiet. We don’t confuse rest with inactivity, but we know that The Lord ‘leads us beside peaceful streams’ and renews our strength as we rest in Him.

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8th March 2020

Why Do We Do That?: The Laying On of Hands

By Market Harborough, Why Do We Do That?

When we lay our hands on others, in faith, God releases His power and His blessing into their lives. In this message Stephen shows us examples of the laying on of hands in the Bible and encourages us that if we are followers of Jesus, saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the right, ability and obligation to lay hands on others. It’s good to lay hands on one another!

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26th January 2020

No Fear

By John – Letters from an Apostolic Heart, Market Harborough

For many of us, fear can be one of the most controlling influences in our lives. However 1 John 4:18 tells us that “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” In this message Stephen shares what this ‘perfect love’ is that dispels all fears. We look at how to foster, experience and develop this love in our lives and how it can move us towards a fearless life, full of joy and triumph.

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24th November 2019

Why Do We Do That?: Fasting

By Market Harborough, Why Do We Do That?

As we start a new series – “Why do we do that?” – Stephen shares with us about why we fast. Fasting is something practical that we do but with enormous spiritual benefits. As we fast (and accompany it with prayer) we seek God for more of His power in our lives, to see miracles, salvation, a change in attitude and to grow closer to Him. Fasting allows us to rely less on ourselves and what our natural bodies want, and more on the Holy Spirit and what our new spiritual nature needs.

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22nd September 2019

Reflections on the Walls of Jericho

By Joshua, Market Harborough

After spending 40 years wandering in the desert of Sinai, the people of Israel were now on the eastern banks of the Jordan. Their challenge: take the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. In this message Stephen shows us how the description of the complete obliteration of Jericho was recorded in Scripture in order to teach us several lessons, most importantly that obedience, even if God’s commands seem foolish, brings victory. When we are faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, we must learn that our Jericho victories are won only when our faithful obedience to God is complete. Jericho situations require Jericho victories, which requires Jericho obedience.

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11th August 2019

Memorials

By Joshua, Market Harborough

In Joshua 4:1-8 we read about memorials that were built by the people of God to remember and commemorate the goodness, blessing, salvation and protection of the Lord. In this message, Stephen shares with us how we can all build memorials in our lives, but often they are not positive and can actually restrict our walk with God. However there is one memorial that we can all look to with great hope and thankfulness – the cross; a memorial that not only reminds us of our sinful condition but also the incredible love and grace of God, turning tragedy into triumph, failure into success and death into life!

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7th July 2019

Success & Prosperity

By Market Harborough

Success and prosperity are often misquoted and misunderstood, but the word of God clearly states that by following God’s word we will be successful and prosperous. Joshua 1:8 encourages us to “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”. As believers it’s important that we know how to define success and prosperity, especially when it can seem like the world is obsessed with greed, status and position. In this message we discover what the word says and how it applies to us as followers of Jesus.

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5th May 2019

Lets Build Together

By Market Harborough, Romans

We read in Ephesians 4:16 about how God is building His church: “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”. As we look at this further we discover that the Church that is being built is not made of bricks and mortar, but of people! It can be easy to become focussed on physical buildings, but as we develop our understanding of the Church, we see how each person fits in to the whole ‘building’ and how we can make room for each of us to be shaped and cut to size, in order that God’s Church is built according to His plan and purpose.

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24th March 2019

The Debt Of Love

By Market Harborough, Romans

Romans 13:8 tells is about one ‘debt’ that you will always owe and can never pay off – the debt of love to others. As we explore what this means together, we see how we will never be able to reach the point where we can say “now I love others as much as I should”! No matter how much we have grown as a Christian, we still have room to grow in love.

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17th February 2019

I’ve Found A New Life

By Market Harborough, Romans

As we read through Romans 12, we see what our ’new life’ should look like. Paul encourages us in this chapter that we are no longer bound by sin and death because Christ has been raised up and we sit alongside him in heavenly places. In this message, Stephen unpacks what this means for us and gives us some practical ways that we can enjoy our new life in Christ.

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20th January 2019

Who Am I?

By Central, Romans

We learn in Romans that we have the freedom to become like Christ, and discover God’s limitlessness love and power in our lives. We can be identified or defined by many things, but in this message we discover how we can find out identity in Jesus Christ. Romans 8:5-17 says that Christ lives in you; the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within us! We are adopted as His own children and we are heirs of Gods glory. Once you become a new creation in Him, everything changes for the better. You’re given a new name. Your whole identity changes because you’ve been rescued and redeemed from sin and darkness and welcomed into God’s Kingdom family.

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9th December 2018

What Will Harvest Time Look Like In Market Harborough

By Market Harborough

Jesus said “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. Jesus has given a great commission to carry on His work in the world today, equipped by the “same” spirit. The fields are white for harvest, and we are the labours – therefore go, and bring in the harvest!

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14th October 2018