THE WELCOME COURSE - Week 1: Walking With Jesus // One Church Podcast, 20th April 2026

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

Welcome to the One Church podcast.

Well, today in the room are people who have joined One

Church from so many different situations and places.

Some of you have come to us from other countries, other cities,

other churches. For some of you this is the only

church you've ever been in and for some churches a new

experience you are beginning. So today, in the whole of what

we are across our five sites, soon to be 6 sites, we will

begin a series on our new welcome course.

Now this four week course is taking the place of our normal

newcomers evenings and our heart is to enable everyone together

to look at what it means to growing Jesus, find a place and

then thrive as part of church life.

And to start this journey. We're taking everybody through

the process and it's been very exciting.

Today in every site we're doing the same thing.

Today we're updating people's details.

Everyone's wearing a label, so we can kind of know who everyone

is and as well as long side that each week over these next few

weeks, we're sharing some core messages to help you grow in

your walk with Jesus. And we're also going to show a

short video about who we are as a church and our key values.

And today we're going to begin by looking at a little of our

story. And there's a video on the

screen. Let's watch this together.

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

We are a multi site Assemblies of God church made-up of

hundreds of people of all ages and many nationalities.

We are one church with one vision, 1 mission, one

leadership and one heart who meet in a number of different

sites around Leicester and Lovegrove.

But what is our story? Our history as the church began

in the 1950s when Trinity Life Church was pioneered in

Highfield's Leicester. Another part of our history

began when All Nations Church was pioneered in the 1970s.

One church. Began in 2022 when these two

local churches were brought together by Jesus to serve Him

as one church. We were blessed individually and

we are thriving as one. We believe in a strong biblical

structure of leadership that is accountable, humble, Jesus

centred and Christ like. Susan and I have served as the

senior leaders of one church since 2007.

Alongside us. Our senior leadership team

provide oversight, vision, strategy and management to our

ministries and to church life. Our eldership oversee prayer,

doctrine, pastoral care, and the prophetic heart of the church.

Our Board of Directors ensure integrity filled leadership,

financial management, policies and procedures and well-being

throughout church life. They also watch over those

employed by one church. Our site pastors bring

leadership and love to each of our local 1 church sites, with

each site having a varied and committed voluntary leadership

team. Our staff teams serve in

specific areas of ministry alongside voluntary leaders and

many hundreds of others who faithfully serve God and His

sons. We are on this journey of loving

Jesus and following him together, and we continue to

believe that the best is ahead. This is just part of our story.

I love our story, and we're gonna love sharing these four

different parts of our journey just with you.

Well, over the coming weeks, we're gonna be looking at the

importance of living free from restrictions.

The importance of playing our part in the house.

There's a part for every person. And then the importance of being

a light where He's placed us. And at the end of this course,

we're going to Commission everyone and send you out to be

a missionary where God has placed you to be his hands and

feet. And today we will talk about the

importance of walking with Jesus in devotion, in baptism, and

being filled with Holy Spirit. I love walking and talking with

people and it can be a lot of fun just just connecting with

people. But some people when you go for

a walk with them, they see it as their main form of exercise.

So you set off and you perhaps just start on a leisurely walk

and all of a sudden they begin to go.

And in the old days I would try and keep up with them, panting,

trying to keep up with them. But now I've decided as

approaching the age where I could be described as just

slightly over middle-aged, I can look at people and I just stop

and I let them go ahead and then they come back and I go.

I need you to know I am never going to walk at your speed.

If you want to walk with me, it's got to be slower.

But my walk with Jesus is the most important walk of my life.

Walking with Him changes every part of our lives and it

releases the potential that lies in each of us.

Why? Because He walks ahead to

prepare a place for us. He walks behind to help us deal

with our past. And He walks today with us

closely with the promise to never leave us.

And I love walking with Him. We are invited by the Creator of

the universe to walk with Him. So firstly walking with Jesus in

devotion. Jesus said this in John chapter

John 15 · chapter mention

15. The verses are on the screens

says I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.

Remain in me as I also remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the

vine. Neither can you bear fruit

unless you remain in me. I am the vine, You are the

branches. If you remain in me and I in

you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do

nothing. This is to my Father's glory

that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my

disciples. I love that God wants me to be

fruitful and to live a fruitful life.

Some of you have believed a lie that it's God's plan for you to

have limited lack restriction. He wants you to be fruitful in

everything you put your hands to.

These are powerful words. Not only did Jesus speak these

words, but He lived them out daily.

Jesus walked constantly with the Father, talking with Him,

listening to Him, developing with Him.

And in the same way, He invites us to connect daily and deeply

with Him, to walk with Him. Blessed are those, the proverb

writer says, who listen to me, watching daily at my doors,

waiting at my doorway, you know, practically the basic building

blocks of our faith walk our regular Daily Times of

thankfulness, reading the Bible, listening and praying for

ourselves and others. They are the energy, the life,

the way we grow and let's let's just dig into Jesus words a

little bit more because devotions are our foundation.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me you can do nothing.

As Jesus followers, He wants our passion to be that.

We want to walk with him. We want to be daily filled with

the Holy Spirit and longing for encounters with the Father.

And if that is our longing, it all starts in our daily

devotions. Being thankful, reading the

Bible, listening to His voice, and praying for ourselves and

for others. We stop, we lean into Him and we

grow. I was praying with a couple on

Friday. Just been through a very

difficult situation and I was reminded of an old song we used

to sing. Living under the shadow of his

wing. We find security and that

picture with somebody to just say you can lean into him under

the shadow of his closeness, of his protection.

This is the relationship He wants with you and our devotions

help us remain in Him, connected in walking with Him.

On the screen is a picture of what I see when I sit in my

chair to pray in the morning and this is yesterday morning and

just the joy of it. I opened two patio doors.

I'm very privileged in that sense.

It's very quiet at the back of my house and I sit there with a

blanket because it's so cold some mornings.

But I love the fresh air and just sit there.

I have to tell you, probably this is my favourite place in

the whole world at the moment. I love it and just sit there and

I work my heart to be thankful, to read the Bible, to listen to

his voice and then to pray for both myself and others.

This space for me is a foundation of my faith.

Now, you may not have a space like this, but we can all find a

space. Even if it's in a room with

others, even if we're surrounded by children taking honours,

asking for something, we can find a space that becomes our

foundation. Devotions also bring us close.

Remain in me as I remain in you. A branch doesn't go on its own.

It has to be connected into the vinyl.

Here's a branch. A little branch that a friend of

mine cut off my lime tree in the garden and it's still, even at

this early scene, buds are booming out of it.

It's full of life. But in a few days time the life

in that will go because it's no longer connected in.

We grow by spending time with the one who loves us the most.

He's close to us and he invites us to be close to him when we

stop. And we find this regular time

and this regular place, and we press.

Things happen when we come with thankfulness and worship with

change, when we regularly read the scriptures, and when we pray

for ourselves and others. Honestly, things change because

devotions bring us close to our heavenly Father, our precious

Lord Jesus, to the Holy Spirit who wants to draw so close to

us. Thirdly, devotions are about

relationship. I am the vine, you are the

branches. There's a connection.

First and foremost. We connect with Jesus because we

want to be with Him. We love Him and the more time we

spend with Him, the more we know we are loved and the more we

love Him and we are changed into His image.

When I'm walking close to Jesus, I am a much nicer person.

I am a more patient person. I am a kinder person and the

reality is more than that, I am a more efficient person.

I am a more at peace person. I've been thinking recently in a

number of situations that could be quite stressful.

I found myself much more peaceful recently, and it comes

out of being closer to Him. And a relationship with God

builds through regular time and regular commitment.

It's not striving so that He loves us more, but rather

spending time on what matters the most.

Daily, regular times, with the source of life, with the living

water in US. And when we pull away, our

relationship is impacted. Fourthly, devotions bring

blessing. This is to my Father's glory

from our passage that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves

to be my disciples. It's in God's presence,

listening to His voice, that He adjusts how we think and speaks

to us when we're people of His presence, walking close to Him

daily. In our devotions, we always have

a word to share with others. We are led by a spirit and not

driven. Our confusion becomes a bit

clearer. We can live a life that works.

We operate in this world as He intended us to and we know more

clearly His purpose. Some of us strive over our

future. We don't always know what the

long term future of all of our lives is, but the promise we can

always know as we sit with Him is He walks with us day by day.

So devotions are our foundation. Let's just remember what we've

said already. Devotions bring us close.

Devotions are about relationship, and devotions

bring blessing. Think about the daily and the

weekly and the regular rhythms that form holy habits in your

life that help you to connect with Him.

Go on an adventure. Eliminate choice.

Now there are a few people in the room that don't particularly

like breakfast. I love breakfast.

I love breakfast. I get excited about breakfast

every day. This morning I made some

porridge, had some frozen sour cherries in it, which was

slightly strange, and some frozen raspberries.

And I had it with peanut butter and strawberry jam.

I just have to tell you. But all the time I was eating my

breakfast this morning, I was thinking about some bread that

Susan bought it and I yielded and I cut myself two large

slices of toast with butter dribbling off the edge.

I think butter only works if you can see your teeth prints in it.

That's a picture of my mother when I'm a little boy.

Leer pack on bread, leaving her teeth marks in the leer pack.

I'm not sure it keeps you alive any longer in any way, but it is

a lot of fun on the journey. But it also had homemade

marmalade on it. Here we go.

And there it was, just absolute. Can you taste it?

Is it making some of you salivate?

I'm actually realise I'm really hungry again right now.

I'm feeling very hungry. The thing is, breakfast is a

regular daily moment for me and I don't wake up very often and

go, you know, I don't think I'll bother with breakfast for the

next 6 months. How much more important the

close walk with him? It's time to eliminate choice.

A regular time, a regular place, a change of pace.

Listen. A choice to be thankful, a plan

for your personal Bible reading, A pause to love Him and be

loved, A prayer plan to pray for yourself and others.

It'll change your life. This.

Remember that verse we read without Him?

We can do so why do we try? So let's pause for a minute.

Do you need to go to bed a little bit earlier so you can

get up a little bit earlier? Perhaps 10 minutes to sit in His

presence. We want Jesus to build a strong

church. That means a church made of

strong disciples. And the basic thing, Are you

joining the house? Get your devotions in line.

So let's pause for a minute. No condemnation, just close your

eyes if it helps you. Do you need to tweak this area

of your life? The second thing to consider

today is walking with Jesus in baptism.

My journey was this. I was born into a religious

family. I was baptised as a baby in the

font of Breast and Anglican Church between Nottingham and

I'll be a little sprinkle on my head.

I probably had one of those little frilly sort of strange

things that boy babies wear when they're baptised.

I was confirmed that Sutherminster when I was I think

12. I was a chorister at

Sutherminster just outside of Nottingham and I was confirmed

there by the Bishop of Suttle. I then became a Jesus follower

when I was 19. I had a heart for God until

then, but I became a Christian when I was 19.

I then a few months later was baptised in water by full

immersion at Stapleford Baptist Church and I'm so grateful for

that. When all the people listen to

this, when all the people were being baptised, Jesus said I

don't need to be. No, Jesus was baptised too.

That in itself is enough for every Jesus follower on the

planet. But let's go a little bit

deeper. And as he was praying, heaven

was open. What an amazing verses.

If you want a war with Jesus, he himself was baptised and so do

you need to be. If you've not been baptised in

water, this is a moment of challenge, but if you have

already been baptised as a believer, this is a reminder of

the power of what happened in your life in that moment.

Baptism is a sign, it's a symbol.

It shows outwardly what has already happened inwardly in a

person. They've come to the cross,

they've received forgiveness and now they live a new life in

Jesus. This is it.

And at one church we believe that the biblical way to be

baptised is by full immersion going into the water.

Now, I am sympathetic for those of you who had strong Christian

parents, who had you baptised when you were young and then you

wanted to affirm what they'd done.

I understand that and I'm sympathetic and my heart goes to

you. I still believe that the

biblical way to be baptised is by full immersion as a believer.

Why? Because as we go down into the

water, we are baptised into the death and burial of Jesus who

took all our sin. We're declaring as we go down

that our sin is covered, our old life is dead.

And then as we emerge from the water and as we rise up, we're

identifying with Jesus resurrection and declaring that

we're choosing to live a new life.

We go down. I have been buried with Christ

in baptism and I've been raised to life, a resurrection life in

my life. Baptism proclaims that we're

raised into a new life and to live in the way of Christ.

It's a sign, it's a symbol, it's about, secondly, obedience.

Jesus was baptised and he commanded his followers to

baptise others in his name. Therefore go and make disciples

of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, baptism is

linked to believing in Jesus. Repent and be baptised.

It's very simple, it's not complicated.

Anyone trusting in Jesus for salvation, repenting of their

sin, now needs to be baptised, and it's part of it.

We're therefore buried with Him in baptism, Paul says, in order

that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory

of the Father, we too may live a new life.

And I want to encourage you not to wait.

Sometimes we if you're waiting for perfection, you will never

be baptised because I've got some news for you.

As you trust Him, you're going to sin less, but you're not

going to become sinless. We are living a life of still

falling over, standing up, getting stronger but still

making mistakes, asking God to forgive us, confessing our sins,

moving on. This is the journey until we

come to be with Him and then we will be like him.

I can't wait for that. Can you imagine a 100% sin free

spirit filled you? My goodness, Incredible.

Baptism is a sign. It's a symbol.

It shows outwardly, outwardly what has happened in a person,

but it's also about obedience. It's declaring on your journey

that God is kind and he's doing a work in you and this is your

future. That's what happens.

And baptism leads to blessing. Jesus was baptised too as he was

praying. I love this.

As he and as he was praying, heaven was opened.

Heaven was opened. Something happens when you're

baptised. Last year just over 80 people

were baptised in one church, for which we thank God for that.

They were all blessed in the process.

Now, if you are already baptised, I'm going to get you

to confess something. Are you ready now?

I don't want any mumbling. We're going to declare something

with a bit of energy. We're going to say this.

My old life is at the bottom of the tank and I am raised with

Christ into a new life and I appropriate this resurrection

life in me again. OK, so let Are you ready to say

that my old life is at the bottom of the tank and I am

raised with Christ into a new life?

I appropriate this resurrection life in me again and can I just

say that if you've been baptised as a believer, you never need to

be baptised again. So sometimes when people they

get, they got baptised as a believer and they go away and

they have a bit of a tough time and they come back and say, can

I be baptised again? You just need to go God, I

repent of my sin and I appropriate what you've already

done. And if you want to testify about

you again, then do that. But you don't need to be

baptised more than once. I hope you hear that.

What about the rest of us? You've trusted in Jesus for

forgiveness and eternal life, but you've not yet been

baptised. It's time.

Why? Because it's a sign, it's

obedience and it leads to blessing.

And if you've been waiting a long time until all your family

can come and everyone could come from different lands and to be

just exactly on the 22nd of that particular month and in that

year get baptised, now come on. So walking with Jesus is about

devotions. It's about baptism.

And lastly, today we're going to look at this.

Walking with Jesus is being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus spoke and prayed about the gift of the Holy Spirit.

On one occasion while he was eating with them, Jesus gave

them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait

for the gift my father promised, which you've heard me speak

about for John baptised with water.

But in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and

Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

These are some of the last recorded words of Jesus after

his resurrection. And he spoke a lot about the

pouring out of the Holy Spirit in these last days.

He knows we need Him for our life.

On witnessing the world. Sometimes people have said the

only church needed the Holy Spirit because it was quite

difficult. But then after the church was

established, the Holy Spirit was no longer being poured out in

the gifts of the Spirit. I look at the desperate state of

Leicestershire and the hundreds of thousands of people living

without Jesus. A country going to hell, a world

lost. We need the power of the Spirit

now as much as any other time in our history.

We need him. So how can we be filled with

him? Or who is the Holy Spirit?

He's God. He is there all the way through

the Bible from the beginning. I love you.

Read the first verses in Genesis.

It says the Spirit hovered over the waters.

He was part with the Father and the Son of all creation, the

beauty of the Trinity through the whole Scriptures.

He was there coming upon particular people for particular

purposes, and then in the life of Jesus.

And then, as Jesus promised, we read him infilling believers.

What does the Spirit do? The Holy Spirit creates, He

renews, he refreshes, He reminds, he empowers, he

releases, and so much more. He makes Jesus real and He

enables us to go out in His name with power.

Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living within them.

Every Christian, every Jesus follower.

Not every person, every Jesus follower has the Holy Spirit

living them. Let me just read this from

Romans 8. You are not controlled by your

sinful nature, you are controlled by the Spirit.

If you have the Spirit of God living in you, Remember that

those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not

belong to him at all. Every Christian has the Holy

Spirit, but not every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Everyone is equally loved, equally valued.

God has no favourites. He loves us all the same, which

is why He wants everyone to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible we read the promised gift of the Spirit

filling the church as Jesus promised He would.

Let's read it. Acts 2.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one

place. Suddenly a sound like the

blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole

house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be

tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of

them. And look at this, all of them,

not a selected few, all of them were filled with the Holy

Spirit. And all of them, not a selected

few, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled

them. After this, the first Christians

went out in power to share the good news of Jesus across the

world. Now we are one church.

We're a Pentecostal church, which means, along with

countless millions of others, we believe that the same Holy

Spirit who was poured out on the day of Pentecost fills and

empowers hungry believers in Jesus today.

Sometimes we can sing songs about we want a new Pentecost.

We don't need a new Pentecost because it's still Pentecost

today. We tap into the one who has been

poured out and he comes with a fresh wave into our lives.

How do I know if I've been filled with or baptised in the

Holy Spirit? Well, one sure sign as it was

for them, is speaking in tongues.

There was also a sign for them, tongues of fire above their

heads. I'd like a bit more of that.

Lord, what seemed like tongues of fire.

Let your fire fall on us. Let the power of your fire fall

on us even today. But is speaking in tongues it's

one sure sign of being filled with the Spirit.

Now we believe that everyone who is Spirit filled can speak in

tongues, but not all do. And we know this is a journey

for some. And we know perhaps this has

been a bit painful for you and you wonder if you're special

enough. I know it's a journey of faith,

but there's a step to take and we begin to speak out.

Well, what is the gift of tongues?

Speaking in tongues is speaking in a language we've never

learned. It can be human or it can be

heavenly. Look at this one Corinthians 13.

Tongues of men, tongues of angels.

I was once in a meeting and we were singing a song, and at the

end of it I sang a song in the language of the Spirit.

And as I sang, one of the pastors from this church came

and stood at the front and danced and danced to that song.

It was quite strange. And at the end, a lady came to

see us both and said this, that she was visiting the church and

that the words that I'd used were the the tribal words of her

people. And the dance that was done was

a spiritual dance that they do within their context.

And it had been a tremendous encouragement to her life as she

visited. See.

Because God knows he's able. He's able.

I know sometimes, you know, is it a tad different?

Yeah. But we're all right with that.

Speaking in tongues in a language you've never learned is

is both a heavenly language, tongues of men, arrangers.

It's a form of prayer. For when anyone who speaks in a

tongue does not speak to people, but to God, no one understands

them. They are to mysteries by the

Spirit. I don't know how how to live

without speaking in tongues as a Jesus follower, I don't know how

to do it. I run out of my English words.

I don't know how to pray into all situations.

Speaking in tongues helps you so much.

Now remember this, we the speaker is always in full

control. Do I believe sometimes the power

of the Spirit comes upon a person without pressure or ever

laying on of hands or pushing from anybody rest on the floor?

Yes, that happens occasionally. It doesn't mean they are more

blessed and it doesn't necessarily mean they feel more

of its presence, but that can happen.

But we are always in control. People said I, I, I couldn't

help it. The Spirit made me do it.

It's not true. It's not real.

You are in control. We allow him, amazingly to speak

through US. And even this think about this

guard within us, speaks through US to guard outsiders.

I mean, it's just an incredible miracle of what happens.

It's a form of prayer. You're always in control.

Doesn't mean you don't want him to take over, and public

messages of tongues require an interpretation.

But why is the gift of tongues helpful?

It builds up the individual. Listen to this.

Anyone who speaks in the tongue edifies themselves.

They build themselves up. When you speak in tongues, you

build yourself up in God's presence.

But it also inspires our worship.

What will I do? I'll pray with my Spirit, Paul

says. I'll also pray with my

understanding. I will sing with my Spirit, but

I will also sing with my understanding.

I love singing in the language of the Spirit.

I'd like us to do it more as a house, because a sustained

period of just singing in the language of the Spirit releases

something of faith in the atmosphere.

It's a wonderful gateway gift. It leads into the other gifts of

the Spirit. We'd need to desire to speak in

talks and to use this regularly. So how can we be filled?

The Holy Spirit is often described as being like water in

a bowl. The sponge is in the bowl, The

water is in the sponge. He fills us like a thirsty land

and we're immersed in Him like baptism in water.

We are baptised, filled, immerse in the Holy Spirit.

Whatever terminology we use, we need the Holy Spirit to fill us.

We believe in an experience that we call baptism in the Holy

Spirit. When Jesus was baptised, the

Spirit came down on him. John has said this.

It's on the screen. I baptise you with water, but

one more powerful than I will come.

He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and we listen.

Fire, fire, Jesus himself said just before he died.

I'm going to ask the Father, I love her.

I'm going to ask the Father. I ask you Father again, and he

will give you another advocate, a comforter, A counsellor, the

spirit of truth. Beautiful.

The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him or

knows him. But you know him, for he lives

with you and will be in you. Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to

us. He helps us form fruit.

There's always more. You will never reach the end of

the fullness of what He wants to pour into your life.

When I became a Jesus follower, the day after I gave my life to

Jesus, standing in a room, about 60 people in this room, a man

with a guitar standing at the front.

I was on the front row and a man was playing a song called Worthy

or Worthy Are You Lord worthy to be thanked and praised and

worshipped under the Lord. I still love that song.

And as I stood, the power of the Spirit came upon me from the top

of my head to the bottom of my feet.

And as a 19 year old guy, I wept in the presence of God for

around 2 hours that day. But nobody said to me what had

happened to me. And I didn't at that time speak

in tongues. It was not till a few weeks

later when I was reading about a group of people who were filled

with the Spirit and spoke in tongues.

I said, Lord, I'd like to do that.

And I just began to speak where I was.

It was, it was wonderful. Jesus promises that if we ask,

we'll receive. And if you want to, you can

receive a first, a fresh, a more touch of the Holy Spirit here

today. Ask, seek and knock.

This is what Jesus encourages us to welcome him to ask and then

to receive. So I'm going to just take us

through a little journey of popper, a little bit of music

on. So if you're able, can you stand

to your feet, please? Now ask him, say, I'd like to be

baptised in the Holy Spirit or I'd like to be filled again, or

I'd like you to draw close to me.

Whatever your longing is. Now listen.

The promise is the Father only gives good gifts to us.

So ask Him now just where you are.

Ask Him. He'll hear you as an individual.

He's not overwhelmed by hundreds of people asking Him things at

the same time. Ask Him now.

Just breathe in His presence. It helps you to put your hands

out in front of you, waiting for receiving a gift.

Breathe in His presence right now.

Breathe. Breathe in the presence of God,

ministering to you right now in the name of Jesus, in the name

of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Hear our prayers, this beautiful

journey that we're all on, walking with him, devotions,

baptism, remembering what we've already done, filled with this

spirit. There's more this week.

Press in for more of him. More of him.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord, Make his face shine

upon you, and be gracious to you, the Lord.

Turn his face towards you and give you peace.