Sermons

Young Adults Evening Service. We welcome Steven back to speak to us on the topic of money! How do we manage our money (regardless of whether we have a little or a lot!) in a way that glorifies our Lord?

Steven discusses the difference between a son and a slave. The difference between keeping the law as a means of salvation and faith in the Lord Jesus.

Jonah is thrown overboard and in the belly of the fish comes to his senses and is miraculously rescued.

This series based on the Vine Project, looks at where disciples are made.

Reflecting on Vine Project material and considering how people are reached with the gospel.

What the destinies of people and do we really care where people end up?

Does praying make any difference at all. Sometimes we can think we are wasting our time or not achieving what we hope.

It is easy to see how we can drift from an understanding of justification by faith alone to some sort of works righteousness. Even Simon Peter did so!

The Gospel binds people of different backgrounds, different minds together.

Jesus teaches us to pray for the expansion of God’s Kingdom in the world.

Paul defends himself to the Galatian Christians as he is under attack. He explains that his faith is real and that he is a servant of God. Those who promote another Gospel are doing their best to undermine his apostleship.  

We all need to hear this message as we live the Christian life. We are so prone to sin and we need to keep on praying this line of the Lord’s prayer.

After focussing our attention on God’s agenda, God allows us to pray for our needs.

Jonah is deeply disturbed by God’s gracious response to the repentant Ninevites.

This passage has at its core, the incredible miracle of Jonah being swallowed by a fish where he survives for three days and nights before being spat out on dry land. To some, this story is enough to rubbish the whole bible as being truthful. For the Christian, it is another example of our God who can do miracles, for whom nothing is impossible. Yet, as unbelievable as Jonah’s time in the fish may be, what is actually more unbelievable is the fact that God should do this miracle in order that Jonah might have a chance to repent and be forgiven. God again shows his compassion to the wicked and rebellious.

This series on the book of Jonah recognises that the key character in the book is God, Not Jonah. Even in the first three verses, we find Jonah running from the call of God to preach to the city of Nineveh. This is compared with God, who shows such compassion, being willing even to offer grace and mercy to this wicked city and enemy of Israel.

In the final of the 7 letters to the churches, Jesus has no commendation for the church in Laodicea. His criticism is that they are neither hot nor cold, rather they are lukewarm. Spiritually this amounts to Apathy. They are not against God, but not excited or passionate about him either. It is not criticism of something we think is shocking and false or bold, outright wrong. But in many ways, it is worse. It is the harshest criticism of all – You are apathetic and I want to spit you out Jesus says!

We seem to live in a world today where tolerance is seen as a virtue. The only thing not tolerated is intolerance. This 4th letter, to the church in Thyatira, addresses a church who are commended for their love, faith, service and perseverance. And on top of that their latter works exceed the first, yet they tolerate false teaching. Yet even those with whom we disagree and find to be false, we are still to love. Jesus gives them a chance to repent.

Pergamum is a godless place, the throne of Satan, polytheistic and pluralistic. Yet the church there has remained a faithful witness even in the midst of persecution. But some among them hold to false belief and false behaviour. Jesus has harsh rebuke for them. Sin is no trivial matter. We likewise today have no excuse for sin and must never minimise, tolerate or justify our sin. Jesus is coming as the judge.

In His 2nd letter, to the church in Smyrna, Jesus addresses a church that face severe persecution. The danger for them and for Christians today is that we might compromise. We possibly do not face death for our faith but must die to ourselves (Luke 9:23). We can grow weary in the temptation of the world, being marginalised, intolerance and disappointment. Yet Jesus calls us to persevere that we might receive the crown of life.

This series looks at the letters to the 7 Churches in Revelation. In His 1st letter, Jesus writes to the church in Ephesus. A church commended for hard work and patient endurance and yet criticised for having lost their first love. Perhaps love for God or possibly love for others, but it is a failure to keep the commandments of God. Yet Jesus comes and offers repentance and with it, eternal life.

Not everything is as meets the eye in John 18. What seems out of control and senseless are in fact all part of God’s sovereign plan in salvation. What seemed like a victory for the Jewish leaders and defeat for Jesus and his mission was in fact God’s way of salvation.

In this well-known passage, Jesus teaches us that as His disciples, we are to bear fruit. It is not optional, or merely a good suggestion. It matters. By our fruit, others will know we are Jesus’ disciples and God himself is glorified. So disciples bear fruit and it is only possible as we are connected to the vine. We need to remain in Christ. As we do, we receive teh Joy of Christ as he lives in and through us.

In this remarkable passage, we find Jesus, the creator of the world, the Son of God, hours away from his arrest and death, kneeling down and washing the feet of his disciples. It was the job of a servant, yet Jesus does this to show that his imminent death would by faith mean that all his children are washed of their sins. Jesus also shows us, as his disciples, how it is that we are to love and serve others.

This 2nd aspect of the Spiritual review of the year looks at our giving. Finances can be tricky to speak about, often because we largely think of our money as our own, to do with as we please. It can be true for many Christians that it is the world that leads and directs our financial decisions and priorities. What would your previous years financial giving show about the priority of your money? Is the gospel a priority or is it just an add on? Deuteronomy 14 and 2 Corinthians 8-9 reveal that we as Christians should give. But we do so in order to learn the fear of the Lord and as an act of worship. We give, rejoice and provide. Giving is for our good, for the good of others and the glory of God.

Taking stock of the year that has gone by and looking ahead to the New Year, can be helpful in considering if we have grown in our faith this past year. A spiritual review of the year is like a spiritual health check, asking questions about certain areas of our faith to consider our maturity and to consider the kind of habits we are in or might seek to make. This first week looks at bible reading. Do we see it as necessary or simply an optional extra? Do we prioritise it, or have we more important things that need to be done? Do we consider it to be something that is of great benefit or just too much effort for little return?

Today we remember that Jesus is born! The saviour of the world, which is good news of great joy for all the people! But what impact does this good have for you? Is it just generally good news that he came to be your saviour, or when you break it down, does a baby born in a manger make a difference and impact your life every day? Today as we celebrate Jesus’ birth, we consider 3 reasons why he came and how that is good news for us today!

The Shepherds are a well-known part of the Christmas story. But do we need them? What do they add to the story? What might we miss if they were not? Our sermon considers that as shepherds they point us to Jesus, the true and good shepherd. But they are also normal everyday people like all human beings who need the gospel. They heard the announcement of the angel and they responded in faith, in worship and in witness. If we have responded to Jesus for salvation, do we continue to respond to him in faith by living a life of worship and witness? Ultimately, the response of the shepherds showed that what the angels said was true. That indeed God had sent a saviour – his own son, who would save his people from sin. What does your life show? Is your life in every way a response to the baby born that day – Jesus who is Christ the Lord?

In this final chapter of Acts, we discover that all roads lead to Rome. Paul finally reaches Rome, as God had promised. But the path of Paul’s life to get there was windy at best. Sometimes our lives don’t go the way we might have hoped or planned. But if they are lived as if they are not our own, then we can understand that every road has its purpose for us to know God more and to reach others. Paul again uses every opportunity to share the good news, even in Rome under house arrest. Do you live life as if it’s not your own? Is the gory of God your purpose for living? Do live for yourself or for God? is the gospel the one constant in your life driving all that you do? We see this in Paul and are challenged to do the same. As the book of Acts seems not to have a definite ending, we, therefore, are to take up where Paul and others left off.

Paul is a man who is mission-minded and who lives with a clear gospel focus. At any and every opportunity he seems willing to share Christ. Even when the path of his life seems to waver, he still lives for Jesus. The truth of the gospel that Jesus had lived and died and was resurrected to life changed everything for Paul. As a result, Paul lives life as if it was not his own.