Luke 21:20-24: The Fall of Jerusalem
The warning to flee the city The reason for the fall of the city INTRODUCTION If you visit Rome today, among the many sites you will is see the Arch of Titus, an honorific arch built by the emperor Domitian in 81 AD in honour of his older brother Titus and his father Vespasian and their victory in conquering Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is a famous carving of the plunders of war including items of furniture from the temple. Most famous is a depiction of the Menorah, the 7 stemmed candle from the Holy Place, the design of...
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Luke 3:23-38: The Genealogy of Jesus
How many of you have traced back your family tree? There comes a time in life when you begin to seek out your past as a way to understand something of your identity. We all want to know if we have had any famous people in our family line, if you are a Christian whether there were any saints, and we love the scandal of knowing there are a few villains in the mix. This might help you to identify with the importance of our next portion of scripture, Luke 3:23-38, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Genealogies in the...
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John 7:53-8:11: How Did We Get the New Testament and How Can We Know Its Reliable?
Special thanks to Joe Fleener for preaching today. Joe is the pastor at Rolleston Baptist Church.
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Luke 1:1-4: ‘That You May Have Certainty’
Introduction: Imagine with me what the experience and the questions of Theophilus would have been: you are probably a God fearer who has only recently converted to Christianity, that is someone who was attached to the Jewish synagogue who believed in the God of the OT but was never circumcised. You are also a man of position and wealth. You accepted that Jesus was the one who was promised in the OT, but now some issues have arisen. Those people at the synagogue you used to attend have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. In fact they are on a...
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The Problem of Christianity Being Detrimental to Society
Introduction: Today there are many people who believe that Christianity is not only wrong and backward but actually dangerous and inhibiting. The New Atheists have laid almost all social evil at the foot of religion. The trouble with this critique is that it is historically uninformed. There is a false narrative that tries to make out that science, or progress, or freedom, has been trying to break out of the mould and the church has been the biggest hindrance. This accusation that the church can only do harm can only come when people are historically ignorant to all that...
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The Bible: Part 5: Archaeology and the Bible
Introduction: In the 1800s when the budding science of Archaeology was burgeoning, various bold and confident claims were made about the past which contradicted the historical credibility of the Bible. The OT in particular has been constantly reconstructed to be myth and after the fact reporting. The insistence on approaching the Bible with an anti-supernatural bias has led many to try and debunk the prophetic and miraculous elements using late date theories and accusing the Ancients of a primitive mind-set claiming every natural thing they could not understand was supernatural. The constant underestimation of the Ancients and their culture...
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Romans 14:17-19 – The Kingdom of God part 2
Intro: Today we want to continue our look at the kingdom of God from figure 2. We will look at the development of the relationship of cultus to culture. Or the relationship between Church and state. I have put up three figures on the whiteboard that should help with a visual explanation of this.
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Romans 14:17-19: The Kingdom of God
Introduction: This sermon forms a part two of this morning’s sermon on Romans 14:17-19. We promised to do a deeper look into the idea of the kingdom of God and that is what we are going to do. You will notice that I am using the whiteboard, and this is because it is often easier to illustrate it than explain it. The kingdom of God is a very important and misunderstood concept, and in Christianity you will find different brands and explanations of it. The three main millennial positions all have a different view on the kingdom of God...
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Romans 10:14: What about the unevangelised? Part One
Introduction: Where do those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ go when they die? This is the question that is forced upon us this morning as we continue with Romans 10:14. Paul is talking about Jewish unbelief in 9-11. He has spoken about Gentiles being included in the people of God by faith but the large part of the Jews not being saved because they were trying to manufacture a righteousness by law keeping instead of accepting the free gift of Christ’s righteousness by faith. Paul has spent some time proving that the universal way of...
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Revelation 1: The 7 letters
Introduction: There are many different views on the book of Revelation but one that has a lot of sway in Pentecostal churches is the seven age theory. A teacher of this view is William Marion Branham, a Pentecostal healer who claimed that he had the gift of knowledge and so could name the illness of a person, increase their faith and then they would be healed. Branham eventually lost the plot and gave birth to the Oneness Pentecostal church/ the Jesus only movement. It is presently doing well in places like Iran. He taught that God was one person...
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Revelation 1:1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Introduction: Having laid a large foundation for how we want to read Revelation we can finally tackle the text so we begin by looking at the title that comes from verse 1, ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.’ The very first word in the Greek is the word ‘apokalupsis’ which literally means ‘Revelation’. The word means ‘unveiling’ and must be stressed because it implies that what God is doing is revealing something...
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