Luke 8:41-56: Weak Faith Meets a Strong Saviour
‘My cup runneth over;’ ‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think;’ these biblical phrases remind us that when we bring the thimble of our faith to God, He fills it with the flood of Himself and His gifts. Luke 8:41-56 records the narrative of two people who have faith in Christ, but it is a thimble sized faith and Christ exceeds their expectations. The woman with the issue of blood comes to Jesus believing that He has the power to heal, but she will leave knowing His kindness...
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Luke 7:11-17: The Lord of Life
Have you ever heard of the irresistible force paradox? Have you heard the phrase ‘the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?’ Maybe you have heard it in the context of sport where two powerful rugby teams are going to compete. Technically it is an impossibility for an unstoppable force to move an unmovable object, or vice versa because then the object would by definition no longer be immovable, or the force unstoppable. Nevertheless, ‘the unstoppable force meets the immovable object’ is a way in which several commentators have described the next section we are looking at. In this section...
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Luke 2:22-38: Jesus presented at the Temple
Jesus being presented at the temple is usually not seen as a very important part of the birth narratives in the gospels, but it is important for several reasons. Jesus presentation of the temple gives the final birth hymn, the Nunc Dimittis, that goes along with the Benedictus; the Magnificat; and the Gloria in Excelsius. It is the first visit of Christ to the temple. It is significant that He who is the temple, and the Word tabernacling among us comes to the temple and certain Spirit led things confirm His identity and purpose. This visit is important because...
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1 Samuel 31: Saul’s Death
A big thanks to Guy McKenzie for preaching this week when Nick was away at the School of Theology. We appreciate it!
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Psalm 90: The Brevity of Life
Introduction: As a pastor I am always torn about how a funeral should be done. Funerals have changed in tone from a time of mourning to a time of celebrating a life. They are no longer times of introspection and reflection but times of therapy. Here is the trouble, there is no instruction in the Bible which tells us exactly how we are to conduct a funeral, or a wedding for that matter. The regulative principle of worship tells us how we must worship when we come together as the people of God, we are to sit under apostolic...
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Romans 14:9: Lord of the living and the dead
Introduction: We all know the famous question 1 of the WFC, but fewer know the more pastoral and comforting first question of the Heidelberg Catechism. Q. What is thy only comfort in life and death? A. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without that will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from...
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Romans 14:7-8: Belonging to God in life and death
Introduction: The portion in Romans that we are presently studying in confounding to the modern-minded person. Paul is talking about accepting each other, not judging each other and the liberty that we ought to extend to each other, all of which are popular distinctives today. The confounding part is where in the middle of a discussion about liberty, he talks about being slaves of Christ and everything we do either in life or death we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:7-8, ‘For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we...
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2 Samuel 23:1-7: David’s Last Words
INTRODUCTION: In death all our masks are stripped away. Any appearances of power are taken away as we impotently die; all apparent beauty disappears in rot; our deathbed tends to bring out of our hearts what we have been putting into it our whole lives and we are revealed. Some die full of fear and terror; others self-deceived think they have nothing to fear; but many a Christian has died what was called a good death. We don’t hear much about these anymore. In part this is because we die in old age homes away from family and friends,...
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Romans 13:3-4: Capital Punishment
INTRODUCTION: The death penalty is a matter that causes great controversy. We live in a country that has put away the death penalty, any country today seeking entrance into the EU will have to ban the death penalty, and even many countries that approve of it are very slow to apply it. But it is to this matter that we must turn as we take a look at Romans 13:3-4, a traditional prooftext for the traditional Christian view that the death penalty for murder is a God given power of the state. ‘For rulers are not a terror to...
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Job 3: Job Laments His Birth
Thanks to Andrew Johnson for preaching this morning; he is from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Fairlie. Read Job 3 Online
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2 Timothy 4:1-8: Teach us to number our days
2 Timothy 4:1-8 4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for...
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Revelation 9:13-21: The 6th Trumpet
Outline The source of the plague The instruments of the plague Introduction What is the worst judgement God can inflict this side of eternity? Death! To seal you for judgement, for the bible teaches in Hebrews 9:27, ‘And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement.’ When you are dead it is too late to repent. We are in the last three woes of intensifying judgement in the 7 trumpets. The first four had to do with God judging our environment, then the woes came to intensify God’s judgement and we have...
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Hebrews 2:14-15: Why Jesus was born
Introduction: People love Christmas for different reasons. For many it is all about having that long holiday and going to far off places. For others it is all about family traditions and getting together after another year of busy separation. For many it is all about the shopping and the gifts. For Christians Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ. But not just about baby Jesus. After the gospels we have no further mention of the nativity scene. We are not concerned so much with Jesus as a baby but that He was born in order to...
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