Philippians 1:12-18: A Godly Attitude
Thanks to Simon Bird for preaching this afternoon. Our apologies for the lack of a recording. Philippians 1:12-18 12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good...
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Habakkuk 1:12-2:1: The Problem of Reconciling God’s purposes
Have you ever asked a question, got an answer, but the answer provoked a number of further questions? That’s the trouble with our questions isn’t it? We think we have a good grasp of an issue, and all we need is one more piece to make the picture complete, but when we hear the answer, we realise our original idea was wrong and so we have a number of further questions to try and fill out the picture in our minds. This is Habakkuk. He had what appeared to be a simple question, ‘How long until you do something...
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1 Timothy 2:1-4: Prayer
Thanks to Willem Rawlins for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Pray for All People – 1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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Luke 4:22-30: Rejecting Jesus
Why do people reject Jesus? Why do people see His claims, claims that we have seen and recognise to be true and wonderful and yet do not believe? Today we want to do an analysis of the unbelief of the Nazarenes when they heard Jesus preaching in the synagogue. A lot of people today will be able to identify with the Nazarene congregation. Jesus rocks up on a Sabbath, he stands up and tells everyone that He is the Messiah, He has done a bunch of miracles in all sorts of other places v14, if Jesus will just put...
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Contradictions in the Bible
Nearly anyone you speak to today will say that the Bible is full of contradictions, therefore it cannot be a solid basis upon which to build our faith in God. I suggest that anytime someone says this ask them for one example, it will probably be the case that they are repeating something that they have heard and not something that they have established by their own research. This will be our last study in apologetics in this series. Next week we will begin a series through the minor prophet, Jonah. There are many different types of apparent contradictions...
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Psalm 97: Fret Not
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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The Objection to Miracles
Introduction: One of the most common reasons why people reject Christianity today is because the modern person rejects miracles on principle. There is a common retort that the modern person who is educated and has benefitted from all the progress of science and can cast our eye over history to all the negative effects of religion can happily put ignorant and superstitious thinking away and boldly accept that there is no such thing as miracles. It is common to have a conversation with someone who says that the miracle of the virgin birth is false, or a borrowed myth...
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Luke 1:5-25: The Conception of John the Baptist
Introduction: 400 years without a prophet, 400 years without an angelic visit or a miracle. Sure there had been some providential victories in the Maccabean wars, but like the 400 years of captivity in Egypt Israel were in a place of oppression under Roman rule and spiritually poor and in need of light and deliverance. God’s people needed a new Exodus, a new Moses, a new crushing of Pharaoh, a new redemption and ransom from slavery, a new Passover Lamb. And now that time has come in the preparation of the way for the coming of the Messiah with...
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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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Romans: Final Overview
Introduction: You have heard the saying, ‘I can’t see the forest for the trees.’ Some of you may feel this way as we come to the end of the book of Romans, it is the longest of all Paul’s letters, and the most theological. If I had to ask you to give me a quick rundown of Romans could you do it? Are you familiar with its content and the development of its argument or is it a maze? Romans is a long development of the theological twists and turns of the gospel of God. So it is my...
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Genesis 22:1-8: God Will Provide
Theme Obedience Introduction Cricket Tests Abraham’s Tests Body Abraham’s Great Test Abraham Considers Abraham Obeys God’s Sacrifice God Provides Our Obedience Conclusion Obedience is better than Sacrifice
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1 Peter 3:15-16: ‘…Being Prepared to Make a Defence…’
Introduction: Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor talks about these times of late modernity we live in as the twilight of the idols and the gods. Contrary to every prognostication and resistant to every attempt faith and religion continue to haunt us. The age of Christendom has come to end and the privileged position of unchallenged supremacy is lost to us. However, contrary to the hopes of the New Atheists religion is still with us. However, we now live in an age where there is no doubt without faith and no faith without doubt. This presents us with a double challenge....
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1 Kings 10:14-29: Solomon’s wealth
Introduction: The best of man is man at best is a very helpful saying when thinking about the peak of Solomon reign. We are in the chapter that is marking the high point of Solomon’s wealth and influence. The text details for us the staggering wealth of Solomon’s kingdom and his effect on the surrounding nations. There is much here that is good and gives glory to God. However, chapter 11 is just around the corner, the chapter that describes Solomon’s turning from the Lord. A man does not suddenly become a backslider, it is a gradual thing and...
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Romans 15:13: The First Benediction
Introduction: We come to the end of the teaching part of the book of Romans as Paul pronounces the first of three benedictions, Romans 15:13, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.’ These words may be familiar to you because you often hear a benediction at the end of a service. Why do we do that? If you go to older denominations that have liturgy you would also find benedictions, is this simply a return to ‘dead religion’?...
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1 Kings 8:22-30: Approaching God in prayer
Introduction: The prayer of Solomon is one of the longest prayers in the Bible, being 30 verses long. Nehemiah 9 is the longest with 33 verses, and the longest prayer of Christ is 26 in John 17. The Puritans were known to pray for 45 minutes in their pulpit prayers. Most long prayers are burdensome for very few are able to sustain the necessary focus and spirituality to keep the congregation interested for so long. But in this long prayer there is nothing wasted. Solomon’s prayer like many others in the bible is a model prayer. We will break it up...
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Romans 15:4: Hope and the Scriptures
Introduction: The Puritans had a saying, ‘hope is the mother and daughter of patience.’ When we have hope, the knowledge of the certainty of the inheritance God has laid up for us, this gives birth to the daughter of patience, we can push through the difficulties because we know our sufferings are temporary and they must inevitably give way to glory. But Patience is sometimes the mother as well. Rom. 5:3-4, ‘More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.’ It is this second type of hope,...
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