Luke 12:1-12: Preparations for Persecution
The love of man’s praise and the fear of man’s wrath are the sins that Jesus warns His disciples of in this next section, 12:1-12. Jesus has just painted a target on His back and the back of His disciples by His confrontation with the religious leaders in 11:37-54. He has spoken to the Pharisees about their own sins; now He will speak to His disciples about the Pharisees sins. This next section is all about preparing for persecution. Jesus has kicked the hornet’s nest, they will kill Him, but Jesus has also just prophesied that they will kill...
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Luke 11:37-54: Defleecing Wolves
What is a shepherd to do when there are wolves? You might think that the right thing would be to kill the wolves and protect the sheep. When spiritual shepherds are dealing with spiritual wolves our tactics are slightly different. We have to confront the wolves hoping that the Spirit will use the truth to help them see and repent, we long to see the wolves themselves saved and become sheep, but we also have the responsibility of warning the sheep. In this next section as we come to the climax of Christ’s confrontation with the unbelieving crowd, Christ...
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Luke 6:43-49: Concluding Challenges to True Religion
As my introduction to this sermon let me give a quote about conclusions to sermons: ‘The last sixty seconds are typically the most dynamic moments in excellent sermons. With these final words, a preacher marshals the thought and emotion of the entire message into an exhortation that makes all that has preceded clear and compelling. A conclusion is a sermon’s destination. Ending contents are alive—packed with tension, drama, energy, and emotion. This never means bombast and does not necessitate grandiloquence, since deep and powerful thought are often expressed in quiet, sincere terms. Masterful conclusions sometimes thunder, and other times...
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Colossians 1:24-29: Suffering, the Gospel, and Holiness – How to Identify a Faithful Christian Minister
Many of you all will have heard this verse and felt very warm and smug and contented inside. James 3:1 says: ‘Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, as you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness’ You may be breathing a big sigh of relief in your hearts as I often have, comforted by the thought that the church elders, those who preach here up the front, will be judged with a higher standard, and you may have thought that perhaps God will let those of us sitting in the pews off...
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Romans 16:17-19: Fighting for Unity
Introduction: A pastor has a certain number of things he must do. He has to teach, he has to encourage, as well as rebuke. But he also must warn the flock of God of the various dangers that they will encounter. Paul as a faithful shepherd is wearing his warning hat when he speaks in Romans 16:17-19, ‘I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by...
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Philippians 3:2-16: True Religion
Introduction: When I say the words ‘mature Christian’ what comes to mind? Perhaps you automatically think of someone older, someone calm and unruffled, but few of us put the words mature and ambition, or mature and striving for perfection, maturity and a desire to suffer together. We ordinarily do not associate maturity with those things we could easily associate with fanaticism. In the portion that we will be looking at today Paul places these things together in his picture of mature Christianity. Phil. 3:15 comes at the end of his description stating, ‘Let those of us who are mature...
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Colossians 2:6-15: What Are You Thankful For?
Introduction: My passage is Colossians 2:6-15. You can turn there now. What are you thankful for? As you think back over the last year 2017 what are some things that make you feel particularly blessed? If we are honest though. Thankfulness is something that we often find hard. And we find it hard because the priorities of our hearts are wrong. We focus on the wrong things and thus we find ourselves disappointed and ungrateful, don’t we? Christmas presents and thankfulness: Christmas as children Christmas as an adult: getting pineapple socks And retailers know that we find contentment and thankfulness, hard don’t they? That is what...
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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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