Luke 13:1-9: Suffering and Repentance
We come now to what is probably the most important portion in the Bible on people suffering and our response to it. We are all familiar with the classic problem, something bad happens and the questions begin to flow, why did a loving God allow this? Why did the innocent suffer with the guilty? Was it God; or satan; or man; or nature that caused this? This is a very large intellectual problem. The dilemma of a good God and evil existing has a long history. Epicurus a Greek philosopher born in in Greece in 341 BC put the...
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Ephesians 5:15-17: Walking Wisely
The word walk is used several times in the letter to the Ephesians. The word is used metaphorically to indicate a lifestyle, a life direction, a pattern of behaviour. It is used to describe our lives before Christ, 2:2, ‘And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.’ 4:17, ‘Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the...
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Ephesians 5:8-14: Children of Light
We are in the middle of a section that is all about motivation. Why should you live the Christian life? Paul is in the middle of exploring several reasons for why we should be holy. Here they are, V1-2, walk in love because God has loved you; v3-7, walk in purity sexually and verbally because there is a judgement; v8-14, walk in light because of your identity as children of the light; v15-17, walk in wisdom because of the times we are living in; and finally walk in the Spirit. Paul has just spoken about striving after personal purity...
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Luke 11:2: The Lord’s Prayer: Getting the Heart Right
We apologise that there is no audio recording for this sermon. There is a repeating pattern in the Bible which trains our hearts and minds to think and want correctly, it is the pattern of God first and man second. Think of the greatest commandments. Matthew 22:36-40, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You...
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