Ephesians 2:1-10: ‘But for the Grace of God….’
‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ This is a well-known statement which recognises that apart from God’s gracious intervention left to ourselves we would be lost. This statement is credited to the martyr John Bradford, once while walking past a gallows and as criminal were being led to be hanged, he looked over at them as said, ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ It is this grateful recognition that Paul is trying to prompt in the Ephesians in 2:1-10. The body of chapter 1 is only two sentences in the Greek, the first...
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1 Timothy 6:17-19: Giving
Let me begin with a statement, this generation of Christians in the West is the most informed and least godly generation of Christians that has ever been. I am not only talking about the fact that Christians are no longer recognizable as different from the world, nor am I referring to the many instances of public sin that Christian leaders and Christians in general are caught in. No, in our modern age with all of it conveniences, and all of its media and distractions we have lost our inner disciplines and spirituality. We are a people who are prayerless,...
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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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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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Romans 15:14-16: Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles
Introduction: You might think now that we have finished the doctrinal part of the letter to the Romans the last chapter and a half are unimportant and will be a let-down. You could not be more wrong. This last section of Romans gives us a tremendous window into the nature of Paul’s ministry helping us to think about our own ministry as a church. As well as a window into the life of the early church. In this closing section of the letter Paul reverts to personal comments as he did in the introduction of this letter. And just...
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James 2:14-16: Faith without works is dead: Reconciling James and Paul
Introduction: ‘The Bible is full of contradictions’ is one of the many things that unbelievers throw in our faces. My standard response is, ‘Show me one.’ This usually calls their bluff and reveals that they are only repeating things they have heard and using them conveniently as arguments but have no proof. It reveals an unwillingness to believe the truth and a willingness to believe anything against Christianity. And it also reveals a basic faith commitment to believing things without proof, which contradicts the naturalistic approach they supposedly disprove Christianity with. However, one of the things that some have...
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Romans 10:10: Evident Faith
Introduction: It is claimed that Christianity is the biggest religion in the world with over 1 billion adherents, only just beating Islam. I think that there is a lot less than that. People included in those statistics are those who are baptised as infants in any Christian church including the Roman Catholic and it includes all the cults who call themselves Christian. Not to mention that cultural Christians and those who may have made some sort of confession of faith as a child and have never gone on to live the Christian life. How many say that they are...
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