Matthew 22:34-40: Personal Worship
Thanks to Simon Bird for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. The Great Commandment – Matthew 22:34-40 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “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...
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The Objection of Homophobia
Introduction: A major reason why people will not become Christians and have less and less time for the Bible and Christianity is the objection of homophobia. It will not be long in any conversation about the bible today that someone will ask you, ‘Do you believe that gay people are going to hell?’ The accusation in the question is clear and a wrong answer will immediately shut down the conversation. For many today this is a gatekeeper issue, if you don’t tick the right box you are not worth continuing the conversation with. To disagree on this issue demonstrates...
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The Problem of Hell
Introduction: One of the most emotional arguments against Christianity is the problem of hell. Many are ready to accept a God of love but will not believe in the God of the Bible because of the doctrine of endless conscious torment. The Bible’s teaching on hell is one of the most nightmarish images we can imagine, and our minds and emotions have drawn back in horror from them. The enemies to this teaching are everywhere, outside Christianity, inside the church and even our hearts cringe in the face of such harsh realities. We must recognise as we begin this...
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Romans 16:20: Victory over satan
Introduction: This is the first and only mention of satan in the book of Romans. Why talk about him now? Paul has been giving his love to the church and encouraging love between people and churches. He naturally moves from the unity of the church to the enemies of that unity warning about those false teachers who have a different gospel and who cause divisions. That is why Paul is talking about satan. The book of Revelation reveals that satan is thrown down to earth and is waging war against the church. The prophecy reveals satan using persecuting power,...
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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 16:5-16: Paul sends his love to the Church in Rome
Introduction: ‘I love Jesus but I don’t love the Church.’ How many times have we heard such a sentiment? It can come in many different flavours. There are those who have a high view of membership and a deep ecclesiology who love the idea of the ‘biblical church’ or the ‘healthy church’ but they are so taken with the ideal that they are critical and distance from the real flesh and blood church made up of sinners that they are in. It can come in the liberal and emergent flavour of disliking the church where on account of a...
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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 13:9-10 – Love Fulfils The Law
INTRODUCTION: To say that the Christian ethic is a law based ethic can give a false impression. Here is a typical example: ‘There is a tale told of a missionary in a dark corner of Africa where the men had a habit of filing their teeth to sharp points. He was hard at work trying to convert a native chief. Now the chief was very old, and the missionary was very Old Testament—his version of Christianity leaned heavily on thou-shalt-nots. The savage listened patiently. ‘I do not understand,’ he said at last. ‘You tell me that I must not...
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