Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 13/11/2011 Daniel is not mentioned in the events recorded in Daniel 3, so we can assume that he was away from Babylon for a period engaged in government work. During this absence, Nebuchadnezzar erected a large statue of gold (ninety feet high and nine feet wide). Why did he do this? It is possible that he was testing the loyalty of his subjects after he had suppressed a revolt against him. Another reasonable answer is that he had to engage in projects that would remind the people of his empire how great he was. Rulers often engaged in large building projects for this purpose, and perhaps the statue looked like him. Trying to flee from God Another possible reason is that Nebuchadnezzar was defying the message he had received from God in the previous chapter when Daniel interpreted the dream for him. In that dream, only the head of the image was of gold. Daniel had stated that the head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, but he also deta...

This sermon was preached on 13/11/2011 This appearance of Jesus, mentioned by both Luke and John, is the fifth by the risen Saviour on his resurrection day. John was no doubt an eyewitness of this meeting, whereas Luke was reporting what others had told him (Luke 1:1-4). It is therefore not surprising that one mentions some details that the other does not. Luke, for example, does not mention that Jesus breathed on the disciples or that he bestowed on them a special provision of the Spirit; John does not mention that the initial response of the disciples to the appearance of the risen Jesus included fear, nor does he include the information that Jesus ate some fish in their presence. Yet there are sufficient details in both accounts that make it very clear that both refer to the same incident: each of them says that the appearance took place in Jerusalem on the evening of the resurrection day (Luke has already said that it was towards evening when Jesus earlier went into the home in ...

This sermon was preached on 6/11/2011 Everyone is concerned about the future. This is very much the case today as people consider the various crises that dominate the focus of the great and the small in our contemporary world. Most of them would see no value in looking at the ancient Book of Daniel, but that is their mistake. The chapter we are considering has a great deal to say to us about character and destiny. One conquered king As we noted in a previous study, there are different ways of reading the Book of Daniel. One feature that appears in the early chapters involves the story of Nebuchadnezzar. He appears in Daniel 1 as the conqueror of God’s people, yet the accounts of him in the next three chapters don’t depict him as such a conqueror. Instead Nebuchadnezzar himself becomes conquered by God and is therefore an interesting character study of one whom God pursues. Nebuchadnezzar depicts the journey of how a pagan discovered the true God. In Daniel 1, Nebuchadnez...

This sermon was preached on 6/11/2011 (it was a baptismal service) Luke, in Acts 16, has already given details about two converts of the gospel in Philippi and he would have selected them as samples of the type of persons from there who became followers of the Lord Jesus. First, Paul described the conversion of Lydia, and she represents those in the church who were converted from a Jewish background (she was a proselyte from Thyatira in modern-day Turkey, a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, which was an indication that she was seeking an interest in the true God). After her conversion her home in Philippi became the location where the new church met. On believing, she and her household were baptised (her household would have included servants but perhaps also family members as well). Second, Paul described the deliverance of the slave girl from her pagan activity of fortune-telling (she had been a tool of Satan to try and discredit the ministry of Paul, but her deliverance showed ...

This sermon was preached on 30/10/2011 Hardly any time has passed since Daniel and his friends finished their three-year course in Nebuchadnezzar’s learning establishment. The second year of his reign would coincide with their third year (their first year was the year of his accession, so their third year would be the second year of his reign). The point of the date is that it reminds us that Daniel is still a very young man, perhaps even only about nineteen. This chapter in Daniel serves several purposes. It contains a vision in which the future kingdom of Jesus the Messiah is described; it also shows how Daniel almost from the beginning of his career in government experienced promotion; and as far as this study is concerned, the chapter from Daniel highlights the importance of prayer. We are told about two prayers that Daniel made, and we should remember that he is still a young man. And we will see later in the book that his prayer life was very important. It is worth sp...