Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 22/7/2012 In John 7:37-39, the writer informs us that ‘On the last day of the feast [of Tabernacles], the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’ This was usually a very happy occasion, indeed it was claimed that whoever had not seen it had never seen the heights of rejoicing. What happened on that occasion was the priest for the last occasion during the feast took water from the stream of Siloam in golden vessels and poured it upon the altar. As he did so, the words of Isaiah 12:3 were sung. These words are, ‘With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation.’ At that moment, Jesus stood up and cried out that he fulfilled the word...

This sermon was preached on 18/7/2012 It has been the dream of many individuals to have world authority. This has been the motivating force that has driven many a conqueror in his campaigns. Yet as we look back, we know that despite their success, these individuals failed in their attempt. Even if they managed to obtain some geographical success, they could not control many others aspects of life. They could not read the minds of their subjects, they could not change the outlooks of their subjects, and they could not control the aims of their subjects, except by force. So all their claims to universal authority are untrue. So can it be said of any person that he or she will have complete universal authority? In contrast to the empty boasts of would-be world rulers, the meekest man who ever lived claimed to have universal authority. Jesus asserts in these verses of John 17 that his place in the divine purpose in complete power. He refers first to a position he was given by the...

This sermon was preached on 22/7/2012 The Book of Ruth can be read at many levels. To begin with we can see that it is a story about people because we are introduced to several very different individuals in the book. Some are privileged in a spiritual sense in belonging to the covenant community, others were outside of it. Some are young, others are old. Some are named, others are not. Yet they are all involved in one way or another in the story. A second level at which we can read it is that it is all about problems, whether it be the famine in 1:1, or the problem of race because Ruth was a Moabite, or the problem of social customs preventing Boaz from marrying Ruth right away. Indeed the book could be called Naomi’s Problems and How God Solved Them. Connected to both these details of people and problems is the level of providence as we watch God working in their circumstances. Sometimes his working is obvious as in the case of Ruth; at other times, it is not so obvious,...

This sermon was preached on 15/7/2012 Difficulties may come on a church from different sources. The closing verses of Acts 11 reveal that the church in Jerusalem was affected by a famine which was very severe, so severe that help was sent to it from the church in Antioch. During that time Herod decided that the Jerusalem church was a problem and he chose to persecute it. It is likely that the apostle James was publicly executed by him. This Herod was a nephew of the Herod who killed John the Baptist, but we can see that the same hatred of Christ’s church was found throughout the family.  Regarding the execution of James, Eusebius the early church historian mentions an interesting tradition: ‘And concerning this James, Clement, in the seventh book of his Hypotyposes, relates a story which is worthy of mention; telling it as he received it from those who had lived before him. He says that the one who led James to the judgment-seat, when he saw him bearing his testimony, was ...

 This sermon was preached on 12/7/2012 In the first section of this prayer (vv. 1-5) the Saviour prays specifically for himself. After addressing his Father, he mentions a particular time has arrived by saying ‘The hour has come’. Several times throughout his Gospel it is stated by John that this hour was coming, and these references create a sense of anticipation in the reader of the Gospel. We are so familiar with the story that perhaps we lose the sense of expectancy that the references to the ‘hour’ create within a person who does not yet know the outcome. What aspects of the ‘hour’ are alluded to or suggested by these references? 1. When his mother informed him about the lack of wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus responded by saying, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come’ (John 2:24). Yet he proceeded to perform a miracle, which suggests that his hour would see him do a miracle that would solve a far greater problem than the one faced b...

This sermon was preached on 8/7/2012 John had been put in prison by Herod Antipas because of his faithful preaching. According to Josephus, the killing took place in one of Herod’s fortresses called Machaerus which was located north-east of the Dead Sea. The main reason for John’s confinement was connected to how he applied his preaching to the behaviour of Herod and his unlawful Herodius. Perhaps Herod had moved John there in order to get him away from Galilee. Herodius was the former wife of Herod’s brother, Philip, and her marriage to Herod was against God’s instructions concerning marriage. Herod had met her during a visit to Philip, and despite the fact that Herod also was already married to the daughter of King Aretas IV of the province of Arabia, they became infatuated with one another and then husband and wife. Marriage to the spouse of a near relative was forbidden in the Levitical law, and the fact that John was prepared to preach about it to a non-Jew shows tha...