Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 30/8/2012 In these verses, Jesus is continuing to pray for his immediate group of disciples, and while there are applications to his people in general, we also have to remember that he is praying particularly for his apostles because they had a most crucial role to perform once he had returned to heaven. Their particular function is detailed in verse 14, which was to have received from Christ the word or information or doctrines that belonged to the Father. For three years Jesus had been instructing the disciples about these matters and in the upper room he had promised that the Holy Spirit, when he would come after the Ascension, would bring these teachings to the minds of the apostles. So these apostles had a particular function to perform that was unique to them. The main concern of Jesus in the verses we are considering is that his disciples should be kept by the Father. No doubt we can ask, ‘Kept from what or whom?’ We could also ask, ‘Kept for...

This sermon was preached on 26/8/2012 Naomi and Ruth had been back in the Promised Land for a while. The Lord had provided them with ample food for a few weeks and had led them into contact with Boaz. They had recognised that he was a possible source of long-term help (2:20). Boaz was a worthy man, one who would do what was right, the author tells us (2:1). The question now arises for Naomi and Ruth, ‘Should they wait for him to make the next move or should they do something themselves?’ Naomi, at least, knew the answer to that question. She knew that the time had come for Ruth to cease to live as a widow, so she tells her daughter-in-law to dress differently (3:1-4), and this would probably tell Boaz that the time of Ruth’s mourning was over. The initiative of Naomi At first glance, the suggestion of Naomi and the behaviour of Ruth in this chapter seem very forward, almost brazen and manipulative. It almost looks as if the two women plotted together to wile Boaz into meeti...

This sermon was preached on 23/8/2012 Are your public prayers predictable? The opposite of predictable petitions, in this sense, is not only surprising petitions but thoughtful and relevant petitions. It is said of some preachers that they preach the same sermon from different texts and it can be said of some petitioners that they pray the same prayer whatever the circumstances, and have done so for years. We are called to self-examination of every aspect of our Christian lives and that call includes how we pray in public. As we listen in to the prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, we realise that it was not a predictable prayer. Instead it is a prayer full of surprising requests, yet each request has its reasons. His petitions are requests on behalf of others and are reasons why they should be answered by the Father. It is important for us to keep in mind that when Jesus prays for his people in this prayer he is aware of the unity he has with them. This is not a detached...

This sermon was preached on 5/8/2012 The obvious feature of Ruth and Orpah at the beginning of the story is their similarity to one another. Not only were they Moabite women, but each of them met and fell in love with a man from another country (two brothers from Israel, the land across the border) and was welcomed into their family. As time went on, each of them grew to love their mother-in-law, Naomi, very deeply. Further, they both shared the same pain of childlessness and the same tragedy of widowhood at a young age. Their situation may have been one of poverty because of the loss of male support, which would have been a factor in their willingness to go with Naomi to Bethlehem when she decided to return there. From one point of view, therefore, Ruth and Orpah were almost identical. So as the chapter begins, we can say that they have the same past and the same present, yet by the time it closes they have very different futures. What a difference a day can make! It may be tha...

Having prayed about personal matters in verses 1-5 Jesus now begins to pray for those who were his disciples at that time and his intercession for them continues to verse 19. In verses 6 to 8 he refers to their response to his teaching. His teaching, as we know, is a feature of his work as the prophet of his church. The fact that he prayed for these disciples at such a time as when he was about to undergo the most awful experience possible on the cross, reminds us of his great love for them. No matter how great his distress was going to be, he lovingly prayed for them. Which disciples does he pray for? One question that needs to be asked is, ‘Why does Jesus concentrate on this group of disciples in his prayer?’ An obvious suggestion is that they were with him on this occasion. Yet they were not his only disciples who were alive at that time. There were several hundred disciples at that time because 500 gathered to meet him, probably in Galilee, after he had risen from the dead ...