Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 30/6/2013 We have observed that behind the scenes one of the problems facing the readers was that of comparison . Their Jewish countrymen, who had not accepted that Jesus was the Messiah, could point to several aspects of their faith and remind those who had become Christians that those features had been God-given. One of those matters was the covenant relationship that had been made by God with Israel through Moses. What did the Christians have in comparison with that covenant and the things connected to it, such as the Tabernacle? Keep Jesus Where He Is In dealing with such a question, we are never to allow others to move away from where Jesus currently is. Often, when any discussion takes place, there is an attempt to make Christians move to a perceived neutral ground. Maybe it is suggested that we should see what we have in common with our opponents before considering the differences we have. The problem is that when Jesus is the focal point ...

This sermon was preached on 30/6/2013 What is the gospel? No doubt several answers could be given from a theological point of view. We know that it is important to distinguish the true message of God from the false messages that have affected the church throughout history. After all, we have an enemy who hates to hear that the gospel is spreading and who knows that distortions are more effective than physical opposition in achieving that task. Yet we also know that there is a basic gospel message, such as is encapsulated in John 3:16, at one time the best known verse in the Bible, and which contains the essential concepts a person needs to hear in order to be saved, such as the meaning of God’s love, God’s persons, God’s sacrifice, God’s wrath and God as the source of eternal life. This verse used to be called ‘the gospel in a nutshell’. In a sense, that famous verse describes the gospel from God the Father’s point of view. Paul, here in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, su...

This sermon was preached on 9/6/2013 A question that often arises is whether or not the Bible has answers to difficult questions. Of course, there are certain types of questions to which the Bible does not give precise answers. For example, the Bible does not tell us how many stars there are in the galaxies. Nor does it tell us how long we shall live. Instead we are told that there are numerous stars beyond calculation and that seven decades is an average length of human life. There are also topics that we regard as very important for everyday life, yet the Bible does not address them in specific ways. For example, it does not say which political party we should support at an election. All it gives are principles that should mark righteous human governments and often all we can do is see which party comes closest to those principles and vote for it. But there are topics about which the Bible says a great deal. One of them is the identity of Jesus Christ and e...

This sermon was preached on 9/6/2013 Normally you can assess a person’s priorities by his or her interests. Some people have so many interests that they have no priorities – ev erything is of the same value to them. Others have a few interests that direct their lives, and sometimes they can be contradictory and cause problems for them. A few have one over-riding goal and that goal affects all that they do. Often they are prepared to do anything to achieve it and will not let anyone or any object stand in their way. What kind of man was Paul? What were his interests and priorities? We can see from this passage in the Letter to the Philippians that he had one passion and that was a person called Jesus Christ. Jesus meant everything to Paul and he assessed everything in life regarding how it affected his relationship to Jesus Christ. This relationship he had with Jesus did not make Paul solitary – indeed he was very much a people person. In fact, this let...