Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

One of the phrases that is common in Christian talk is ‘the leading of the Spirit’ and it is used to describe a wide range of spiritual experiences. Paul mentions the phrase in verse 14 and we may be surprised at what he links the leading with. We can see that he uses it in connection with what has preceded it, and in those previous verses he describes the Christian activity of slaying one’s sins. He also uses it in connection with what follows verse 14, and those following verses he speaks about prayer and the witness of the Spirit in the hearts of believers. So we can see already from Paul’s connections that a person who is led by the Spirit will be concerned with prayer, mortification of sin and assurance of salvation. Being led by the Spirit The first point to note is that Paul says that the Spirit leads every Christian. We may be surprised by this emphasis because often it is assumed that only devout believers are led by the Spirit. I can think of two ways in which the Holy S...

John does not include in his account of the trials of Jesus a description of what took place in the house of Caiaphas nor does he even mention the fact that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for his opinion. Obviously John had to be selective regarding what he included because, as he wrote in chapter 20, there was a great deal of material he could use. The reason why he included some details is that he was convinced they would lead us to faith, so the question we should be asking ourselves at this time is, ‘What is their about this account that leads me to believe in Jesus?’ The challenge Pilate was posed (vv. 28-32) Pilate probably was anticipating trouble because it was Passover, an annual date that automatically encouraged Jews to think of freedom from political oppression. So he would have wondered what was so important when it caused the Jewish leaders to arrive early at his headquarters. He discovered that they wanted him to deal with one of their own countrymen. Pilate’s response ...

It is usual for a city or community to admire a favourite person from their midst who made a mark in the world. Mark here records what Nazareth thought of their most famous inhabitant. Perhaps our surprise at their response should be guided by the assessment of Nathaniel in John 1 when he asked if anything good could come out from Nazareth. Previous to then, Nathaniel had not heard of Jesus, but he was aware of the kind of people who lived there. So we should not be surprised at their failure to appreciate Jesus and his sermon. Rejection in Nazareth Some time before this incident, Jesus had left Nazareth to go and live in Capernaum, which was a more central location. Mark does not say why he had left Nazareth, but Luke describes how the people of Nazareth had responded on a previous occasion when Jesus preached to them after his baptism and informed them that he was the promised Messiah. Instead of obeying his message and becoming his followers, they became infuriated with him and...

Paul wants his readers to have spiritual comfort, which is a mark of an authentic pastor. The comfort that he mentions is one that is drawn from what God in Christ has done, is doing and will yet do for his people. In particular, he wants his readers to think about aspects of comfort that come from the work of the indwelling Spirit, whom Jesus said in the Upper Room would function as the heavenly Comforter. From these verses in Romans 8 we will consider five details of the work of the Spirit. The spiritual location Where do I live is a question that I answer several times a week. Or I may be asked about my national identity or similar questions. Paul reminds us here that there are only two locations in which we can live. One is what he calls the flesh and the other is what he calls ‘in the Spirit’. As we think of those two locations, there are some brief comments that we can make. First, every human apart from Jesus is born in the land of the flesh and lives there for a while. W...