Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 7/2/2013 Eventually the time came for the divine judgement of drought to end. Yet it would not merely come to a close by the Lord sending some clouds and life carrying on as usual. Instead it would end in such a way that would make it very clear that it was the Lord who had acted. After all, the followers of Baal had continued to oppress the followers of God during the three years of the drought. Therefore various people, including Elijah, would need to get involved. The journey and what he saw Sometimes we are meant to use our imaginations when reading a narrative. Elijah has to leave the place of God’s provision with the widow in Zarephath and head back to Israel. What would he have seen on his journey? He would have seen desolation as a result of the drought. Every inch of his travels would remind him that Israel was under the judgement of God. Although he knew that God had something in store, the people that he observed were without hope beca...

This sermon was preached on 3/2/2013 The author of Hebrews has already given three reasons why Jesus is superior to the angels. First, he is superior because of his resurrection from the dead; second, he is superior because of his reign over the kingdom of God; third, he is superior because of his creatorial ability, whether as Creator of the original universe or as its re-creator in the future. The author gives a fourth reason in verse 13 when he says, ‘And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?’ Again he quotes from the Old Testament, this time from Psalm 110, to make his point. And his point is that Jesus Christ is going to triumph over all his enemies.  The duty and delight of angels Before we consider this aspect of the superiority of Jesus, I want to look at what the author says about the role of angels in verse 14: ‘Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of ...

This sermon was preached on 31/1/2013 Elijah may have assumed that he would have stayed at the brook Cherith until the drought was over. After all, he had been there for a year and he knew that the Lord could continue to provide for his servant’s necessities in this way for the rest of his life. We can imagine Elijah gladly waiting every day for the ravens to arrive, perhaps with a different kind of meat each day. Yet there was danger as well as a delight in what he was experiencing. One danger was that of formality because the fact is that even the best of spiritual experiences can turn into assumptions.  As the Lord’s servant, Elijah had to discover more of the Lord’s capabilities. At Cherith, Elijah experienced the Lord’s control over the lower creation in that the ravens did what they would not usually do and give their food away. But could the Lord control his higher creatures, and could he control them in an unlikely place? Elijah needed evidence of his God’s abiliti...

This sermon was preached on 3/2/2013 Many of us are familiar with the concept of a big crowd; we have seen the great New Year gatherings in the big cities of the world or else we are aware of the crowds that attend great sporting occasions. No doubt several football matches occurred today that were watched by large crowds. But all these crowds can be numbered, unlike the vision here in Revelation 7.  1. A message of comfort The Book of Revelation was not written to Christians living in comfort, it was written to believers that were suffering for the faith. Even the author of the book, the apostle John, although now a very old man, was suffering for his faith, having been banished from the city of Ephesus to the prison island of Patmos. No doubt, as he looked around him at the many Christians who were sharing his exile, or as he recalled the Christians whom he had left behind in the big city of Ephesus, he would have realised that God’s people needed comfort. But what cou...

This sermon was preached on 27/1/2013 This is a well-known passage to any who are familiar with the teachings of Jesus. It was said about halfway through his three years of public ministry. The first year had been one of popularity as people wondered if Jesus would set them free from their various troubles. Now, in the second year, opposition was rising against him and, as we can see from the context, rejection of his message was becoming frequent. The background to the passage is at least twofold.  First, there is the rejection of Christ by the cities in which he had done many gracious acts, cities such as Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum. This feature has two important lessons for us. (i) Jesus indicates that there will be degrees of punishment, that those who receive more blessings, and rejected them, will be judged more severely than those who did not receive any. (ii) Although a community may reject Jesus, he yet offers blessings to individuals who will receive him....

This sermon was preached on 20/1/2013 Sometimes when a biographer wants to show the greatness of his subject he will give a chapter to each aspect of the individual’s greatness. So if the subject is a politician, there may be chapters on each stage of his rise to power and how he prepared himself for his future roles. Or if his subject is an athlete there may be chapters on the various circumstances the person went through, the barriers he overcame, and the achievements he attained. With regard to such books, the longer each chapter the more impressive the subject will appear.  We can liken this section of Hebrews to a book called Why Jesus is Greater Than Angels. The author lists several ways in which that is the case. We have already noticed two of his arguments: first, he used the resurrection of Jesus and, second, he used the subsequent reign of Jesus from the divine throne. He now gives a third argument: the creative and re-creative power of Jesus Christ. And there ar...

This sermon was preached on 20/1/2013 The circumstances in which a person says something can often add great weight to what they say. When a rich person in perfect health says that he has no worries about the future we are not surprised. But should that person lose his wealth and his health, and remain optimistic about the future, we would be surprised by his words and wonder what it was that could give hope to him. Such a person was Job, who had been a wealthy person, but through a series of disasters had lost his family, his wealth and his health.  During those days when all was well, Job had been a believer in God. His prosperity is described in the first chapters of this book. We are also told there about an unseen enemy who was working to get Job to renounce his faith, and that opponent was Satan, the adversary. We also discover that the adversary could not do anything against Job without the permission of Job’s God. If we were reading the story for the first time we...