Sermons

‘Vital facts that demand your urgent attention’ (Matthew 28:1-10)

AudioPhilip

The story of the resurrection of Jesus isn’t just a made up story to make us feel good about death or to give Jesus some more status that wasn’t meant for him. In Matthew 28:1-10, the facts are laid out for all to see and they must be wrestled with! For, if God did really raised Jesus from the dead, then everything changes – nothing is the same! And, following on from that, the claims Jesus makes must be examined and either believed or rejected. There’s no middle ground.

Message

Outline

• House fires!
• Facts that demand action
• Crisis moments & the claim of the gospel writers…
• Note that Matthew tells us of…

  1. One indisputable fact (v.1-6a)
  2. Two important commands (v.6b-7)
  3. One inescapable conclusion (v.8-10)

The verdict of the gospel writers
The challenge for all people!

‘Mrs Pilate’s crazy dream’ (Matthew 27:19)

AudioPhilip

When the gospel writer, Matthew, recorded the fact that Mrs Pilate (Claudia Procla) told her husband, Pontius Pilate, about her dream and her ill-feeling towards the situation her husband would soon be in, sentencing the Lord Jesus, we could ask the question, why? Why did Matthew record that incident? There might well be some suggestions that aren’t quite right and some (or at least one) that probably is. On this Good Friday, listen on to see!

Message

Outline

• The text! Mrs Pilate’s cameo…
• Why did Matthew include it?
• What does it mean? What can we learn? Think on…

  1. Three suggestions that are wrong
    Men

We

Not

  1. One suggestion that is right

The

“Innocent” and innocent
That goat!
The gospel: the innocent punished, the guilty go free!

‘Responding to the wonder of grace: thankful hearts’ (Romans 12:11-13)

AudioPhilip

Having laid the foundation of love as being the key character trait of the believer, in Romans 12:11-13, Paul adds more to the picture of what it means to live the Christian life. In these verses, Paul gives a set of commands that believers are to follow, not as a way of ‘putting on’ Christianity as an outward, external thing, but as an inward thing, something that comes from within, through the transformation Paul spoke of in Romans 12:2. Love is the beginning of the response but is only the beginning. Faithfulness and zeal and prayerfulness all need to be added on, as we grow in maturity and service to the Lord.

Message

Outline

• The fifth in this series
• That ‘inside out’ transformation…
• Triplets and doublets
• See how Paul points us toward these character traits …

  1. Wholehearted ministry (v.11)
  2. Faithful consistency (v.12)
  3. Shared generosity (v.13)

KPI’s
Time for a stocktake…
The thankful heart

‘Responding to the wonder of grace: genuine love’ (Romans 12:9-10)

AudioPhilip

The world often throws up the line or the comeback that ‘love is love’. Well, it is, and it isn’t. In Romans 12:9-10, the Apostle Paul, gives us some clear instructions as to how God’s people should ensure that ‘love’ is the key to the way we function as a church. He speaks of love, but not as the world understands it, rather as God defines it -and He has the right to define it – after all, we only love because ‘He loved us first’.

Message

Outline

• The fourth in this series
• A quick backtrack…
• From gifts to ‘graces’
• See how Paul points us to a kind of love that is …

  1. Free from hypocrisy (v.9a)
  2. Full of discernment (v.9b)
  3. Focused on others (v.10)

Have I ever truly loved another?
Where this all starts!

‘Responding to the wonder of grace: a healthy church’ (Romans 12:3-8)

AudioPhilip

After estabslising what believers should do in response to God’s grace with their lives (Romans 12:1) and their minds (Romans 12:2), Paul progresses the way that this response to grace should affect the way we treat each other in the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8). Here, Paul points out that we are one body with different gifts and that these gifts are gifts of grace (Greek: Charismata (gifts), Charis (grace)) for the building up of the body. The way we serve each other will indicate the way in which we have learned to give ourselves as living sacrifices and just how much our minds have been transformed by grace.

Message

Outline

• The third in this series
• What we’ve learned…
• Outward expression of inner transformation
• See how Paul points us to the character traits of …

  1. Walking in humility (v.3)
  2. Living in harmony (v.4-5)
  3. Serving with fidelity (v.6-8)

The parable of the tea bag
The healthy church….
You are the body of Christ

‘Responding to the wonder of grace: transformed minds’ (Romans 12:2)

AudioPhilip

In Romans 12:2, Paul continues the theme of how we ought to live in response to the wonder of God’s grace given to His people. After telling us that nothing less than offering ourselves as ‘living sacrifices’ to God will do in verse 1, he then rounds out the picture by telling us the ‘how in verse 2 and indeed, in the rest of the chapter. Verse 2 tells us that a right response to God in this way includes our minds. Why? Because right thinking and right theology ultimately leads to right living, just as bad thinking and bad theology ultimately reveals itself and ends up in wrong living!

Message

Outline

• The second in this series
• What we’ve learned…
• A high bar & cheap grace
• See what Paul says about responding to grace…

  1. What we ought not do (v.2a)
  2. What we ought to do (v.2b)
  3. Why we ought to do it (v.2c)

Can you spot the difference?
What’s the Lord’s end goal in this?

‘Responding to the wonder of grace: living sacrifices’ (Romans 12:1)

AudioPhilip

It’s kind of unusual to start a series on the book of Romans at chapter 12, three-quarters of the way through the book! But in an attempt to cover the more ‘practical’ aspects of the Christian life, and to follow on from the series on Malachi, Romans 12 is a great place to start – especially Romans 12:1, where Paul gives some clear instructions about how to respond to the wonderful grace of God in the gospel – clear instructions but hard to do when you think about what they involve!

Message

Outline

• The first in this series
• Chapters 1-11? …
• ‘Therefore’ – theological & practical
• See what Paul says about responding to grace…

  1. What it is we should do (v.1b)
  2. Why it is we ought to do it (v.1a)
  3. What we are doing when we do it (v.1c)

That s…. word!
One man who took this seriously…
What will you offer to the Lord?

‘Grace and mercy in the face of coming judgement’ (Malachi 3:13-4:6)

AudioPhilip

The final words of Malachi’s book, found in Malachi 3:13-4:6 are also the final words of the Old Testament. While the Old Testament begins with God’s creative work in Genesis 1:1, it ends with God’s promise of a destructive work in Malachi 4:6. This is helpful, because it reminds us that while God’s people in the time of Malachi were unfaithful to their covenant reponsibilities, God himself was not unfaithful to His people. And, even though they spoke against Him, He did not pour out His judgement upon them, but sent them a messenger whose ministry was to restore broken relationships. In all this ‘God was reconciling the world to Himself’ and preparing the way for the One who would come to be its Saviour.

Message

Outline

• The last in this series
• The story so far…
• ‘Whitewashed tombs’
• See how the Lord revealed that there were…

  1. Some who complained about Him (3:13-15, 4:1-3)
  2. Some who feared Him (3:16-18)
  3. One who would speak for Him (4:4-6)

Authentic faith…
The invitation of Jesus (who came after Malachi) …

‘An indictment against the people’s view of God’ (Malachi 2.17-3.15)

AudioPhilip

When our thinking about God is wrong, so too everything else will be wrong. In Malachi 2:17-3:15, the people of Judah’s thinking about God was way off. They thought that He had changed to the extent that He no longer cared about punishing sin or evil, and that He actually approved of sin and evil. They couldn’t have been more wrong! Thankfully, their wrong ‘theology’ was quickly corrected and God made very clear where He and they stood, promising to come to them, to judge them, but before that, to send them the Messiah and the one who announced His arrival.

Message

Outline

• The 5th in this series
• The story so far…
• ‘God isn’t blessing us as we would like!’
• See how the Lord through Malachi revealed …

  1. What the people of God said about Him (2:17, 3:13-15)
  2. What God said about Himself to the people of God (3:1-12)

Those pesky sparrows!
The voice in the desert…
He gave Himself for you…now do that for Him!

‘An indictment against the people’s view of marriage’ (Malachi 2:10-16)

AudioPhilip

it has been noted that ‘the fish rots from the head down’. Given that the Lord God had already shown through the prophet Malachi that the priests (the leaders of the religious aspect of God’s people) were corrupt and spiritually poor, then it is little surprise that the people also began to disregard the word of God and its importance in their lives. And one of the ways they did this was in the area of marriage. In Malachi 2:10-16, we find that the men were marrying women who worshipped other gods and (presumably) divorcing their own wives in order to do this. Neither of these was acceptable to God, and this slack view of marriage only revealed just how low their view of God really was.

Message

Outline

• The 4th in this series
• Familiarity breeds contempt
• A difficult text, but clear!
• See how the Lord accused the people of …

  1. Marrying outside of the covenant family (v.10-12)
  2. Treating the marriage covenant with contempt (v.14-16)

Not a time for joking!
A reflection of God’s covenant with His people…