Sermons

‘God’s saints in tight spots’ #2: Jonah (Jonah 2:1-10)

AudioPhilip

The story of Jonah is one of the most well-known in the Scriptures. It’s not everybody that gets swallowed by a huge fish and lives to tell the tale. Talk about socially isolating!  But what was Jonah doing in that ‘tight spot’ and what does a ‘socially isolating’ Jonah teach us? This message on Jonah 2:1-10, examines Jonah’s prayer and what we can learn from it.

Full service

00:00 Introduction
Song: All creatures of Our God and King
00:49 Prayer
06:30 Children’s talk
Song: God is everywhere
Song: Are you serving Cap’n Jesus?
11:59 Bible reading: Jonah 2
13:29 Bible reading: Luke 15
Song: My heart is filled with thankfulness
15:45 Sermon: Jonah 2
Song: In Christ alone
37:36 Benediction
Song: I will trust my saviour Jesus

‘God’s saints in tight spots’ #1: Joseph (Genesis 39:1-23)

AudioPhilip

There’s something about the story of Joseph in the Old Testament that is so fascinating and insightful. In Genesis 39:1-23, the Scriptures tell us about what might be the lowest spot in Joseph’s bright life. And yet, when his story is taken as a vital part of the outworking of Genesis 3:15 in God’s plan of salvation, the story of Joseph is far more than the story of a ‘dreamer’ with a ‘coloured coat’, but of a man who points us all to Jesus and who shows us God’s purpose in suffering is that we become more like Him.

Full service

00:00 Introduction
00:40 Children’s talk
Song: The Lord is King
06:34 Saints in tight spots
Hymn: Praise my soul
08:42 Prayer
14:59 Bible reading: Genesis 39
Song: Christ is mine forever more
19:13 Sermon: Joseph (Genesis 39)
Hymn: Teach me your way
42:51 Benediction
Song: Press on Mums

‘Meet the wisdom needed by the Church at Corinth’ (1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4)

Philip

When Paul brought up the topic of wisdom in 1 Corinthians 2:16-3:4, he was not introducing a new topic. Chapter 1 has told us much about God’s wisdom which is found in the preaching of Christ crucified. The sad case was, that at Corinth, the church had opted for earthly wisdom and this had begun to show itself in the disorder and division that Paul has been addressing.

‘Meet the (original) preacher at the Church in Corinth’ (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Philip

After telling the Corinthians that they could not boast in men, nor in their position in the world before God called them, and that the gospel message was ‘weak and foolish’ in the eyes of the world, in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul went on to write that he too was ‘weak and foolish’. His preaching at Corinth was not a demonstration of his skill or wisdom, but of the power of God who saves ‘foolish’ people through the ‘foolish’ message of the cross.

‘Meet the ‘foolish people’ in the Church at Corinth’ (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

AudioPhilip

The Church at Corinth was in crisis. Divisions over personalities were fuelled by the cult of pride. While some distance away from them when we wrote his letter, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 reflects just how close Paul was to these wayward believers. Having established that being united to Christ should mean the death of all divisions, Paul now explains what the world calls ‘foolish’ (that is the preaching of the cross) is nothing but the express wisdom of God.

‘Meet the biggest problem in the church at Corinth’ (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

AudioPhilip

The text of 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 tells of the report that the Apostle Paul heard from ‘Chloe’s people’ about the state of the church at Corinth. They were a church divided. The issue was playing favourites with people. Some preferred Paul, others Apollos, others Peter and still others – Jesus! At the root of this problem of division was pride and at the centre of the solution Paul outlined was the principle – that when we look to Jesus and Him crucified, there is no room for pride and boasting, for in Christ and Him alone, their is true unity.

‘Meet the church at Corinth’ (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

AudioPhilip

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, it was no small rural backwater but a bustling cosmopolitan city of about 650,000. Paul had brought the gospel to Corinth and the church had begun – by the grace of God – amidst much persecution. Nobody knew the church at Corinth better than Paul and in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, it is evident that God was doing something among His people, the Church at Corinth, because He is a faithful God.