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Joel 2:18:32 – Rejoice in God (sermon notes)

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[Notes of a sermon preached at St Andrew’s, Eaton (Norwich) on 16th March 2025.]

Text: Joel 2:18-32; Acts 2:1-4, 12-21

Can the Church be born again?

The first question is: Does the church need to be born again?

We can all point to shining examples of Christian faith and of flourishing congregations.

But:-

  • Church attendance has halved in 35 years.
  • The number of men and women entering training for the ministry has fallen by over one third in the last 5 years.
…

Heb 12:2 – ‘For the joy set out for him he endured the cross’

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12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.…

The Crucified God

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[Based on an article by Donald MacLeod in The Monthly Record, March, 1982]

This title, and the contents, of a book by Jurgen Moltmann are worth pondering, even though ‘Moltmann could not satisfy Karl Barth as to his orthodoxy and can hardly expect, in the circumstances, to be endorsed by The Monthly Record (assuming he reads it).’

The sufferings the crucified God experienced were:

1. Physical

His body, like ours, was limited in its powers of endurance and highly sensitive to pain.…

Acts 20:27 – ‘The whole counsel of God’ (sermon notes)

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[These are the notes of a sermon preached in 1983.  My Methodist upbringing, together with my reading of the Puritans and their successors such as Ryle and Spurgeon, had led me to assume the propriety of textual preaching.  Although I still think that there is a place for textual preaching, I do not regard the following effort as a shining example.  It’s a bit too ‘neat’.  Nevetheless, I am not ashamed of it.]

Acts 20:27 “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”…

Ryle on repentance

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[Notes of ch. 16 of ‘Old Paths’, by J.C. Ryle]

Lk 13:3 “Unless you repent, you will all perish!”

This text seems severe, but it comes from the lips of out loving saviour. It is, after all, a sign of love, not hate, to warn of coming danger.

1. What is repentance?

It is one of the foundation-stones of Christianity, and is spoken of at least 60 times in the New Testament.

  • Jesus preached it, Mk 1:15
  • The Apostles preached it – Lk 6:12
  • Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach it – Lk 24:47
  • Peter preached it – Acts 2:38
  • Paul preached it – Acts 20:21

‘Repentance is a thorough change of a man’s natural heart upon the subject of sin’.…

2 Cor 11:16-33 – Boasting in weakness (sermon notes)

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[Notes of a sermon preached many years ago at Holy Trinity Norwich.  The allusion to the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ dates this sermon to around 1994]

BOASTING IN WEAKNESS, II Cor 11:16-33

The church at Corinth was Paul’s problem child. Of all the Christian congregations planted by the great Apostle to the Gentiles, this was the one that had given him the most sleepless nights. They’d had problems both of belief and behaviour. There were divisions, there was disorder, and there was doctrinal confusion.…

2 Sam 15 – Absalom – sermon notes

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[Here are some notes of a very early sermon of mine.  It’s not quite how I would go about constructing a sermon nowadays, but neither am I ashamed of it!]

Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a fine palace in a great city

This king had a number of wives. By one of his wives he had a son whose name was Amnon.

By another of his wives he had a beautiful daughter, named Tamar, and a handsome son named Absalom And the king loved his son Absalom.…

Authority and freedom

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Notes from chapter 1 of Freedom, Authority and Scripture, by J.I. Packer.

“Authority” – makes most people think of law and order, direction and restraint, command and control, dominance and submission, respect and obedience. The word has almost become a “dirty word”. Opposition to authority is now the name of the game.

The Quest for Freedom

“Freedom”, on the other hand, is today the “in word”; World War II was described in terms of Four Freedoms: want, fear, speech, religion.…

The intermediate state – possible schema

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Piecing together the (admitedly limited) biblical data on the intermediate state, Michael Bird proposes the following:

1. Prior to Christ’s ascension, all who died went to Sheol/Hades, which was divided into two parts, one compartment for the wicked and another compartment for the righteous.

2. After Christ’s descent to Sheol/Hades and with his ascension, Christ took with him into heaven all of the saints in the paradisal part of Sheol/Hades, while the wicked remain in Sheol/Hades waiting for judgment.

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Evaluating the ‘soul-sleep’ view

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The doctrine of ‘soul-sleep’ interprets the period between a believer’s death and final resurrection as one of uninterrupted unconsciousness.

Habermas and Moreland identify a number of problems with this view:

First, numerous biblical texts (e.g., Luke 23:43; Phil 1:23; 2 Cor 5:1-10) clearly teach that death is a transition into conscious enjoyment of the presence of Christ. How could Christ’s presence be enjoyed if one were asleep?

Second, some of these same Bible passages describe death as a gain because the deceased is with Christ.

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