Luke 5:1-11
Do you remember the day you became a follower of Jesus Christ?
Simon Peter would never forget this day.
Jesus preaching by the lake – pushed back by the crowds – gets into boat, continues teaching.
Lk 4:43 – “I must preach the good news…to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”
The word of Christ is ‘the word of God’, v1. Jn 7:16 – “My teaching is not my own. …
Fitzmyer has identified six characteristic aspects of Paul’s gospel:-
Hell is described as
a place where the fire never goes out, Mk 9:43
a place where ‘their worm does not die’, Mk 9:48
a place of darkness, Mt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; 2 Pet 2:17; Jude 14
a lake of fire, Rev 19:20; 20:10,14,15; 21:8
a place where we may be ‘beaten with blows’, Lk 12:47
a place of ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’, Mt 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30
a place in which people are ‘shut out from the presence of the Lord’, 2 Thess 1:9
‘Even when we affirm that this language is metaphorical, and the suffering concerned is accordingly essentially mental and spiritual rather than physical, the presence of some profound degree of conscious anguish is inescapable.…
‘Expository Preaching,’ writes Peter Adam, ‘is the preaching of the message of a book of the Bible, usually verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter, by explanation and application of it to the congregation.’
Here are fifteen argument in favour of expository preaching:-
Peter Adam points out that it is quite possible for a preacher to use the expository method and yet still remain stubbornly moralistic.
Thus (and I’m slightly paraphrasing here):-
We need, says Adam, a Biblical theology as well as an expository method if we are to free our preaching from the dangers of mere moralism.…
‘Diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ are today’s great buzz-words.
Jesus, it is claimed, accepted everyone ‘just as they are’, and so should we.
But, actually, it’s not quite as simple as that.
Certainly, Jesus preached (and practised) inclusion. His invitation was astonishingly wide: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). …
‘The lack of reference to the historical Jesus [in Paul’s writings] has often been exaggerated.
Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.”
What are all reasons you can think of why a person might not do an errand like that?
Can’t hear it
Don’t understand it
Think that it’s someone else’s job
Got something better to do
Think it’s too difficult
Don’t have the means
Don’t know how to do it
Don’t want to
In our Bible passage, Jesus’ followers had been given a task to do. …
Matthew 7:24-29
Two men each built themselves a house. One built his house on solid bed-rock, the other the shifting sand. Each house seemed fine for a while. But when the rained rained, and the floods rose, and the wind howled, the first house stood firm, but the other collapsed. It all depended on the foundation.
Jesus says that the house built on the bed-rock is like a life built on the foundation of hearing his words and doing them. …
Micah 6:1-8
Courtroom dramas:- Accused, The Brief, The Courtroom, Criminal Justice, Crown Court, Judge John Deed, Kavanagh QC, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Verdict.
Silent witnesses, v1f (Skiddaw watching over Keswick, Matterhorn over Zermatt, Mount of Olives over Jerusalem)
‘Listen to what the Lord says…hear…the Lord’s accusation…listen…for the Lord has a case against his people.’
Jerusalem’s magistrates are crooks, her prophets men-pleasers, her priests money-grabbers, her rich people lovers of violence and her merchants liars and cheats.…
