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Eph 2:1-10 – Before and after – sermon notes (v2)

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Ephesians 2:1-10

Transformations.  DIY SOS, Restorations, Homes Under The Hammer, House Doctors, Grand Designs, Tattoo Fixers, Embarrassing Bodies.

But none of them attempts: the transformation from death to life.

V5 ‘God made us alive even when we were dead.’

1. Before, 1-3

A threefold tyranny: –

The tyranny of the world: v2 ‘You followed the ways of this world’.  ‘Those places, persons, pleasures and pursuits where God is left out.’  Those without Christ are slaves to secularism, materialism, peer pressure, religious fads, and the dubious role models of celebrities.…

Time for God?

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It’s about time…

We make, time, spend time, save time, give time, waste time, call time, buy time, keep time, and kill time.

The one thing we cannot do is defy time.  All the time, time moves steadily forward.  Or is it that we move forward through time?  Either way, you can’t stop it.

Some people are good time-keepers.  Victor Borge once told a friend that he could tell the time by his piano.  He demonstrated this by pounding out a loud march.  …

Exodus – Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?

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The account of the ten plagues of Egypt frequently refers to the ‘hardening’ of Pharaoh’s heart.  Because ‘hardness of heart’ suggests to us something to do with the emotions, Goldingay prefers to think of this as ‘the closing of Pharaoh’s mind’.  There are four aspects to this:-

  • Yahweh will close Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 14:4
  • Pharaoh’s mind was closed: Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35
  • Pharaoh closed his mind: Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34
  • Yahweh closed Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:8

Alexander refers to the ‘strengthening’ of Pharaoh’s heart. …

Does typology imply fiction?

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It is a well-known fact that the New Testament writers often present Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, or as having come in the spirit or tradition of certain Old Testament personages.  It is often inferred from this that stories about who Jesus was and what he did were fictitious accounts, with their sources not in history at all, but in those Old Testament passages.  According to New Testament scholar and historian Dale C.…

How can I turn conversations to Christ?

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Many of us are good at chatting, but have little idea of how we can move the conversation on to the point where we can share our faith with the other person.

Rebecca Manley Pippert suggests that good questioning skills are key to this.  She outlines four stages in moving a conversation on to deeper and perhaps spiritual – issues.

General interest questions

What do you do?  Do you have a family?  Where are you from?…

Ex 2:11-25 – What is God up to? – sermon notes

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Exodus 2:11-25

“Why do I bother to keep forgiving him?” shrugs the woman, after her husband has abused her yet again.

“Why do I bother being honest?” complains the employee, who has been hauled over the coals once again for refusing his bosses’ orders to fiddle the books.

“Why do we bother to keep bailing him out of trouble?” mutter mum and dad, after their wayward son let’s them down yet again.

Do you known that feeling?…

Ex 2 – The turning point – sermon notes

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Exodus 2

Many of us have known and loved the story of ‘Moses in the Bullrushes’ since childhood.  It is indeed a charming story.  But it is also a perplexing story.  And, ultimately, a hugely encouraging story.

1. Be Charmed

Cruel Pharaoh is afraid that the Israelites will continue to grow in number and turn against him.  First, he commands the Hebrew midwives to kill all the boys at birth.  But they outwit him.  Then, he orders that they all be cast into the Nile. …

2 Tim 3 – Continue in the gospel – sermon notes

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2 Timothy 3

What kind of church do we want to be?  A gospel church.  Guard the gospel, 1:14.  Suffer for the gospel, 2:3.  Now: continue in the gospel: v14 – ‘but as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of’.

Why? Because ‘there will be terrible times in the last days,’ v1.  The present age, between Christ’s first and second comings.  If Paul was thinking of some far-off future, why would he tell Timothy in v5 to ‘have nothing to do’ with certain trouble-makers? …

Psa 139 – You know me – sermon notes

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Psalm 139

It was going so well!  Here is one of the most beautiful and personal of all the psalms.  ‘Lord, you are amazing.  You know me through and through.  You are with me everywhere I go.  You formed me in my mother’s womb.  And isn’t it about time you started smiting some enemies?’

At first, I considered leaving that bit out.

1. God knows me – completely, 1-6

V1 – ‘O Lord, you have searched me and you know me’ – though others may misunderstand and misrepresent me, you, O God, know me as I really am. …

Women in ministry – some resources

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Here’s a selection of resources that explore biblical teaching on the role of women and men in Christian ministry.

Two views on Women in Ministry, ed James R. Beck & Craig L. Blomberg.  Zondervan, 2005.  (Egalitarian and complementarian).

Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, ed. John Piper & Wayne Grudem.  Crossway, 1991.  Available online at http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_bbmw/bbmw.pdf (Complementarian)

Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood, ed. Wayne Grudem.  Crossway, 2002. (Complementarian)

Discovering Biblical Equality, ed.…