(This was part of a series on the Kingdom of God.)
The theme of God’s kingdom is prominent in Matthew’s Gospel:-
1:1 – ‘the son of David’
2:2 – “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”
3 – John and Jesus announce, ‘The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.’
5 – The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit and to those who are persecuted.
6 – ‘Your kingdom come…Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness.’…
Revelation has suffered at the hands of both its critics and its friends.
to strengthen God’s people, especially in times of adversity and persecution, and to reassure them of Christ’s ultimate victory and their ultimate safety.
Rev 4 – a vision of the throne
At the centre of the universe there is a throne. Our God reigns.…
[Note: I was trying to be less tied to my notes, hence their relative brevity]
The recent horse-meat scandal has prompted food critic Giles Coren to ask:-
“What on earth did you think they put in [value burgers]? Prime cuts of delicious free-range, organic, rare breed, heritage beef, grass-fed, Eton-educated, humanely slaughtered, dry-aged and hand-ground by fairies…?”
This led me to think about the thoughts that get fed to our minds.
Certainly, from glancing at today’s news headlines, it wouldn’t occur to you that God had much to do with anything at all.…
There is no evidence that she had ever been a prostitute. The idea that she was married to Jesus and carrying his baby at the time of his death is fantasy, pure and simple. What we do know of Mary Magdalene is that she was a Galilean woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. Along with several other women, she accompanied Jesus and his disciples on their travels, and contributed towards their support. She may well have been a woman of some substance and standing, and she is always listed first in groups of named female disciples.…
As part of my current drive to be less dependent on written notes, this was a largely unscripted sermon which used the following Powerpoint presentation as a basis:-
There were just a few sections that I did script out more fully, though even these I adapted at the time of delivery:-
SLIDE 7
There are other ways of being
Lost – there is the lostness that comes from simply not knowing the God who made us and to we must give an account
Enslaved – there is the moral slavery that comes when we find ourselves trapped in repeated patterns of unhealthy thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behaviours and we can find no means of escape
Damaged – there is the damage that comes from a guilty conscience that eats away at us and stunts our spiritual and emotional growth
Storm-tossed – There is the anxiety of feeling that everything has got on top of us and we can see no rhyme nor reason in it
The human condition.…
(This represented a new departure for me. Finally, I decided not to rely on full notes, but to preach from just an outline.)
‘Be strong’, v1
This is the positive of ‘don’t be ashamed’ (chapter 1)
Why? Not because Timothy was timid (although he was young and did not enjoy A1 health)
But many had already given up, and there were times of testing ahead
But how? – What is God’s part in this, and what is ours? …
We come to the second instalment in this series on Paul’s 2nd Letter to Timothy. Paul is in prison in Rome. He is cold (‘bring me my cloak’), bored (‘bring me my books’), and lonely (‘everyone has deserted me’). He is staring execution in the face (‘the time has come for my departure.’)
Paul predicts a time of terrible persecution for the Christian church, and a large-scale falling away from the faith. Yet the great apostle has by no means given up hope, and is still looking to build for the future.…
Tom was a world-class athlete. He had reached the pinnacle of his sport by talent and sheer hard work. But in order to make sure of that Olympic medal, that world record, that number one spot, he started taking performance-enhancing drugs. Result: a ruined reputation.
Kevin and Julie had fallen deeply in love and in due course got married. After a while, the Julie announced to Kevin, “Darling, I love you very much and of course I trust you absolutely.…
“This Melchizedek”. I’m trying to imagine a conversation you might have with a friend tomorrow. “How was your weekend?” you are asked. “Pretty good. Went to church yesterday evening.” “Oh yes? What was that all about?” “Melchizedek.” I’m really not sure where the conversation might go after that. Straight back to the Olympics, presumably.
The writer to the Hebrews seems to have had his own doubts about broaching the subject of Melchizedek. He’s been edging up to it for a while now.…
These are the notes of a sermon preached on Sunday 29th July 2012. The Olympic Games had just opened in London, and a deliberately topical (rather than expository) approach was taken on this occasion. The underlined portions refer to the slides in this Powerpoint presentaton:
Well, it’s not been a great start for Team GB in the medal stakes. But my aim this morning is to make sure that everyone is a winner in this matter of running the Christian race.…
