Matthew 6:10 – ‘Your kingdom come’ – sermon notes
This sermon was preached at Holy Trinity Norwich, on the morning of 3rd August, 2025.
On this occasion, the only notes used were those in the accompanying Powerpoint slides.
…
Category Archives: Sermon Notes
John 20:19-23 – Equipped for mission (sermon notes)
On a mission? Yes! All God’s people are on a mission.
Key thought: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Three knotty problems:-
(a) Who was there?
(b) When was the Holy Spirit given?
(c) What message were they to proclaim?
Answers in Luke 24:36-49.
1. Feel alone? – He gives us his presence, v19.
Do you feel like you are ‘the only one’ (in your house, family, class, workplace)?
‘Jesus came and stood among them.’…
Acts 21:17-36 – Dealing with difference (sermon notes)
[Notes of a sermon preached at St. Andrew’s, Eaton (Norwich) on 4th May, 2025. The introductory questions were posed with tongue somewhat in cheek.]
Acts 21:17-36
Are you a Calvinist, or an Arminian?
Do you think that the universe was created in six literal days a few thousand years ago, or did it begin with a ‘Big Bang’ nearly 14 billion years ago?
Do you prefer to sing traditional hymns, or contemporary worship songs?
In the current crisis in the Middle East, are your sympathies more with Israel, or with Palestine?…
1 Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19 ‘Your money and your life’ (sermon notes)
Text – 1 Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19
Which of the following is the odd one out? Faith, doctrine, Scripture, gospel, salvation, money. None of them!
Money is a spiritual issue
Martin Luther observed that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, of the mind and of the purse.”
Consider the story of Zacchaeus, Luke 19. As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been very wealthy. When he encounters Jesus, his response is, “Look, Lord!…
Joel 2:18:32 – Rejoice in God (sermon notes)
[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.
Acts 20:27 – ‘The whole counsel of God’ (sermon notes)
[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.”…
2 Cor 11:16-33 – Boasting in weakness (sermon notes)
[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
[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.…
Luke 7:11-17 – The compassionate heart of Jesus (sermon notes)
Notes of a sermon preached at St. Andrew’s Eaton on the morning of 3rd November 2024.
11 Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.
We’re up in Galilee, just five miles from Nazareth. …
Acts 4:32 – 5:11 – Ananias and Sapphira (sermon notes, v2)
Notes of a sermon preached at St Edumunds, Costessey, and again at St Helen’s, Costessey, on 27th October, 2024.
Here is ‘one of the most unnerving episodes in the entire NT.’ (Dunn)
‘Your God is too small.’ (Title of a book by J.B. Philips)
Resident Policeman – waiting to blow the whistle as soon as you step out of line
Emergency Firefighter – useful in an emergency
Slot-Machine – put in a prayer, and receive miracle
Cheerleader – just wants everyone to have a good time
‘The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him – and of her.’…