Paul’s homiletics

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‘Paul underlined the need for careful attention to principles of communication in preaching. While he refused to adopt some of the cunning word craftiness of the secular rhetoricians of his day, (2 Cor 4:2 1 Thess 2:3,5) nevertheless, he adapted his preaching well to a variety of audiences and needs. In the synagogue Paul spoke to Jews about the special dealings God has with his people; (Ac 13:16-41) but to the Greek philosophers he presented a living God as a challenge to their love for fresh ideas, quoting from their own writers as he did so.…

Habakkuk 3 – I will rejoice – sermon notes

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Habakkuk 3

Psalm 65:9-13 – God has given us many material blessings. And we have as many reasons to be thankful.

But what if there is nothing? What then?

Ch 1 – Habakkuk’s complaint. The Lord’s reply. Habakkuk’s further complaint. 2:1 – He sets himself to watch and wait for what God will say.

Ch 3 – Nothing in Habakkuk’s circumstances has changed. He is still facing an appalling prospect: the ravages of war, the horrors of invasion, the devastation of resources, the removal of all basic necessities.…

Passive graces

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‘When I speak of passive graces (writes J.C. Ryle in his celebrated book, Holiness), I mean those graces which are especially shown in submission to the will of God and in bearing and forbearing towards one another. Few people, perhaps, unless they have examined the point, have an idea how much is said about these graces in the New Testament and how important a place they seem to fill. This is the special point which St.…

False prophets

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Both Jesus and the apostles warned about fraudulent prophets.

They were characterised by greed, 2 Pet 2:3,13, arrogance, 2 Pet 2:18, immoral lives, 2 Pet 2:2,10-13, and general ungodliness, Jude 4.

Bar-Jesus was a Jewish magician whom Paul and Barnabas denounced as false and deceitful, Ac 13:6-10.  Such false prophets belong to the same line as Jezebel from the church of Thyatira, Rev 2:20.

Christian believers in every age are to test those who make prophetic claims.  …

1 Sam 1 – Hannah’s prayer – sermon notes

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Text – 1 Samuel 1

I wonder if you have heard of the ‘Great Prayer Experiment’?

Some while ago, doctors from Duke University Medical Center devised a test to see whether heart patients recovered more readily if they were prayed for.  The three year study involved 750 patients from throughout the USA and 26 prayer groups from different part of the world, including Christians in Manchester, Buddhists in Nepal and Moslems in America.  The findings suggested that prayer made no measurable difference to the long term health of the patients involved. …

The problem of evil – three pillars of truth

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With regard to the problem of evil, three things can be asserted with confidence:-

1. The evil reality of evil, Isa 5:20.

2. The all-embracing sovereignty of the Lord, Eph 1:11.

3. The perfect goodness of God and of his work, Gen 1:31.

There is, no doubt, great difficulty in reconciling these three, yet we hold them all to be true. Indeed, we find them intertwined on the cross, ‘an evil than which no greater can be conceived’ (Hick), which, nevertheless, was predestined by God, (Acts 4:28) and which was the ultimate expression of the goodness of God.…

The new covenant

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‘The differences between the church and Israel are rooted in the newness of the covenant by which God and his people are bound to each other. The new covenant under which the church lives (1 Cor 11:25 Heb 8:7-13) is a new form of the relationship whereby God says to a chosen community, “I will be your God; you shall be my people.” (Ex 6:7 Jer 31:33) Both the continuity and the discontinuity between Israel and the church reflect this change in the form of the covenant, which took place at Christ’s coming.…

Paul’s missionary strategy

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  1. He concentrated on large urban centres
  2. He regarded the synagogue as common ground with Jews, Acts 16:13; 17:1.
  3. He reasoned from Scripture, using a Christ-centred approach, Acts 17:1-4.
  4. He adapted his message to the needs of his hearers, 1 Cor 9:22.
  5. He engaged in follow-up by means of visits, letters, and delegation.
  6. He promoted unity in all the churches, Eph 4:4-5.
…

Salvation of infants

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Some maintain that all those dying in infancy are regenerated. Spurgeon attempted to demonstrate this from 2 Sam 12:23 (New Park Street Pulpit, 1861, p509).

If infants are saved, it must be on the basis of redemptive grace, Jn 3:3; 1 Tim 2:5. Scripture indicates that it is possible to be filled by the Holy Spirit from an early age, Lk 1:15, cf Ps 22:10. This implies an intuitive knowledge of God, apart from usual process of hearing and understanding the gospel.…

Luke 1:5-25 – Zechariah – sermon notes

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Each of the four Gospels has a different starting-point. John: the pre-existent Christ. Mark: beginning of public ministry. Matthew: birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Luke: more details about the conception and birth of Jesus. But each also tells of a man named John, who was the herald, the forerunner of Jesus. It is Luke who informs us that the lives of John and Jesus, so intertwined in their adult ministries, were also linked by the circumstances of their births.…