Richard Owen's Sermons

Grace teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness, but it does more than this, it works in us to help us to be more like Jesus.

The problem is that we are not basically good people who sometimes do wrong things but that we are utterly rebellious against God and deserve to die. The price paid was Jesus, who took upon himself all our sin and died on the cross. Our response is to praise God.

Leaders are not VIPs or celebrities, but servants. We are God’s field, and it is God who works in us.

The church is a community of worship and a people of praise. When we gather together as a church, praise bubbles up in us because of what God has done for us.

Paul desired to see the church holy and united, but there was a problem of division in the church at Corinth. Paul’s response is to appeal to them in the name of Christ, to encourage them to fix their eyes on Jesus, and to draw their attention to the Cross and to the one who died for us.

Matthew begins with Jesus’ genealogy to show that Jesus is the promised king for whom the generations were waiting. Matthew shows God’s grace by including evil men in the ancestry, and he shows that God welcomes everybody by including Gentile women.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he is the Gate through which his sheep must come. David fought for his sheep because they were his, but Jesus lays down his life for his sheep.

We are encouraged to focus on Jesus, not just in his incarnation but as the eternal word. He didn’t come to fill a “God-shaped hole” in our lives, but to make us children of God.

Jacob believes God and his promise, he relies on the faithfulness of God, and trusts in God’s sovereign choice. We are called to walk in his footsteps believing God for tomorrow as well as for the rest of our lives.

Jacob is paralysed with fear, which prevents him from walking in faith and leads to him blaming others. If we don’t recognise Jesus then we too will be trapped in fear - it is Jesus who drives out fear.

God speaks through dreams. Joseph had two dreams at the age of 17 and waited over 11 years for them to be fulfilled. In his difficulties he trusted God, who was working things out according to his own timing.

We must deal with our anger, pain and jealousy, repenting if necessary. We must bring our guilt and regret to Jesus. And we must trust in God’s sovereign plan to work out everything for good.

As Jesus entered the Jerusalem, the crowds were looking for a king and the Pharisees were looking for a way to get rid of him, but Jesus entered on a donkey, a king who had to die.

Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the living stones that make up the building, and members of his body. We should therefore be a holy family, a people of light, a people who look like Jesus.

Worship is based on a foundation of grace, and is fuelled by the Word and the Spirit. It includes praising God with our lips but is much more than this.

Christians are people of the Word. We are to value the Word, meditate on it and live it out.

Click here to hear the linked Vision Night session on this subject.

God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, because he is with him. We need to hear God’s exhortation to be strong and courageous because God is with us in all circumstances.

The writer finishes the letter by requesting that his readers pray for him and bear with his word of exhortation. He also prays to the God of peace and of power, that God will equip his readers through his Word, his Church and his Spirit, to the glory of God.

We are called to live a certain way because we have come to the holy one who makes us holy. The exhortations in this passage are not just a list of rules but are part of our DNA.

We stand not at Mount Sinai, which was a place of fear, but at Mount Zion, a place of joy, because of Jesus who is a mediator of a new covenant.