Sermons

Being a shepherd is not glamorous or prestigious, but it’s what God calls leaders to be. Jesus left his disciples an example, by washing their feet. We should submit to right authority - not unquestionable obedience to dictatorial decrees.

We are called to love one another, by which everyone will know we are Jesus’ disciples. God has given gifts to each one of us, and we should use these gifts to serve one another, to the glory of God.

God’s grace is secure, but we need to make sure we respond well. We must make sure we’ve truly received his grace, that we practice it by living it out, and that we look forward and anticipate its harvest.

We can have confidence in approaching God because he is on the throne, because Christ has opened the way, and because knows what it is like to be human. We approach God by praying, whether we feel like it or not, focusing on him, remembering that he knows best, and not worrying about the length of our prayers.

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.

Like Joseph, the church is called to be a fruitful vine, bearing fruit within our culture and amongst the nations. We may feel forgotten in Lockdown, but God has no more forgotten us than he forgot Joseph in prison. Whilst in prison, Joseph showed God’s love when he noticed the sadness of his fellow prisoners, he continued to believe in the supernatural, and he continued to believe in the sovereignty of God.

We have been justified by faith. This is a done deal, and three facts follow from this: We have peace with God (not just a feeling, but reconciliation); we stand in grace (we are not just saved by grace but we live by grace); and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

On Easter Sunday, Mary, Peter and John found the stone rolled from Jesus’ tomb, not so that he could get out but so that they could see he was no longer there. We should stop, look and listen, to enable us to believe. If we have lost our focus, it’s time to focus again on 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.

Peter wants to remind us of our secure position in Christ, from which we need never fall so long as we continue to trust in him. He also urges us to grow in grace, which we can do by focusing on Jesus and fixing our thoughts on him, by making a list of everything he has done in our lives and thanking him for it, by seeing suffering and hardship as an opportunity to depend on God, and by talking to God about everything on good days and bad days.

We are inseparable from Jesus, and we devote ourselves to him by devoting ourselves to the Scriptures, sharing with one another, breaking bread to remember the death of Jesus, and prayer.

The church is urged to have a unity that derives first of all from a right understanding of the cross. The cross shows us that Spiritual leadership doesn’t involve being at the top of a pyramid but at the bottom. Leaders are the servants of Christ, the stewards of the mysteries of God, the scum of the earth, and father-like.

The temple, or sanctuary, is where God’s presence is. Jesus is the ultimate temple of God. The church corporately is also God’s temple, as are our individual bodies. Ananias and Sapphira (in Acts 5) and Simon the sorcerer (in Acts 8) are examples where people had to be dealt with harshly by God because they were in effect destroying God’s temple.

Jesus is our foundation. We can build on this foundation using either stones or straw, and what we build will be tested on quality not quantity.

There was a real and serious problem in the church where vulnerable people were going hungry. The leaders recognise the problem, but they also recognise their own limitations, so they delegate responsibly to others.

Faith is not just believing that God will do things, but acting on that belief. In order to remain strong and courageous, we must immerse ourselves in the Word and stay together.

Faith is not just believing that God will do things, but acting on that belief. In order to remain strong and courageous, we must immerse ourselves in the Word and stay together.

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

The truth of Paul’s message was revealed to the Corinthians by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is revealed by the Word and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows, reveals, inspires and illuminates.

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.