Sermons

Joseph was a righteous man. He knows what Leviticus and Deuteronomy say about adultery and divorce, but he decides not to humiliate Mary. He was not asking for God to speak to him in a dream, but God gives him a dream anyway.

Mary receives promises relating to God’s favour, God’s presence, God’s mission and God’s empowering. She is greatly troubled, she is puzzled, but she submits to God’s will.

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.

God was Jacob’s shepherd all his life. He is a shepherd deliverer, a shepherd warrior and a kingly shepherd. The shepherd sought and found us, and collectively we are his flock. Our mission is to take the gospel to the people of the nation and our communities, who are like sheep without a shepherd.

Just as a power tool can do nothing without electricity but a lot with it, so we can do nothing without Jesus but so long as we remain in him we can bear much fruit. He chose us, and all we have to do is to remain in him and allow him to prune us.

Jesus can calm our troubles. He tells us that we can trust in him, that he is preparing a room for us in Heaven, that he is coming back to take us to be with him, and that he is the underlying reality behind the appearance.

Jesus doesn’t say “I will resurrect you and I will give you life” but “I am the resurrection and the life”. He wants to invade our lives now, not just in the future, so that we experience the resurrection and the life today.

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.

Jesus rescued us not just from the darkness in the world around us, but also from the darkness in our own hearts. We can walk in darkness or we can have the light of life by following Jesus and obeying his teaching.

Jesus doesn’t come to us to help us fight our battles for so that we can join him in his battle. When we encounter Jesus, we should respond with new worship, a new submission, a new devotion, a new vision a new unity and a new exercise of faith.

God loves the hungry, he tests those who have all they want, and even when we go through difficulties in this life he satisfies those who believe in him. So let’s not just seek good things, or good works, or miracles, but instead, seek God himself.

Jesus sacrificially loves the Samaritan woman where she is, knowing her history and lifestyle.

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.

Following Jacob’s death, the brothers wonder if Joseph has really forgiven them. He has: and followers of Jesus need not ask the same question of God - they have been totally forgiven by him. Christians don’t need to live with a nagging sense of guilt but can know the fullness of God’s grace and peace.

Through Jacob’s final words we see that the plans of God work out despite the sins and actions of humans. Through Judah’s offspring, Christ, we see the original curse enacted due to Adam’s sin and impacting all of us, is overcome through Christ’s sacrifice. This reconciles us with God and allows us to love a holy life for him.

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.

We can find our identity in our name, or profession, or the football team we support, but our identity is as a son of God.

God takes our brokeness and mistakes and can rebuild our lives, as we look to him and walk his way.

God has called us to be a church for the nations: to be sent out to bless the nations; and to reach the nations and tribes at the end of our street, and the end of our comfort zone.

Joseph forgave his brothers with weeping and embraces, but years later they weren’t totally sure he’d truly forgiven them. We can find it hard to accept God’s forgiveness but he has truly forgiven us.