Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Luke 13.31-35 We are looking today at how to handle death threats! I suspect that many of us may have thought, ‘My mother is going to kill me if she finds this out’. Or maybe we have had someone really mad at us and saying, in the heat of the moment, ‘I’m going to kill you’. By the way, never say that, however angry you are. To threaten to murder someone is to threaten to kill a person who has been made in the image of God, and you are effectively crucifying Christ again. And if you have said that to anybody, then you need to say sorry. Sorry to God, and ask him to help us control our anger, and a big sorry to the person we have threatened. But there may be a few here who have been on the end of a far more serious death threat. It might be from a maniac or a stalker; it might be because we have done something stupid and got ourselves in big trouble; it might be because we have crossed or threatened someone who is evil; or it might even be a threat from those people who ...

Mark 4.26-32 We are looking at two stories which Jesus tells: both speak of seeds. In the first, the farmer sows the seed, is expectant and patient, and then reaps the harvest. And in the second a tiny seed grows into a huge tree in which birds find shelter. What is this seed? At the obvious level it is literal seed: this is something that farmers would understand.   Yes, they would say, that is how it is. We must wait for the seed to grow into grain. And we know the mustard seed. We know that the seed will grow into something huge, even though we are not sure how.   But elsewhere in this chapter, and in other stories that Jesus tells, the seed is the word of God. It is the good news of Jesus. It is a message, a word of love, of promise, of warning. It is about forgiveness, about friendship with God, about the Kingdom and rule of God, about hope and peace and power. It is a word about Jesus, a word which blows apart our human reasoning. And this word, ...

Philippians 3.1-11 I went on a website which asks what, in a secular world, takes the place of religion today? Among other things, people mentioned: political affiliation, health foods, fitness, motorbikes, gaming, music (specifically, the Beatles and One Direction!), social media. The big one was Sport. But I guess our 'religion' can also be all those things in which we put our confidence, things such as status, success, hard work, money, our moral standing, education, fitness, family etc. Paul, the writer of Philippians, was clearly immensely able. He had a brilliant mind, the equivalent of a top Oxbridge or Harvard graduate. And he had all the credentials that would have given him great status in the society in which he lived. In Philippians 3, Paul speaks about some of the things in which he could have put his confidence: He had been through the right rituals He was of the very best family His doctrine was utterly sound. He was committed, zealous and he worked...

Romans 8.28-39 There can be many reasons why we might doubt whether God loves us. We struggle with sin. Paul speaks about that in Romans 8.1-8. How could God possibly love somebody who messes it up so often? We suffer. Paul speaks about ‘the sufferings of this present age’ in vv18-25. How can God love us when dreadful things happen? Our prayer life is pathetic. In vv26-27 Paul writes of how weak we are in our prayer. We don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. And our love for God is so feeble. We may have moments when we declare our love for him, and our desire to serve him, but most of the time we live as if God does not exist. It is in the face of this, that Paul writes these amazing verses. If Romans 8 is the Himalayas of the Bible, verses 28-39 are its Everest And Paul declares 1.       The certainty of our call He writes, ‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son’. ...

Acts 8.26-40 Our reading today is a story of how a person meets God and discovers joy. Philip has been in Samaria, up here, and God tells him to go south because there is someone he wants him to meet. I note in passing that all of this happens because Philip is obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not just once but twice (v26, 29). Martin Lloyd Jones writes, “Now there are leadings such as that . . . If you read the history of the saints, God's people throughout the centuries and especially the history of revivals, you will find that this is something which is perfectly clear and definite―men have been told by the Holy Spirit to do something; they knew it was the Holy Spirit speaking to them, and it transpired that it obviously was his leading. It seems clear to me that if we deny such a possibility we are again guilty of quenching the Spirit” But that is for another talk. But because Philip is obedient he goes to the desert road from Jerusalem t...

​ Mark 4.35-41 Our reading today is about a journey. The journey we read about here is not long. It is a nautical journey, from one side of the lake to the other. But it was eventful: something happened and the people who went on that journey were changed. It was a journey that began with obedience. It was a response to Jesus. Jesus has been teaching the crowd all day. It was a large crowd, and they were pressing on him, and he had to use a boat as a pulpit. And now, as evening comes, he says, ‘Let us go across to the other side’ (4.35). [That is why it says, ‘They took him just as he was’. In other words, he didn’t even get out of the boat.] And it was because they were obedient that those first followers ·          learnt about themselves ·          learnt about Jesus 1.     They discover that they don’t really trust Jesus When the storm comes, they panic....