Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Galatians 5.1-15 ​ The gospel, good news, is liberating Religion tells us that we need to prove ourselves to God. We need to make ourselves acceptable to him. And we do that by following certain rules, laws. If we keep them then we are OK. But the gospel is very different. It sets us free from the need to prove ourselves to God. It sets us free from trying to make ourselves acceptable to him. And that is great news, because we could never prove ourselves to God, and we could never make ourselves acceptable to him. Alongside the good that we see in each of us, there is also deep corruption, deep rottenness in each one of us. And we find that we are trapped. Thomas Costain tells the story of a 14th-century duke in what is now Belgium known as Raynald III. Raynald was grossly overweight, and was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means fat. After a violent quarrel, Raynald's younger brother Edward led a successful revolt agains...

A talk given at the Bury St Edmunds Come Together event. listen to ‘The gospel is at the heart of Christian unity’ on audioBoom Philippians 1.27-30 Great to be here, together with other brothers and sisters. For the last 1000 years, Christianity has had a privileged position in this country.  It has been the established religion of our nation Our monarchs have been crowned by our church leaders We have bishops in the Houses of Parliament Many of our laws are rooted in biblical truths But that is all changing rapidly I predicted about 25 years ago that in 100 years’ time Christians would be some of those few strange people who – among other things – believed in life long monogamous partnership between one man and one woman. I stick by that prediction, apart from the 100 year bit. And I would make another prediction. In 50 years’ time Christians will be that strange group of people who make babies the old fashioned way! The new normal will be ...