Talks, Sermons and Reflections

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...

2 Corinthians 5.11-21 Our fifth and final vision statement is that we seek to introduce people to Jesus. There are many different things we differ on: prefer different styles of worship, attitude to tradition, music, how long sermons should be! Maybe we have different attitudes to our sources of authority – Bible, Church, experience and reason – and we will combine them in different ways. We will have different views on politics: Brexit, human sexuality, the environment, Donald Trump But I hope that there is something that we do agree on: And that is that at the heart of our community, and at the centre of our individual life, and our life together, is faith in Jesus Christ, who loved us, was crucified and who rose from the dead. We are Christ-ians. We are the people of Jesus Christ. And we gather because of him, around him and to meet him. And because of that: 1.       We are people who have a shared motive. Paul writes, ‘For...

Matthew 22.34-40 This evening we begin a new series looking at several passages from the Bible about love And today we begin with a really important passage: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and ... love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22.37-40) It is a command that appears in Matthew, Mark and Luke. John doesn't include it, but he does include Jesus saying, ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’ (John 15.12) 1.   Love is the rock on which all the other commandments stand There was a debate between the school of Shammai and Hillel about whether the law could be summarised. A story is told that a man went to Rabbi Shammai and asked him if he could teach him the whole of the law while standing on one leg. The Rabbi smacked him round the face for being so impudent. The man then asked Rabbi Hillel the same question, and Hillel, standing on one leg, said, "Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one...

A sermon preached at Bury St Edmunds' Churches Together Service to mark the beginning of the week of prayer for Christian Unity, January 2017 2 Corinthians 5.14-20 There is something very special about services like this. Opportunity to gather together as Christians from different churches in this town. Although it does remind me of the committee set up to decide what denomination God would be when he returned. The Catholic said he would definitely be Catholic because they were the true church. The Methodist spoke of how he would be Methodist because of the singing. The Baptist said that clearly he would be Baptist because they were so right on believers baptism. And the Anglican after a long silence said, ‘But I don’t really understand why he needs to change?’ Many different things we disagree on: styles of worship, attitude to tradition, liturgy, how long sermons should be! Different attitudes to our sources of authority – Bible, Church, experience and reas...

2 Timothy 3.10-4.5 The second declaration on our vision statement is that we seek to teach the Bible in a way that is relevant to everyday life. I would like to look at the passage that we have had read from 2 Timothy. It is a letter written by Paul, an experienced minister of the gospel, to Timothy, a younger man who is pastor of a church in Ephesus. And our verses today tell us why the Bible, why Scripture, is so important. Of course, we must remember that when Paul speaks to Timothy about ‘Holy Scripture’, he is primarily speaking of what we know as the Old Testament, the first two thirds of our Bible. However, some of the earliest writings of the first apostles had also come to be recognised as ‘Scripture’. So, for instance, Peter writes to a congregation about Paul’s writings. He says, ‘His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures ’ (1 Peter 3.16).  And very quickly the ...

Matthew 2.1-12  At the beginning of this new year, we’re beginning a series of 5 sermons looking at the 5 declarations of our vision statement. You can find those declarations every week on the top of the notice sheet.  And the first is about worship:  ‘We seek to worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit’. And our passage today is appropriate. It is the set passage for the Epiphany. Epiphany means the making known, the revealing, of the truth about Jesus and about God. It tells us of the wise men. They are not kings. They are probably not called Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar. Sorry! We are not even told that there were three of them, although there were three gifts. But this is a passage that teaches us about worship Worship in Matthew is significant. It is what the third, final and climactic temptation is about in Matthew. Jesus is invited to worship the devil, and he replies that we are to worship God...