Category: Sermon
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when temptation comes…
Biblical Text: Matthew 4.1-11 The spiritual life is not a string of mountaintop experiences. Anyone who tells you that is lying or in a cult…or perhaps both. You don’t need to read much scripture to realise this, but it is tempting to believe it nonetheless. Our faith points us to Jesus, the Son of God…
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what would you give?
Biblical Text: Matthew 13.44-52 £15 million pounds. That was the advert I saw from the National Lottery. But this lottery draw was different, because someone was guaranteed to win. Someone in the UK has ended their week £15 million pounds richer. So, let’s try a brief thought experiment. Imagine I have that winning ticket in…
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repentance and rejoicing…
Biblical Text: Nehemiah 8.9-18 On Christmas Day last year I began my sermon by reading the first line of a few different books to see if people could name where they came from. As it went down well I thought I would play a similar game today. I’ll warn you now, this one may not…
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forks in the road…
Biblical Text: Luke 9.57-end There’s a theme throughout the book of Luke, and indeed the gospels as a whole. It’s the invitation to follow Jesus. I say, invitation, but that’s not quite right. Sometimes Jesus invites others to follow, and sometimes others seemingly make the first move. Our reading today has both. Two people say…
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for those that are lost…
Biblical Text: Luke 15.1-10 The verses that we heard this morning, are perhaps not quite as well known as the story, the parable that comes directly afterward. That, of course, is the parable of the prodigal son. But the parables Jesus tells of the lost sheep and the losy coin, and then of the prodigal…
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stepping out in faith…
Biblical Texts: Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 Can’t we all just get along? You’ve probably have heard others say this before…perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time you’ve surely thought it. And there’s certainly a Christian wisdom to this wish. At the start of the Sermon on the…
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the visible image…
Biblical Texts: Colossians 1v15-20; Luke 10v38-end Some documents are foundational to who we are, so important that if we were lose them we’d really be in trouble. Recently my wife was applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, and we spent a lot of time making copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate,…
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go and do this…
Biblical Text: Luke 10v25-37 A man stands up and asks Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What does it say in the law?” Comes the reply. “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind…and your neighbour as yourself,” says the man. “Good…
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small parts of a bigger story
Biblical Texts: Psalm 85v7-11, Luke 1v57-66, 80. YouTube Link (from 15:45 onwards) If I had a display behind me as I preached today, I would put up a picture of a mosaic. If you haven’t seen one before, a mosaic is a picture made up of lots of small pieces of tile or stone. They…
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failure is not terminal
Biblical Text: Luke 41v13 I imagine we’ve all come into a room, or a gathering, maybe a few minutes later than everyone else, only to realise we have no idea what’s going on. There’s already an in-joke, and you are completely lost. Speaking of being lost, I had that experience while watching an episode of…