Monday Message

Again this week, I'm using one of my old sermons for the message as it has been something I've been brought back to over the last week as I dwell on the idea of grace and adoption. The audio file is available here: Download The new testament comes after 400 years of silence from God. So the start of the new testament must be full of action and drama. Surely it must! But no! Matthew starts with a list. A list! What kind of start is that after 400 years of silence. As if the old testament wasn’t full enough of lists as it is, now we start to new testament with a list. Seriously, It better be a good list. Fortunately, this isn’t just any list. This is a list of Jesus ancestors. All the way from Abraham down to Joseph and Mary. Funnily enough, most of the names on the list are men. In fact, there are only 5 women listed and today’s woman of faith is one of them. Rahab lived in the fortress city of Jericho, near the River Jordan. Despite living in a walled city, Rahab was...

Last Sunday, I presented the message at church. The topic was 'Why did Jesus die?' and the verses were Mark 8:22-33. I struggled a lot in writing the message, but in the end was able to marry the topic and the verses together. The title of the message is: Nothing, Something, Everything. I present the original version below and also provide a link to the audio of the actual delivered message as well because, as we probably all know, what we write and what we say are often a little different. Audio version hosted on West Baptist website. At the end of Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Eric Idle proclaims: "You know, you come from nothing; You're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!" Today I want to look at why that statement just isn't true! Mark 8:22-25 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out...

At it's most basic, covet means to desire, which isn't a bad thing. Where it turns from healthy to dangerous is when what we desire belongs to someone else. Our society demands we consume. We are bombarded by advertising designed to make us desire the latest and greatest thing available. The average expected lifespan of a modern smartphone is about 15 months. Most people wouldn't need a new phone that soon, but they'll probably want one. But why do they want a new phone when their current one still works fine? Marketing; Pure and simple. We are told that our old phone is outdated and doesn't ave the latest software with the best features. It's not just phones, but pretty much everything that we are told we need to replace at regular intervals. A capitalist society requires consumers to consume so that a few at the top, the 1%, can be fabulously wealthy. Unfortunately, if you don't have your wits about you, you'll be drawn in. But how did God...

In this the penultimate week in our series on the Ten Commandments, I'll look at our relationship with those around us; Our neighbours. But who exactly is our neighbour? Is it Jean from next door and Merv from down the street? How big is a neighbourhood and who is in it? Take a look at the video to get a small glimpse of the people in your neighbourhood. Exodus 20:16  “You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. Put simply, tell the truth. Seems easy enough when it's on the page, but how does real life stack up? I think the easiest way to look at this is to start by looking at why we might have a false testimony against our neighbour. This is not an exhaustive list, just the things I could come up with at short notice. Revenge: We feel slighted in some way and have taken it upon ourselves to exact retribution. Should we? Have a look at Romans 12:19 . Spite: They have it better than us and we want to bring them down a peg or two. Again I'll le...

Exodus 20:15 “You must not steal. Well that seems simple enough. I mean, most of us know not to steal. We live in a culture that encourages us to 'Get what you can for yourself'. A self serving attitude to life that blurs the lines of just what stealing really is. I'm sure we'd all put our hands up and say we don't steal. Although... don't look at my iTunes library; Or that folder marked 'Movies'. Other than that... I'm all good. If we were honest with ourselves, how many of us have taken stationery home from work; Or taken the credit for someone else's accomplishment? Do you always give back the extra change you get if the cashier isn't paying attention? I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone. Just trying to get us to really look at how we live our lives and where we draw the line when it comes to right and wrong. Today in church we had a guest speaker who talked about what being a christian meant to him. For him it wa...