Sermons by Joe Khan (Page 22)
Waiting for Reform
AS we have journeyed through the book of Malachi we might be forgiven for thinking that the entire nation had completely lost the plot when it came to worship… their worship was nothing more than the smooth, clean shell of a rotten egg. But as we finish the text of Malachi we see that there was one small group of people that God listened for… and as we hear their voice and God’s response we will find out why the…
Waiting for a Provider
The people of Israel in Malachi’s day were pretty fickle people. All too easily they chopped and changed between a desire to worship Yahweh and doing whatever they wanted to do. But as we come to today’s passage we see that their fickleness was actually offending God… in fact God describes it as thievery. Join us as Pastor Joe explains how the people could be accused of robbing God and what God does about it.
Waiting for Justice
When we look out at a world full of injustice, oppression and betrayal it is easy for us to wonder where God might be… if God is a God of justice, why is the world such an unjust place? People throughout history have asked this question, many of them have been faithful worshippers of God whose words are recorded for us in Scripture. But when the people of Malachi’s day asked this question, their motives were far from worshipful. As…
Waiting for Commitment
We tend to very easily separate the vertical aspect of our life (where we worship God who is above) from the horizontal aspect (where we relate to people alongside of us). As Malachi continues to uncover the brokenness of the society of his day this week he will touch on the most intimate horizontal relationship the people knew and how their destruction of it was destroying their vertical relationship with God. Divorce causes great sorrow and pain in our society…
Waiting for a Leader
The audio recording failed this Sunday. The following is a transcript of the sermon notes: Malachi 2:1-9 We live in a very sensitive society that is becoming more and more sensitive. We have developed into a people with a very strong culture of unspoken social norms of political correctness and doing everything to avoid offending someone else. In some instances this can be really good because it can protect vulnerable people from bearing the brunt of the insults of the…
Waiting for Worship
Worship is something that is assumed in the church. You turn up on Sunday and you kind of expect it to happen. During the week you open your bible or bow your head in prayer and you think somehow you will feel something. But all too often worship can seem incredibly dry. As we continue to follow the story of God’s people in the book of Malachi, we will see that worship for them was something that looked alive on…
Waiting for Love
This week we begin our Christmas series by looking at the book of Malachi. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and therefore the last prophetic voice before the coming of Jesus at the first Christmas and therefore gives us a unique look at why we needed Christmas. The week we start by looking at the fact that all of us are waiting to be loved by God. The love of God is one of the simplest of…
The Gospel is Victorious
As we come to the end of Acts, we find Paul finally makes it to Rome where he continues to preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. Here Acts leaves Paul, preaching the gospel in Rome, living at his own expense, with the world coming to hear him. Luke finishes his account of the early church here to show us something that is stunning that should grip our hearts and embolden our mission.
The Gospel Seeks Welfare
Many people distance themselves from Christianity because they feel it is a lost cause. In a world that values tolerance and hates narrow-mindedness, Christianity often appears as divisive and bigoted. The Apostle Paul is often viewed as the epitome of this unattractive way of life… single-focused, blunt, divisive, and a trouble-maker. However, in the passage we look at today we see the faith of Paul at work in a way that shatters these misconceptions and we will be challenged to…
A Public Defence of the Gospel
Paul’s decision to return to Jerusalem and go to the Temple to worship thrust him into a set of circumstances that were outside of his control. He was bounced from one official to another as the Romans struggled to know what to do with him. But in this season of captivity Paul is given 3 significant chances to publicly defend the gospel before these various rulers. In this defence we see some truths that can help frame our public defence…