"gospel" Tagged Sermons (Page 4)
The Real Jesus
Late in the first century it was likely that John was the last remaining Apostle… the last eye-witness to the ministry of Jesus. So when teaching began to rise in the churches that called into question the message of the gospel that John and the other Apostles had proclaimed he responded by writing a letter. This letter still stands as one of the most confident and passionate cases for the certainty of Jesus Christ and the salvation we can have in…
Future Perfection
Last week we saw that while we often fail to reach our resolutions due to our own weakness and failures, there is hope in the gospel. Because the gospel provides full and perfect forgiveness. But what if our failures were not due to our weaknesses or sins… what if our failures were due to the brokenness of the world and the brokenness of people around us? Pastor Joe walks us through John’s vision of the coming Kingdom to show us…
Power for Change
Every year we get past Christmas and suddenly our attention turns to the New Year and everything that we hope it will bring for us. Just about all of us view the 1st of January as a new start… an opportunity to make good. Whether we call them “New Year’s resolutions” or not we all have ambitions for the year to come. But each year we know all too well the crushing feeling of failure. So where in this cycle…
The Rejected God
The story of the crowded inn and the stable has always sat squarely in the middle of the Christmas narrative. We have this picture of Joseph scouring the streets of Bethlehem for a hotel only to find “No Vacancy” signs everywhere. But the reality is that it wouldn’t have been like this at all. Our cliched picture of Christmas has hidden from us another scandal… a scandal that changes everything.
Speaking Peace
As we come to the end of the story of Esther it is vital that we take the time to investigate what the author of this story really wanted us to see. There is no denying that the story contains the central reality of God’s power to work behind the scenes to save His people from destruction. But when you compare the first and last chapters of the story you see that it wasn’t just the future of the people of…
Longing for Justice
Unfortunately we had some difficulties with the sermon audio for this message. You can find a comprehensive set of notes below.
Living Gospel Irony
As the story of Esther has progressed the gap between the characters of Esther and Haman has widened as we have seen Haman’s character deteriorate into evil and Esther’s character flourish in goodness. Well in chapters 5-6 this progression reaches its crescendo. And as we continue to observe these two characters we will learn more about the perils of pride, the courage of patience and the way in which God works through irony in this world.
Our best for the pagans
Living in the western world it isn’t hard to see that society is slipping away from Christian ideals. This creates confusion for many in the church as we seek to know how to engage with this post-Christian world. Looking at the way Mordecai and Esther conduct themselves as we meet them in chapter 2 helps us to wrestle with this question. As we see how Esther walks into what would have been a daunting and even repulsive situation we will…
Preaching the gospel to yourself
As we wrap up our series in Galatians and look at Paul’s passionate final plea to the churches we see once again the stunning freedom of the gospel. Gospel faith is not about trying to get close to God be keeping the requirements of the Law, but about trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But just as we have seen that it is vital that gospel preachers stay true to this one gospel, we need to realise…
Motivation for good
“Good works” get some pretty bad press in the evangelical church. We have this belief that we are saved by grace and not good works and so we are skeptical of any teaching that calls us to good works. I have actually heard ministers say that a person’s works don’t matter at all because that is not what saves them. But just because we are not saved BY our good works doesn’t mean that we weren’t saved FOR good works.…