Category: Sermons

God has always wanted to be our God

March 17, 2024

Bible Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:7-9, John 12:20-33

The title of my message today is, “God has always wanted to be our God”. This phrase is something that has really touched my heart this week as I have reflected on our readings for today. It is something that I have carried with me all week. I have three reflections I want to share.

1. God wants to be our God

Right from the beginning of time when Adam and Eve walked in the garden, we see God wanting to be with us. He walked with them in the cool of the evening the Bible tells us. After the fall when Adam and Eve sinned, God provided a way for them to be right with Him again. They would sacrifice an animal and shed its blood to be a temporary covering for sin. As time went on we see there were sacrifices in the Temple. This was part of the Old Covenant God had with His people.

In the midst of this temporary covering, God was looking forward to a time of the New Covenant. The time when Jesus, His one and only Son, came into the world. The Prophets of the Old Testament spoke about this regularly to the people. And the people looked forward to it with great hope. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

God was looking forward to this time now. When we have His law written on our hearts, and He would be our God and we would be His people. This phrase is recorded 11 times in the Bible. It is first found In Genesis 17 and found lastly in Revelation 21. It is a recurring theme that not only shows His great love for us, but His greatest desire.

2. Jesus is our Perfect High Priest

We see in Old Testament times that once a year, the High Priest would be able to enter the Holy of Holies. No one else could do because it was where the presence of God came to rest on the Ark of the Covenant. Before he could enter though, he had to atone for his own sins. He had to undertake very elaborate rituals and dress perfectly to be just right. He even tied a rope with a bell around himself, so that if he did not properly atone and dropped dead from being unclean in the presence of God, his lifeless body could be dragged out by the other Priests. The High Priest would atone for all the sins of the people, and intercede on their behalf, and God would forgive them. This had to be repeated each year.

In our second reading we see that Jesus was called our Perfect High Priest. Why was He our Perfect High Priest? The reading says, “While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. [8] Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”

Jesus was our Perfect High Priest because He lived a sinless life and He lived in complete and total obedience to the Father. He ran His race perfectly in a way that none of us can. We needed Jesus as our Perfect High Priest, so we could become the people of God- His children. Jesus made a way for this to happen.

3. Jesus had to die, so we can live for eternity

In our last reading we see Jesus uses the image of the wheat and the seed. He says, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. [24] I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels-a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

Jesus is at the time in His earthy ministry when He starts to talk about His coming death. I am sure His disciples did not fully understand what He meant by a kernel of wheat dying and being planted in the soil. But for us, we have the benefit of being on the other side of the cross, we know He was talking about His crucifixion. His death for our sins.

When I was a boy growing up in the 1970s I knew about Easter – Jesus died on Good Friday and He rose to life on Easter Sunday. We got to eat lots of Easter eggs and we got a long weekend off school. But I did not understand why Jesus died and what it had to do with me?! Thankfully, in my early twenties I learned that Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He died to pay the price or took the punishment we all deserved. I then realised that I was a sinner and I needed God’s forgiveness. The truth is we all need God’s forgiveness. We all need to accept what Jesus has done for us. We all need Him as our Lord and Saviour. This is why Jesus came. He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Closing Reflection

Just before I pray I want to take you back to the title of this message and what God has caused me to reflect on this week, “God has always wanted to be our God”. Right throughout the Bible, God has told us that He wants to be our God, and He wants us to be His people. It was His heart way back in the Garden, it has been His heart through the words of the prophets, it has been His heart in the New Testament books.

It is my hope and prayer this week, as we approach Easter, that we will all put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That we will believe that He is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins, and we will all accept Him as our Lord and Saviour this Easter. If you have already done this, it is my hope that you will be closer to Jesus than ever before. May this Easter season be a time of renewal that draws you further in to God’s plans, deeper in to His love and closer to One who died just for you.

Let us pray

Are our sermons too long?

February 29, 2024

Are our sermons too long? As a preacher this is something I have been thinking about for about five years. In the church traditions I have attended for most of the last 30 years, the sermon is placed towards the end of the service and it lasts from 20-30 minutes, sometimes more.

As time goes on I am starting to think that is too long for most people to listen to and take in, especially if there is no real structure to it. When I preach I always have an introduction with a title, a Bible reading, let the people know there is 3-4 points, then close with a summary and prayer.

I always use PowerPoint up on the screen with the main points and verses. Having the main points on the screen helps me to keep focussed when I am listening to others and people have said the same to me.

Something I have been doing lately is listening to a lot of shorter messages called sermonettes or Homilies. They are usually from 2-10 minutes in length and are very concise and to the point.

I am finding I am getting a lot out of these shorter messages. Mostly they share a Bible passage, or it is read by someone else before, and then one or two quick points and have a prayer that calls you to action or reflection.

I know from my website statistics that the sermons that most people download are the ones that are under 10 minutes long. People listen to the longer sermons, but the ones in the sermonettes section are downloaded five times more.

I am not really sure why this is? But I guess it is to do with people being busy and not having much time? It could also be people wanting quick encouragement? Whatever the reason it has got me thinking.

I think on my next sermon I will trim it down to be more like a sermonette or homily and see what feedback I get. I will still use my same format, but aim for ten minutes and see what feedback I get.

I will let you know how it goes.

The child with four amazing titles

December 23, 2023

The title of my Christmas message this year is “The Child with Four Amazing titles”.

Now in the Bible we see that Jesus is given many names. All of these names refer to some aspect of who He is and what He does. He is given names like the King of kings, the Lord of all lords, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life. He is also called the way, the truth and the life.

In today’s Christmas message I want to look at one verse from the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah. This verse was written some 700 years before the first Christmas, but it was written about Jesus. The verse comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.

It says, “For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In this verse the baby Jesus is given four amazing titles. Today, I want to look briefly at these titles.

1) Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor

Wonderful Counselor – what a great title. I don’t know about you, but sometimes in this life I need a wonderful counselor. Like most of us, sometimes I just don’t know what to do and I need help.

One of my favourite memory verses comes from Proverbs 3.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  6 Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 also says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

It is great to know that I can pray to Jesus and ask for His wisdom and His guidance. It is great to know I can call on someone whose thoughts are higher than my thoughts. When I do call on Him in prayer, I find that before long the right path to take opens up.

Not only is prayer a great way to find guidance, but also are Jesus’ words in the Bible. In His famous sermon on the mount we see there are so many great truths contained for everyday life.

A quick scan of the Sermon on the Mount shows us how to have the right attitude to life, how to pray, how to respond when people wrong us, how to live in a marriage relationship, how to use our money and possessions, how to be generous, and how to be a true follower of Jesus.

These are timeless truth for how to live, how to relate to each other and how to relate to God. In fact, when He finished His sermon people were amazed. Matthew 7:28-29 tells us, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, 29 for He taught with real authority–quite unlike their teachers of religious law”.

So not only can we pray and receive direction from our wonderful counselor Jesus, but we can also read His words in the Bible.

2) Jesus is our Mighty God

The second amazing title in this passage is mighty God. In His time on earth Jesus showed His power and glory in the way He lived and interacted with those around Him. Shortly after the sermon on the mount, Jesus moved out into the world and did a number of amazing miracles.

As we saw a few weeks ago, Jesus performed a number of miracles including…

The healing of the man with leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4), healing the Centurion’s slave (Matthew 8:5-13), the calming of the storm (Matthew 8:23-27), healing the  Paralytic man who was brought by his friends (Matthew 9:1-8), Jesus raised the Dead Girl to life (Matthew 9:18-26), Jesus healed the Sick Woman who touched His cloak (Matthew 9:20-22), He healed the Two Blind Men (Matthew 9:27-31), and He drove the demon out of the Mute Man (Matthew 9:32-33).

In performing these miracles Jesus showed that mighty God is a title that sits well on Him. He healed the sick, drove out demons, calmed the storm and He even raised the dead. Jesus showed that He had power that is not of this world. He did things that no mortal man could do. He did things that only God could do.

At times in life when we feel weak and we don’t think we can do the things we need to do, it is great to know that we have Jesus we can call on for help and strength. The Bible tells is we can do all things through Christ who is our strength (Philippians 4:13).

This Christmas we know that help from “Mighty God” is just a prayer away.

3) Jesus is our Everlasting Father

The third title is “Everlasting Father”. This title shows that Jesus is eternal.

John 1:1-4 reminds us that Jesus is eternal. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He existed in the beginning with God.  3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.  4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.

When I first got interested in reading the Bible in my early 20s, I thought that Jesus came into existence when He was born at Christmas time to Mary.

Before long I realise that Jesus was there at the creation of the world. He was there when Adam and Eve were created. He was around when Noah build his ark, He was around when Moses led the people of Egypt to freedom, He was around the great kings and prophets walked the earth in Old Testament times. Then 2000 years ago He walked the earth to show us what God is like, to show us how to live, and ultimately to show us how much He loves us by dying on the cross for our sin. Now He has returned to heaven and He promises to come back for us one day. This is the great hope for all who trust in Jesus for their salvation.

Again, everlasting father is a wonderful title. It helps us to know that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are not just trusting in a baby who grew into a man who walked the earth some 2000 years ago, but we are putting our faith in someone who is eternal and everlasting. And as Colossians 2:9 tells us, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body”.

Everlasting Father is a title that sits well on Jesus.

4) Jesus is our Prince of Peace

The final title in this verse is “Prince of peace”. Another great title that was given to Jesus.

It doesn’t take much to see that the world desperately needs a prince of peace. When we read the newspaper in the morning or watch the nightly news we see peace is needed. At times it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all.

However, when I get troubled by world events like terrorism, wars, floods, earthquakes, famine and the like, I close my eyes prayerfully and think about the prince of peace. The one who came from eternity, was born in a manger at Christmas, lived amongst us and gives us His peace.

There are two great verses that still my heart and mind when I am worried…

In John 14:27 Jesus said these words to His troubled followers when they were afraid, “I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So, don’t be troubled or afraid.”

And in Philippians 4:7, the Apostle Paul who was one of the leaders in the early church said, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Story of Peace

Long ago a man sought the perfect picture of peace. Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally, the great day of judging arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered.

The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.

A mirror-smooth lake reflected a perfect scenery of rolling hills with a perfectly blue sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner.

The man with the vision uncovered the final painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?

A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliff; the crowd could almost feel it’s cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-grey clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a tiny tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls.

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her chicks. With her eyes closed and her wings covering her little ones who were oblivious to the storms, she manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil.

This picture was declared the unanimous winner.

Jesus, as the prince of peace, can give us peace. A true and lasting peace that is not of this world. It is the peace of heaven. If you want to experience true and lasting peace this Christmas, it is found in the prince of peace.

Closing

So, as I close, I want to wish you all a wonderfully happy, safe and blessed Christmas. It is my hope and prayer that this Christmas you will experience the love of the child who grew up to be a Saviour with four amazing titles – the wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father and the prince of peace.

If you have not made your connection with God, I would encourage you to  click on the “Finding Salvation” link to find true and lasting peace this Christmas.

Merry Christ everyone.

Read it out loud and absorb it

July 12, 2023

At my last church I Pastored the Elders understood that some weeks as a Pastor you are really busy with people, extra training, planning or prayer.

In those weeks it was okay for me to just read a passage of Scripture and share a couple of brief thoughts. At first I found this hard, but slowly I realised that while preaching is a key part of a Pastors work, sometimes the best thing I can do is just read out Scripture and let it be absorbed by the people.

This is an example of a passage I might read on those weeks…

Psalm 103:8-18 NLT
[8] The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. [9] He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. [10] He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. [11] For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. [12] He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. [13] The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. [14] For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. [15] Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. [16] The wind blows, and we are gone- as though we had never been here. [17] But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children [18] of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!