BBC Sermon Cast

The whole mission of the whole church is to take the whole gospel to the whole world for the whole person. This is God’s mission, and we have been commissioned to be on mission for him. Thankfully, his mission in this world is relentlessly advancing and there is no power or government or Satanic scheme that can stop it from covering all the ends of the earth. Habakkuk both promises the ultimate victory of God’s mission and serves as a model for how we should respond to the conditions in the world around us as we carry out his commission.

Zionism is one of the great challenges to gospel advance in South Africa today. Sipho Mfusi has ministered for years among the Zionist people and, in this sermon, he brings some insight, from Mark 12:28–34, into the nature of Zionism and offers some counsel as to how to effectively minister the gospel to Zionists.

The Great Commission demands obedience from Christians and Christian churches, but it can be easy to forget that our obedience should be Christ-centred obedience. It can be easy, in the bustle of church planting ministry, to leave Jesus on the fringes. Karabo Msiza, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rustenburg, offers four important principles to help us keep Jesus at the centre of missions: (1) Show up to meet with Jesus (vv. 16–17); (2) Believe in Jesus’ authority (v. 18); (3) Do all Jesus says (vv. 19–20a); and (4) Have comfort in Jesus’ assurance (v. 20b).

Athi Mgqibelo, pastor of Vaal Reformed Baptist Church in Vereeniging, speaks from Matthew 9:35–10:33 on six necessities for church planting in South Africa. God has called his church to the difficult task of planting churches by preaching the gospel. Faithfulness to this task will require compassion (9:35–36), prayer (9:37–38), calling and sending (10:1–6) and proclamation (10:7–15), might invite persecution (10:16–25), and can only be carried by by reliance on divine sovereignty (10:26–31).

What’s love got to do with it? Well, everything. When it comes to one’s relationship with the Lord and with one another in the local church, love has everything to do with both salvation and service. The major lesson of 1 Corinthians 13 is that the Spirit’s ordinary grace excels extraordinary gifts. We will study this under three headings:

1. The Priority of Love (vv. 1–3)

2. The Personification of Love (vv. 4–7)

3. The Permanence of Love (v. 8a)

When it comes to historical books like Joshua (and also to many of the prophetic books), there are at least three audiences to consider. As we consider these three audiences in Joshua 1:6–9, we find the exhortation to be strong and courageous three times. When this exhortation is considered in light of three audiences, the repetition helps us to see how we can embrace the principles of the text for us today. We find three principles at play:

1. Strong and Courageous to Believe God’s Promises (v. 6)

2. Strong and Courageous to Obey God’s Precepts (vv. 7–8)

3. Strong and Courageous to Enjoy God’s Presence (v. 9)

God’s revelation drives us to a humble acknowledgement of who he is and who we are without him. In Psalm 19, God, through David, offers us self-revelation, which causes us to ascribe greatness to him. We will consider this text under three broad headings:

1. ⁠The General Revelation through God’s Creation (vv. 1–6)

2. ⁠⁠The Specific Revelation through God’s Word (vv. 7–11)

3. ⁠⁠The Response after the Revelation (vv. 12–14)

Ever since the first week of creation, God has been preparing a body in which to dwell and through which to reveal his glory. That body is now the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each member is gifted by Christ, through his Spirit, to contribute in building it up. The Christian is called to body building. Paul addresses this in our passage under three broad themes:

1. An Immersed Body (vv. 12–13)

2. An Interdependent Body (vv. 14–26)

3. An Intentional Body (vv. 27–31)

In Mark 10:28–30, Jesus gives to his disciples, who had left all to follow him. In return, Jesus gave them a wonderful promise about how the church can be a family. In this text, we learn something about what we, as Christians, are called to leave, what we, by his grace receive, and what we provide.

As we continue to zoom in on Africa’s most loved (but, sadly, most abused) Scripture verses, and try, with God’s help, to rightly divide the word of truth, we come to spend time in Jeremiah 29:11, a glorious promise for the people of God when we look at it with eyes of faith. In this study, we aim to clear away some unbiblical flotsam and glory in God’s grace through Jesus Christ.