Faith Speaks — Reverend Neil Taylor — Sermon Podcast

Read Luke 16.1-13

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

This gospel text is called "The Parable of the Unjust Steward". If you're not sure what to make of the parable from Luke 16:1-13 take some comfort because I've come across at least four interpretations of the parable that ends somewhere in v. 8

1. The children of the light Christians need to act more shrewdly.

Part of the problem is that terms like "Unrighteous Mammon" and "true riches" are not made very clear, and how are we to make friends with "Unrighteous Mammon" that v. 9 says will welcome us into our eternal homes? But the most vexing question is why the rich man commended his dishonest manager. In this last question, we will hear the faint heartbeat of a challenging message in this passage of scripture.

Read Luke 15.1-10

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

The Pharisees and scribes are grumbling about it: "What is he doing eating with the outcasts and the unimportant?" God intends for his house to be full and for his eternal food to be enjoyed. So God sends his Son to give his life as a ransom for many; the ransom (Jesus) is the one who was sacrificed in our place. The one who lived the life we should have lived: Jesus, our exemplar. Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, personally called the guests to God's heavenly banquet. But the scribes and Pharisees are too much in love with the seats of honour, the ordinary things of this world, their fields, their oxen and their families. They are too much in love with their stuff to care much about heaven, to care much about people with bad reputations. So what does Jesus, our exemplar and the author and finisher of our faith, do? He goes to the roads and lanes to find the poor, the crippled the blind, the lame and the tax collectors and sinners, and he eats with them.

Read Luke 14.24-33

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost, September 4, 2022

The early part of Luke 14 emphasises the redemption and freedom that Jesus brings and the inclusive nature of God’s kingdom. However, those inclusive and redemptive themes should not dull our sense that here in today’s Gospel texts are some hard sayings of Jesus. We would all prefer for the preacher to tell us about God’s covenant loyalty, His redemption, and salvation, but here’s where the rubber meets the road we cannot neglect what is expected from us (his followers) in return. Salvation in Jesus is not merely a transaction, it is a heart relationship, and no relationship lasts without loyal commitments and actions. Because the one who redeems us also calls us into costly discipleship. Jesus’ command to “Follow me” is both a gift and a demand.

Read Luke 14.1-14

Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Why does it make such an eternal difference whom you invite to church? It’s not so much that Sunday morning is all-determining or even that a church meeting is all-determining. It makes an eternal difference because, along with many other occasions, it reveals where our treasure is. Is Jesus, with his commands and promises, more valuable to us than tradition, convenience, and preference? Is Jesus our treasure? Or are the things and pleasures of this world our treasure? That question is not decided by you inviting someone to church—however, you should ask people to church—but by the question: is Jesus your treasure? Which is determined hour by hour and day by day as to whether we are willing to inconvenience ourselves for those who can’t repay or whether we avoid them, and so preserve our placid routine.

Is Jesus our treasure? Or are the things and pleasures of this world our treasure?

Read Luke 13.10-17

Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

Jesus is on the offensive here. He has something he wants to say. He wants to say something about the Sabbath day and what it means to keep it holy. He wants to say something about the synagogue leaders’ hypocrisy; men who water their oxen on the Sabbath but get twisted and bent out of shape at Jesus’ healing. And he has something he wants to say about women and men.

Read Luke 11.1-4

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

The Lord's Prayer is not a set or group of words to be recited. The Lord’s Prayer is a gift of example/pattern/standard. Jesus intended that this pattern would be personalised and retaught by faithful men and women until he returned. When you pray, pray like this.

Let us drill down and unpack together and find out what it means to pray like Jesus prayed. What would that look like in our lives? What should we say? What are the things we should do? 

We’re going to see 5 things that Jesus asks of us as we spend time with God in prayer.

Read Luke 10.38-42

Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

There is nothing complicated about this text. The words are straightforward, and there are no unusual theological problems. Jesus comes to the home. Martha reacts one way and Mary another, and Jesus comments on the difference. That is all there is.

Yet this simple story has confused and sometimes frustrated people. Perhaps because of its simplicity, the urge to take sides is almost irresistible. Which sister was right? Was Martha justified in what she said? Should Mary have done more than sit at Jesus’ feet? And behind those questions are deeper issues involving personal identity, individual preferences and what it means to truly give, and how we can best serve the Lord.

Read Luke 10.25-37

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Do you love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, strength and all your mind? Is your whole person completely focused on God?

“Your religion is what you do with your solitude” – Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944)

What does that mean? William Temple is saying when there are no distractions in your life, when you have time to let your mind wander, where does it go? Does it go the excellences’ that are God? Do you begin to think about the glory of God and His salvation naturally? Or does it go somewhere else? Career; sport; sex; family; money, where ever it goes, William Temple said that’s your religion, that’s your God.

Read Galatians 6.11-18

Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Over the years, I have had this discussion with people many times, and that is how strange and how not so strange it is that the more mature you become as a Christian, the less worthy you feel. It seems strange because the closer you come to Christ, the more his character rubs off on you. But it's not so strange because the closer we get to the real beauty of Christ, the more obvious and uglier our remaining sin appears. So we who are Christ-followers are destined for now to live with a mingling of joy and remorse.

Read Galatians 5.13-14

Third Sunday after Pentecost

God has called us to the freedom of fullness which overflows in love, not to the slavery of emptiness which bites and devours and is never satisfied. In Jesus Christ, God offers us forgiveness daily help and guidance and hope for the greatest future imaginable and it is all free purchased by the death of Jesus received by faith alone. The secret of love is freedom and the secret of freedom is utter confidence in the love of God.