Sermons

God’s ways often look strange to our eyes. But if all He did was predictable, one might start to think He was nothing more than our projection of what a really big man might do. This God of the Bible delights to use odd people and strange situations and surprising plot twists to show the world, He is God and there is no other.

God took His people into the land as promised. They did not avoid the false gods in that land as they promised. In fact, they jumped in to the whole idolatry thing. Why are we so prone to break our promises and devote ourselves to false deities? What appeal do they have? Why do they so easily lure us into their devotion? And what will God do with us when we turn from Him?

We often fail to realize that the problems of the ancient world are essentially our great problems as well. Not so much in the specifics of time and place, as in the inner workings of the heart. The early parts of the book of Judges can seem like a boring rehearsal of mundane geographical ditties to a casual reader, but we are close readers and thus, there is much for us to learn by considering a place like Aijalon or the odd chariot. Judges teaches us all that we NEED a Saviour.

Jesus rose from the dead. Who cares? What difference does it make? Any at all? What difference does it make in the warp and woof of real life? How does it change our relationships or the way we handle our money? Does the resurrection really matter all that much? If we are living lives where we just give in to and accept certain sins, can we really claim to be people who have been saved by a resurrected Lord?

Have you spent much time thinking about God's holiness? Isaiah's life is forever changed when he sees a vision of His Holy God. God's holiness shows us how great God is, how sinful we are, and how much Christ Jesus has done for us.

Do you talk to yourself? Does your self answer? There might be some very important ways for us to talk to ourselves, rather than listen to our mortal enemy. And when we strike up that conversation, we will do our souls well if we point them to God. King David read his Bible and that prompted a conversation with his own soul. Praise God he let us in on it. For we should all speak to ourselves like this.

God in His kindness has given us a lot of instruction about how to follow Him in this world. Central to that sojourn is life in the gathering of fellow Christians. What we refer to as, “The Church.” After unpacking many key features of that life, now is the time to sew it all together and paint a picture of what life under the sun for lovers of the Son looks like.

In Galatians, the Apostle Paul corrects a major issue in the Galatian church—they were running the risk of distorting the gospel by adding to it. But Paul says that gospel addition actually leads to freedom restriction. In the first few verses of his letter, he gives us a preview of the rest of the book: gospel freedom and the one who brings it!