Let the Earth Be Glad

 

A sermon series, preached at Freeschool Court Church, to help the local church understand God's ultimate purpose in salvation and our part in joining with him in that work.

1. Declare His Glory (Psalm 96)
2. Discipling the Nations (Matthew 28:17-20)
3. God's Great Concern (Acts 1:8) (not recorded; ms available on request)
4. Witnesses to the World (Acts 1:8)
5. How God Uses Ordinary People (Acts 11:19-21)
6. How God Builds His Church (Acts 11:22-26)
7. The Church in Action (Acts 11:26b-30)
8. The Church in Action II (Acts 13:1-3)
9. The Honourable Church (3 John)
10. God's Ultimate Purpose (Habakkuk 2:14)

Living by Grace

I just began a new sermon series at our own church - Freeschool Court Church.

My aim is to consider the words of Romans 5:2 in particular and what it means to stand in grace.

As before, I will add links to messages as they come up.

1. How to Have Peace with God (Romans 5:1)

2. The Foundation of Discipleship (Romans 5:2)

3. Rejoicing in Hope (Romans 5:2)

4. Hope in Suffering (Romans 5:3-4)

5. New Life (Romans 6:1-4)

6. New Lifestyle (Romans 6:1-14)

7. Our Spiritual Conflict (Eph 6:10-24)

8. How to Outfox the Devil (2 Cor 2:11)

9. Understanding Spiritual Problems (Mark 12:28-34)

10. Dealing with Spiritual Depression (Psalms 42 & 43)

11. How to Deal with Failure (Romans 6:15-23)

12. How to Handle Doubt (Matt 28:17)

13. Led by the Spirit (Rom 8:12-13)

14. Sons of God (Rom 8:14-17)

The Mystery of Godliness

This is my second series for Freeschool Court church, of which I am an elder. I decided to do a series on godliness, a.k.a. spirituality, after we studied 1 Timothy in our home groups over the past year. Godliness is an important theme of that letter and I felt compelled to explore it further for my own benefit as well as for the benefit of others. The more I meditated on this theme, the more I found in Scripture so that I developed a whole series on it, that frankly could go on a long time! Although I had quite a bit more material that I could have developed on this theme, I decided to bring it to a close with 10 messages. The last thing I would want is for people to get bored of godliness! Better to leave people wanting more.

I have found the writings of Jerry Bridges - especially, The Practice of Godliness - helpful, as well as various writings I have been able to pull off my shelves from over 40 years of buying good books. These include works by J. I. Packer, Thomas Watson, John Owen, Tim Chester (Enjoying God), Iain Hamilton. But mostly I have sought to meditate on Scripture and not try to reproduce what others have said. 

You can click on the links below to access the videos:

10. The Hope of Godliness

9. The Guide to Godliness

8. The Longing of Godliness

7. The Catalyst of Godliness

6. The Soul of Godliness

5. The Key to Godliness

4. The Gateway to Godliness

3. The Promise of Godliness

2. The Pursuit of Godliness

1. The Source of Godliness

The Tie That Binds

With the retirement from our church of our minister, Stephen Clark, I have been doing a fair bit of preaching, which, predictably, has been a challenge and a joy.

I decided to preach a series on fellowship to start with. (I have only preached one other series in my life before - 25 years ago in Nepal!)

I thought it would be helpful for the church at this point in our life together for three reasons: 

1. In a time of transition for the church while we pray and search for a new pastor it is important for us to understand what we are and why we are still a body of believers covenanted together even still;
2. We have been able to meet only on Zoom for months now. What is fellowship when you can't even touch each other and you only get to meet each other virtually? Can we even call our gatherings that when we are not in the same physical space?
3. Our cultural moment - what the Bible calls the 'world' - is one of increasing fragmentation. Everyone is encouraged to do their own thing, be yourself, 'do you'. What are we in this context? How can we swim against the tide and watch out that we don't get pulled downstream instead?

So that is what I have preached on over the last six weeks.

I called the series The Tie That Binds, from the hymn:

Blest be the tie that binds

  Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship our spirit finds

  Is like to that above. 

Before our Father's throne,

  We pour our ardent prayers;

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one--

  Our comforts and our cares. 

We share our mutual woes;

  Our mutual burdens bear;

And often for each other flows

  The sympathizing tear. 

When we asunder part,

  It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

  And hope to meet again. 

This glorious hope revives

Our courage by the way,

While each in expectation lives,

And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil, and pain,

  And sin we shall be free;

And perfect love and oneness reign

  Through all eternity.

If you would like to watch these messages you can follow the links below:

1 Hearts in Christian Love

2 The Fellowship of Kindred Minds

3 Joined in Heart 

4 Like to That Above 

5 This Glorious Hope 

6 We Pour Our Ardent Prayers