Sermons from November 2015

Sermons from November 2015

A hopeless situation

By the end of the book of 1 Samuel, Israel finds itself in a hopeless situation. Saul, the king upon whom they have pinned their hopes, is dead and humiliated, a failure. Israel could now see how hopeless things were apart from God’s intervention. Only once they understood this truth would they able to understand the hope that they had in David, the king in waiting. The Christian life is a little like the history of Israel at this point. In order to know the hope that Jesus brings we must first know the weight of the hopelessness of our situation before God. Our sin means we are distant from God. But there is a great source of hope in Christ. Is he your source of hope?

Our certain hope

The end of Joseph’s life is reminder to us that we can have a certain hope for our future, just as Joseph did. Listen as we conclude our series in Genesis, and be reminded again of why it is that our hope for the future is a sure and certain hope. Do you have a future hope like that?

A Different Kind Of King

Leaders are generally rated by how they perform in a crisis. By this measure, King Saul was a miserable failure. But the king-in-waiting stands in stark contrast. When faced with yet another massive crisis, David showed his true colours by casting himself upon God for strength and guidance. And when God delivered him and his people, he was quick to give all the glory to God and share the rewards with others. Here was a king who would rule for God and under God, and for the good of his people. Compared with Saul the future looked bright. Unfortunately David was not the perfect king that Israel longed for, but 1000 years later that King did come ….. the Lord Jesus Christ. He rules with righteousness and justice, and He gives rather than takes from His people. In fact, He has given His life for them! We all need this King. Is He ruling in your life today?

A King for the Broken-hearted

Jeremiah critiqued many things in the nation of Judah in which he lived. Among them was the kind of society that this idolatrous nation was building. The poor, the widow, the orphan, and the refugee were being overlooked and left vulnerable. Tonight we see Jeremiah bring this theme to the fore and in doing so he reveals something shocking about the heart that was behind these social abuses.

Flirting With The Enemy

Tucked away in the stories of most people’s lives there are usually some details which we wish weren’t there. The heroes of the Bible are no exception …. Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses etc. In today’s message we read one of these chapters in David’s life. After years of faithfully holding on to God while on the run from Saul, he started to lose confidence in God and this led him to lie and compromise his integrity. He deserved God’s judgement. Instead, what God gave him was “amazing grace”. There is more than a bit of David in all of us, and we deserve to have our sins exposed and punished. But God’s grace is for us, too. Because of Jesus we don’t have to live with our guilt. That’s why God sent His only Son into the world …. to free us from our sin and give us a second chance. As you look at the story of your life, do you need to flee to the God of grace today?

The Divine Detour

Some people love to make detailed plans for the future …. marriage, children, career moves, houses, overseas holidays, retirement etc. But how do we cope when the unexpected happens? In today’s message we explore the unexpected circumstances which took Jacob and his family from Canaan down to Egypt, and how God used this detour in a positive way to actually bless this family and their descendants. Ultimately this plan included us through Jacob’s son, Judah. God uses the “detours” of life for our good when we trust Him. Where does God fit into your plans? Much more important than our plans is God’s plan, which is to use all the circumstances of our lives to point us to Jesus Christ, the royal descendant of Judah. Jesus still reigns as King over those who place their hope and trust in Him. Are your plans leading you more and more to Him?

The Medium and the warnings…

Where we turn to in a crisis can tell us a lot about the default state of our hearts. In 1 Samuel 28 we see the sad state of Saul’s heart towards God. His heart had become hard towards the things of God. Listen as Pastor Dave shares some warnings we must heed from Saul’s encounter with the medium in Endor so that our hearts do not become hard towards the things of God.

The God who saves

Listen as we meet Asher, one of Joseph’s brothers. We’ll hear him explain what happened to him and his brothers in Egypt, and how he felt when he realised that God had been at work in everything to save His people.

A leader worth following

Leadership is rather topical these days. Prime Ministers, corporate bosses, football coaches …. they seem to come and go with monotonous regularity! But what should we be looking for in a good leader? Our passage today probes this question as we put David’s leadership under the microscope. Certainly he had many admirable qualities and these shine through. But he wasn’t a perfect leader (as we will find out in a few chapters)! Only Jesus, the humble servant-leader, is truly worth following. So don’t be disillusioned when another human leader let’s you down. Just make sure you’re following Jesus.