Sermons from March 2018
A life that could have been so different (Judas)
What do we make of a guy like Judas? He would have to be one of the most demonised characters in the whole Bible… an example of evil personified! Or is he? In this message Pastor Murray helps us see that in so many ways Judas is a person who is just like us. He was a sinner, who gave in to temptation, then failed Jesus in an act of callous betrayal. But who of us has never been guilty in this way? Judas’s real failure was that he never went to Jesus, even while hanging on the cross, to say “sorry” and ask for His forgiveness, which Jesus would have gladly given. That was the tragedy of his sad life! By the way, is this a moment when you need to say “sorry” for betraying Jesus in some way?
Two blind men, and a few more
There were two groups of blind men before Jesus that day. The physically blind could already see who Jesus was, before he even opened their eyes. But the Pharisees, though they could see, refused to Jesus for who he was. Which one are you? Has Jesus opened your eyes so that you see him for who he is?
Paul’s heartache
Who’d be an apostle? In today’s passage Paul passionately appeals to the Corinthians not to fall for the deception of his opponents in the Corinthian church. They were teaching a false gospel using methods to discredit Paul that were clearly malicious. He ends by exposing them as “deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ”, calls them servants of Satan, and pronounces their final judgement by God. This is some of the strongest language used in any of Paul’s writings. He doesn’t do this to protect his own reputation. He is motivated entirely out of love for them, that they won’t be led astray from Christ. O that church leaders today would be as concerned for their people!