An extraordinary recent talk from Mike on John 20:19-23: Join the sending love of God.
And if you missed this one from four years ago, listen now: Why Go?
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Tag: sermons
Pigsty Christianity
Sermon audio - Luke 15 LINK NOW WORKING
"Here we have a son devising a speech and a repayment plan to get his life back. And what he is proposing is self-redemption. He wants to stop being a younger brother type and to start being an older brother type. He’s given up on the freedom lark, now he’ll try slaving. But this is NOT the way back to Jesus. The pigsty is NOT the turning point.
So often I hear evangelistic talks and they go something like this: “You’ve made a mess of your life haven’t you? You realize you can’t do life on your own don’t you? Well then come to your senses. Pick yourself up out of the pigsty, make some resolutions to try really hard for God. And return to Him using this prayer that is guaranteed to win God’s favour. You’ll have to promise to behave, and you’ll have to make this speech word perfect which is why I’m going to feed it to you line by line and you can parrot it back.”
Does that sound vaguely familiar as the way the gospel gets taught? But what’s the problem here? Well that would make the younger son into his own Saviour.
But think about those other stories Jesus tells. The lost sheep doesn’t come to its senses and decide to come home and make good! Can you imagine the film "Flossy comes home"? Can you imagine the lost sheep trotting back up the front drive in slow motion, the music swelling, the shepherd on the porch, tears in his eyes??? No! It needs the shepherd to go out and save it IN its lostness. And when the shepherd finds the sheep he can't even trust the sheep to follow him home. He's got to hoist the stupid thing onto his shoulders, so wayward is the sheep. Jesus says we're like sheep. We go astray, we each turn to our own way (Isaiah 53:5). We DON'T come home. That's not our nature. We're like lost sheep who need saving. This younger son is like a sheep, he's not returning to the fold under his own steam. This is not him saving himself. Not even close. The pigsty is not the turning point.
But so much of Christianity is pigsty Christianity. So much is about coming to your senses, resolving to do better, and impressing God with how sorry you are. Pigsty Christianity. It’s filth. That’s not the gospel! The gospel is a running father who embraces, kisses, clothes, honours, celebrates and eats with an evil conniving son, still stinking of pig. That's the gospel."
Read the whole sermon below...
Exodus 1-3 sermon
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Here is a bush that is burning. Burning, but not consumed. And, wonder of wonders, the Angel of the LORD, has come down INTO the bush - into the furnace of His people's affliction.
...That has ALWAYS been His nature. It has always been His nature to COME DOWN, to enter in, to suffer alongside, to suffer at our Head, and to rescue!
Text below... ...continue reading "Exodus 1-3 sermon"
If you are anti-preaching you are anti-Christ
Don't take my word for it, hear the word of the Lord through Rich Owen - my friend in the north.
Preach the Word - 2 Timothy 4:1-8
Jesus Christ – the Hope of the Ages
Before this sermon I wasn't entirely sure about that Paul Blackham fellow.
And then on Christmas Eve 2000, everything changed...
I'm hoping the picture quality will improve over the next 12 hours (it did with my previous uploads).
Download Paul's original sermon here
And here's an older sermon jam I did of Paul's Philippians 3...
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The Five ‘Alone’s of the Reformation: Sermon Series
Here's the text and audio for the five sola sermons. Then a final thought:
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We refocus on these fundamentals not simply as an exercise in doctrinal purity. The point is to rediscover the true God. Because God is the God of the Gospel. To drift from the gospel is to drift from God Himself.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. (Gal 1:6)
When a person ditches the gracious gospel in favour of a different gospel, they ditch God. Because God is the God of the Gospel. Conversely when a person trusts the gracious gospel they aren't just converted to a different way of approaching God, they are converted to a different God.
Therefore the experience of hearing the pure gospel should not just be, "Ohh, so that's how the God-I-always-believed-in saves people, now I'll adjust my methods of attaining salvation."
No. When we hear the gospel, the overwhelming response should be: "Ohh, so that's what God is like. I had Him all wrong."
In the gospel we don't just give people a different way to God. We give them a different God. The God of the Gospel. And that's liberation. It's not the surprise of seeing the-God-we-always-believed-in relating to us via some lovely principles - grace alone and faith alone. It's the earth-shattering shock of looking to the throne and, utterly unexpectedly, seeing that there sits the gracious, trustworthy Gospel-God.
For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their Shepherd; He will lead them to springs of Living Water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Rev 7:17)
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The Five 'Alone's of the Reformation: Sermon Series
Here's the text and audio for the five sola sermons. Then a final thought:
.
We refocus on these fundamentals not simply as an exercise in doctrinal purity. The point is to rediscover the true God. Because God is the God of the Gospel. To drift from the gospel is to drift from God Himself.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. (Gal 1:6)
When a person ditches the gracious gospel in favour of a different gospel, they ditch God. Because God is the God of the Gospel. Conversely when a person trusts the gracious gospel they aren't just converted to a different way of approaching God, they are converted to a different God.
Therefore the experience of hearing the pure gospel should not just be, "Ohh, so that's how the God-I-always-believed-in saves people, now I'll adjust my methods of attaining salvation."
No. When we hear the gospel, the overwhelming response should be: "Ohh, so that's what God is like. I had Him all wrong."
In the gospel we don't just give people a different way to God. We give them a different God. The God of the Gospel. And that's liberation. It's not the surprise of seeing the-God-we-always-believed-in relating to us via some lovely principles - grace alone and faith alone. It's the earth-shattering shock of looking to the throne and, utterly unexpectedly, seeing that there sits the gracious, trustworthy Gospel-God.
For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their Shepherd; He will lead them to springs of Living Water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Rev 7:17)
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God’s Glory Alone sermon
We’re like a little kid coming to God saying “Oooh, salvation, let me have a go!" And like a Good Father, God says, “No, no, put salvation down. Glen, I’ve told you a thousand times, PUT SALVATION DOWN. It’s too big for you. You'll break it and it'll break you.” And we say “Aww but I wanna do it, let me, let me, let me. All the other gods let their people save themselves!!” And our Father says “Yes, but that just shows they’re not really gods are they? Now put salvation down!"
His Grace guarantees His Glory...
...Because His Glory is to give.
Text below...
God's Glory Alone sermon
We’re like a little kid coming to God saying “Oooh, salvation, let me have a go!" And like a Good Father, God says, “No, no, put salvation down. Glen, I’ve told you a thousand times, PUT SALVATION DOWN. It’s too big for you. You'll break it and it'll break you.” And we say “Aww but I wanna do it, let me, let me, let me. All the other gods let their people save themselves!!” And our Father says “Yes, but that just shows they’re not really gods are they? Now put salvation down!"
His Grace guarantees His Glory...
...Because His Glory is to give.
Text below...
Scripture Alone sermon
In our Gospel Alone series we've had:
But how do you get in on this gracious salvation in Christ?
Well faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). Jesus-people must be bible-people.
And we must see the Scriptures as:
confronting
clear and consistent
and
all about Christ
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Text below...