Sunday Talks: Recent Episodes
Blackrock Community Church
We are an active community of ordinary people –a local church– who meet regularly to read the bible as we follow Jesus Christ. For many of us, hearing the Bible’s message explained regularly helped us to finally understand who Jesus is, his mission and his relevance.
The grim story of human wickedness in the early chapters of Genesis is suddenly and dramatically pierced by the Lord's words in Genesis 12.
Really? That’s the crafty word spoken in Genesis 3, verse 1. That’s the first word that ruptures the harmony of everything God had made.
From the very start, the Bible tells us firstly that God exists, and secondly, it is all about Him. God - and God alone - created the universe. In this series, we're considering the grand scheme of things. And it doesn’t get much grander than the God who made everything here in Genesis 1.
This new series of messages is called The Grand Scheme of Things. It will take us on a tour through the Bible, God’s Word. The aim is to help us to see more clearly how this book is more than a collection of disconnected stories. We need to understand how God disclosed Himself and His plans in history.
We are starting with this text here in Ephesians 1, because it’s like arriving at the Bible’s south rim (imagine arriving at the Grand Canyon!)
Here we get a panoramic of who God is and what He has done. Today we are going to see a vista of The Plan.
Staying the course as a Christian is not something you can do by yourself. As Paul sets out his vision for these fledgling believers, he urges them to pay close attention to their relationships. Listen in.
Paul describes a stark contrast here in 1 Thessalonians 5. It is between daylight living and night-dark living. And with it he urges Christians to get up and get on with living with Christ.
Something about this time of year that sets our thinking on what's ahead. Behind the smiles and the looking forward, some of us may be running on a supply of hope that's a little bit depleted. The future might feel uncertain because of loss or tragedy that has hit hard in your life, or maybe, some of life has come tumbling in around you. For whatever the reason, hope can be short supply. Even as we look to the future, even at the start of a new term, even for Christians.
As we read between the lines in 1st Thessalonians, this group of Christians appear to have suffered loss of some people very close to them and that has left them running low on hope, worried about the future. So Paul writes this letter to the Thessalonians to encourage in the midst of all of that. It's to teach them, to restore them, to assure hope.
I know how the world is going to end. That's a bold claim, right? The truth is all I know about the end of the world is what Jesus said in Luke 17:20-34. It will end on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. It will be sudden, unmistakable and irreversible. Are you prepared for the Coming Kingdom? For the return of King Jesus?
As we dive into our study of 1 Thessalonians we learn that the bible actually commands Christians to learn self-control and not to be driven by our fleshly desires, but to please God instead. If we don't stay within the guidelines God has given us, the consequences will be severe for us and those around us.
This episode we are looking into Hebrews 12:1-3 where the writer urges Christians to endure in the race, using the picture of an athlete in a race. Telling us believers that, as an athlete, we need self-discipline, encouragement and a singular focus in the Christian race.
We can get a lot of insight as we listen to the apostle Paul explaining his deep concern for this recently planted church. This letter bursts with heart that Christians will not only profess to be Christians but live it out and stay the course, whatever opposition they face, whatever influences are surrounding them. So as we listen to Paul’s heart, here are some insights to help Christians stay the course. Listen in.
As Paul describes his work and conduct in Thessalonica, we get to see what constitutes genuine Christian ministry. Establishing this picture will help us because we sometimes get a bit mixed up about what genuine ministry is and what it is not. Listen in.
This letter to the Thessalonians is one of deep encouragement. Specifically here in chapter 1, there are two weighty encouragements for Christians. Listen in.
The fact that there are so many needs around us mustn’t stop us from recognising (and addressing) the greatest need of people everywhere. Here in Acts 6, Luke describes the priority.
Two names here in Acts 5 are now synonymous with deceit. Reading these names must stop us all in our Blackrock tracks to think about the difference between devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and the opposite: some sort of deceitful pretence.
Acts 4 demonstrates that whenever Christians speak openly about Jesus, they will face significant opposition. The question is this: how will they respond?
Biblical Christianity is about what God has done and only then does it call us to respond. The gospel is not a to-do list. It is like getting the best message through the door of your life that you’ve ever received. Peter explained to the people gathered around him in Acts 3 what their response should be.
If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ, you have a mission. You are called to be one of Christ's Ambassadors. What does this mean?
There is an extraordinary sense of commencement as Peter stands up before the crowd in Acts 2. Peter courageously and comprehensively tells the crowd that this is a new epoch and it is all about Jesus Christ. Listen in.
This part of the Bible is like an instruction over the speakers of your life. It is urging you to consider something very important that needs to be crosschecked.
Acts 2 describes a day in Jerusalem when everything changed. The coming of the Holy Spirit had meant the equipping of Jesus' followers in their commission to take the Gospel to the world. Listen in.
As Luke records three final episodes, he indirectly suggests at least three responses from those who hear about the resurrection. Let’s consider them.
You don’t need me to tell you that the device in your pocket is changing the way you think. Here we consider how to use our phones as we live the real Christian life.
You won’t have been a Christian for very long before you realised that you need to belong to a church. And yet you won’t have been part of that church for very long before you realised that it can be quite tough being properly a part of it. So why bother with the local church?
What is worship? For Christians, worship is a proper, whole-life response to what God has done in sending Jesus Christ. Listen in.
Here’s someone who is reflecting on their life. They see something amazing that is directly linked to their commitment to God’s word. Listen in.
Let’s allow the Lord's firm Word to give us an extraordinary ballast. Like it does every time we stop, open it, actually listen to what it says. Here in this part of Psalm 119, there are two stabilising song-stanzas, each beginning with the word forever.
The bible is showing us that those who’ll follow the Lord can keep their fingers tightly pressed onto God’s word, even in the darkest of times. Listen in to this message from Psalm 119:81-88.
The songwriter gives us a surprising insight here in this part of Psalm 119: affliction may actually serve a good purpose in the lives of God's people. Listen in.
The writer of this song describes what he has learnt from his lived experience. He describes it in two instalments. What has he learned? What is the good life all about?
Christians underestimate their vulnerability to being scammed. What’s so life-changing about the gospel that makes the scam so disastrous? Listen as this message from the entire letter to the Galatians compels us to live and share the life-changing gospel.
Listen closely to the second song Luke records in his opening chapter. Listen to how it meets us in our universal desperate longing for a saviour.
This is a moment when a Christmas song might move you. This one (by Mary) was included as part of Luke’s project to give us certainty about Jesus. Listen in and consider your response.
How will you respond to the arrival of another Christmas? You’ll hear lots of different calls. Luke’s is different; the real call of Christmas is to accept the salvation that Jesus the Saviour offers to you.
John describes the wonder of the Incarnation pointing to the the birth of Jesus as a light shining in the darkness. Remarkably, Jesus' birth offers the gift of a new birth to everyone else. Listen to this Christmas message as you reflect on your own response.
If you are in any way intrigued by Jesus and the radical impact some people seem to testify about, listen carefully to what Jesus said to Nicodemus.
You will see that this is a very practical part of the Bible here in Galatians 5:13-26. One that answers the question: How should we live? How should we live as followers of Christ?
This message from the Bible is for you if you wish you knew how it would feel to be free. As we come to one of the most famous lines in the letter, listen to how Galatians explains and declares that Jesus Christ sets free all those who come to trust in him.
The emotion in the Apostle Paul's voice in this paragraph drives you and me to ask the kind of questions every Christian needs to be asking. Listen in to this message from Galatians 4:12-20.
Studying this letter must raise an awareness of what it means to come to liberating faith in Christ and at the same time warn Christians about the dreadful possibility of turning back to a life of slavery.
Paul explains that everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ alone gets the inheritance God first promised to Abraham. And to prove it, he sets out what is really a short course in biblical history. Listen in.
The questions in Galatians 3 are Paul’s way of shocking his deluded friends back to reality. Who or what has bewitched you? Reading Galatians, take the opportunity to move away from any distortions of the gospel that could have some kind a hold on you – and then move back towards the cross of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is momentous. Like the original recipients, we need to listen as Paul warns against the watering-down of the gospel and highlights the truth of the gospel. That’s where we are headed. A warning and a highlight. Listen in.
Paul describes three stages of his personal testimony in this autobiographical part of the letter. He wants the Christians in Galatia to know that what they had responded to was God's Gospel. Any distortion of this would have tragic consequences.
What has in any way convinced you to drop back or drop out in your Christian living? There are so many different feels-like-gospels calling on you, so which ones are you in-conversation with? Just asking that question underscores the relevance of this NT letter for Christians. Listen here.
Can you see that here in 1 Timothy 4 we have a message to a Christian leader that really sets out a vision for all Christians in our local churches?
The Christians at Ephesus needed to buckle-in. Paul instructs Timothy (1:3) to stay onboard and make some corrective manoeuvres. Listen in as Paul outlines 3 necessary realignments for churches then and now.
In every generation, for every local church committed to proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ – there’s the danger of obscuring the light of the gospel from view. Listen to this first message from 1 Timothy.
The dramatic scene in Exodus 24 brings this section of the book to a climax. Reading the description is like watching back the video of a great and historic ceremony. Here God confirms or ratifies his covenant with his people. We are going to get insight into the relationship between God and his people before reflecting on what this means for us.
This part of Exodus in not just dull case law. Nor is it a set of shockingly controversial rules. The Book of the Covenant was designed to show God’s holy rescued people how to live out their relationships with him and each other and that all of their lives should come under his sovereign rule. How does it apply to Christians? Listen in to find out more.
Why don't you park some of your own ideas about what God is like as you read the 10 Commandments today. Ask the question that this part of the Bible is posing: What is God like?
Why don’t you listen to these messages from Exodus and read it with revelation and relationship in mind? To find out what God is like and how he has revealed himself and how to relate to him. Here we will see the God who reveals himself.
When life has its not-quite-rightness, the writers of the Bible don’t just describe it, they profoundly diagnose it. Rather than just accepting our problems as the norm, they go on to describe a remarkable way out. This is a message that reads differently.
You might have noticed that John, one of the key eyewitnesses of the resurrection, is very clear where he wants us to land. Unapologetically John is presenting his compilation of the events of Jesus' life and death, including his account of the resurrection, so that people like us will believe. Believe and have life in his name. Listen to how he describes the events of the first Easter Sunday morning.
In this final instalment of his letter, Peter launches two countermeasures to help Christians to thwart a potentially devastating campaign. It is a call to:
- Think clearly – with a profound reliance on God’s Word;
- Remember that the Lord will keep his Word;
- Live for Christ now.
The Bible shows us that there will be a calculatedness to the efforts of false teachers among communities of faithful Christians. Carefully considering Peter's analysis of malicious insider antics will provide training for genuine, growing and stable Christians.
Big companies talk about the phenomena of Insider Threats. One of these comes in the form of malicious insiders - people who maliciously sabotage systems because they have grievances, and who decide to expose sensitive data out of revenge. They can do a lot of damage, especially if they go undetected. Peter warns the Christians about this kind of threat in the churches here in 2 Peter 2. Listen in.
Peter realises that those uprooted and carried away as Christians are people who have stopped growing and who have lost confidence in God's Word. His efforts are about rebuilding a robust confidence in that Word of God.
Can you lose your stability as a Christian? Yes, you can. Writing his last letter to the churches, Peter’s aim is about preventing faithful Christians from losing their stability. Listen in.
The Bible raises our awareness of the sly, deadly, and life-breaking nature of adultery. Proverbs 5 serves as a warning. Listen in.
Repetition is needed because people like us are so easily deviated. In Proverbs 4, there are some messages that repeat what we have already been encountering in this book so far. As you listen to what the Bible says again and again, you'll see that you have at least 3 decisions to make.
What is your most valuable possession? God’s word is telling us about the value of God's wisdom: urging us to find it, to value it, to keep our eyes on it, and apply it. The writer of Proverbs presents us with 4 calls to action here. Listen in.
Trust in the Lord. That’s the central message of this text, this book. The Bible itself. The writer begins this chapter with a START HERE! instruction, followed by a call to nurture a life of commitment to the Lord.
Today at the start of a new year, and the start of the next 5 years, God’s Word sits each one of us down for a serious chat.
As we are in the Proverbs, you could probably sum up the message of this serious chat proverbially… a bit like this:
Start a search, find a fear, live the rescue!
In the war for your identity that is being waged, when you are enticed... who will you listen to?
We are part of a world that often says that the worst choices are ok choices. Immersed in that culture, navigating life becomes a real challenge for us. If we are Christians, we will need to learn how to take the best and right course of action. Where does reading Proverbs come in? Listen and find out.
There’s no better time than Christmas Eve to think about your Christmas Reception. In fact, as Matthew describes two receptions from the first Christmas – one in Jerusalem and one in Bethlehem - he’s at the same time getting us to consider our own reception of Jesus.
In December you might well have gone to one of the traditional Christmas 9 Lessons and 9 Carols services. Here are 9 lessons from John 1. Each with the call to believe, and each with the subsequent call to have life in his name.
Lots of Christmases and you'd have no bother telling the story. But why was the baby born?
You might find that your pre-Christmas state of mind provides a really good opportunity to reflect on difference it makes that Almighty God sent Jesus Christ to be born as a man. This remarkable little prayer, Psalm 130, reflects the journey of the writer from despair to new-found freedom. It could even form the basis of your own journey as you take the same route. Have a listen.
We are constantly defined by what we have done and haven’t done. In some ways, it is being do-ers and haven’t doners that is humanity’s greatest problem. Into that mess, the Bible has something extraordinary to say about what God has done. Listen in.
Matthew moves his gospel account into a new section at the end of Chapter 9. As he does so, he underlines that Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan to provide a New Shepherd for his people. You have an opportunity as you read Matthew to be reminded of (or introduced to) Jesus’ deep compassion for people just like us. Though this reminder, before very long, issues in a challenge. Listen in.
How does Matthew’s descriptions of Jesus’ interactions with people help me understand who he is? Help me decide how I’ll respond to him? Help reframe my current circumstances? Ask those questions as you listen in and read Matthew 9.
Jesus’ radical mission wasn’t about fitting into religion or even inventing a whole new one. An accusation against Jesus’ followers becomes the opportunity for him to declare the extraordinary way that he himself came to redefine and fulfil religion and to do something remarkably NEW.
There are countless debates about Jesus' mission just as there are disagreements about the fundamental human problem. A lot of times many people attempt to fit Jesus into their own scheme of things. Yet the Bible explains that Jesus came to forgive sin and transform sinners. That was his radical mission.
Do you like confrontation? For Matthew, getting at and showing who the real Jesus is will be the way to get at your response to him. What sort of man is this? And how should we deal with his confrontation? Listen in.
With just one simple touch – quite suddenly, I’m a follower! What sort of follower are you where Jesus is concerned? It is no exaggeration to say that Jesus is confronting us with the kind of following he is after. Listen to what he says in Matthew 8:18-22.
Is it possible that your impression of Jesus is just not quite right? As Matthew’s gospel account moves into new territory here in chapter 8-10, he’s going to demonstrate that Jesus’ powerful teaching is matched by his powerful action. Listen in.
"One small change" thinking works with something like healthy eating – switch out white bread for wholegrain. Jesus is saying something a lot more radical; not one small change, instead, he's describing a two-ways choice for those who follow him.
Imagine a scenario where you having been following Jesus, but then suddenly go off-grid. You start to live, not with a dependency on his directions, but with an attitude of rogue self-direction. Could you be vulnerable to that kind of Christianity? Jesus appears to think so as he warns his follows of two dangers before gently urging them to restore their lines of dependency on him.
If you are a follower of Christ, you have a radical calling to reach out to the world with the message of new life in Christ! It’s time, Paul says. Allow the fact that Christ is Lord and Christ is your life to reshape all the relationships with other Christians and in the family… but don’t stop there… reach out to the people around you with the message of this new life in Christ!
Paul explains that relationships in the family and beyond it are to be transformed when people become Christ followers: Christ is your life. Christ is your Lord. The instructions he gives are framed by the overlay: You are serving the Lord Christ. So what does this mean? Find out in this next message in the Colossians series.
If you are a Christian, did you know that - just like the Christians in the fledgling church at Colossae - you have landed at an extraordinary new destination? One that’s radically different from your old one. Find out the implications of this as you listen to this message from Colossians 3.
Location matters! Whatever it was like to live in their location, at Colossae, the people Paul was writing to were faithful Christians. So they were located in Christ (1v2). That meant that whatever their circumstances, they had already been powerfully relocated somewhere of incalculable privilege. Paul wanted them to truly get to grips with their transformation and transfer as Christians. Listen to find out how a growing understanding of the gospel helps Christians navigate a world where there are so many ideas and philosophies vying for allegiance.
This chapter in God’s Word is about dealing comprehensively with sin. It is a sobering prompt to respond to the seriousness of faithlessness. Still, Ezra, at the end of this book, leaves us wondering if there’s a better solution, a more comprehensive answer to sin that people seem so doomed to repeat. Watch as he points us in that stunning direction.
Can you remember a time when studying the bible provoked you? Less than half a year in, we read that reform was stirring in the leaders as Ezra redirected them to God's laws. Central to this reform was understanding sin's destructiveness and God's character. Will we learn about sin and respond to God's gracious move towards us? Listen in!
In this message, tracing the good hand of God on his people as Ezra led his reform movement, we must let ourselves comprehend the bonanza of the good hand of God on us through Jesus Christ! And listen out for the way in which Ezra seeks after God. His approach to God says a lot.
How will all this work of restoration get done? Listen to how this second part of the book of Ezra (from Chapter 7) repeats God’s definitive answer to this question in Ezra’s day.
As we explore the context of Ezra’s life and work among the people of God, and importantly the way he foreshadows Christ, there is a very direct challenge being issued to us too. Listen in.
Listen to this song from the book of Psalms. A cry to the Lord leads to an amazing gift of redemption.
The state of humanity may be “significantly more alarming” than you ever realised. What exactly is the biblical diagnosis? After his report on this, Paul explains how some extraordinary intervention has potential to bring people from death to life. Listen to find out more.
The writer of Ezra suddenly brings us from over a decade of paralysis to a new beginning, a rebuilding restart. How does this restart come about? Listen in to hear how restarts in God's work begin, how they are sustained and how they are resourced.
God’s work is always opposed. We’ll be looking closely at some of the history of that opposition in this time of rebuilding the temple, Ezra 4. The writer seems to want us to realise that this was no blip in history. God’s work will always face opposition. We aren’t supposed to minimise it, but to study it closely. Listen too for the echoes of the opposition faced by Jesus Christ.
Reading Ezra 3, we are struck with the priority of the people: they build an altar before they build a temple. But why? In this message you will see God's people recognising their greatest need and the Bible's unmistakable signposting towards God's ultimate solution to the human sin problem: Jesus Christ.
The historian in me has always been really fascinated by lists of people. But what about the lists of people and places in Ezra 2? I hope we’ll see from Ezra Chapter 2 that it is well worth taking the time to read through them. Here are all the people who obeyed God. People who wanted to get things right where God and worship are concerned. This list is important because these are the people who said count me in. These people with their clear priorities should have an impact on us too. Listen in.
God’s sovereignty can never be toggled to the off-position! God’s word from Ezra chapter 1 directs our attention to the Lord’s sovereign hand at work. It is the sovereign hand of the Lord that brings restoration to His people. The Lord is in control. Listen in to hear more.
If you are a Christian, you’ve received an envelope containing a new life-mission. The purposes and aims of your life are re-directed! We can see how Matthew plainly connects the resurrection with this new, life-defining mission. At the end of Matthew's gospel, there’s a nudge from Matthew to read our new mission and come to terms with it. Listen in as you open yours.
Down through history, even when they set their minds against Christianity, people have found themselves confronted by the facts of the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew ends his gospel with a presentation of these facts. Then he does something else. Matthew shows how the resurrection of Jesus Christ compels us. Listen to this message from the last short chapter of Matthew's gospel.
Whether you are story consumer or a story maker, what do you think of the story of the events in the run up to the first Easter? What Matthew has recorded and compiled wasn’t designed for quite the same type of story consumption we’re used to. And there are clues in his text about what he wanted us to do with what’s in front of us. This story is different. Listen in to find out why.
Jesus confronts us here in Matthew about where we are investing our worries. As catchy as the tune is, Hakuna Matata is no biblical philosophy. Simply living with a “no worries” approach doesn’t square with life as a Christian. In this whole area of "worries," Jesus sets out two things we will be considering in this talk:aA principle for followers of Jesus and a pursuit for followers of Jesus
The Bible says that we are all investors. With whatever amount of money and resources we have, we are all investors. Just after as Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of showing off in how we give or pray or fast as his followers… he poses a series of questions aimed at challenging and teaching and warning investors like you and me. Three questions here - listen in!
Prayer. It isn’t some religious spectacle. It’s a heart-cry. Listen as we consider Jesus' model prayer and specifically where he invites his followers to pray our needs.
The words of this prayer have probably been repeated meaninglessly more than any other prayer in history. It is ironic given that Jesus tells his followers not to pray like that. Here in Blackrock why don’t we move away from that sad irony? As you listen in, come and consider how we should pray as genuine Christ-followers!
There’s a kind of religion that is all to do with doing good things to be seen doing them. And there’s – sadly – a very common form of Christianity of this kind too. That Jesus should speak so directly to his followers about it should alert us that anyone who is a Christian is susceptible. Listen to hear what Jesus says about religious practice and our motivations.
Jesus calls his followers to resemble their father, God himself. This means more than mere transactional love for the people who love us back. Will you love your enemies? This is the way Jesus loved... all the way to the cross, to save us, enemies, from our sins. Listen in to this message from Blackrock Community Church on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus wants his followers to do more than wear the badge of truthfulness. As he takes charge of our lives, as we follow him, the king, he wants us to go beyond the surface to heart-level commitment to truth. Listen to this message exploring the next part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
As Jesus teaches about what it means to follow him he moves in a different direction than his contemporaries or culture around us. Listen to what he is teaching in the realm of sex, lust and divorce. Will you follow his direction?
We are very used to being individuals who live independent lives. So where does church fit in? We are going to see that, Biblically speaking, the church is central. We’ll look briefly at some of what the Bible teaches on the church, culminating in Paul’s description in the middle of Ephesians 3.
It is always good to be thinking in terms of a biblical audit of how we are getting on as a local church. Paul challenged the Christians who made up the local church at Ephesus by giving them a description of what local churches should look like. Not just individuals, but as the people, who make up the church. What should the local church look like? And the surprise here is that the measure of a growing, maturing church is not just whether it’s teaching is biblically sound but whether or not the people are responding. Listen and find out more.
What if, as Christians with new identities in Christ we had a new community to belong to? Well, the remarkable truth is that we do! And it’s described here in Peter’s letter to Christians who were feeling cut-off and under pressure in hostile circumstances. If you are a Christian, you’re not just a new individual with a new hope… the bible sketches out that you’re part of a new building with the Lord Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.
Why don't you take the Shepherd’s approach to Christmas this year? What is this Shepherd’s approach and how will you take it? Come and consider Luke’s description of the first Christmas to find out.
This was no smooth accession. No seamless transition from one regime to the next. Matthew has announced that Jesus Christ’s is a profoundly radical and new regime. There’s been a fundamental shift! It’s a new era! This is the Kingdom of heaven, it’s norms revealed in the sermon on the mount, and so the King – Jesus Christ, made his way to the teacher’s podium and opened his mouth and taught them (5:2). As he teaches, there’s a passionate call for people like us to listen carefully and respond rightly. But as Jesus unveils his teaching there are 2 questions we need to consider. Listen in...
Millions of us have sent our DNA off to specialist laboratories for analysis – desperately looking for clues about our identity. As well as being citizens of Christ's Kingdom, what else does the gospel according to Matthew reveal about the identity of Christian disciples? Here are two distinctive markers for Christian disciples as we open up the Bible’s analysis from Jesus Christ about who we are.
Officials here in Ireland have tried to communicate this sad message recently: "If you arrive here with nothing, we’re sorry, but you’ll have nowhere to go." Don’t you long for a better place? The good news, from Matthew, is that for people who come to realise their spiritual poverty, that they have nothing, there is a better place: a whole new Kingdom, under Jesus Christ the King. When people get to the shores of His new kingdom, carrying nothing, amazingly, He not only welcomes them but he offers them everything. Listen to find out more.
Have you ever had the experience of seeing your understanding of something completely overturned? For years you might have had a very settled way of thinking about something, and then it changed completely. In Matthew 5 it can sound like Jesus is setting out the visa requirements for entry into his kingdom. But, instead it’s the complete opposite. Listen in to find out more.
People might think that if you are a Christian, it’s like a you have a kind-of really super-involved hobby. But that's not it. Matthew traces the powerful link between Jesus Christ’s unmistakable authority and the compelling way people respond to him. What about you? Perhaps there is some real-time responding to be done in your life and understanding where Jesus is concerned. Will you take a step of commitment?
Even as people can talk quite rightly about “my faith,” Matthew invites us to recognise that Jesus came as the king for all people, not just a few. And to consider the full implications of that. Here we see how Matthew describes the dawn of something big in Galilee.
Matthew wants us to see the victory of Jesus Christ in his toughest of tests. Against the mockery of the world, and the repeated failures of God’s son Israel, Matthew urges us to see Jesus’ spectacular triumph. This message from the Bible, should stabilise us. It can strengthen your trust in the one who despite his hunger, proved his resolve not to serve himself but to serve God alone.
Matthew will have us consider a king like no other before or after him. A king not to marvel at in terms of historic events, but a servant king who sets out on a remarkable, planned course to save his people from their sins. And that includes people like us. The right response is not a gesture of acknowledgment but something much, much deeper.
Matthew records the Bible’s urgent and repeated message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Every time I have sat, as you are now, listening to it read out and explained, there’s a urgent, necessary, God-spoken force applied to our lives. The obvious question is: how will you respond?
What Matthew’s describing with the arrival of Jesus Christ is on an extraordinary scale of putting things right. It’s about the rescue of broken, disoriented people from the root of their deepest problems: sin. Sin that has distorted and disrupted everything. Until an arrival that changes things.
We don’t know exactly what Matthew is doing with the list he starts his account with. But here’s what we do know: It marks the start of a spectacular piece of writing. Matthew is part of God’s revelation to us, Gospel. In it Matthew describes God’s long-awaited, yet long-delayed plans to save people from their sins (1:21).
This summer, men from Blackrock Community Church teach from Paul's second letter to Timothy.
This summer, men from Blackrock Community Church teach from Paul's second letter to Timothy.
This week we welcome back Oz Muwaniri from our sister church - Ballycullen Community Church to examine 1 Peter 2:1-12.
This week Tim Houston current student at the Irish Baptist College shares with us from Ephesians 3:14-19.
This weeks sermon continuing in Mark - Apologies for the missing few verses of the reading this week - small technical glitch!
Part of our human condition is a tendency to make up our minds and then become quite resistant to any movement from those settled ideas. Having settled categories for understanding the world can be helpful, but they can sometimes get in the way, too.
Rightly understanding who Jesus is requires moving away from previous judgements we may have settled on.
And Mark forces us to do that. As he simply presents the historical events, he’s also perceptively and deliberately prompting us to do something. Because these aren’t just stories. Mark prompts us to do more than just raise our eyebrows, close the book and say, that was interesting. No. The prompt here is to move.
If you were at the shops yesterday they were handing out free samples of a new energy drink. You’ll have noticed the shelves in shop refrigerator cabinets increasingly packed with these over the last few years. People are looking for and willing to buy liquids that’ll fix their weariness.
But what about Christian weariness? What’s the answer to that when it sets in? In our Bible reading today, the writer is specifically addressing the weariness felt by Christians who were on the receiving end of opposition for being a Christian. They felt like giving up. And you’ll have noticed that the bible doesn’t prescribe some specially formulated liquid.
For the next few minutes I’d like us all to hear what the writer to the Hebrews counsels for Christians on the receiving end of harassment for being a follower of Jesus.
When extraordinary events take place, we tend to look for evidence. On the morning of 24 February the news media hurried to present us with evidence and confirm the reports of the invasion of Ukraine underway. Soon eyewitness reports and pictures and videos were filed and the facts corroborated.
People are sceptical. People have always been sceptical.
Those who recorded the final chapters of Jesus’ life on earth – like Mark – were deliberate and even meticulous as they complied and presented the evidence. They seem to have resolved to meet sceptical people like us with confirmed reports and eyewitness testimony.
And today , on Easter Sunday, there are at least three reasons why it is worth examining this evidence again.
Personally I don’t know anyone who, after training for a marathon, started running when the big day came – and then failed to finish.
Sadly I do know many people who, having started the marathon of the Christian life, have since dropped out.
Reading Hebrews, I think the writer probably has his own experiences – like us – of people who were running but have now stopped. Which is why he speaks very directly here to those who may have slowed to a walk. The reality of running a marathon is that even experienced runners, those in mile 22 and 23 and 24… are still not immune from giving up and failing to finish.
And so the appeal to Christians: Run on!
When we faced the threat of Covid 19 Pandemic there was the repeated messages: wash your hands, keep your distance, wear your mask, self-isolate if you have symptoms. The goal of all this? Well it was to change our behaviour and so help our health system cope through the emergency.
What’s the writer to the Hebrews’ goal with his repeated message in Chapter 11? By faith is repeated 20 times from the end of chapter 10. It’s certainly not just to have us look at the hall of faith. What is it then?
We are taking a second look at this powerful section from Hebrews 10 this weekend.
In it, the writer to the Hebrews issues one of the severest warnings to Christians, quickly accompanied by his sincere reminder, and then came that prompt to look forward to the future. Keep going so that you may receive what is promised (36). Live by faith. In the meantime, live by faith.
Eventually, the writer says this, v39
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
There’s confidence in the writer as he writes, we are not of those who shrink back. But the severity of the warning, the urgency of the call to keep going looking back, looking forward shows us very plainly that every Christian has a decision to make. Here’s the very practical question I’d like us to consider today.
How.
How will I keep going?
When the reality is that some will turn away from Christ or shrink back towards destruction, how will we be those who keep going, those who have faith and preserve their souls?
Embedded in the text of this letter, here are four very practical things to think through...
If you are a Christian, you’ll hear both these calls from the last part of Hebrews 10 as the writer urges Christians never to give up!
- Remember all you’ve endured, if you quit now it’s all been a waste
- Look forward to all you stand to gain if you just keep going!
There’s also a third element the writer weaves into his call to keep going as a Christian. And that’s:
- A severe warning in verses 26-31.
A warning that, as we are going to see, has some very serious language. Language that is designed to alert Christians like the first recipients and Christians like us in Blackrock to the reality giving up confronts us with. Giving up has dire eternal implications.
So then, in combination with a sincere reminder of all they’ve endured so far and the future-orientated prompt to look forward to what they stand to gain by keeping going, comes this severe warning. All this adds up to what is a very powerful call to persevere as a Christian.
Andrew from our sister church, Ballycullen Community Church, joins us this week to open up Psalm 121 with us.
Did you ever think about the fact that the Bible makes a really big deal about something we tend not to want to talk about much?
Sin.
The Bible’s urgent diagnosis of you and me is a deep-seated, fatal, constant sin issue. Sin is no minor issue as far as the Bible is concerned. As far as God is concerned. Sin stains and sin destroys and sin separation us from God who is holy.
You might be sceptical of this diagnosis. To which the Bible asks you to rethink that scepticism and challenges you to consider if this scepticism is a blind spot. On the other hand you might be a Christian who concedes the sin problem, yes, but at the personal level -day to day - you’re turning a blind eye to it, minimising it, scrambling to contain it, or just living with it.
The writer, in comparing the old covenant religious ritual with new covenant sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ… brings us to appreciate not just how serious the problem of sin is… but how amazingly powerful and liberating and redemptive was Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This clarity gives us the confidence to get real about sin again. Moves us away from religion and back to the cross.
We’ve had a mortgage with the bank for some years now and I started to wonder if it really was the best deal in terms of rates and repayments – so I filled out the online form requesting more info and pressed submit. A few days later I received a phone call from one of their employees. But it ended up being a very short phone call, because, as she explained, we already had the best deal. Better than anything else they or any other bank could provide for us.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Well, the answer was already out there in our 20 second conversation… no! We already had the best deal!
Since that conversation, though, I have like never before started to appreciate once again that great deal, the best deal – a deal that the passage of time might have made me undervalue.
The writer to the Hebrews is on the phone to us, just now - like he was on to the original recipients of the letter in the first century. And he’s assuring long-time Christians that with Jesus, we are on the best deal. And as he explains it, you know what this has the potential to do for you and me? It can provides us with something new. A fresh appreciation of something we probably knew at one time, a deepening appreciation that could be the catalyst for your growth and perseverance as a Christian.
As the announcements came in on Friday that the government would finally lift most pandemic restrictions, one of the comments I heard on radio really struck me. Go live your lives – said one of the government ministers – urging people to enjoy their new freedoms. The old system of restrictions is gone, so go and live your lives. I was deep in Hebrews 7 at the time, thinking about the message from God’s word to us in Blackrock. What we’ll see today, is that the writer to the Hebrews is making a similar kind of instruction.
He’s urging a group of Christians to allow the reality of their new situation sink in – and therefore to live out their lives in light of it.
And yet there’s a huge difference between Friday’s announcements and Hebrews chapter 7. As we have heard all along the lifting of restrictions is no guarantee that there won’t be a need for further restrictions in the future. But Hebrews tells us that the arrival of Jesus Christ brought in for God’s people a better hope, an eternal, forever hope.
We might just be facing the perfect storm in 2022. I’m not talking weather events like storm Barra. Instead, I’m suggesting metaphorically that the cultural revolution that has engulfed us at full force these last ten years coupled with the pandemic-exhaustion that’s literally surging through our national and personal psyche has left Christians struggling. Now you add in the hard things going on personally, in your own life. A perfect storm. Thousands of Christians in churches like ours across the country and across the world, those who are still gathering, are standing on the precipice of despair. We live in faith-testing times. It feels to me – and this is likely your experience too – that society around us has lost patience with Christians and their biblical truth claims. The question is: will you and I lose hope?
This year when we’ll all have the opportunities to make small, daily presentations to friends and family and the people we work with, so these four words will be the slogan that points us to that which is of first importance. A slogan that urges us and those we know to take the journey that leads to life - We preach Christ crucified.
The run up to Christmas this year has left us a bit weary.
It’s been less dashing through the snow and a bit more dashing of our hopes. Less frosty the snowman, more NPHET the no-man. Are your nerves jingled, are your tempers jangled?
Perhaps it’s this current weary context - coupled with the stuff about life that’s routinely distressing – that brings us here longing, hoping, craving to be reminded of real Christmas good news. That’s my role today.
Please don’t be so familiar with it that fails to salve your weariness.
Remember that when Matthew wrote … his book was breaking into 400 years of weariness. With the announcement that God was making his long-promised arrival. Jesus Christ. And this arrival would be unlike other turning points in history. Jesus Christ was Immanuel: God with us.
Oz from our sister church, Ballycullen Community Church, joins us again this week to open up Psalm 56 with us.
The first in our Christmas Series - Emmanuel: God With Us.
When is the last time you got into a panic? You might have forgotten a deadline or missed your bus, or ran late for an appointment. You might have been late to pick up the children from school – that happened to me this week. Yet, when panic strikes at a deeper level – at the level of what you could call spiritual panic – Christians have a decision to make. Trust God whose enduring promises we read and know and believe in and rally to – or simply, if quietly, refuse to trust God and set about, well, sorting myself out. Trust God or refuse to trust God. Again and again the Bible pleads with us to have faith not in our own plans, but in the sovereign Lord.
This week Oz Muwaniri, from our sister church - Ballycullen Community Church, joins us in asking the question How Do We Hear? as he digs into Luke 8 and the Parable of the Soils.
The image this week was really shocking, if you saw it... the foreign minister from the Pacific island of Tuvalu was dressed in his best suit, but there he was, standing knee deep in seawater as he spoke a video message to the COP26 conference in Scotland. His point was that rising sea levels are threatening his people’s very existence. That’s the power of a negative example for you. And the writer to the Hebrews is, metaphorically speaking, rolling up his trouser legs and walking out into the rising seawater to record his stark warning to Christians. The confrontation about apostasy that he started in 5:11 continues now with perhaps the severest warning on the pages of the New Testament. Basically it’s a stark warning about the genuineness of those who say they follow Christ. And so the question for you and me: How genuine is your faith in Christ? The text here comes in two halves.
Richard Philips, in his book on Hebrews describes how people feel when a preacher starts to get a bit more personal than they would prefer. When he speaks in general terms, he is, of course preaching – and that’s fine... but when he starts tackling real sin and stuff going on in their lives – that is not preaching but meddling. The writer to the Hebrews here in chapters 5 and 6 is definitely not just preaching, he’s meddling. The text from 5:11-6:3 is the start of one of the most severe warnings in the Bible. And it deliberately breaks into a section of Hebrews that’s started to consider the theme of Jesus as the Great High priest from the end of chapter 4/start of chapter 5. What’s the reason for the meddling? The editor of the ESV puts it at the head of this section: Warning against Apostasy. Apostacy is when someone who once seemed to be a Christian believer later decides to totally reject Christ and move away from sound gospel truth and stops going to church.
This week Tom Campbell, Associate Pastor of Amazing Grace Community Church in Skibbereen, West Cork teaches from Matthew 25:1-13 and the need to be ready for Christ's return.
This week, Matthew Campbell, Director of Baptist Youth, joins us and shares from Romans 8, unpacking how God has told us as his children the end of the story - Jesus wins and how that radically transforms our perspective.
What do we do when we feel like giving up? Enduring as a Christian means we need to get to grips with who Christ is and as we've seen so far in Hebrews there is a read danger of giving up, we need to hold on to the Son of God. The writer to the Hebrews shows us that we need to understand Jesus' high priestly ministry. Hold on to Jesus - Your Great High Priest.
The author to the Hebrews invites, the Christians in the 1st century and us to reinstate the true image of Jesus Christ in our understanding. For years grim or tarnish or a lack of biblical teaching, beyond surface level and even the pull of cultural profanity where Jesus is concerned, they have left us with a botched image of who Jesus is and what he's done The author of Hebrews knows well that encouraging readers to reinstate Jesus, the Son of God, in their understanding will have a deep impact on whether they will endure as Christians.
Today is decision day.
That might not be how you feel right now. But it’s the repeated message of the writer of Hebrews. The message to the Christians in the first century, and to us as we read the Bibles open in front of us. Hearing his voice, the Bible – God’s powerful word read out and taught, proclaimed… today is decision day. And if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Visiting speaker, Mark Ellis - Director of Christian Unions Ireland (CUI) shares with us from Exodus 15, where Israel seem to have lost sight of their past and God's salvation from Egypt, and they can't see there future - they are fixed on their present. They are in the widerness, where things are tough, and it's not long before they start to grumble amongst each other. They take their problems horizontally when they should have taken them vertically to God, because it's only Him who turns the bitter sweet.
You’re under fire. You’re tired. A lot of things have changed in your life during the past 18 months or so. But, like to the recipients of this powerful letter in the 1st century, God’s word via this spokesman is to stay faithful to Christ.
I think you’d agree that life as a Christian is a bit like a journey with the maps app activated on your phone. You are headed forward, towards Christ, the direction he’s called you in. And then the voice starts up. It tells you to turn left, turn left, turn left. But yet, you know the way is forward. You stick to the route. And then it comes again, the voice: make a U-turn. But again, you know that you must keep going forward.
So the question is, next time the voice makes a divergent suggestion, how are you going stay on the road towards Christ? How will you stay faithful to Christ on the road ahead this week, this year?
One of the saddest things we can say about people is that most live without hope. There is a craving for hope in our world which we see in how often themes of hope are depicted in movies and stories. But God has spoken loudly and clearly through His Son - He became one of us to rescue us. God's supreme Son is the one who lived among us, identified with us and died for us. Do you see him?
In the letter to the Hebrews there are a series of warnings and in verse 1:5-2:4 the first one is introduced to the reader - We are going to see a strong call to personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Today, the loudest call today is to live your own way, to do what you want- if that's where you are headed - this message is going to hit hard as this passage calls us to something better - to someone better - Jesus Christ.
In our new series we open up the letter to the Hebrews and consider the words of exhortation the author gives to people who are in danger of drifting away from the Lord - to the people who are facing persecution, to the people who are actively rebelling against God and to the people who have fallen away because they are tired and weary.
This letter is a brief word of advice - in it the author tackles these three reasons for falling away - persecution; rebellion; weariness. It's a passionate biblical plea to keep going as a Christian - to direct your gaze to the person, work and status of Jesus Christ. Watch how the Bible reminds us that Jesus is better.
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
For the next number of weeks join us in digging into Psalm 119 as over the summer months some of the men from BCC open up God's Word for us!
Everyone sings. With mixed results in terms of the sound made, but we all sing something. Christians sing, specifically speaking, because God has made his people sing. The gospel we sing about is that God has rescued sinful, treacherous people like you and me from punishment and hell and given us his underserved grace: eternal life, freedom from sin and death – through the atoning sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
But… I got a shock as I read the lyrics of this song from Exodus.
By way of context, the people of Israel had just crossed the Red Sea and witnessed the (14:31) great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians… The writer explains the impact this had on them… so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord. And then he wrote the final instalment of this part of Exodus in chapter 15:1-21.
These events - from the time you first heard about them - leave an extraordinary imprint on your mind’s eye. Walls of water, the Red Sea parted, miraculously the people of Israel walking through on dry ground. Followed by the clogged chariot wheels and then the final, terrible destruction of their Egyptian oppressors.
Reading it again, here’s what is so surprising about the Biblical text. The spotlight is not on these extra-ordinary visuals, as dramatically arresting as they most certainly are. It’s on the power and definitive victory of the Lord.
It’s hard to escape from the way this plague – the tenth – is very different from the nine others that came before it. You can’t miss – or at least shouldn’t miss – the fact that the final plague marks a new beginning not just to take note of, but that should never be forgotten.
Have you ever looked at the skyline of Dublin and noticed some of the dramatic new buildings that have gone up in the last few decades?
Powerful cathedrals of wealth and prosperity – vast campuses – look at Dundrum, or the docklands. Each one dwarfing some of the church cathedrals that dominated the landscape for centuries.
Like that, sometimes God appears eclipsed in the dazzle of such a displays of power.
Intimidating isn’t it? When your teachers, your friends, most people you know even, suggest that faith in Christ, trust in Almighty God is nothing but a faded relic of history.
Here’s a message from The Bible for all of us in this climate:
Remember the Sovereign Lord who will save his people and judge his enemies.
That’s what we’ve been learning in Exodus: that The Lord is the God who rescues his people and so take a look at the account we’ve been reading today too…
We’ve been learning that Exodus follows the amazing story of God’s rescue.
In a very revealing dialogue with God – that we read together last time – God told a very hesitant Moses that this rescue of his enslaved people required not Moses’ prowess as their leader, but rather his intervention. God’s saving presence and action.
Moses, though, as we’ll see, hadn’t quite heard this right.
Yes, he listened to what God had said to him – and from 4:18 look how he returns to Egypt – his brother Aaron meets him and together they both explained to the leaders of the Israelites everything God had said.
But Moses has no interpretive categories for Exodus Chapter 5… it seems he still no way of understanding what’s happening.
The circumstances explode and leave Moses in a spin of doubt and despondency.
We saw last time that Exodus is the story of God’s rescue of his people. Moses – who burst onto the scene in chapters 1 and 2 - will definitely take a prominent role in that rescue story. But closely reading these chapters 3 and 4, we can’t miss what else the writer is communicating. The main thing! He wants us readers to know the name, the identity, the character, the authority, the presence, the empowering – of Moses’ leadership – but of the Lord. Only by his power can this older, nervous, isolated shepherd have any hand in the Lord’s salvation.
What we have in front of us in these chapters is dialogue… and as you’ll see, it’s a very revealing dialogue.
Exodus is the story of God’s rescue of his people.
These days, of course, there’s a newer story right front and centre in our thinking: the narrative of the big rescue from Covid-19, led by government and health experts, leading a bumpy roll-out of the vaccinations.
Reading Exodus, it's easy to see the similarities in our stories: the people of Israel & us in this moment: both stories of people caught in difficult circumstances, groaning for freedom.
We’d love to invite you to follow the narrative here in the Bible and to watch carefully how things transpire. People over centuries and centuries of human history have been stirred and directed by the book of Exodus to see that whatever else is on offer in any given season, we need to know the God who is ultimately in control and that it is him and him alone who rescues.
Luke the gospel writer was determined to provide certainty about Jesus Christ.
As he put together the eye witness testimonies, the findings of his careful investigations, he clearly demonstrated that Jesus was on a mission to save people – not in the first instance from social problems like poverty or even terrible physical disabilities like blindness. But more significantly, much, much more relevant, was Jesus’ mission to save people like us from our terminal sin condition.
Luke wasn’t interested in eggs and bunnies and the marking of a spring festival… he was, though, rightly concerned about - and devoted much attention to - the death of Jesus and what happened next.
It’s what happened next that changed everything then and changes everything for us now. What did happen? Luke explains...
If you were to collect everything ever written in print or digital form about Jesus, you would have an extraordinary, almost inconceivable amount of material. So much has been written you might think that most people should be able to sum up in a sentence or two what Jesus set out to achieve. Despite having a general of who Jesus is, many, many people struggle with that kind of clarity. But, if we start with and focus on what the biblical writers like Luke wrote about him, examining the material that we saw last week was from eyewitnesses, carefully delivered and complied to give readers like us certainty, you really can have clarity about Jesus’ mission. And when his mission is clarified – I hope that you’ll respond to it.
Easter is a highpoint in the Christian calendar. And in a few weeks we’ll be celebrating it again here in Ireland.
It was after the very first Easter that people, first in their ones and twos, tens and twenties, and then by their thousands began to define their lives according to the historical figure at the centre of it all – Jesus Christ.
Today millions of people mark Easter in some way: some of them –it’s true – mark Easter for cultural or sort of religious reasons and for the sake of tradition and chocolate, for sure.
But many, many people don’t just celebrate a festival at Easter. If you went with them into their houses and observed them in their rest-of-the year routines -you’d find that they were not just observers of a 1st century religious phenomenon – but instead followers.
More than distantly taking part in a special day, lots of people have decided to follow Jesus – with huge implications for their lifestyle, their priorities, their spending, their hopes and dreams. Today there are children, teens, young adults – middle agers, older people… people from every country in the world and every background you could think of who are not just observing Easter, but following Jesus.
You’re right to wonder why? Why do some people invest more than just a passing glance at Jesus Christ? Over the next few weeks we’ll consider that here. These short talks are hopefully a bit of an insight. Whatever you think about Easter, and the things that are mentioned, you’ll notice that the person described and the events that took place, as well as the way they were recorded – all unashamedly beacon people like you and me to come closer and to come follow.
Chapter 3 of this letter to Titus begins with a reminder. Remind them (the Christians) to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.
All along, Paul’s letter has reminded Titus and Christians then and now that we need to close the gap between what we believe and how we behave.
In Chapter 1, he spoke about the sphere of the church, in chapter 2 in terms of our homes: men, women, young and old each given specific instructions, now in chapter 3 he addresses how we relate to the world. To people around us.
- Now reminders tend to bleep into our lives in a text message, then we reply or switch them off.
- Reminders arrive by post, so we open and file them or put them in the bin.
These verses are much more than that kind of functional reminder. If we are Christians, the Bible reminds us here, that aligning our beliefs (-the doctrine we understand to be true) with our behaviour (–the way we practically live out our lives) has everything to do with the church’s mission in the world. So it’s a more than a post-it note reminder, more of a national broadcast, explaining an urgent priority.
At the moment our lives seem to be defined by two events, one of which has its first anniversary this week. Two events. One is an event we look back at, that took place a year ago, and one is an event that is still ahead that we are waiting on. Any guesses?
I’m talking, of course, about the start of Covid-19 restrictions – which arrived on the scene with the event of the Taoiseach’s announcement on 12 March last year… and the other event is the future, final date when restrictions will be lifted and things will reopen.
Two events one past, one future by which our lives are very much defined.
In the letter to his co-worker Titus, Paul’s been challenging Christians on Crete about the consistency of their beliefs and their behaviour. Now as he does that, he also brings our attention to two events. Again, there’s one from the past and one still to come.
There’s a very plain challenge that hits us from Titus 2 - Does it fit?
And no, Paul isn’t asking his colleague on Crete if his clothes are the right size. There’s a much deeper concern. He wants Titus to challenge the Christians about whether their behaviour matches what they believe. Is your way of life consistent with your way of belief!
We’re all by now familiar with weather warnings. Here in Ireland we get a colour to match the perceived severity of what’s coming. Thankfully, the colours currently active for today are just yellow and orange rather than a Valentine’s Day red! For Christians living on the island of Crete in the 1st Century, the apostle Paul begins to write what could be described as a Status Red cultural warning. That storm is, in fact, already hitting the island.
There’s a big gap in our lives as Christians, I know the longing we all feel to be back together – that’s a gap in our experience alright, but not the one I specifically have in mind this morning. There are gaps in our understanding too – I feel them, you feel them. None of us knows all we need to know – but those are not the gaps I’m referring to here. Neither is it the gap in our lives left by loved ones who are no longer with us, or the gap in our lives left by restrictions closing down many of the things we do and places we go to. Or if you’re a bit younger, the gap left in your smile when one of your baby teeth falls out! The gap I’m talking about is the gap between what we believe and how we live in our lives. The gap between belief and behaviour. Paul sees that big gap as one of his greatest concerns as he writes to Titus, a Christian leader.
There was utter devastation, with vast areas of scorched, burnt bushland left behind, following the Australian bushfires in 2019.
Then some photographers captured an amazing sight. Vibrant green and pink shoots were seen rising up in the middle of blackened forests! The photographers described the hope they felt – seeing shoots of life in the middle of all the charred mess. And they shared the pictures as widely as they could to give others hope.
Parts of the bible, like the one we are looking at today, provided - and still provide - a glimpse of hope like that for people.
Isaiah uses the same picture – a fresh, green shoot - when it seemed that God’s promises in and through the house and line of David were finished.
So here in these chapters, the Bible gives us hope. Here’s the thing: there’s reality behind the imagery. When Isaiah prophesied, he was declaring the line of God’s ultimate hope for the lost and the hope-starved. He was sharing real, tangible hope with the fearful and the broken. And that hope is for you and your family and your neighbours and friends, too.
We’re in the middle of a repeat of lockdown so maybe you’re back into a repeat of home schooling or working from home. This section of Isaiah has the feel of repetition about it too, as this Biblical prophet calls God’s people to respond to God’s word.
Here’s the thing about repetition: it gives us an opportunity to respond differently. There’s scope to change our thinking
There’s another go at changing our behaviour;
To stop and think again about the direction we are headed in.
In these chapters, as he declares God’s word, Isaiah’s urgent message to God’s people in his own day, and today is meant to call us to turn back to the Lord of Hosts (9:13) who hasn’t changed.
This week at Blackrock we heard from the Director of Christian Unions Ireland - Mark Ellis. Mark leads a team of staff who are working with students across the island to equip them in giving every student an opportunity to respond to the message of the Gospel. This morning he brings us a message from Mark 9.
It was a passing comment this week, from someone who has experienced so many knocks to her business this year. She said: I don’t know what kind of God is looking down on us... is he just toying with us?
But the very opposite is true. God is not toying with us. God has shown us extraordinary mercy.
At the start of a new year, I’d love for all of us in Blackrock to set out living in 2021 with the mercies of God in full view. And to allow his mercies towards us to be the actions that define how we live our lives this year.
Household visits are limited this Christmas. But via live stream, there are two guests to welcome in to your home for just a couple of minutes. Hear them out, as they have something important to say.
Both of them will draw your attention to the reason for Jesus’ coming as a baby at the first Christmas. That’s the purpose of these visits to your home... so Luke can show us, help us to recognise that Jesus was not just for Christmas.
As well as counting down to this Christmas, let’s look back at the first one. There are 3 instalments of the Christmas story in this part of Luke’s gospel. Luke gives us the circumstances, the explanation and the response to the birth of Jesus.
We have called this series A Call to Faithfulness. Deep into December you may feel there are too many calls on your time and energy! But please allow this most significant of calls to register with you personally, for these few moments as we read from the Bible. The lines of today's passage you may have heard hundreds of times. Christmas after Christmas. What we need to hear again isn’t their familiarity, but their powerful, repeated call, a call to trust in God rather than our own solutions. Some of us may be quietly wondering how to navigate the new circumstances of our lives at this very different or even difficult Christmas. Well, the Bible points us clearly, here in Isaiah chapter 9, to the most trustworthy of sources: to the amazing promises, determined zeal, and hope-lit salvation of the Lord of hosts...
A year that saw old certainties crumbling on the world-stage was simultaneously the year that changed everything personally for Isaiah. It was, perhaps, in the turmoil of the death of a long-reigning monarch, who’d ruled things for over half a century, that he could see his own and his people’s need for a greater, and mightier King.
2020 has brought this kind of change to the front doors of every one of us. Not the death of a king, but sweeping international and national challenges in the form of a pandemic that has changed so much.
Today’s message from the Bible may reach us at a time of searching, longing and hoping for a better year to come.
Were you expecting a love song in Isaiah?
That’s what 5:1-7 is, and as we will hear in a moment, it’s a love song with a searching chorus (v3-4) and a heart-breaking conclusion. If the prophet ever stood up and performed these lyrics to God’s people, the solemn message probably would have left them, at the end, in a kind of reflective silence.
How did God's people, Judah feel? One moment there’s a breath-taking description of their city, reimagined in the future as the highest of the mountains, the mountain of the house of the Lord (2:2). And the next moment, there’s a graphic commentary of the state of everything around them. The people of Jerusalem and Judah, in the present day, were being exposed. That’s what Isaiah does here, he paints two contrasting scenes: the glorious future set against the brazen present. But why?
As Christians we tune in to God’s word in every year, every era – to hear God’s appointed spokespersons, and more than this, to hear God’s verdicts, God’s analyses, God’s challenges to our ways of thinking and our ways of living. And as we’ll see in a moment, there are a few shocks in store.
So as we pick up the Book of Isaiah the prophet, as well as reading an ancient, celebrated manuscript, remember that we’re listening to an urgent message from God himself to his people. The prophets were those who spoke up on the Lord’s behalf. The events Isaiah described came about in history – something that produces faith in us as we read his account that was written before they even happened – but perhaps more importantly, as well as accurately predicting future events, Isaiah spoke to grab the attention of God’s people and deliver God’s urgent message– in his own day and down through the ages.
This year we've watched momentous events unfolding. How have we responded? Richard introduces our new series for Sunday Mornings where we will be exploring the book of Isaiah.
Music: bensound.com
War imagery has been used very effectively to describe the situation we are in with COVID- 19. Front-line workers fight with an enemy coronavirus, waves of attacks are put down, we’ve talked of resilience, equipping our hospitals, and where to draw battle lines. All this communicates the urgency there is and the stance required of us all in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic.
As Paul signs off his letter to the Ephesians, he too understands the importance of this kind of imagery – how it communicates exactly what the church needs to hear. This is war, and each one of us must recognise the seriousness of the situation local churches like Blackrock are facing into. But there’s something remarkably reassuring here too. Paul can mobilise us like this because of the vast resources at our disposal: God’s power at work in our lives, on the march in our growing church community... and he can mobilise us because of the secure outcome on the eternal horizon.
As a Christian there may be a danger of not realising who the real boss is! The Bible reminds us here. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is concerned with our relationships with each other: relationships that must actively demonstrate that we are part of God’s new humanity, the church he is building. Relationships that show we are overflowing with what God has done in our lives.
We’ll see time and time again here in these verses that in our working relationships, as in our families, the Lord Christ is the boss. And that reality must transform the way we treat each other.
Today’s message is one that’s particularly important to listen to all together at home, because the Apostle Paul is talking to children and their parents. We all fall into one of those categories or both, no matter what age we are.
And this is the Bible’s message about building the church at home. Children I’d love for you to listen out for an “O” message. You won’t have long to wait. So listen up!
Parents – and if you’re a Dad specifically – you’ll need to be listening out for an e-message. Of all the e-mails you get through this week, you’ll want to hear this one, this e-message from God’s word.
So what does the Bible say about building the church at home?
Paul’s letter paints the most spectacular of panoramas: God’s amazing plan to build his church. It’s a vision planned and focussed and centred on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ and his church - It’s this relationship between Christ and his church that’s definitive. It’s the model, the ultimate relationship as we consider how we get on and relate to each other – Christ and the church. Whether you are married or not, young or old, Christian or not quite sure... come with me to see this vision today. Remember it would be a disservice to see Ephesians 5 as a merely a list of specific rules for married men and women. Though if you are married, you’ll definitely find here a call to check and maybe even correct and change your behaviour and attitudes towards your spouse.
We’re quite familiar in 2020 with checking in on how much we walk – how many steps? It would be a little bit more surprising if one evening you looked at the step counter on your watch or phone to see a description of the quality of your walk... imagine seeing the word “wise” or “unwise” pop up! But it might be helpful. For the bible urges Christians to scrutinise their walking. That is, we’re told to watch carefully how we live.
Summer is long gone: it’s behind us in terms of its long, bright evenings. And this year more than most, you might be wondering about what’s ahead of us in the dark winter. There’s lots of uncertainty this year heading from the light of summer to the darkness of winter.
There is, however, a sense in which something completely the opposite of this has taken place. That is, among Christians. Instead of heading into, or towards darkness, Christians, we learn from the Bible, are headed in the opposite direction! In fact they are (Eph 5:8) are light in the Lord.
Paul, writing and describing the building of the church to the Ephesians, wants Christians to be aware that there may still be some toxic clutter to deal with. And that harmful, toxic clutter is in the whole area of our personal relationships with each another. As we build Blackrock Community Church together we are to do the same. So today’s Bible reading is a really practical call to action, to get rid of the kind of things that will destroy our community life together. To dump any toxic church clutter. What do you need fetch out of the attic to get rid of?
Last week we saw Paul’s sketch of the thriving church, growing up into and called to stand up in maturity alongside it’s founder: the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the time his urgent call to Christians, his readers, to walk in a manner worthy of their calling to be part of this church. Today we see Paul turn to hone right in and speak directly to the men and women, the ordinary Christians who make up the church.
In our passage today there are a Biblical set of sketches. Sketches of what the church should look like . Here in Ephesians Chapter 4, Paul’s not so much concerned with building layout as with the conduct and behaviour of all of us: the people. What the church should look like. Come with me for a few minutes and see and hear what the Bible tells us about what the church, what Blackrock Community Church, should look like.
The blueprints produced by an architect are exciting documents. Together with the artists sketches and the dazzling elevations a proposed new structure looks amazing – but then you wonder if the reality will ever match up. Can such a magnificent building take shape?
So it is with us... we might wonder at the description of the church in Ephesians. We’ll see today that it’s because of Almighty God the Father’s supreme sovereignty, and because of the wealth of his vast resources, and because of his magnificent unmatched ability...not to mention his limitless love for us in Christ... that the blueprints for the church are taking shape, they really are becoming reality, even when that’s hard to see from where you are sitting today.
We’ve all felt a bit cooped up these months, but imagine really being imprisoned: your freedom restricted, your future uncertain, your life on hold – all your closest relationships severed, and being completely unable to do the work you’dgiven your life to. Who wouldn’t feel like giving up?
In Ephesians 3, the prisoner facing that awful reality is Paul, 3:1, who describes himself as a prisoner for Christ Jesus. Here in this section of his letter to the churches of Ephesus and the surrounding region – he sketches a sight for sore eyes.
On a Sunday when the masks and the screens have gone up between us – we are reading about an opposite, and an even greater reality described in the Bible... about dividing walls coming down and a new structure being built up. We are hearing about people not being separated from each other... but amazingly, being joined together!
Here's a turning point - Jesus really is capable of all the things being claimed about him in John's gospel. So will you follow him?
John, who wrote this opening chapter from the book that takes his name, is on a quest to turn up the lights where Jesus is concerned. He's urging all of us to come and see Jesus the Word!
Here's an invitation: As well as seeing the unfolding storyline of the Bible will you respond personally to the leader who speaks in Ezekiel 34? Who can broken people turn to for leadership... for salvation?
This reading from Genesis 12 brings new hope. The Bible’s message is one of redemption. One of rescue. And the history of that redemption begins right here with God's initiative in speaking to a man called Abram.
Reading Genesis 3 should resonate with us a bit like a warning alarm because of it’s an analysis of what is wrong with you and me. What’s wrong with us? In Genesis 3, the short answer is treason.
The readings we will look at over the next few weeks span the length of the Bible and provide a glimpse of it’s main message. Getting to grips with that message will completely change your life – it will begin what you may eventually look back on as the start of a new season. Firstly, Life.
Why join the church? Why take the step of becoming an attending, committed, serving member of a local church like Blackrock?
What should local churches look like and sound like? Here are 2 defining marks and 1 defining attitude...
Those who came to faith on the day of Pentecost did not go home and become private subscribers to the Christian faith. Nor did they begin individually searching for a local church that was right for them. The church is no me thing!
Come and see the church from a different perspective – from the perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ who said “…I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it .” Stopping for a little while to take in this view will be very helpful. For the Lord Jesus, the church was no small thing...
What would Mark have us see at the climax of his account about Jesus Christ? What would he want readers of his book like us, carefully reading these pages, to notice?
Chapter 14 begins a new section that will eventually narrate the death of Jesus. In this section, we’ll see how Mark interweaves the plot against Jesus' life with an invitation to understand the value of his death.
Did you realise that being a Christian demands a constant state of alertness? Speaking to his closest followers, Jesus makes an urgent appeal to them, one that by the end of this chapter has been widened out to all Christian believers: stay awake!
Having introduced God’s Messiah in his gospel, Mark is probing his readers to put all our hope in Jesus, no matter what the loudest voices around us are saying.
Some people are annoyed at a religion that calls for exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ – especially when that sets limits on way they want to run their own lives. In this section of Mark, we’ll see that though he is challenged and even finally rejected, Jesus has the authority from God to command full allegiance.
Jesus speaks about eternal life and the Kingdom of God… he is on a rescue mission. But how do we get that eternal life?
In the section of Mark we are looking at here – it is like Mark is posing a challenge: How can Jesus talk about surrendering his life while his followers talk about fulfilling theirs?
In his gospel account about Jesus, Mark is narrating the arrival of a king – a very different kind of king to those whose corronations we may have watched on TV. The question might be: what difference does he make? Do I need to do more than watch the proceedings?
The closest followers of Jesus experience a defining moment here. Mark is urging his readers too to understand who Jesus is and what it means to follow him while all the time pressing home the urgent need to listen to Jesus.
In this section of Mark’s gospel, we’ll see Jesus’ explanation of what following him demands of would-be followers. There are two requirements.
There’s a picture that Mark has been using throughout his book: blindness and the restoration of sight. As Mark puts together the evidence of who Jesus is and why he came – he’s also been showing us that it will take a miracle for people who are blind to see who Jesus is and why he came.
In the next part of his account, Mark points us directly to our need for rescue. What is your greatest problem?
Could you have failed to see who Jesus really is? And the main thing he came to do? As we look at Chapter 6, there really is a big picture being painted. Mark seems to be showing us something very important about Jesus. Something we need to be clear about. What is it?
We have a lot of choice in our lives, but there is one choice that will make all the difference, and it’s how we respond the Lord Jesus. Will you embrace His authority or will you reject it?
In both the desperate storm and with the desperate man, Mark helps us see that – amazingly - one man was strong enough to subdue nature and to subdue the most profoundly disturbing evil. Mark isn’t just telling us information… he’s putting the challenge to us: Can I trust him? Or will I simply ask him to leave?
As Mark continues his good news project, we know that on the one hand there has been some very loud opposition to Jesus. Others, however, are just quietly skeptical and content to pass under the radar. Are we really listening?
There are three incidents that go together in this section of Mark’s gospel and each one is quite surprising in its own way. Together they are designed to help us, the readers, work out why Jesus has come.