1 Kings 18:41-46 ‘I have a question to offer you. It is contained in three words: do you pray?’ So begins J.C.Ryle’s book ‘A call to prayer’. Our answer to that question is very revealing of where we stand spiritually. The point of this talk is to encourage us in prayer, with Elijah as our teacher.
1 Kings 18:1-40 There is something very inspiring about Christians who are wholehearted in their commitment – and something very unappealing about Christians who are half-hearted and flaky. How can we make sure we are the former?
2 Samuel 7:12 When we hear that Jesus is King, think Elizabeth I rather than II. In the ancient world the king was no figurehead. He had real power. That Jesus is that sort of king is great news for those who receive him, but it also means that our lives can never be the same again.
1 Samuel 2:35 We don’t draw near to God through the cross – an object. We draw near to God through a person – Jesus our Priest, who gave himself as a sacrifice for us on the cross. If we lose sight of this then salvation becomes mechanical, when in fact it’s personal. But the theologian, John Owen, wrote, ‘There is no office of Christ that Satan labours so hard to obscure and overthrow as His priestly one.’ So this talk is designed to combat that.
Deuteronomy 18:15 The other week someone texted me to ask if I could recommend a plumber. No-one has ever asked me if I could recommend a good prophet, or priest, or king – but that is what we need even more. And that is what Jesus is. In this talk we look at Jesus as the prophet we need.
Romans 5:1-11 In his VE Day 1945 broadcast King George VI spoke about restoring ‘peace and sanity to a shattered world’.Peace is something we value very highly, and peace is what the Christian message is about – ‘good news of peace through Jesus Christ’. In this talk we consider three dimensions of that peace, and how we can enjoy it
Psalm 46:8-11 We live in a world of radical uncertainty. In so many areas, there’s so much we don’t know, and can’t possibly know – both in the present and in the future. By contrast in the Bible we find certainty. In it God reveals the truth about himself, about us, and about where this world is heading. And that is what we find in the final verses of this psalm.
Psalm 46:4-7 The Bible is a tale of two cities – the city of man and the city of God. These verses tell us why the latter is the best place to be investing our hopes, dreams, security, and future.
Psalm 46:1-3 At times of dark discouragement, the reformer, Martin Luther, would say to his friend, ‘Come, Philip, let’s sing the 46th psalm’. But why did he turn to this one in particular? How does it help us when life is tough and our world is falling apart?
Revelation 1:17-18 Keys give you power. They get you out of places. They unlock doors. Without the key you’re trapped. And so death is a prison to which we’re all heading. And none of us has the key to get out of it into life beyond. But Jesus does. His resurrection declares him to be the only keyholder.
