Sermons on Love

Malachi (1)

Malachi 1:1-5 When things don’t work out in life as we had hoped – bad news from the doctor, loss of a loved one, disappointment in our personal or working life – we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us. The people in Malachi’s day could relate. And God’s message to them then is what we need to hear today.

Women’s Evening – Loving one another though none of us is perfect

1 Corinthians 12:31-14:1 What’s your experience of church life? We’re thinking at the moment in the book of Philippians about being united as a church. At the Women’s Evening we’re going to be thinking in particular about how we can be a united, loving, gracious community, even though none of us is perfect. It’s not always easy, but it is Christlike and a key part of living as a Christian – the apostle Paul says, “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love”!

A Sting in the Tale: 2 of 3: The Prodigal Son

I wonder how would you react if you saw a church leader having lunch with a group of people who were guilty of fraud? Or maybe a Bible study leader hanging out with known drug addicts? Would you be a bit shocked, perhaps even judgmental, that they would even consider associating with such people? This is how Jesus was treated by the religious people of his day. We can distance ourselves from God not only in obvious rejection of him, but also in our religious morality – and this can be the more dangerous if it goes undetected…

A Sting in the Tale: 1 of 3: The Good Samaritan

A lawyer asks Jesus “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is one of the most fundamental questions that everybody at some point asks, about what will happen when we die – we might phrase this question today something like “How can I be sure I’ll be saved in the end?” If we profess to be God’s people, then this will show in how we live our lives – not only in how we love God, but also in how we love others. Jesus challenges us not to think about who we are to love, but to be loving…