Sermons from July 2015

Questions of Life: 3 of 7: Does sin actually matter?

Genesis 3:1-24 A London drinking song begins with the lyrics “Here’s to sin and here’s to virtue, a little bit of both won’t hurt you,” and the common feeling is that as long as no-one gets too badly hurt, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of grown-up naughtiness from time to time. Perhaps it’s time to say goodbye to old-fashioned categories like sin, guilt, good and bad, and forgiveness? Listen in as we look at one of the foundational texts of the Old Testament – Genesis 3 – and see what relevance it has in our morally ambiguous world.

Questions of Life: 2 of 7: Can we love the Old Testament God?

Psalm 103 According to Richard Dawkins: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Although not all of us might express it quite like Dawkins does (!), many people question whether such a God should be worthy of our worship and love. Listen in as we consider this question together.

Isaiah: Vol 10: 2 of 3: The Choice

Isaiah 65 What should I wear today? What should I eat for dinner? Should I look for a new job? Where should we move to? Life is full of choices. But the biggest, most momentous choice we each face is whether to be rebels against God or servants of God. It’s a choice with eternal consequences. God wants us to choose life.

The Real McCoy: 2 of 2: The Message

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2 Children’s books and TV programs categorize people into goodies and baddies, but as we grow up we discover that the world is more complicated than that. Rather than seeing everything as “black and white” we discover instead “50 shades of grey”. This is why, for many people, they can’t accept the Bible with its simplistic categories of good and evil; heaven and hell; saved and lost. Listen in as we consider this issue together.