NT Sermons

It’s hard to keep going if you feel isolated.

Picture the scene. You’re at Kings Cross, boarding a train to Edinburgh. A large crowd is watching the departure signs. Finally, a platform number: platform 4. The crowd surges that way, and you’re among them. But once you’re through the ticket gates, most people board the train the other side, on platform 3. You get on the Edinburgh train, along with a number of others. And you sit watching platform 3 fill up. And you wonder. Did I get on the right train?

On 26th July, a Roman Catholic priest named Jacques Hamel was murdered inside his church by violent Muslims. His funeral was attended by thousands. Since then, the British security services have issued fresh advice to English churches on counter-terrorism security.

From time to time in Britain, people who are preaching on the streets of Britain spend the night in police cells. What they were doing was perfectly legal, and they are eventually released without charge. But someone goaded them to say something that could be construed as hateful, and then the police are called.

“Who do you think you are to speak to me like that?”

I’m sure you find yourself thinking that from time to time. Someone asks you to do something, offers you some advice. It’s not entirely welcome. And then you start to think: “Who is this person who’s talking to me? Why should I do what they say? Do they even know me well enough to give me this advice, or to boss me around?” “Who do you think you are?”

What is the first thought that comes into your head when I mention the book of Revelation? We’re going to be looking at it for the next few weeks, so I wonder how that makes you feel?

A few folk here have not been coming to church for long, and quite possibly you’ve never heard of Revelation, or you’ve heard of it but know very little about it. If that’s you, you’re in for a treat. It’s a fantastic book, as I’m about to show us.