Sermons

If this was not the sermon in a service but the all-age teaching slot, I would start by putting pictures up on the screen of various objects and taking a survey as to: who likes this, who doesn't like this? We could have things you might eat or activities. We could have some sports, some hobbies. Who likes stamp collecting? Yes? No? And then I would end with: who likes taxes? And everybody would say, "Boo! No, we don't like taxes."

A few months ago we finished the process of moving house. It was a process that took us as a family very many months because of the complexities that can arise. But the process begins as you start looking on the internet for houses that you might like the idea of living in, and when you find one that you like, you phone the estate agent and you arrange to meet with them.

Many people today feel very vulnerable. You don't know if you can trust the past. You don't know if you can trust the future. The past—and maybe many people—have made promises to you in the past and have broken them. Politicians promise that if we elect them, they will fix things, and yet all the problems that we labour under—whether it's housing or inflation or whatever—there's always something. Your employer promises you a promotion or job security, but then they let you down. Your landlord promises you that you can stay where you are, and then they serve notice that you have to leave.

We have all, I suspect, come across bad leadership. Bad leadership in the world, where, for example, corrupt politicians seek to serve their own interests at the expense of the citizens they are supposed to be taking care of. Two countries have had elections in recent weeks. Both sets of elections are very significant for both the country concerned and the wider region. One is Turkey and the other is Nigeria, and one of the midweek life groups that I lead has been particularly praying each week over these matters for Nigeria, and for what flowed out of the recent presidential elections.

Nobody likes conflict. One of the ugly things in local church life, and in church history, is when Christians squabble and fight amongst each other. So the idea of looking together at a letter in the New Testament that tells Christians to fight for the true version of Christianity and to oppose wrong versions doesn't sit comfortably with us.

Before I started in full-time Christian ministry, I did various different jobs. The one I spent most time on was software development, but I've done other things as well. I've done data entry, I've done outbound telly marketing, I've done recruitment consultancy — all kinds of different things.

Do you ever find yourself listening in to somebody else's conversation? It could happen for a number of different reasons. It could simply be that you or they are being indiscreet. You're just being nosy or rude. You're on a train, and somebody else in the carriage is having a fascinating conversation about what they did on their night out last night, and it's just too interesting not to listen in.

If there is bad news, it is better to know it than to be in the dark. Some of you work in the medical profession, and there are a number of thankless tasks that fall to you as doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals. You don't need me to tell you that, at times, your job is tough. One of the tasks that must be the most difficult is bringing the news to somebody that an illness they thought was mild is actually far more serious than they first thought. But you know that you need to find a way to share that news with them. You can't go, "They're not ready to hear this.

There are many different kinds of Christian book that get published. One of them is the missionary biography: stories that tell how someone of a previous generation took the good news of Jesus Christ to a part of the world where he had never been heard of. Frequently, these stories include some dramatic accounts of God intervening to help. There are many difficulties encountered — someone perhaps about to run out of money, and they prayed, and providentially the next ship from London carried everything that they needed.

Let me ask you a question: what kind of thing is Christianity? Or maybe you say, “Okay, that's obvious — it's a religion.” Or maybe it is. Maybe that's a helpful label; maybe it's not.

Some people helpfully point out that religions generally are about the human race trying to climb up a ladder towards God, whereas Christianity is about God coming down from heaven to reach us. So in some ways, the label “religion” is not helpful when applied to Christianity. This is something different from anything else called a religion.