Sermons

Well, we've called this series in the book of Judges Hope in Dark Times. We often find ourselves in dark places in life. I mean, the obvious one at the moment is Covid, which has caused all kinds of chaos, anxiety, stress and difficulty—and in some cases, serious illness and even death.

Have you ever had the experience of Christmas of being given a present that you are not sure what it is for? You're not sure what to do with the present that you've just been given, or perhaps more exactly, you're not sure what it does for you—how it would improve your life to have this present that you've been given. Anyone for musical toilet rolls that, as you unravel the sheets, plays you the tune of Jingle Bells? You know what it does, but you're not quite sure how it improves your life. You might—pardon me for saying—it could drive you potty.

Have you ever had the experience of showing kindness to somebody, only for them to repay it to you by being nasty, unkind, or cruel? I guess many of us have known that experience. As we've been working our way through this letter of 1 Peter, thinking about what it's like to live as Christians on our way home to heaven, one truth that Peter's brought us back to again and again is that on our journey to heaven we frequently are still called upon to suffer.

Well, I am English, and we English love our sport. But we're not terribly good at it. In fact, that's my story. At school, I was particularly not good at sport. But for those of you who are not English — a good number of us here from a number of nations much better at sport than we are — let me just share with you what it's like to support England in sport.

Well, what difference does it make in practice being a Christian? For the past few weeks, we've been talking about how being a Christian is like being a foreigner. We are away from home — our true home is with the Lord Jesus — but here we live in a world where His rule is not recognised. So we're like foreigners in a foreign country. We won't fit in, and that means we need to live distinctively.

Well, let me ask you a question: what is it that you are hoping for? What do you look forward to? What is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps you going when life is tough?

Some people would say, perhaps, that they have no hope. They've lost all hope. It just feels that darkness is closing in. Some people—some of us—go through seasons of life when it feels like that. It's a tough place to be.

It’s time for my final words to you. What do I say? They say before they demand execution, “Do you have any final words?” It doesn’t quite feel like an execution, but I still have to kind of pick my final words. I’ve actually chosen to spend four Sundays working through with you part of Acts chapter 20, and to make my final words to you the unfolding of those words.

This last week I received a text message. Let me tell you what it says:

NHS: You are eligible to apply for a COVID pass, provided you've been vaccinated against COVID-19. You can apply for this here...

And then there's a web link.

I'm going to tell you this morning why this church is the best group to belong to anywhere. It's better than any football team, local or national. It's better than any dance or music group. It is even better than the WI or the Scouts.

I have four Sundays left with you before we head up north, so I have to decide what message I would like to leave you with as the time comes to move on. If you've been with us for any length of time, hopefully you have by now observed that as I prepare for a Sunday morning, I don't sit down and say, "What would I like to say on Sunday?" nor even, "Here's the Bible reading that will be read during the service—what would I like to say based on that reading?"