Sermon – The Foolishness of Living for Now (1 Corinthians 15:12-34)

Read the text – 1 Corinthians 15:12-34

The Corinthians live for the ‘now’ as they deny the resurrection, so they have always focused on looking good now, but the Apostle Paul shows how foolish this is. Paul shows instead that our glory comes through weakness, just as life comes through death, so his ministry is marked by weakness and death. As Paul commands in 1 Corinthians 15:33-34, Christians we must be careful of being led astray by those who would have us focus on living for now.

In this talk Dave Swan, wants to help the listener fix their eyes on eternity. To have a life shaped by the resurrection, so that you don’t live for the now, but for eternity, and so that you can take steps to encourage others to live for eternity as well.

Sermon – A Confounded World: Jesus’ Authority (Matthew 8:1-17)

Read the text – Matthew 8:1-17

Jesus is confounding. Reading through the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus do some extraordinary things and the result is that some follow and some turn their backs on him. That is not so different from today. We often expect the extraordinary before we allow ourselves to believe something. As such we settle for the normal and mundane, all the while wishing for the extraordinary. Jesus came into the normal and mundane, but he did that which was extraordinary. He does what we hope by doing what we find hard to believe! How confounding.

In this Bible Talk, Dave Swan looks at the unparalleled authority which Jesus demonstrated – his ability to heal a man with leprosy, the servant of the a Roman centurion, Peter’s mother-in-law, those who were demon possessed – all people who suffered because of their circumstance, but also because of there status as outcasts under Jewish law. He heals, and in doing so he fulfils what the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would do.

This should encourage us to examine our faith in Jesus, by looking at how an encounter with Jesus shaped the belief of others.

Sermon – God Behind it All (2 Sam 24)

2 Samuel Artwork

The closing scenes of David’s reign show the now familiar realism of saint and sinner. He moves from despotic self-interest to a shepherd ready lay down his life for the sheep and the temple is foreseen in David’s altar. God is revealed as unchanging in his justice and his mercy.

Read the Bible Text – 2 Samuel 24:1-25

– David Shead