Sermons

"Blessed are those, verse six, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, the older versions used to read, or satisfied. Now when we listen in to people who comment on the Beatitudes and tell us what they think it's about, and probably if you took a survey of popular opinion, the general consensus is that the truth that's there is that God is the one who satisfies the basic needs of human living. And that there is a sense in which hungering and thirsting is a very common experience for people, and by coming to God, we find an answer to it."

"Blessed is the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And the idea that there's a righteousness that Jesus said that we should hunger and thirst after, and that's one of the conditions of actually getting it in the end. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, or some translations have after righteousness, chasing righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And tonight I thought maybe to add the other half of the message, and to talk about what is the righteousness of God. And it's actually a far more tricky question to answer."

"We've been going through the Beatitudes, those blessed, and there's a lot of characteristics. And we're on to verse 6... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after, or for, righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

"I want to join together some of what's in the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount and this parable of Jesus. The parable of Jesus in Luke 15 has actually got three stories. They're all really joined because the same themes come out in all three."

"The better way to understand the Sermon on the Mount is yes, both, that there is one sermon that happened and it was as Matthew describes, but that Jesus, as an itinerant, often repeated himself in different contexts. And when you read how those repeats turn up, they sometimes have a different slant put to a different end. And sometimes there are statements in the Beatitudes which are to people who are in trouble and need to know that God is with them."

"The content of this passage is Peter exhorting the church in the light of the fact that Jesus is going to come soon, and he doesn't know how soon, but he's speaking to the fact that Christ could come at any time, and they are in the end times, and therefore how should they behave, and what should they know about themselves."

"In Isaiah 2 verse 12 it says, For the Lord of hosts has a day, a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low. So all that's lifted up will be brought low. There is a day when God is going to bring a reckoning to the world and that is always at the back of our minds. When you read the scriptures thoroughly, you find you can't dodge the fact that our whole history is heading toward a moment of accountability before its creator. And so the whole gospel message with its recounting of how Jesus came into the world and his saying things like, I haven't come to judge the world but to save it, is against the backdrop that there is a day that we all need saving from, the day of accountability of our sins."

"Even though the Bible teaches us that God is not willing, that any should perish, it goes on to say, but that all should come to repentance, which is to change your verdict, change your mind, to be sorry for your sin. And so there is, introduced by the scriptures themselves, these two elements that need to be held in tension, for both are true. The answer is not to find a way of thinking that chooses one and sticks to it and ignores the other, because both are in the scriptures... An antinomy is right there in the question as to whether God has chosen a sovereign or whether we've been put on the spot that our choice will make a difference."

"This morning we're in the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew in chapter 5 verses 1 to 12. And I'm planning on going through the Beatitudes, but not so much racing through the whole of them, but just one at a time and see how we go. In this particular chapter, we have Jesus going up onto a mountain... His disciples came to him and he opened his mouth, which is the best way to teach, and he taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I want to talk about what Jesus meant."

"I have grown my own personal relationship with him, my Heavenly Father. As a child, I always knew there was this big and powerful God in heaven. But realising that this big God sent his only son to earth to save me, a small individual blew my mind and made me feel so loved and precious in his sight."