Sermons@kingsley

On Palm Sunday we retrace Jesus’ journey from Jericho to Jerusalem with Luke’s gospel as our guide. Luke is very careful to describe both the physical and spiritual journey Jesus took with His disciples and the crowds who flocked to Jerusalem on that day. The crowds were full of anticipation of what would happen when the Messiah rode into Jerusalem as the prophet Zechariah foretold. Their enthusiasm scandalised some of the religious leaders travelling with them, just as it would scandalise the Temple authorities when they arrived. Yet Jesus would not let the crowds be silenced. God wanted it to be clear who was arriving in Jerusalem that day. In this message we explore the reason why Jesus chose to arrive publicly on this occasion and why our decision about what we do with Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make.

In the gospels we hear Jesus call His followers to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (eg: Lk 9:51, 14:23-24). As He shows us what that actually looks like, we realise that none of us is capable of doing it! That’s exactly the point Paul makes in the letter to the Galatians as he addresses those people who are trying to impose Jewish law on Gentile believers. He clearly sees the danger in moving away from complete dependence on Jesus to save us – not only from the penalty of sin but from its power in our lives. In correcting this dangerous error he uses the example of Peter – a fellow champion of Gentile inclusion and the person God used to lead the early Church to discover and live by these truths (see Acts 10-11). But even Peter had the opposite effect on people when he was controlled by fear rather than the Holy Spirit. Whenever we are controlled by anything other than the Holy Spirit we drift into sin. However when we choose to die to ourselves to live for God we find that He is able to prod

After celebrating a baptism and as we prepare to celebrate communion, we take some time to reflect on what Galatians 2:20 teaches us about the life we have through faith in Jesus. It’s not a once-and-done experience, but a continual dying to self so that we might find our life in Christ.

After showing his readers how we can be sure that we’re ready to meet Jesus, Jude gives us pastoral wisdom to equip us to help others to ready to meet Him too. In this message we unpack Jude 22-23 and discover some rich symbolism from Zechariah 3 that Jude draws on to help us understand the beauty of the gospel and how we can apply it to ourselves and those we long to share eternity with. It protects us from being condemned ourselves as well as from becoming the accusers of others. It amazes us with the limitless grace and patience of God whose capacity to forgive and restore is beyond measure. It reassures us that no-one is beyond God’s reach to save and encourages us to keep holding out the word of life.

As we read through the New Testament we find the Apostles regularly urging Christians to live with eternity in mind. In this message we tune into Jude’s letter to churches which had been infiltrated by false teachers. As he warns of God’s judgement upon them he contrasts this with the confidence we have by remaining in God’s love; and the instructions he gives us for how to do that practically are worth taking to heart.

Communion is a significant part of our weekly church gatherings, but there are many different traditions and understandings that surround it. In this message we take a look at the way the Gospels record the Last Supper and Jesus’ institution of communion. We then explore the experience of the Early Church through the book of Acts and the Epistles to build a picture of how communion was celebrated by the first followers of Jesus. We discover that the new covenant that is symbolised by the bread and the cup was always closely linked to the new command to love one another the way Jesus has loved us. What will that mean for the way we celebrate communion today?

What is the relationship between my natural family – whatever that might look like – and the family of believers that God connects me to in the Church? Family is God’s design. We learn a lot about how to live together as a church family from our natural families and vice versa. However if we’re not clear about what our each of our families really need from us we can hurt them rather than help them. We take a look at how the Apostle Paul advises Timothy to pastor his church family in Ephesus for some timeless principles and timely application in our situation today. No family is perfect – natural or church. By God’s grace we keep growing to reflect the beauty of God and His design for us.

In the conclusion to our series on Hebrews 10:24, we take a look at how the Apostle Paul carefully considers his dear friends in Philippi as he writes to them to “provoke [them] to love and good deeds”. His prayer for them in chapter one is a beautiful expression of that goal. As he continues his letter he addresses some points of tension they are experiencing – opposition from outside the church and division inside it. Like the Philippians, most of us have people around us who try to pull us away from Jesus at times; and many of us have people who are following Jesus with us, but just struggling to get along as we do that. The way we deal with each type of tension is actually quite different, so we need to be very clear about what kind of tension we’re experiencing in order to choose the best response to it.

As we ask God to show us how we can grow together in 2024, we take a look at Romans 15:5-7. It’s a beautiful conclusion to a section of the letter to Christians in Rome where Paul is helping them to understand what it means to live in harmony when we don’t think and act the same. We learn about what harmony is and what it isn’t, which is just as important! We’re also challenged to rely on God to do His part while we commit to doing ours, which is to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.

Having thought together about the power of healthy or rotten words last week, we turn our focus to two types of speaking that are essential for our growth: Challenge and Celebration. They’re like two wings on an airplane – if they’re not in balance we won’t fly straight! We look at the story of Jesus’ conversation with Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7 to see how Jesus uses both celebration and challenge to help people grow in love and good works. In contrast, Simon’s behaviour showed some rotten ways that people often celebrate and challenge. It’s a great opportunity for us to look at our own lives and what we do together, to notice where we don’t line up with Jesus and to ask for His help to do things differently in 2024.