Category Archives: God’s love for you

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Making Sense of God’s Will

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Making Sense of God’s Will

Sometimes life happens to us – the storms of life! – leaving us reeling and questioning: Where is God in this? Why did God let this happen? Is this God’s will? If it is God’s will, must I just submit to it? And if it’s not God’s will, must I fight against it? What is God’s will anyway?!

These are things we all grapple with from time to time. In fact, it is something I am grappling with right now. There are no easy answers. And so this message is really a message to myself. You’ll be listening in on my own questioning. Hopefully, you’ll gain a new insight into God’s attitude towards you; God’s love for you.

This message draws on several verses, not just one passage:

Matthew 7:9-11
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Matthew 18:14
“So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 1:9-10
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NASB)

Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (AV)

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Turning Water into Wine

Turning Water into Wine

The wedding in Cana of Galilee was the wedding of the decade, with fabulous catering! But John 2:11 explains that the point of the story is to reveal Christ’s glory so that we may have faith in him. This sermon unpacks these two related points:

  • We see that Christ is the one, full of love, who is concerned for the ordinary events of our lives and who desires to bless us with abundance;
  • And we see that when there are troubles in life, we can turn to Jesus and act in faith, even when we don’t understand or feel faith.

This is what it means to have faith in Jesus: to entrust ourselves to Jesus.

John 2:1-11

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons (75-115 litres). Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Painting by Romaya Puchman

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Meeting our Deepest Needs

Meeting our Deepest Needs

This is based on the well-known passage in John 6, where Jesus says that he is the bread of life. The sermon is called ‘Meeting our deepest needs’. I hope you find that God speaks to you through this message, as it did to me. John 6:24-35. 5 August 2012.

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Experiencing God’s Spirit

Experiencing God’s Spirit

This is not a proper ‘sermon’ – rather, it is my testimony of my experience of God’s Spirit in my life, interwoven with some theology about the work of the Holy Spirit. I hope it will encourage you in your faith. John 15:26-27, 16:4-15. 27 May 2012.

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On Being Loved

On Being Loved

I preached from the flipchart, so also attach a photo of the final flipchart image, which you’ll need to make sense of the sermon. If you in need of reminding that you are God’s beloved, then this might be what you need. John 15:9-17. 13 May 2012.

Here is a link to the photo of the final flipchart image:

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The Nearness of God

The Nearness of God

God is transcendent (far away and different), but is also immanent (close and related to us). Exodus 3. Sermon 24 July 2011.

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Relating to God

Relating to God

A talk given on “Who is the Holy Spirit”. I focus in particular on the love of God and the idea of the vine and the branches. I tell the story of God. Message 23 July 2011.

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Where You’re At

Where You’re At

Drawing on John 20:19-31, we affirm that Jesus loves and meets us right where we are at. 1 May 2011.

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Being God’s Light

Here is my sermon for today. I’ve called it “Being God’s Light” even though the notion of light only comes in towards the end. Today is The Epiphany, when we remember the visit of the Magi (aka ‘the Wise Men’ or ‘the Three Kings’) to the infant Jesus and when we reflect in particular on the universal reach of the Gospel. In this sermon I try to draw aside the mythology that has built up around the Magi and uncover what kind of people they really were, and in light of that to ask why Matthew included this narrative in his Gospel of Jesus. Ultimately, I am calling for us all to take up the challenge to be God’s light in the world.

The sermon is based mostly on Matthew 2:1-12, but also on Isaiah 60:1-6 and Ephesians 3:1-12.