What is your experience of church? Is it a place where you feel like you can be your sinful self? Or rather a place where you have to keep up appearances like Mr and Mrs Jones in the pews next door? A former seminary friend of mine (name dropping alert),Continue Reading
In Matthew 5:33-48, Jesus – as the one greater than Moses – contrasts his spiritual kingdom with the earthly geopolitical kingdom of Israel in the Promised Land, governed by the laws of the Mosaic (Old) covenant. What is most striking about Christ’s words here is that he overturns God’s commandsContinue Reading
Gerhard Forde in his book, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, uses the analogy of addiction to describe sinful humankind’s addiction to law-abiding self-sufficiency (a theology of glory) until the “medicine” of the cross intervenes and the sinner “bottoms out”: The addict [addicted to drugs, booze, sex… etc.] mayContinue Reading
The following is an extract from this sermon audio on Deut. 28:15-29:1 where Moses continues to set before Israel the curses of the Sinai covenant for disobedience: Vv20-68 then forms an extended description of these six curses that will befall Israel if they do not dedicate themselves in holiness toContinue Reading
The audio of the following sermon can be found here. The blessings of the covenant (Deut 28:1-14) This life is not heaven on earth, is it? There are plenty of experiences of pain and suffering. Most things take hard work. However, two things that do come easy are expecting blessingContinue Reading
The following is the concluding excerpt from this sermon on Deut 27: Brothers and sisters, can you imagine being these poor Israelites on the plains of Moab. That pebble in sandal they picked up at the Exodus must have felt like a deadly scorpion by now. What must Israel doContinue Reading
In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus calls his disciples to forsake lust for purity as the way of the kingdom of heaven. ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adulteryContinue Reading
Reverend and Professor Bryan Estelle explains: “And I will put enmity between you and between the woman, between your offspring and between hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NIV) “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men,Continue Reading
The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day believed that they had kept the 6th commandment by not committing the gross external act of murder. In keeping with the penetrating and disorienting nature of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount so far, in Matthew 5: 21-26 Jesus proclaims that anger in theContinue Reading
Reformed Church Southern Suburbs 2024