Sermons on Joseph Freidman:

Test Me In This

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 1, 2008

I felt challenged to preach this because of the un-biblical approach to giving in my largest Church, & try to explain that our giving either honours or dishonours God.

Proverbs 3:1-18 Malachi 3:6-12 Texts: Proverbs 3:9 -10 ‘Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. ’ Malachi 3:10 ‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 3:1-18

Denomination: Methodist

Faith Fear & The Holy Spirit At Pentecost

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 1, 2008

Jesus told us to wait for the Holy Spirit because He knew that faith alone would not be enough.

Acts 2:1-13 Acts 1:1-17, 21-26 Like Easter or Christmas we know exactly what will hear today don’t we?! Pentecost is the pivotal point in history of Church; it is the birthday of the Church, the day when the powerful Spirit of God was infused into early Church. Today I want us to think about the ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13

Denomination: Methodist

Pentecost - Withdrawing

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 1, 2008

We sometimes picture the Holy Spirit as fire, chaos & activity, but the Spirit is about withdrawing & silence too.

Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14 Acts 2:1-13 Two very famous readings today. The Old Testament lesson from Ezekiel 37 tells of the powerful wonderful vision of the Holy Spirit bringing life to that which was dead, & of course how could we not have Acts 2, Luke’s account of the Spirit falling that first ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Denomination: Methodist

The Older Brother

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 1, 2008

A message that takes a look at the prodigal son parable from the perspective of the other son.

(This message was preached at a United Service with Anglican’s & URC from our town - including my old College Principal!) Luke 15 : 11 - 32 Religious people criticized Jesus because he ate with sinners & so He told this story. A story so familiar to us who have been attending churches – yes? ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Denomination: Methodist

The Purpose Of The Church

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 1, 2008

The 2 priority purposes of the Church are to bring glory to God & to bring people to know God. Anything that gets in the way of that is just window dressing.

Matthew 28:16-20 Romans 15:1-13 Question: What is the purpose of Church? What does it do for us / for the community? Answers: Shouted out answers during the service included to share our faith, to bring glory to God, to be Jesus hands and feet. The problem is what would God say should be ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

Denomination: Methodist

Salt

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

Jesus calls His followers to be the "salt of the earth." This message thinks about what it is to be salt ; examining the characteristics of salt & asking if these are hallmarks of our Christian walk.

Matthew 5:13-16 Galatians 5:16-18 Jesus calls His followers to be the "salt of the earth." What does this really mean? Today, we are thinking about what it is to be salt ; examining the characteristics of salt & asking if these are hallmarks of our Christian walk. So the first thing I want us to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16

Denomination: Methodist

Naaman's Healing

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

Naaman’s pride almost prevents a healing, but are we that different?

2 Kings 5 Most of us have the trappings of power and privilege: we live in one of the wealthiest countries with one of the highest standards of living. We live in an age our grandparents could never have dreamed of. We are not unlike Naaman in the story in 2 Kings 5. But he had to learn an ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-27

Denomination: Methodist

Pentecost - The If Only's

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

A simple message about Pentecost used at Women’s fellowship’s & shorter Holy Communion services.

If only one of us could win the lottery! Imagine how much better your life would be. You would have the power to control your own destiny, at least that’s what the nice people at the National Lottery believe. If only because just think of all the things you could buy – new house, car - & I hope ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13

Denomination: Methodist

Prayer A Why When How Introduction

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

A simple introduction to prayer for a Church that didn’t pray together

Genesis 18:23-33 Luke 11:1-13 You know I hear more comments about how difficult it is to pray or how confusing it is that God sometimes seems to answer and other times doesn’t or how God doesn’t really hear us or how nothing really changes because of our prayers. So I figure we need some teaching ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 18:23-33

Denomination: Methodist

Christmas Eve

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

A midnight Holy Communion address about the significance of the Nativity for us & the world

Hebrews 1: 1 - 4 Isaiah 9: 2 - 7 Luke 2: 1 - 7 The writer of the Hebrews letter or epistle gets excited at the start. He says this is how things were, but now WOW! Maybe because we have heard all of this, the story of Christmas and the incarnation, we lose some of excitement he felt. We take for ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-4

Denomination: Methodist

It Isn't Fair Lord

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

A meditation in 2 parts - a Christian complaining about how awful Christmas has become, & God’s response. I included the Christmas story from Luke in the service.

A CHRISTIAN AT PRAYER Lord it just isn’t fair the way they treat us at Christmas time. We’d worked hard to put on the specials this year. Harder than ever perhaps. Did they come – did they heckers like. And the crowds down in town this year seemed bigger too Lord. From the moment they switched ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7

Denomination: Methodist

John - Full Of Christmas Cheer

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

An advent message thinking about what John the baptist has to do with this season.

Luke 1:3-18 The season of Christmas is upon us, but I wonder at what point did this realisation hit you? When you saw the decorations going up in shopping centres - something which always seems to happen way too early (i.e. October)? When you received your first card? In the Church Advent ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:3-18

Denomination: Methodist

Ambassadors Of Christ

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Jan 3, 2008

Christ has reconciled us to God in such an amazing way - not so that we can sit & feel good but so that we might be ambassadors of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:11–6:2 The Message ‘We’re Christ’s representatives, God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their defences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now.’ Today I want us to follow Paul’s line of thought in this ...read more

Denomination: Methodist

Emmaus - Surprising God

Contributed by Joseph Neil Adams on Mar 24, 2008

Do we understand our calling to be Christ to the needy & poor? Francis of Assisi & Mother Theresa are illustartions in this message that links the parable fo teh sheep & goats to the Easter Emmaus story.

Luke 24:13-35 Matthew 25:31-46 Isaiah 53:1-3 This Emmaus scripture is a strange one isn’t it? Friends walking with not just a close friend but their leader; yet despite knowing him so well they fail to recognise Him. Yet it is not just a case of the risen Christ being so different to the Jesus ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

Denomination: Methodist

The 5000 Or The 12?

Contributed by Joseph R. Main on Feb 6, 2010

What is our goal? To be one of the 5,000 who were fed and listened for a time, or the 12 who lived the life they were called to?

John 6 “ 1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ...read more

Scripture: John 6:1-69

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational