Sermons on Menno Simons:

Old, New, Borrowed And True

Contributed by Simon Robinson on Dec 11, 2001

Lot’s of people sing songs at Christmas and don’t think about what they mean. We’re going to put three popular songs together and see how they’ll combine to tell us some christmas truth

Old, new, borrowed and true I suppose it must be a sign of ageing that I really enjoy TV programmes like ‘I love the 70s As soon as they start to show those nostalgic clips and play the songs I used to listen to the memories come flooding back There’s something about music that does that – ...read more

Scripture: John 1:10, Isaiah 1:18

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Harry Potter And Decent Christian Values

Contributed by Simon Rundell on Dec 11, 2001

Many Christians are against Harry Potter, but look at what he stands for: not magic as evil, but decency, loyalty, honesty and prevailing against oppression. Don’t reject Harry without thought.

Sermon: Second Sunday of Advent - Evensong 9th December 2001 In the name of the +Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen We had been eagerly awaiting the evening for some time, and not just since the film’s release. In fact, the entire family had been looking forward to this moment ...read more

Scripture: John 1:29-34

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Temptation And The Reality Of The Devil

Contributed by Simon Rundell on Feb 16, 2002

Exegesis of the Temptation in the Wilderness and an examination of the reality of the Devil from a non-fundamentalist perspective. "The greatest achievement of the devil was to convince people he no longer existed."

Sermon: 1st Sunday of Lent, Year A: 17th February 2002. Text: Matthew 4:1-11 In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “I can resist anything… except temptation!” So said the great wit, Oscar Wilde. Of all things in this world, temptation is something that we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Down From The Mountain...

Contributed by Simon Rundell on Feb 23, 2002

The Transfiguration is marvellous, but after that you have to get back down the mountain and get on with the job of being one of Jesus’ disciples

Sermon: 2nd in Lent, Year A, 23rd February 2002 Text: Matthew 17:1-9 In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Transfiguration of Our Lord is one of those epiphanous moments – an episode where Jesus Christ is revealed as he truly is – not merely a fairly ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Finishing The Story

Contributed by Simon Fullylove on Jun 26, 2006

A look at the big picture in terms of the role of the bible in preparing us for mission in today’s world

Introduction I came across this illustration of the role of the bible and our role as the followers of Jesus (by N T Wright): Suppose someone discovered a play by say, Shakespeare – there were 4 acts but the 5th had been lost. The first four acts provide such a wealth of characterization and ...read more

Scripture: John 20:21

Denomination: Pentecostal

It's About Jesus

Contributed by Simon Fullylove on Jul 3, 2006

A look at the centrality of Jesus to everything and an encouragement to keep on discovering him.

Introduction Do you ever ask yourself the question “what on earth am I doing?” Like the man who spent all his money on a sleek new Mercedes roadster and was out on the motorway for an evening cruise. The top was down, the breeze was blowing through his hair and he decided to open her up. As wnet ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-20

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Great King's Census

Contributed by Simon Fisher on Dec 21, 2007

Christ is victorious over the world from the moment of His birth.

There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled,…and all went to be registered, every one into his own city. [Lk 2: 1,3] It’s a story about a census, the most well-known story about a census in the world - perhaps the only one. Well there is one other I can ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

A Passion For The Lost

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 8, 2021

Jesus welcomed those who others rejected. The Pharisees and scribes pushed them away. The crowd just watched. Who will we be like?

We’re continuing our journey with Jesus and his disciples from Galilee to Jerusalem. This week we’re taking a big hop from Luke 12 to Luke 15. As Jesus and his disciples travelled, Jesus has been teaching [picture on slide]. He and his disciples have been healing and casting out demons. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-7, John 10:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

Therefore, Do Not Be Anxious!

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 11, 2021

Jesus isn't simply telling us not to be anxious. He's calling us to have a completely different attitude towards material possessions and material needs from the rich fool; to be confident in God and in that confidence, to be rich towards God and others.

‘Do not be anxious.’ That’s what Jesus told his disciples. If only! we might think. Can we banish anxiety from our hearts simply because Jesus tells us to? We’re in a series in Luke, following Jesus and his disciples on their journey from Galilee down to Jerusalem. Their journey starts in Luke ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:13-34, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 18:22, Luke 19:8-9, Matthew 10:29  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

God's Great Compassion

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jun 19, 2021

Jesus calls us to be merciful as God is merciful, and in the way God acted towards the people of Nineveh, he set the bar very high. The Assyrians were among the cruellest people in history.

INTRODUCTION Jonah is one of the shortest books in the Bible. It’s just 48 verses long. That’s shorter than a lot of chapters in the New Testament. Because it’s such a short book, when Bible translators begin work translating the Bible into other languages they’ll often start with Jonah. They ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-3

Denomination: Baptist

God Of Salvation

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 11, 2021

God wanted to spare the people of Nineveh. He didn't want them to face his judgement. But first, he had to save his servant Jonah. Being inside a big fish in the depths of the sea wasn't Jonah's real problem.

Today we’re continuing our series in Jonah. My first talk was titled ‘God of compassion’. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was wicked. God described it as wicked and historians tell us that Assyria was wicked. It wasn’t just a little bit wicked. One historian of the Middle East wrote that ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

God Of Mission

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 17, 2021

Talk 2 in my five-talk series on Jonah. Mission is God's mission. In the story of Jonah - and especially in view of what Jesus says about Jonah - we recognize that God is the master strategist in mission and he's breathtakingly creative.

Jonah Talk 2: God of Mission Last week I started a new series on Jonah. My major theme last week was how compassionate God is. At the time of Jonah, the Assyrian Empire was expanding. Historians of the Middle East tell us how cruel the Assyrian rulers were. I spared you the grizzly details. ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-5, Matthew 12:38-41, Luke 11:29-30

Denomination: Baptist

The Greatest Conversion In History

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 19, 2021

We can make a case for Nineveh's conversion being the greatest conversion in history. But whether it was or not, Jesus was clearly impressed. It shows us what genuine repentance looks like.

When I was a child people would sometimes give me a book called ‘the Guinness Book of Records’ as a Christmas present. I guess many of us have come across it. I remember as a kid browsing through the records. You can now find most of the records online and it’s now called simply ‘Guinness World ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

God Of Restoration

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 24, 2021

Jonah is angry; God helps him to deal with it. God's action is a great example to us in how to help someone who's hurting. We also see how God sometimes speaks to Jonah. We should be aware that God may speak in this way.

Over the past four weeks we’ve been following a series on Jonah. Today we move on to the last chapter in the book of Jonah and the last talk in our series. Since some of you haven’t been with us as we’ve gone through the book of Jonah, I’d like to fill you in on what’s been happening. The prophet ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

The Parable Of The Prodigal Son

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 20, 2021

The parable explains why Jesus received tax collectors and sinners and why we need to too. It's all about God's grace!

Today we’re going to look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s Jesus’ longest parable and one of the most famous. We can look at this story from several perspectives. We could reflect on the father in the story and what he shows us of God’s extraordinary grace. We could think about the ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 12:26

Denomination: Baptist