Sermons on Robert Simon:

Reflection B.12 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Ezekiel 16, Israel, The Brazen Prostitute

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

Ezekiel explains why God will judge Judah.

Today, we’re moving on to Ezekiel in our whistle-stop tour of Old Testament prophecy. Just to keep our goal in mind, our purpose in this series of Reflections is to look at passages of scripture which tell us about how and why God judges, and about ‘End Times’, so we can see if coronavirus and/or ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.13 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Ezekiel 40-42, A Third Temple?

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

Should we expect a third temple as part of the 'End Time' picture?

You’re on a whistle-stop ‘ten-cities-in-fourteen-days’ European tour. You had three days in Paris and then two days in Rome. Now you have two days in London. On your first day you had a highly cultural visit to the British Museum. That was great! Today, your tour guide takes you to a former ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.14 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Daniel 7, Daniel’s Fourth Beast And The Horn Which Made War With The Saints

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

Daniel anticipates persecution of 'the saints' to an extent that he describes it as war. Some commentators today have used the word 'war' or 'genocide' to describe persecution of Christians today. Daniel's prophecy seems to be fulfilled.

Today we move on to Daniel. We’re familiar with many of the stories in the first half of Daniel, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, and so on. But we’re less familiar with the material in the second half. Daniel has a lot to say about ‘End Times’. One thing that Daniel tells us is that there ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.15 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Daniel 7, Daniel’s Fourth Beast, Identifying The Horns

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

How can we identify the horns that come out of Daniel's fourth beast? Revelation can help us.

On the small Greek island of Patmos there is a place called ‘the Cave of the Apocalypse’. It is here, according to tradition, that John had the vision which we now have in the form of the last book of the Bible, Revelation. However, in the Book of Revelation, the word ‘vision’ is used just once. ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.16 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? Daniel 7, Daniel’s Fourth Beast, Trampling And Devouring

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

The description of Daniel's fourth beast fits with the identification in the previous 'Reflection'. It looks very much like the westernised nations at the present time.

We are trying to read signs. Are we in a time of God’s judgement? Are we in ‘End Times’? As we look at possible signs, I can imagine several errors we might make: We can take something as a sign that is not a sign. In Greek mythology, the beauty of Europa inspired the love of Zeus. He ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.17 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Isaiah 65:17-25. Heaven, Or The Millennium? Either Way, It’s Good.

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

The description of 'End Times', and prophecies of judgement may seem gloomy and depressing. No doubt these will be difficult times. But having gone through that, we will come into a very, very good situation.

In today’s Reflection I’m looking at why we can be encouraged, even as we think about ‘End Times’ and God’s judgement. We don’t know if we are in such a time, but suppose we are? Jesus described the various signs that will accompany ‘End Times’ as ‘the beginning of birth pains.’ Painful, but the ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.18 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / "Are These Questions Really Necessary?”

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

Someone may ask, 'Why do who even need to think about whether God might be behind coronavirus?' Here's part of the answer, at least.

I’ve often mentioned that I’m asking three difficult questions. In reality, there are two main questions: ‘Is coronavirus a judgement from God?’ and ‘Are we living in end times?’ But are these important questions to ask? Suppose you don’t feel well and go to the doctor. The doctor checks your ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:12

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.19 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Summary So Far. Do We Imagine God Has Something To Say?

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

This is a summary of the Reflections on coronavirus so far (series A and B). I will follow with a series based on the New Testament excluding Revelation, and then another on Revelation, in the coming weeks.

Today we’re at a milestone in our Reflections. We’ll be leaving the Old Testament! Do I hear ‘hooray’? 🙂 After a short break we’ll move on to the New Testament. A milestone is a good place to take stock. It’s probably impossible to summarise 23 Reflections in a short space but I’m ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:12

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus Is Stronger

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jan 25, 2021

The story of Jesus casting out a demon in Luke 11 teaches us that Jesus has the power to release us from the power of Satan and indeed from everything that enslaves us. The story also shows us how Jesus deals with reproach and the necessity of positively choosing Jesus.

INTRODUCTION We are continuing our series in Luke. Today, we have the story of Jesus casting out a demon. I suspect that this story might not be the first choice of many preachers. Casting out demons probably seems very alien to many of us. But this story appears in Matthew, Mark and Luke and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 11:14-26, Luke 9:39-42, Psalm 69:19-21

Denomination: Baptist

The Sermon On The Mount / The Seventh Beatitude Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 12, 2022

'Blessed are the peacemakers.' We all too easily think in terms of fight or not fight. But Jesus gives us a clear goal when we are in or see situations of conflict.

Note: this was a talk for a family service which children come to. So we’re only covering one Beatitude and it’s fairly simple. Over the past two weeks we’ve started to look at the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon preached on … you guessed it! … a mountainside. It’s the longest of Jesus’ ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:9

Denomination: Baptist

John Eats A Scroll Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 29, 2022

God's purposes in Revelation are reaching a climax as the seventh trumpet is about to be sounded. A mighty angel declares, 'There will be no more delay.' And then, he gives John a scroll to eat and tells him he must prophesy. Why?

N.B. This is the fourth of a series of talks on Revelation. The first three talks are titled: In God’s Throne Room The Great Tribulation Environmental Devastation in End Times INTRODUCTION Today we’re continuing in our series on Revelation. I’ve called the series ‘Revelation: The Hard Parts.’ ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

God Of Second Chances

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Nov 5, 2022

Jesus' restoring Peter after he denied him shows that he's in the business of giving second chances. He's also given us an example to follow.

BACK STORY In our children’s story we heard about Peter denying Jesus. Peter failed. But Peter shouldn’t have been the one to fail. He was Peter the rock. He was supposed to be the strong one, the solid one. But Peter had brought it on himself. Jesus told his disciples what would happen to ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

When Problems Come

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 2, 2023

Problems come. It's part of life. What are some general principles we need to follow when they do? We look at one of the greatest problems / difficulties / challenges in the history of God's people - the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and the exile - for lessons.

Everyone faces problems from time to time. Churches also face problems. For example, a church might unexpectedly lose its pastor and some other key members of its leadership at around the same time. If that happened, how would you view it? Perhaps some of you would say that it’s a CHALLENGE, ...read more

Scripture: Amos 4:7-8, Daniel 9:5, Nehemiah 1:7, Ezra 9:6

Denomination: Baptist

King Charles' Coronation

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 6, 2023

It isn't irrelevant. It isn't just pageantry. It's a model for the commissioning of every leader.

Yesterday, I imagine that most of us were glued to our televisions from about 11 to 1 watching King Charles' and Queen Camilla’s coronation. For most of us, this was the first time in our lifetimes that we’d witnessed such an event. It was an extraordinary spectacle. What did you think of it? ...read more

Scripture: Romans 13:1, Romans 13:7

Denomination: Baptist

Joy In Trials?!

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 18, 2022

The idea that we could find joy in trials seems very strange. But it makes sense - and it could radically change the way we respond to the trials that inevitably come.

We’ve now reached the last in our series of ‘Messages of Encouragement’. And we’ve come to a very difficult piece of teaching! ‘James’ – whoever James may be – tells us TO CONSIDER IT PURE JOY WHENEVER WE FACE TRIALS OF MANY KINDS! Wow! That sounds crazy! How can we understand it? The general ...read more

Scripture: James 1:2-12

Denomination: Baptist