Sermons on Simon On Cyrene:

Daniel's Prayer Of Confession, Part 1

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 1, 2020

Daniel is about to say sorry to God on behalf of his people, the Jews. In 'Part 1' I look at WHY he prayed (he understood scripture), HOW he prayed (intensely) and WHO he prayed to (his God, a covenant-keeping God, a great and awesome God). Part 2 will be WHAT he prayed.

Daniel’s prayer of confession Part 1 1. Introduction Today we are continuing our mini-series on prayer, and looking at an amazing prayer which teaches us about saying sorry. It’s a prayer which the prophet Daniel said; we find it in Daniel 9. I’m going to start to look at it this week and ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 9:1-5

Denomination: Baptist

The Lord's Prayer, Part 2

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 1, 2020

How to use The Lord's Prayer in our own prayer time.

The Lord’s Prayer (2) We’re continuing our little series on prayer. I planned to do two talks on the Lord’s Prayer and today we have the second. Jesus doesn’t just dive straight into the Lord’s Prayer. He first gave some teaching about how we should not pray, and last week, we looked at what ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15

Denomination: Baptist

Daniel's Prayer Of Confession, Part 2

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 6, 2020

All of us have to say sorry to God. Daniel's prayer has much to teach about saying sorry. In particular, Daniel accepts that he shares responsibilty for the sin of his people.

Last week I did a first talk on Daniel’s prayer of confession. I’m going to assume that you can roughly remember what I talked about last week. That might be a mistake, but even if you can’t, I don’t think it should be too much of a problem for following my talk today. At the end of last week’s ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 9:4-10

Denomination: Baptist

Praying For Our Church

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 12, 2020

Paul's second prayer for the church in Ephesus is a great model of how we can pray for our church and for other churches today, for God to strengthen his people with power.

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH INTRODUCTION We’ve now come to the sixth and last in our mini-series on prayer. We first looked at Gideon’s prayer for guidance. Then we spent two weeks on the Lord’s Prayer. Then we had two weeks on Daniel’s prayer of confession on behalf of his people. Today we’re ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

Denomination: Baptist

Joshua And The Walls Of Jericho

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jul 22, 2020

This is a great children's story. But as adults, it prompts some difficult questions. Is it even true? How could God destroy an entire city? It's also a wonderful example of God's people overcoming a seemingly-insurmountable obstacle through faith and obedience.

JOSHUA AND THE WALLS OF JERICHO INTRODUCTION We’re moving from our series on prayer to a new series called ‘Bible Stories for Grown-Ups.’ There are some famous stories in the Old Testament which we may have heard as children, perhaps at home or at Sunday School. In this series the idea is to ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 6:1-21

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection A.1 / Coronavirus - First Response / Go To God First

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 9, 2020

In Isaiah 22, Isaiah imagines Jerusalem's response to a crisis - an enemy attack. The city prepares - but forgets God.

This is an approximately daily reflection in response to coronavirus. As of 9th May, the number of people infected has passed four million and the number of deaths is 275,000. In the UK, we've passed the peak. But around the world the graph of infections against time is showing little sign ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 22:8-13

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection A.2 / Coronavirus - First Response / Prayer Brought An End To A Plague

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 9, 2020

Three examples of God's people praying in response to a plague

Some Christians are asking why we’re experiencing this pandemic. Is coronavirus a judgement from God? Are we living in end times? Interesting questions! But I started yesterday on the subject of prayer and I want to continue with that theme a little longer. First and foremost, we as God’s ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 8:30-31, Numbers 16:32, 2 Samuel 24:15

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection A.3 / Coronavirus - First Response / We Should Grieve

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 9, 2020

Scripture calls us to 'weep with those who weep’. We grieve over suffering. We should also grieve over sin.

In my first two Reflections I considered prayer. Our first response to coronavirus, as a church and as a nation, should be to pray. Another response we must make is to grieve. Paul wrote in Romans 12:15, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep’. Some weeks ago I travelled up ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:15

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection A.4 / Coronavirus - First Response / We’re All Lepers Now

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 9, 2020

Jesus was amazingly sensitive to a leper. It's a great example of how we need to be, because, in a sense, we're all lepers now.

Early on in the coronavirus outbreak in the UK Boris Johnson sent a letter to every household in Britain. The fact that he did this, and the content of the letter, highlighted the gravity of our situation. Boris Johnson’s key instruction was: stay home. We stay home in order not to pass on, or ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:12-13

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection A.5 / Coronavirus - First Response / We Ask Why. But We’re Cautious In Forming An Opinion

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 9, 2020

Looking at coronavirus - is there a bigger picture? We need to look, but we also need to be cautious in interpreting what we 'see'.

There are many ways to ‘see’ things, not with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of understanding. In the previous 'Reflection' I reflected on Jesus’ sensitivity to different people he met: a leper, someone who was deaf, someone who was blind. Jesus ‘saw’ each person as an individual ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:28

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.1 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / How To Approach The Question

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

We should ask whether God has a purpose in coronavirus. It's a logical and reasonable question to ask. But we first need to think about how to even approach the question.

In my second Reflection I wrote: “Some Christians are asking why we’re experiencing this pandemic. Is coronavirus a judgement from God? Are we living in end times?” In my fifth Reflection I noted that the Daily Express [an English newspaper] had asked another question: “What does the Bible say ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:10-11

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.2 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / God Responds To Sin And Oppression

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

The title is 'God responds to sin and oppression'. That's a very basic thing to understand in our process of thinking about coronavirus! Not only that, God responds to sin and oppression in an appropriate way. The plagues of Egypt show us this.

We’re looking at three questions. Is coronavirus a judgement from God? Are we living in end times? And, what does the Bible say about COVID-19? Today we’ll look at some general principles about how God responds to a situation he doesn’t like. 1 Kings 6:1 tells us that ‘In the four hundred and ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 3:7

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.3 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Pestilence Is One Of God’s ‘standard’ Ways Of Judging

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

We are asking if God might be behind coronavirus. Is sending a plague the kind of thing God might do? Yes, it is.

Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels – Habakkuk 3:5, speaking of God We’re looking at three questions. Is coronavirus a judgement from God? Are we living in end times? And, what does the Bible say about COVID-19? These are hard questions! Today I will think about ...read more

Scripture: Habakkuk 3:5

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.4 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / The Old Testament Prophets – Still Relevant Today!

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

The Old Testament prophets are relevant to our question because their major theme is judgement, and because God's great act of judgement at the end of the Old Testament may be a foreshadowing of his judgement of the whole world in 'End Times'.

Starting with my next Reflection I will look at some passages in the Old Testament prophets. I would love to dive straight in, but I feel that some sort of introduction is in order. First, the Old Testament prophets take up more of the Bible than the whole of the New Testament! We believe God ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 1:2

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.5 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? Isaiah 1, God’s Indictment On Israel

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

God's arraignment and indictment of Israel: rebellion, and the evidence for it.

At last, we’re looking at the prophets! We’re starting with the ‘prince of the prophets’, Isaiah, and we’re going to take a look at Isaiah 1. Yesterday I quoted 1:2: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have ...read more

Denomination: Baptist