Sermons on Simon On Cyrene:

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

Now For The Real Enemy... Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Nov 30, 2022

In Revelation 12 the wraps are taken off our greatest enemy the great red dragon, Satan. He is defeated. Not dead yet, but he is definitely defeated. Christ won the victory on the cross. Michael and the angels in heaven fought. And we, God's people, also play a part.

We’ve come to the last of our talks in our present series on Revelation. Today we’re looking at a passage in Revelation 12. Revelation has 22 chapters, so we’re only half way through the book. Many commentators think that Revelation 12 is one of the key chapters in Revelation. In this chapter, ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 12:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Lord Of The Storm

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 11, 2023

Everyone experiences storms in life. Storms are miserable. They are dangerous. But Jesus wants us to be calm in them. And they provide almost unique opportunities to learn to trust Jesus.

The story of Jesus and his disciples in a storm on the Sea of Galilee is short. But it has a huge amount to teach us. I’d like to show you a little video clip of an actual storm on Lake Galilee so you can get an idea of what that storm might have been like. [Video clip.] Jesus and his disciples ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

Denomination: Baptist

Merciful But Tough: The Story Of The Woman Caught In Adultery Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 25, 2023

Jesus showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery. But he didn't water down his demands.

INTRODUCTION I imagine we really like this story of the woman caught in adultery. We especially like the fact that Jesus didn’t condemn the woman – even though the religious experts said that she should be stoned. But as we reflect on the story, we find that it gives us some quite uncomfortable ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

A Disturbed Woman Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jan 29, 2023

Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus is absolutely willing to break cultural norms. He is led by scripture. And the meeting brings great results.

We’re in the third talk in our series on ‘Encounters with Jesus in John’s gospel.’ Last week, we looked at a passage in John 3. A man called Nicodemus met Jesus. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. In short, he was a very respectable man. Jesus told him that he needed ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-26

Denomination: Baptist

The Sermon On The Mount / The First Three Beatitudes Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 3, 2022

In the Beatitudes, Jesus states eight or nine things which result in us being 'blessed' - meaning, happy or fortunate. They are right at the heart of being right with God and they are very different to the things which most people think will make them happy or fortunate.

INTRODUCTION Last week we finished our series of six talks on the theme ‘Great Messages of Encouragement’. We’re now starting a new series of talks on the Sermon on the Mount. I don’t know how many talks we’ll have on it, but it will be more than six! What is ‘the Sermon on the Mount’? Well, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection D.4 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? Revelation. The Rider On The White Horse.

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jun 12, 2020

Could the rider on the white horse be 'a spirit of conquest' which has been with us for the past 2000 years? The correspondence between Matthew 24 and Revelation 6:1-8 might lead us to think so.

I started this enquiry in response to the question, could God be behind coronavirus? Could coronavirus be some form of judgement from God or a sign of ‘End Times’? To answer that in relation to ‘End Times’ we want to know what ‘End Times’ will look like. A decision we make at this point will ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 6:1-8

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection D.5 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? Revelation. The Four Horsemen.

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jun 12, 2020

When did the four horsemen in Revelation 6 set out? After Christ's ascension? In the future? Or, conceivably, in our time? Our view on this question makes a big difference to how we view 'End Times'.

At this point I feel as though I’m at a fork-in-the-road moment. We’re in Revelation 6. I have to keep reminding myself of why I am doing these Reflections. My goal is to ‘diagnose’ coronavirus. I am considering two possible ‘diagnoses.’ The first ‘diagnosis’ is that coronavirus is a random ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 6:8

Denomination: Baptist

Prayer (2) The Lord's Prayer, Part 1

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jun 14, 2020

Before giving us a model of how we should pray, in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us about two ways we should not pray - not hypocritically, and not babbling.

14 June 2020 Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Boscombe, Bournemouth, UK ** PRE-TALK I think most of us have been following the news about the racial conflict in the United States following the death of George Floyd in police custody. Yesterday, there was a large ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstration ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:5-9

Denomination: Baptist

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

The Defining Moment

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 27, 2021

There will be moments in our lives when our choice will determine the direction of our lives. That was the situation for the people of Jerusalem on the day when Jesus entered the city on a donkey.

INTRODUCTION All of us are making choices all the time. Most of the choices are completely inconsequential. But sometimes the choices are really important. A long time ago I taught some lessons on business ethics. I read various books on business ethics and based my lessons on them. One book ...read more

Scripture: Luke 19:28-44, Zechariah 9:9, Hebrews 3:7-8

Denomination: Baptist

Hungry – But Not For What's Really Important Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 26, 2023

In John's gospel, after feeding 5,000 people with bread and fish, Jesus goes on to say what true bread is. Actually, true bread isn't a what, it's a who. It's Jesus. He is our sustenance.

PRE-TALK earlier in the service Three pictures / slides (1) Israelites collecting manna in the wilderness ~1450 or 1270 B.C. ‘Manna’ = ‘what is it?’ The people of Israel had fled slavery in Egypt. They travelled eastwards, crossed the Red Sea and entered the Sinai Peninsula. There isn’t a lot ...read more

Scripture: John 6:22-35

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus' Brothers Get It Wrong Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 4, 2023

Jesus' brothers gave Jesus some advice. It wasn't very good advice. But we can learn from it, about assumptions, about accepting Jesus as Lord, and about dealing with pressure from our families.

Today, we’re continuing in our series ‘Encounters with Jesus in John’s gospel.’ I’m going to focus on the first eight verses of John 7. These tell us about an encounter Jesus’ brothers had with him. As usual, I’ll try to give the context. Then we’ll look at what happened. After that, we’ll ...read more

Scripture: John 7:1-8

Denomination: Baptist