Sermons on Simon On Cyrene:

God Heals Naaman

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Aug 23, 2020

The story of God healing Naaman is full of lessons, for example, about opportunity, courtesy, humility, and greed. But the key message must be the one Jesus drew from it. That is, that if we wish to see God's miracles, we must accept his word.

NAAMAN’S HEALING We’re continuing in our series ‘Bible Stories for Grown-Ups.’ Today we’re looking at one of the most famous stories in the Book of Kings. It’s the story of the healing of the Syrian general, Naaman. It’s a great story for Sunday School, because one of the key characters is a ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

God Saves Jonah, Nineveh, And Us.

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Aug 29, 2020

The story of Jonah tells the story of God rescuing Jonah, not FROM a whale, but BY a whale. It tells of God reaching out to one of the cruellest people in history, the Assyrians. And it prefigures the story of God reaching out to us, through Christ.

GOD SAVES JONAH, NINEVEH, AND US We’re in a series ‘Bible Stories for Grown-Ups.’ Today, we’re looking at the story of Jonah. I’m going to assume most of us are fairly familiar with the story of Jonah and not spend time revisiting it. I’m going to look at the story under three headings: the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 15, 2021

Paul tells Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel. Christians today can also face that temptation. Paul then gives some solid arguments why Timothy shouldn't be ashamed of the gospel, and they help us too!

‘So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord’ Today we’re starting a new four-week series on 2 Timothy. I’m looking forward to this short series! Over the years I’ve studied a number of the New Testament letters but I’ve never really studied 2 Timothy. I’m interested to find out what ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:8-14

Denomination: Baptist

Be A Good Soldier

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 16, 2021

'Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus', Paul tells Timothy. We look at the story of three men who did just that: Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer and ask why.

Last week we started a new series on 2 Timothy. We looked at chapter 1 and I suggested that Paul’s central message to Timothy was, ‘Don’t be ashamed of the gospel’. Today we’re moving on to chapter 2. But I’m going to approach the passage by a different route. I’m going to take a look at three ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

The Supreme Fact

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Apr 5, 2021

Jesus' resurrection is the supreme fact in history and the supreme fact for every believer.

INTRODUCTION I’d like to start by telling you a bit about the time in my life after I became a Christian. I became a Christian when I was about ten. For a few years life went on much as before. Then I went on to secondary school. It was a private boarding school. When I started it was an ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:1-12, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Denomination: Baptist

God's Power At Work Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Sep 18, 2023

Luke starts Acts with, 'In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus BEGAN to do and teach...' Now he's going to talk about what Jesus CONTINUED to do. In Acts 16 we have a great example of Jesus witnessing to himself - and Paul and Silas fitting in.

Acts 16 God’s power at work Let’s suppose you hear God speaking to you, telling you to do something. You do what God tells you. But then, within a short time, the situation looks a complete mess. What would you think? Did you hear wrong? Has God let you down? Let’s suppose God calls you to ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

What Motivated Paul Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Sep 23, 2023

Paul was extraordinarily determined to take the gospel to the Gentile world. He was full of passion and drive. He got knocked down but he got up and kept going. Why? What motivated him?

WHAT MOTIVATED PAUL We live in a world where a lot of people don’t believe in God. But not only that, many people who do believe in God are not exactly passionate about telling those who don’t believe in God about him. What will motivate us to tell people about Jesus? That’s our subject ...read more

Scripture: Acts 17:16-21

Denomination: Baptist

Paul’s Charge To The Ephesian Elders Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 14, 2023

Paul sees the elders of the Ephesian church for the last time. He gives them a charge: 'Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.' It's a message the church needs to hear today.

Today’s passage has a lot to tell us about the job of a minister or pastor or elder. Maybe you think, ‘I’m not a minister or pastor or elder. This doesn’t apply to me’! But all of us have responsibilities towards other people. This passage has something to say to all of us. Before I get ...read more

Scripture: Acts 20:17-38

Denomination: Baptist

Would You Have Gone? Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 29, 2023

God leads Paul to Jerusalem. It doesn't seem to make sense. It will be costly. Friends advise against. Would you have gone? We see God's priority is mission.

INTRODUCTION Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that God was asking you to do… Something that DIDN’T MAKE A LOT OF SENSE to you? Something that was COSTLY? Something that all your friends URGE YOU NOT TO DO? That was the situation the apostle Paul was in. Many years previously ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

How To Survive A Storm Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Nov 25, 2023

Three important strategies for surviving a storm. They're all not-so-common common-sense.

The book of Acts is 28 chapters long. In Chapter 28, Paul finally gets to Rome. But chapter 27 is the chapter where the last major drama of the book of Acts happens. It’s the story of Paul in a storm. Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, gave a lot of space to this story. He must think it’s ...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

Is It Worth It?

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 13, 2023

This week it's 'Christian Aid Week' (in the UK). Christian Aid calls on Christians to 'give, act and pray.' All good things to do. But we might wonder, is it worth it? Isn't the situation for Planet Earth hopeless?

This week is ‘Christian Aid Week.’ Once a year, Christian Aid especially encourages us as Christians to think about how we respond to a great sea of need in the world. Since this is Christian Aid Week, I thought I should tell you what Christian Aid want to tell us. Christian Aid has prepared ...read more

Scripture: Joel 1:10-12, Joel 2:12-13, Joel 2:20-23

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