Sermons on Simon On Cyrene:

Our Greatest Passion

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Apr 13, 2024

Are we clear on what our greatest passion must be?

NOTE: This was a family service. Early in the service I tell the children’s story ‘Wherever you go, I want you to know’ by Melissa Kruger. You can download the images for the story free from the Good Book Company. I made them into a PowerPoint to accompany the story. EARLY IN THE SERVICE: Today ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:37-38

Denomination: Baptist

Witnessing To The Angels

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 24, 2025

Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:10, 'So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.' What does this mean?!

INTRODUCTION Today, we’re moving on to Ephesians 3. In my first talk, I showed you this picture. It’s produced by the BibleProject and it presents the structure of Ephesians. Ephesians 1 and 2 both get a lot of space. But look at Ephesians 3! It just gets a little corner! It seems that the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:10

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

Addressing Sin In The Church

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Apr 29, 2024

Jesus has just told the Parable of the Good Shepherd. The shepherd goes after the straying sheep. Then Jesus spells out what WE need to do when we see a member of our church falling into sin and straying.

INTRODUCTION We sometimes hurt people. I can think of times when I’ve hurt people. And people sometimes hurt us. I can think of times when I’ve been hurt. It happens in families, in workplaces and in churches. There was a time when Paul was planning to visit the church in Corinth. But he was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:15-17

Denomination: Baptist

Forgive!

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 5, 2024

Jesus tells us that we MUST forgive. We have a fundamental moral obligation to forgive. There is a terrible consequence if we don't forgive. But what does it mean to forgive?

INTRODUCTION Today we’re looking at a passage about forgiveness. It may be the longest passage about forgiveness in the Bible and it’s extremely important. Forgiveness is a God-quality. It’s at the heart of what God is like. We find it very tough to do. But in this teaching, Jesus demands that ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

Denomination: Baptist

Dealing With Disagreements

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Jan 31, 2026

Paul entreats Euodia and entreats Syntyche to agree in the Lord. We look at just two verses but find in them a great example of how to deal with disagreements at church.

INTRODUCTION Some years ago, a minister named Chuck Thomas was invited to preach at a church in Oklahoma. This is the story I read. Thomas noticed that the church was split down the middle, with each side having its own communion table and elders who prayed and served their respective halves of the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:2-3

Denomination: Baptist

Camels And Needles

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 8, 2025

Jesus said that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Totally impossible - and yet, not for God. We explore the idea in a children's / family service with the help of some glass ships in glass bottles.

THIS WAS A TALK FOR A FAMILY SERVICE, GIVEN IN THREE PARTS. PART 1: A glass ship in a glass bottle Perhaps you have a jug at home that’s made of Pyrex. [EXAMPLE.] This kind of jug can withstand high temperatures. You can put it in the oven and you can put it in the freezer. That’s because it’s ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-26

Denomination: Baptist

Running The Race

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 1, 2025

The New Testament likens the Christian life to running a race. We look at how it uses the metaphor. It calls us to strive, to improve, and to stay the course.

INTRODUCTION The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: ‘Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.’ The writer imagined the Christian life as a race – a race that requires endurance. We’re presently in a series in which we’re looking at items in the news. In some of the ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Denomination: Baptist

God's Power

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 8, 2025

God is more powerful than any other power. He gives his people power. We need to grasp how powerful God is and go to him for power.

THIS TALK WAS FOR A FAMILY SERVICE IN WHICH THE CHILDREN STAY IN PART 1, EARLIER IN THE SERVICE: PHYSICAL FORCES There are different kinds of forces. For example, I can put my hands on Priscilla’s [my wife’s] shoulders and … hey presto! … she goes down. The force is coming from my hands on her ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 40:29

Denomination: Baptist

The Supreme Fact Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Mar 22, 2025

Jesus' resurrection is the supreme fact of history. We need to grasp it firmly as a truth. Everything else builds on it.

Easter talk, No.1 Let’s suppose some components arrive in a factory. They’re inspected. They pass the inspection and they continue into the factory. There was a fact: the components passed the inspection. The fact led to a decision: the components are received. We may not work in business or ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:36-43

Denomination: Baptist

Acknowledging God In The Harvest Festival

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 5, 2024

Why MUST we celebrate harvest? What should we thank God for? When and how should we mark it. And what did David think about it?

Today is our harvest festival. It’s the time of year when we formally thank God for the harvest. I’d like to tell you a couple of little stories as a lead in to the subject of thanking God. The first story is about Christmas when I was a child. A pile of presents would build up under the ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 23:16, Hosea 6:6

Denomination: Baptist

David The King Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 19, 2024

We look at David as king. We see that the foundational qualities he needed were justice and righteousness - and he showed them. And we see in David as king a foreshadowing of what Jesus will be like when he fully takes up his rule.

INTRODUCTION We’re in a series titled ‘Learning from David.’ Today’s talk is on David the king. I think today’s talk is the most important talk in this series. That might seem surprising to you. We’ve had ‘David: man of prayer.’ We all hopefully pray. We can relate to that. We’ve had David ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 89:14, Psalm 97:2, Isaiah 9:7, Jeremiah 23:5, Luke 19:11-27  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

David The Judge: Justice In A Messy World Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Oct 28, 2024

Many people see David as a failure as a judge. But the world of David's time was a messy place. There were reasons why David couldn't do all that he would have liked to do or, we might think, should have done. The Bible doesn't see David as a failure as a judge.

We’re coming towards the end of our series, ‘Learning from David’. Last week, we looked at David the king. We saw that in the Bible, the foundation of God’s throne is righteousness and justice. I suggested that if righteousness and justice are the foundation of GOD’S throne – the key ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus The Bridegroom

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Nov 9, 2024

We don't talk enough about Jesus the bridegroom. It's one of Jesus' most wonderful titles. It helps us to understand who he is, the kind of relationship he wants with us, and who we are.

Some of us have been Christians for a long time and we’ve heard that Jesus is sometimes called the bridegroom. But perhaps some of us have never heard this title of Jesus. I don’t think churches talk about it often enough. It’s one of the most important and wonderful titles of Jesus. When we ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 54:5-6, Isaiah 62:5, Hosea 2:16, Mark 2:18-22, John 3:25-29, Revelation 19:6-7, Revelation 21:9  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

Remembrance Sunday - What We Should Remember

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Nov 9, 2024

On Remembrance Sunday let's remember, first, that there are things to SACRIFICE for. Second, that there are things to FIGHT for. And third, that there are things to HOPE for.

INTRODUCTION EARLIER IN THE SERVICE Today is Remembrance Sunday. It’s a time for remembering. In Britain, I think we’re good at remembering the people in the armed forces who gave their lives in conflicts over the past century or so. Yesterday, the Royal British Legion held Festivals of ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13, Micah 6:8, Micah 4:1-4, Hebrews 6:19

Denomination: Baptist