Sermons on Simon The Sorcerer:

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

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

The Parable Of The Prodigal Son

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 20, 2021

The parable explains why Jesus received tax collectors and sinners and why we need to too. It's all about God's grace!

Today we’re going to look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s Jesus’ longest parable and one of the most famous. We can look at this story from several perspectives. We could reflect on the father in the story and what he shows us of God’s extraordinary grace. We could think about the ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 12:26

Denomination: Baptist

Not The Prodigal Son

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Feb 28, 2021

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger son squandered his inheritance. And yet, his father received him back. So, is what we do with our money not important?!’ The Parable of the Dishonest Manager is Jesus' answer.

"Not the prodigal son" Today we’re looking at what is often called the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, or the Parable of the Shrewd Manager, or similar. A rich man entrusts his manager with stewardship of his assets. The manager wastes his master’s wealth. The rich man demands an ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:1-15

Denomination: Baptist

Gathering For Strength Series

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on Aug 28, 2021

Paul calls the Philippians to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. His relationship with the church in Philippi illustrates what he's talking about. It's challenging!

[INTRODUCTION AND RECAP] We’re doing a series on ‘why Christians gather together.’ We’re emerging from the Covid pandemic and the various lockdowns and we’ve started to meet together in person so it seems a good time to ask why we gather together. I am loosely following a sermon series I found on ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:18-30

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

Reflection B.6 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? Isaiah’s Oracles Or ‘burdens’, Fulfilled Or Could Be Fulfilled

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

Events that may be indicative of 'End Times' in Isaiah 13-22; reasons for God's judgement

In chapters 13-23 Isaiah pronounces a series of ‘oracles’ regarding eleven neighbouring nations. This part of Isaiah is often referred to as ‘the oracles against the nations.’ But Isaiah doesn’t introduce his oracles as ‘against’; he uses the phrase ‘an oracle concerning…’ Oracles don’t have to ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Reflection B.7 / Does God Have A Purpose In Coronavirus? / Isaiah’s Oracles Or ‘burdens’, An Environmental Dimension

Contributed by Simon Bartlett on May 11, 2020

What might lead us to conclude that God is in some way behind coronavirus? We need to see if present-day events fit the picture Scripture gives us of how God judges and 'End Times'. Isaiah's oracles clearly indicate that God judges by means of acts in the environment.

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? In order to answer them I’m looking at prophecies that were made maybe 2700 years ago. Why? In order to understand an event, we almost always draw on ...read more

Denomination: Baptist