Category Archives: Sermons

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Luke 6:43-45 (ESV)

“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, [44] for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. [45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

I Introduction

1. II Samuel 12:1-9 – Nathan’s confrontation of David after David’s adultery, murder of Uriah, and the cover up.

a. 2 Samuel 12:1-9 – And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. [2] The rich man had very many flocks and herds, [3] but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. [4] Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” [5] Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, [6] and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” [7] Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. [8] And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. [9] Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

b. Now why do we begin with that? We begin with that because David is a perfect picture of all of us. We may read this account of David and shake our heads about how thick in his head he really was but dear ones, we can be just like him. We are masters at seeing sins in others and missing the sin that is in ourselves. And the reason that is relevant for this morning is because of what we see Jesus talking about in Luke 6:43-45. A tree is known by its fruit. No good tree bears bad fruit. We hear it. We believe it. But many of do not believe it is about them. They do not bear good fruit but they are convinced that this text is not talking about them. It is amazing how we can read texts of Scripture and see how they apply to others but know that they are not talking about us. We begin this message this morning about bad trees bearing bad fruit with a warning that we do not just think it is about someone else. The question to ask is “Is this about me?” Continue reading →

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This sermon was preached by Pastor Davis

Love Your Enemies

March 13, 2011

I  Introduction

1. The Christian life, as we are fond of pointing out, is more than just a change of destination. It is a change of behaviour. It is a change of loyalties. People brought to faith in Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are called to live in ways that those not so indwelt are able to live.

a. This is what Galatians 5:22-23 is about … .

b. See this in Colossians 3:1 – Since you have been raised with Christ… .

c. See it in Ephesians 4:1 – walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called – a calling that is from before the foundations of the world, which was purchased for you by the eternal Son of God, … so be united, … .

d. See it in Romans 12:1 – In view of God’s mercy … .

2. Where all this takes us this morning is here: the difficult calling of the child of God, as difficult as it is – is attainable for the one who has God the Holy Spirit living in him/her to bring him/her to victory. God does not give us the instructions He gives us to frustrate us. He calls us to a great calling and He equips us to do as He instructs. The kind of living we see commanded in these texts is a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. We have let slip into our thinking that the Holy Spirit’s work is to give us spectacular gifts and miracles and signs and wonders. Perhaps so – but we need to come to realize that the wonder will be when the Christian community lives like Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 3, Ephesians 4 and Romans 12.

3. We are in a text of Scripture this morning that is one of the most difficult texts of Scripture to come to grips with. I am convinced that the reason it is difficult to come to grips with is because we are so prone to not want to do what it says. We, like the rest of the world, can’t see how it is possible to live in this world and love our enemies the way that Jesus instructs us to in this passage. But dear child of God. Do you believe that God the Holy Spirit is able to bring you to the joyful obedience of the command of Jesus that we find ourselves looking at here? Can He do it? Of course. Does He desire us to live in such a way? Of course. Then why in the world does He not do it? Because we do not want Him to. Continue reading →

Pastor Bell preached on March 20, from Luke 6:37-42. Judge not and you will not be judged.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page for this sermon, or listen to the sermon using the player below.

On the second Sunday of our Missions Conference, our guest speaker was Nigel Barham, founder and director of Move-In.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page for this sermon or listen to the sermon using the player below.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page for this sermon or listen to the sermon using the player below.

This message was delivered by our brother Farzan at our recent Missions Conference. His main point is that we need to get in what God is doing in our neighbourhoods and as we obey Him, watch Him do great things.

On February 20, Pastor Bell preached from Luke 6:20-23 – Jesus’ Upside Down Kingdom

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page to listen to this sermon, or listen to the sermon using the player below.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page for this sermon, or listen to the sermon using the player below.

I. Introduction
- Choosing Up Teams

II. Jesus Prays at Night
- Jesus, the Man of Prayer
- If Him, How Much More Us?

III. The Apostles – Just Like Us
- Ordinary Men

IV. The Apostles – Not Anything Like Us
- The Church Built on Their Teachings

I  Introduction

1. This is an interesting text to preach from. Hassan and I meet periodically to discuss what texts of Luke we are going to deal with and which ones we will skip over. We are trying to get through this Book of Luke in a year (and right now the time table does not look good) and we simply cannot include everything. So why not skip over this one?

a. The reason for me is that the choosing of the twelve is a crucial part of Jesus future ministry and crucial for the church for all eternity. Two key texts, which will come up again later this morning, regarding the importance of these Apostles – Ephesians 2:19-20 and Revelation 21:10-14.

b. There is the whole matter of Jesus’ prayer life.

c. And there are certain qualities of these twelve men that are worth looking into as we consider our calling from Christ.

2. Just reading this brief account telling us who Jesus picked to be His Apostles puts me in mind of that age old custom of picking teams for baseball or hockey when we were children. The shame of being picked last meant that, at best, you were allowed to play, but what you felt – and knew – was that no one wanted you on their team because you were considered not good enough to play or contribute to the victory that everyone wanted. There are other examples that this picking of the Twelve might remind us of – American Idol comes to mind … . Applying for a job … . In all these situations the key to getting picked for the team, getting voted to carry to the next level or getting the job, is determined by the qualifications of the applicants. Can he play hockey? Can she sing? Are they fit to do the job we are hiring for? This is the way it should be.

a. The Gospel destroys all that when it comes to figuring out why we are on the team. But it dies hard in us. It is difficult for us not to compare what Jesus is doing here with those other examples of being chosen for something. It is easy for us to think that we are on the team because God saw some quality that He wanted or worse, needed. It is easy for us to think about our abilities, our talents and our gifts. But the Bible is plain that when it comes to being chosen for God’s team we are completely and utterly unqualified. Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 1:26-31 … .

b. And the same thing is true of these men that Jesus chose here. They are not being chosen for the exceptional qualities that they possess but because of the exceptional love Jesus has for them and the unbelievable plan that He has mapped out for them. But we get ahead of ourselves. Continue reading →

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Lord of the Sabbath – Luke 6:1-11

February 6, 2011

1. The Pharisees

a. The text of Scripture we read this morning gives us the second of three run-ins up to this point, that Jesus has with the Pharisees, religious leaders whose job is to interpret the Law for the people.

b. We note here that there is a growing animosity to Jesus on the part of the Pharisees. Note that the level of antagonism grows in each confrontation in these three controversies. See 5:33 and then 6:2 and then 6:7.

c. The Pharisees are legalists. There is just no getting around it. They see themselves as the ones who should let the people know about the Law of God and all its implications for living. Their problem is that they neither know the law or real righteousness. They think righteousness is simply a matter of action, regardless of heart. And they think that the more rules they keep the more righteous they are. They do not love God. They love themselves. If asked the famous question “What would you say to God if He asked you why you should be allowed entrance into heaven”, they would have an answer. They would talk about their fasting, their praying, their tithing, the keeping of the Sabbath, the fact that they are not as bad as those they are forced to associate with all the time. We get an idea of what they are like in Luke 18:9-14. Jesus, during Passion Week, gives us the best summary of what the Pharisees are like – Matthew 23:3-8, 13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29. This is the Pharisees.

d. They certainly do not love their neighbours. They hate people who do not see the law as they see it. They hate people who do not keep the rules that they have invented and developed over the years. But they are glad that they can at least demonstrate that they are better than the rabble they must rub shoulders with day by day.

e. Enter Jesus. He teaches with authority. He is popular. He can perform miracles. He is a threat to the Pharisees hold on people and worse, He does not agree with them regarding the rules and how they are to be kept.

f. Now dear ones, there is no getting around this. We are all Pharisees by nature. We know how things ought to be done. We know that we should live eternally with God in the painless bliss of His glory. And we know that “they”, whoever “they” are, should not. “They” don’t go to church. “They” go to the wrong church. “They” don’t baptize right. “They” are immoral. This is not to say that those people are right in what they do. Jesus never told the woman at the well that she was fine the way she was. He told her of her sin and saved her from it. He did not tell the woman caught in adultery that she could keep committing it. He told her to go and sin no more. But He did receive sinners. He spent time with them. He loved them, even when they did not repent. Jesus never condoned sin. But we do. We love it when people sin – it enables us to look better than they are. That was the problem of the Pharisees. The saw themselves as better. And we can fall into that very easily.

i. That Christian who gossips. Gossip is wrong. She needs to stop. So far so good. But then we get to – “I wouldn’t do that”. “I’m better than that”. “Thank you Lord that I am not like other people”. Continue reading →

We are back on line with sermons preached in the Sunday morning service. Yesterday Pastor Bell preached from Luke 5:33-39 regarding what Jesus said about fasting.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page to listen to the sermon, or listen to the sermon using the player below.

Sermon notes are not available for this message.

You can click here to go to the Internet Archive page for this sermon, or listen to the sermon using the player below.

Pastor Bell preached on May 30 from Matthew 18:15-20 regarding disciplining believers in the church when they sin.