Wednesday 4th March 2015 sees us celebrating the first anniversary of the Drop-in, which meets weekly on Wednesday afternoons from 2pm – 3.30pm.
Thank you to all who have supported this: [Read more…]
Modelling Godly Character
The sermon for 22 February 2015 by Rev. Graham Crawford. “Modelling Godly Character” is the theme for week 3 in the series “Fruitfulness on the Frontline”.
The Darwin awards and the Fruits of the Spirit
I wonder how many of you are familiar with the Darwin awards.
There is no actual award but it is a compilation of stupid things that people do – things that, in some cases, are life threatening.
The inference of the award is that these people are so stupid, they will eventually die out, while others survive.
It is a form of natural selection, evolution and the survival, not necessarily of the fittest, but the brightest, hence the name Darwin awards after the author of “On The origin of Species.”
They are sometimes shown on TV and you can find them on the internet. For the most part, while they might cause you to cringe or go “ouch”, they are pretty funny.
In a world where we believe that the strongest, the fastest and the brightest survive, the fruits of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5, are somewhat of an anomaly.
Love, patience, humility and self-control, to name but a few, are never valued in a worldview where only the strongest survive and it’s everyone for themselves.
As a result, many people dismiss the fruits of the Spirit. Many disparage them and use their disparagement to confine them to Sundays only, or for those who don’t really work in the “real world” – you know: folk like ministers! [Read more…]
The Big Picture
This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s sermon for 15 February 2015 (Week 2 of the series “Fruitfulness on the Frontline”):
The disconnect between professed faith and demonstrated faith
In his book, “It takes a Church to raise a Christian” (which the Session are studying at the moment), Todd Bolsinger makes the startling claim that, while religion is highly popular, it is, to a large extent, superficial.
It does not change people’s lives to the degree one would expect from their level of professed faith. In other words, the faith we profess is not resulting in fruitfulness.
There seems to be a disconnection between our faith at 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning, and the way we live our lives at work and at play.
The studies that we are doing over the next few weeks, and the sermons I will be preaching, are my humble attempt to help you to reconnect.
In this attempt, one of the key New Testament passages is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. [Read more…]
The Missional Church – A Simple Explanation
This is a transcription of the audio of a YouTube video used relative to our morning service on 15 February 2015.
This is the Missional Church: simple.
In the past, churches have spent large amounts of resources to construct the most attractive places imaginable for the community in which they were situated.
Great music, compelling teaching, and a host of programmes designed to gather people together were the staple of such church communities.
Anyone who wanted to come was welcome, and church members were encouraged to invite their friends and neighbours.
Generally, people had a pleasant experience.
The people who came – and were cared for – seemed relatively similar. Education, income, pastimes, race, struggles and histories seemed to be almost identical.
Eventually, someone asked the question: what about all the other people who aren’t like us but who live around us?
Why aren’t they here too? [Read more…]
Fruitfulness in Scripture
The “Fruitfulness on the Frontline” series of Sermons began on 08 February 2015 at St James with the theme “Fruitfulness in Scripture” –
This morning we start on our major theme for the next nine weeks.
We are going to be looking at fruitfulness on the frontline.
What do we mean by “frontline”?
We all have different frontlines.
Your frontline may be an office, a factory floor, a lunch club or a classroom. Your frontline could be the football terraces or the local pub.
In other words your frontline is anywhere that you spend time with other people, and, in particular, other people who are not Christians. [Read more…]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- …
- 91
- Next Page »
