Category: Sermons

It’s a common experience. We begin projects with all the best intentions. We think it’s the right moment, the right cause, the right strategy. And it starts well but then everything hits the fan. And we can be left floundering.

It happened to Nehemiah, it will happen to you. His story helps.

It’s worth listening to and living out in our own contexts.

Chapter 3 of Nehemiah includes the names of people who worked selflessly for the sake of others.

Some were not particularly prepared; some seemed to have a better deal than others. Together they rebuild.

They have a memory of how things should be, and they are determined to all work towards the restoration of what they had once known.

You may not feel equipped or trained, but you are given a place. What does it look like when you feel that your ‘place’ is not what you would want?

Seeing a need, hearing a call, or even getting a vision isn’t the hard bit. What many of us find difficult is moving from that stage to knowing what to do.

Nehemiah’s experience offers timeless help for those who want to make a difference in the world.

Nehemiah is not a priest, nor a prophet, nor a governor. He is ‘just’ a cupbearer to a foreign king, working for the ‘civil service’. So what can we learn from his response to hearing some bad news?

There is often a cynicism about religion and money. How can we be known for our generosity rather than always looking like we are begging for money?

And how do we shape our own lives so that we are not gripped by financial fears, but learn a different way of approaching our personal financial affairs?

If we are to be pastors to those around us, how can we make sure that we show what a full life looks like, rather than allowing people to believe that Christianity leads to a reduced, limited life?

In other words, how do we make the good news look like good news?

Timothy is given extensive guidance about what Christian maturity looks like, and how the mature folks can lead in church.

These are the people we are becoming, so how do we grow in those characteristics?

Gender, sex and identity. Knowing what to say and do can be a problem for all of us. Does Paul’s advice to Timothy help us in any way today?

Paul has left Timothy in Ephesus, a place where there are people who love controversy & arguments, to be a man who can make a difference…

Like most true stories, the book of Ezra has no happy ending – in fact, quite the opposite.

It also leaves us with questions, such as what lengths are we prepared to go to in order to stay faithful to God?