Sermons

A prayer based upon Joshua 9 Sovereign God,You are Lord of all.You rule over your church.You work through the mess of our sin and failing.We are so thankful that your purposes do not fail,that your plans are not thwarted.We praise you for your faithfulness,for you steadfast love and grace.Gracious God,You do not treat us with justice,You do not give us what we deserve,And you don't give us simply what we need.Your grace runs deeper, your love is more generous.You lavish your

Aaron Boyd's song 'Jericho' begins with the line To all our questions, there will be an answer It is a catchy song - posted at the end of this blog. The song expresses Christian truth, but I do not think the truth it expresses is based wholly on the book of Joshua! So why am I posting it here? The song is speaking about the questions our life experiences rise. It is true they shall be answered by God himself one day, perhaps in eternity. I want to think about the questions

A prayer based on Joshua 1:1-18 Lord God,You are unchangeable in your nature,Faithful in all your ways,True to all your promises.We praise you, for keeping your word,for leading your people into the promised land.And we thank you for raising up Joshua,to be the next leader of your people.As you command Joshua, so you command usto be strong and courageous.So we pray that you would enable us to walk in your strength and to live out your courage.May we always have your law on ou

We covered a lot of ground yesterday, and I was going really quick - apologies! On reflection it would have been better to go slower and cover this over two weeks. So I thought it would be worth while to post up a brief recap, including the 5 principals for giving. Who do we serve? God - whole life WORSHIP because of his great mercy (Rom 12:1) Each other - we all belong to each other (Rom 12:5) Who does the serving? We all do - God, in grace, saves and empowers us (Rom 12:3

A prayer based on Romans 12. Lord God,Your mercy is great, your love is unending,your grace is sufficent for all our needs. Our words are not enough to say thank you.How can lips tell of all that you have done?We cannot sing loud enough to declare how great your are. You deserve more; you deserve our all.We offer you our bodies as a living sacrfice.We give you our all, as an act of continual worship. Thank you for equipping us with gifts,May we know these and use them in the

A prayer based on 1 Peter 1:22 - 2:12 Lord God, You have spoken, And your word has brought us to live. We praise you for your living and enduring word.Word which nourishes and sustains us. Word which causes us to grow. You are building, Taking and placing us as living stones in your spiritual house. We praise you for bringing us together as your people in this place, For making us a holy people, a royal priesthood,For giving us a song to sing, declaring your praise. As you sp

A prayer based on Revelation 7:9-17 Lord of the Churc h, We are struck by the glorious sight of your church praising you.People from every tribe, nation and language - lifting their voices, pouring out their hearts and falling on their faces before you in praise. Thank you for making your church diverse.For the mix of nations, cultures, personalities, ages - that makes your church diverse and vibrant.May we be a church where all people are welcomed, as you the Lord of the chu

A prayer based on Psalm 24 Almighty God, You are Lord of all, Your rule stretches to the end of the earth, You reign over all nations, No-where or no-one falls outside of your dominion. Holy God, You are pure, nothing unclean can enter your presence. You are light, in you there is no darkness at all. You are true, you never hide the truth or act in deceptive ways. We stand in awe of you - almighty and holy God - and bring you our praise. Loving God, My hands are not clean; n

A prayer based on Psalm 22 Thank you Jesus, For your willingness to suffer for us. For not giving up, when you were forsaken by God. For not answering the taunts of those who walked by. For not giving into the fear or the pain. We cannot imagine the depths of your suffering. Forgive us, we are so used to the story, it dulls our wonder. So we pause, to say thank - you Jesus, for suffering in our place. Loving Father, When we are surrounded by darkness, cause us to remember yo

http://donaldmacleod.org.uk/dm/the-cry-of-dereliction/ We're coming to Psalm 22 on Sunday morning. This article is worth the read before then!

A prayer based on Psalm 20: Lord God, We thank you that you have given victory to your anointed. The war has been won; the enemy defeated. We lift up our banners and shout with joy! Hallelujah! Lord God, We are still engaged in a battle with the world, flesh and the devil. Forgive us for closing our eyes and laying down our arms. Forgive us for being casual on the battlefield. Forgive us for trusting in our own strength and wisdom, resolve or wit to win the battle for us. Cau

A prayer based on Psalm 16 Lord God, You are my safety, my refuge and my delight. There is no one better than you; no pleasure greater than knowing you. All the good things I have are gifts from your hands. Thank you, for the many blessing you give to me Lord God, I am sorry for those times when I have treated you as a crutch. Forgive me for crying out to you in tough times, and ignoring you when times are good. Forgive me for drifting from your word, your people and your way

A prayer based on Colossians 4:2-6. Lord of all, Thank you for the gift of prayer. Your ear is open to our cries. Your heart listens to our burdens. Your power is released as we pray to you. We are sorry for not devoting ourselves to prayer. We start off well, but falter in a day or so. We see a need, we committ to prayer, and we soon forget. We are stubborn, refusing to see the way you answer, if it doesn't line up with what we desire. Forgive us for our sins. Give us eyes

Here's the quotes used in the sermon yesterday and importantly - where you can get your hands on the books they come from. All 3 of these books are resonably priced, very readable and throughly recommended... pick up some summer reading! The first two come from The Life of God in the soul of the church by Thabiti Anyabwile. Pick a copy up here 'Only humanity sings the blues' And quoting John Owen - ‘We must not allow ourselves to be satisfied with vague ideas of the love o

A prayer based on Colossians 3:15-17 Lord God, Thank you for chosing us, making us holy and setting your love upon us. We do not deserve your mearcy, the status you give us and the privileges you bestow upon us. Thank you. May the peace of Christ, rule over our life together. We are sorry for the times when we have worked against peace - by spreading rumours, holding onto past hurts or withholding love for one another. You brought us together as one body. You bought our p

A prayer based on Colossians 3:12-15 Lord God, Thank you for chosing us as your people. We cannot understand why you would set us apart, we have nothing to commend ourselves to you. Yet you love us deeply. Thank you. Our Father, As you love us, so we are called to love each other. We are sorry for the ways we have failed to love each other. For ignoring or avoiding certain people. For holding onto wrongs. For spreading lies and gossip. For treating each other as objec

A prayer based on Colossians 3:1-4 Living Lord Jesus, We praise you for the life we have in you. A life of peace and purpose. A life enable by your power and driven forward in your hope. Forgive us, For living for things that do no last. For straining to keep our little rules, which have no value. For filling our minds with trash. For seeking our own ends and pleasure, rather than yours. Spirit of Christ, Lift our eyes from all that dazzels in this world. May we not be consum

A prayer based on Colossians 2:6-23 Lord Jesus, We look to you. We have received you as Lord and we keep holding onto you. You are our head, our life, our all. In you we see God. In you we ourselves have come to fulness. Forgive us, For the ways in which we have wondered from you. For the many times we have thought we don't need you. For the ways in which we seek wisdom, power, help and strength in things other than you. Forgive us for not being thankful - you have gi

A prayer based on this mornings passage - Colossians 1:24 - 2:5 Lord God, Thank you for the wonderful message you have given to us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. For many generations, this truth was a mystery, Christ was hidden. But now, you have revealed him to us. You have caused us to see him. He has come to dwell in us. Thank you that we see, know and have Jesus Christ in us. This is a marvellous message and a living hope. We long for glory. Because He is in

A prayer based on Colossians 1:15-23 Lord of all creation, We worship you - the one who made all things. We praise you for the beauty, power and mystery of this created world. You flung stars into space and spoke galaxies into existence, so we worship you. We bow before the one who made rulers, thrones, power and authorities. We say, you are the greatest. We worship you - the one who holds all things together. Without you, the world would spin out of control. Without you