Watch out that you are not deceived

Sermon preached 17 November 2013 – Second Sunday before Advent

Luke 21: 5-19

• Your word is a lamp to my feet
• and a light to my path.
• Your word O Lord is eternal
• it stands firm in the heavens     Psalm 119 106, 80

• Praying the scriptures: pleases God. Put me in remembrance Is 43:26
• Protects us from being deceived

• Luke 21:8 Watch out that you are not deceived. Talking of the end of the age. cf Mark 13 – the little Apocalypse.
• for many will come in my name claiming I AM
• Jesus uses I AM in the 7 I Am sayings in John’s gospel
  • Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35
  • Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  John 8:12
  • So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. John 10:7
  • I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11
  • Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, John 11:25
    
  • Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
    
  • “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. John 15:1
  • Here is the clue to what Jesus is saying
  • Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  John 8:58
• Exodus 3:13 Moses asked God what His name was – I AM WHO I AM.

• I Am is the Name of the Most High God, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
• When Jesus uses I AM he is saying as John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
• Before Abraham was, Father God, the pre-existent Son who was revealed to us as Jesus and the Holy Spirit all existed – living and reigning in the perfect unity of love – 3 Persons yet one God  post Communion prayer Trinity Sunday

Luke 21:8 Many will come in my name claiming I Am and the Time is near. Do not follow them.

Matthew 24:24 False Christs and  false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if possible. Jesus has warned us.

• What to do?
• Hear, Read. Mark, Learn and Inwardly digest Gods word.  Bible Sunday
• Learn from the Greats of Faith. Joshua 1:8 “Do  not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
• Get to know God the Father, God the Son God the Holy Spirit – learn their names in the Bible – prayer these scripture back to them. learn their personalities – pray these scriptures back to them.
• Study the prophecies in the Bible about who Jesus is:
• Especially: Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. Isaiah 52, 53. See how they have been fulfilled.

• Study the real and you will spot a fake
• Absorb yourself in real prophecy and your will recognise false prophecy
• Get to know Jesus, the Prophet like unto Moses, and false prophets will be unable to deceive you.

Religious Communities in the church

The election of Pope Francis has make us aware of Religious Communities in the church. Pope Francis belongs to the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order whose members are known as Jesuits. We are blessed to live in the time where Religious Communities have been restored to the wider church.

In the Church of England we have a number of Religious orders for both men and women. I have had contact with the Society of St Francis and the Community of the Resurrection who are based in Mirfield.

Glenn spent some time during his sabbatical in 2012 at the Iona Community which is an ecumenical community on the Scottish Island of Iona. Another ecumenical community is Scargill House which is based in Kettlewell North Yorkshire.

Use your mobile to build up your faith

We are urged in scripture to keep the Word of God constantly before our eyes. With the advent of the mobile phone we have even more ways to read the scriptures. The are mobile phone apps which can display a verse of scripture to us each day. Some allow us to share these scriputes on social media. Other apps give us a daily reading plan. Daily Bible is an app on Android.

We can also get the daily services of the church on our mobile phone. St Michael’s website has a link to these mobile services. More ideas will  follow.

Introduction to the letter to the Philippians

A sermon preached on 18th September 2011 from the letter to the Philippians.

St Paul according to Acts of the Apostles 28 was in Rome under house arrest. He writes to all the saints (hagios) in Christ Jesus together with the overseers (episkopos) and deacons.

Philippi was then in Macedonia and is now a part of Greece. It can be identified on the maps which are at the back of many Bibles.

The Season of Advent

A sermon preached on 27th November 2011 from St Mark’s Gospel chapter 13

As I begin my introduction to the season of Advent which begins today, I want to refer to a previous sermon where I introduced the idea of the Bible in 4 bullet points:

1. God creates a beautiful world and wants to share it with mankind
2. Mankind messes it up
3. God sorts it out
4. God lives together with mankind happily ever after

This idea helps us see where we in the timeline of god’s plan of salvation.

Advent is 4 weeks long and begins the church year,  but it also looks back to last Sunday when we celebrated Christ the King. This where we are in the timescale. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords and is seated with God the Father in heaven.

God does not go back on His promises

A sermon preched on 14th August 2011 from Romans chapter 11

Let us start with a Summary of the Bible which you could call the Bible in 4 bullet points.

1. God creates a beautiful world and wants to share it with mankind
2. Mankind messes it up
3. God sorts it out
4. God lives together with mankind happily ever after.

I am glad that three out of four of these items are things which God does.

Starting with Point 1 we see from Psalm 33  in verses 6 and 9 that the heavens were made by the Word of the Lord

Entering into the Holy of Holies

I now move onto the second part of the Gathering of the Eucharist as described in Common worship page 166.

When God gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai and showed him a vision of the throne room of heaven He set the stardard for worship for all time. Moses was told that worship is an awesome act and can only be entered into in the ways which God has prescibed.

Christ’s presence when we gather for worship

Jesus in Matthew 18:20 makes this amazing promise: ‘For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them’. How we respond to this promise will determine how we experience the presence of Jesus.

The promises in the Bible are amazing and we can choose how we respond to them. By an act of our will we can choose to believe them.

The right people in the right place at the right time

Our title is not a Bible quote but is rather a summary of how God acts in the Bible and in history. I want to begin with 3 people who were in the right place which for them was Mount Moriah in the highlands on Judah. The are Abraham, King David and Simeon.

Abraham had been called by God to leave his homeland. One day as we are told in Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham and gave him great promises.

He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion

As I reflect on my first day as Self Supporting Assistant Curate in the Benefice of St Michael East Ardsley, I am overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God. From the day when I first became aware that God had called me to preach the Gospel I have been aware of His calling.