Preaching with a purpose

This morning whilst shopping I saw Quakers in a silent vigil declaring on posters that what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki seventy years ago must never happen again.   Whilst applauding the sentiment I realize that this is a gesture that is likely to fall on deaf ears.   For the heart of man “ is desperately wicked.” We tend to remember Hitler but forget Pol Pot.   We deplore the African slave trade of the nineteenth century, but forget people are in slavery making our clothes. If we look full on at the world we see evil on every hand and in order to cope with this reality we put on blinkers and hide in denial. How often do we hear, “This must never happen again.   I wouldn’t want anyone to go through this?”   But until man turns back to God in repentance we will hear this phrase over and over again.

A couple of nights’ ago I watched a programme on T.V. about the terracotta army discovered some time ago in China.   Each soldier is amazing and individually crafted.   One man was measuring their ears to see how unique each one is, just as if they were portraits of different people, and I guess that is so.   They were buried with weapons which proved to be excellent and accurate.   The commentator said they were, “well ahead of their time.” Often when speaking of “primitive” peoples there is amazement at their technology.   We do not know how Stonehenge could possibly have been positioned as it is.   We marvel at the precision of the pyramids.   Why is it that we are amazed at these things?   If we read our Bibles we see that Adam and Eve were created perfect and this would have included their intellect.   They were far more clever than anyone on earth today and it was only after the fall when they rebelled against God that e...

Recently I wrote about slavery, the pitiful state of those who are taken advantage of and denied the good things in life.   However there is a much worse slavery that affects us all whether we realize it or not and that is the slavery of being affected by sin.   Our ancestors Adam and Eve rebelled against God their Creator and so introduced sin and its consequences into the lives of us all.   We have inherited this scourge and it affects all of our lives.   The greed that this produces is what leads people to take advantage of other people.   We may be living outwardly good lives helping others and doing good, but we are still affected by this sin and sooner or later we find we slip up and do even things we do not want to do.   This poison needs a cure and the only cure is that provided by Jesus who died on the cross so that all who put their trust in Him can have that sin completely forgiven.   How amazing! Unfortunately many of us will not accept ...

Last Sunday I preached on the book of Philemon.   Philemon lived in Colosse and had a slave called Onesimus.   One day Onesimus ran away and went to Rome where he eventually met with Paul the apostle, now an old man.   Under Paul’s preaching Onesimus became a Christian.   Paul sent him back to Philemon as a brother in Christ, not a slave.   We might be very critical of a slave owner but we are usually thinking of the particularly cruel slave trade when people from Africa were transported under horrific conditions to the Americas, many dying in transit.   Slaves in the Roman Empire often had very good conditions to live in and had responsible jobs and food and shelter. However a man’s freedom should always be highly regarded.   When we criticize Philemon for having slaves we forget that most of us are involved in modern day slavery.   The cheap clothes and shoes we buy are made for us by adults and children in sweat shops in foreign land...

I’m sorry for my silence over the past few weeks.   This has been partly due to my having a nasty virus which dragged me down.   It is at times like these that we find how our outlook on life can become quite negative.   The Lord we honour and love in normal times can seem far away when our health is affected.   But we know that God does not change and He is still looking after us and caring for us just the same as always.   The old christians used to talk about our “frames,” meaning frame of mind and how changeable they are, but God does not change.   We may not feel this truth when we are low but we can still declare it to be true thus showing our belief.   Belief isn’t a cosy feeling it is a determined declaring of what we believe.   But then, of course, it is easy for me to say this now that I feel better.   I hope you will be encouraged to know that just because you feel bad it doesn’t mean that your position with God has in any...