What worldliness forgets l 30-May-2010
(Duration: 21:21 |
size: 13.5MB)
Preacher : Rev. Dr. John Illsley
Bible Reading : Luke 17: 20 – 36
You may have seen the movie 2012 with its prediction that the world will end in 2010. There are several passages in the Bible that remind us that the old world will pass away and that Christ will return. We are told that we are not to speculate as to when it will happen. But we are to realize that the world will end because God is working out his plan. Creation is not chance. The history of the world is not human history of what man has done but God’s history of what he has done and plans to do through mankind. The present evil age will end, and Christ will return and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Repentance – the Gate to the Kingdom of God l 23-May-2010
(Duration: 27:42 |
size: 17.5MB)
Preacher : Rev. Dr. John Illsley
Bible Reading : Matthew 21: 28 – 32, Acts 2: 1 - 13
Today we look at repentance. I will suggest that it is the most important response we make. Indeed without repentance we will never enter the Kingdom of God – we will be left outside like the Pharisees and priests. Jesus pronounces a curse upon Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum because they did not repent. We will look at what repentance is – is it more than a feeling of regret and a desire to do something different? We will look at how some under-play repentance but others can do the opposite. Jesus does not insist on any sort of penalty – he pays that.
Our Fundemental Trouble l 09-May-2010
(Duration: 24:26 |
size: 15.6MB)
Preacher : Rev. Dr. John Illsley
Bible Reading : John 3: 10-21
One question we will look at this morning is why it seems that the last person to be
brought to saving faith in Jesus is not the thoughtless, heedless sinner but rather
the thoughtful, often intelligent, highly moral person who has been doing her or his
best to live a good life. Jesus had more trouble with the intelligent Pharisees than
the tax collectors; sinners and prostitutes accepted the gospel much more than the
priests. After Jesus’ death the church grew dramatically not among the people of
Israel to whom Jesus came but among the non-Jews, the Gentiles. Today, in
clever developed West, the church is in decline, while in South America, southern
Africa, and of course China the church grows. Why? We will explore what the bible
says about this and this will challenge our own attitudes to our faith.
Freedom only in Christ l 02-May-2010
(Duration: 22:25 |
size: 14.3MB)
Preacher : Rev. Dr. John Illsley
Bible Reading : John 8: 31 – 40, Galatians 5: 1, 13 - 25
In the Gospel reading today (John 8: 31 – 40), Jesus tells the people who believed in him – that is you and me – that “you shall know the truth and truth shall set you free.” To tell someone that something can set them free suggests that they are in some way imprisoned. The Jews who heard Jesus did not like this suggestion. They basically replied – we are Abraham’s children and have never been enslaved. They seemed to forget that Israel had been slaves in Egypt, conquered by Assyria and Persia and now were under Rome. Today we will look at what freedom means. What are we free from? And what are we set free for?
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