The Gospel According to Isaiah - Part 5: The Trustworthiness of God

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Isaiah 9:1-7

Series: The Gospel According to Isaiah

Having celebrated Pentecost and Trinity Sunday we return to our exposition of Isaiah. George Frideric Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ made famous for all time Isaiah’s magnificent poem prophecy (vv2-7) preceded by a verse of prose in which the gloom and despair associated with the capable yet foolish king Ahaz is dispelled. The area which suffered most at the hands of Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria in 734-733 BC will be the first to experience something glorious that is to come.

Pentecost Sunday: The Indwelling Spirit

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Ephesians 5:15-21; 6:18-20

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Paul regards the Spirit-filled life as normal Christianity. In contrast to being filled with alcohol, Paul appeal to believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inhabits the lives of believers. One cannot be a believer, let alone an effective one, without the Spirit’s personal transforming presence and power.

The Gospel According to Isaiah - Part 4: Misplaced Fear

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Series: The Gospel According to Isaiah

Verses: Isaiah 7 & 8

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The year is 734 BC, some six years after the death of King Uzziah and the call of Isaiah. Judah is threatened by a coalition of her northern neighbours, Israel and Syria. They intend to replace Ahaz with a puppet king thereby forming a tripartite alliance against Assyria. Isaiah tells Ahaz to trust the Lord for deliverance and not resort to political intrigue. His words “be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid… if you do not stand firm in your faith you will not stand at all” (7:9b) are ignored. Isaiah is accompanied by his son Shear-Jashub (a remnant will return) a sign and symbol that not all Judah follows the sinful example of their king. Ahaz contemptuously dismisses God’s further prophetic sign of Immanuel (God with us) and prefers to seek help from Assyria against the northern alliance, thereby catching a tiger by its tail. Ironically, Assyria once having dealt with Israel and Damascus would turn on Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem within a decade or so....

The Gospel According To Isaiah - Part 3: When things are at their worst

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Series: The Gospel According to Isaiah

Verses: Isaiah 5:1-7

Isaiah is given a vision which transformed his life.  The year is circa 740 BC with the death of King Uzziah perhaps the most successful king of Judah since Solomon. However, like Solomon, he failed the test of success and succumbed to pride towards the end of his reign.  He usurped the role of the High Priest.  Struck down with leprosy, he was banished from Jerusalem with his son Jotham serving as regent.  With the human throne empty, Isaiah slips into the Temple to reflect and pray and there he encounters God, seated upon his throne in majestic glory...

The Gospel According To Isaiah - Part 2: Lament for God’s Vineyard

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Series: The Gospel According to Isaiah

Verses: Isaiah 5:1-7

Isaiah exercised his prophetic ministry at a time of unique significance, a pivotal point between the birth of the nation under Moses and the coming of Jesus the Messiah. The old world was passing away. An entirely new order, the age of empires, was emerging. Where would Israel stand in that new world? Would she rely on God alone for salvation, or resort to the political machinations of her kings? Would she be swallowed up in a world empire or would she resist the march of the new world system. This was the scenario which confronted Isaiah...

The Gospel According to Isaiah - God’s Overture to His people

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Isaiah 1:1-31

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. The opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is an apt description of the commencement of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. The long reign of King Uzziah had seen the southern kingdom of Judah expand its territory and prosper materially. However, the fault lines of society preoccupied with material success and self-interest lay heavy upon Isaiah’s heart and he responds accordingly...

A Life Transforming Connection

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Preacher: Jones Liwewe

Verses: John 15:1-17

Jesus' death is near

He has taught, healed, cast out demons and performed all kinds of miracles in the whole of Israel. Everywhere He has been people glorified God because of the fruit that came out of His life. Unfortunately, unlike Jesus, the nation of Israel has not borne any fruit. And now in chapter 15 of the Gospel of John, Jesus addresses their failure to produce fruit by using a parable of the true vine, with Him being the true vine, His Father the Gardener and His disciples the branches...

Pause to Reflect, Believing is Seeing.

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Preacher: Gordon Hay

Verses: Psalm 46 and John 20: 19-31

Verse 10 of Psalm 46 has a special place in my heart. “Be still and know that I am God”. In 2002 I contracted cerebral malaria and spent 8 days in hospital drifting between times of being conscious and aware and times of incredibly real hallucinations with no sense of where I was. But through all of this what kept constantly in my mind was that verse:  “Be still and know that I am God”.

And as I recovered and had time to reflect I looked at those 8 words. And as I did so I came to see a deeper meaning in these words. It seemed to me to say the following...

Coming Under Grace - Part 5: A Change of Heart

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Series: Coming Under Grace

Verses: Romans 12:12-29

Paul levels the playing field in respect of God’s evaluation of religious and non-religious people; in this instance Jew and Gentile. He introduces the concept of the law, whether in written form by way of the Torah, i.e. law of Moses for the Jew, or conscience for the Gentile. In itself the law has no ability to save. The gospel, to which the law points, is the means of salvation. Verses 12 to 16 argue that the law is an impartial standard of judgement, illustrating the principle “For God does not show favouritism”...

Coming Under Grace - Part 4: The Patience of God

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Preacher: Alan Cameron

Series: Coming Under Grace

Verses: Romans 2:1-11

Paul was no arm-chair theologian. A pioneer missionary, he was a man of action, first and foremost a preacher of the gospel, particularly among the unevangelized. His special calling was to preach the gospel to the gentiles. Remarkably however, Paul puts the Jews (read religious people) in the same needful situation as pagan gentiles. All are under sin, all need the remedy provided by the saving work of Christ...