Hardwick Sunday Sermons

At the regional "Cluster tea", where a group of local churches meet up to eat and worship together, Robbie asked if we are ready for the answer when we pray "Your Kingdom Come". 

Tim brought out lessons of servant leadership from the life, call and service of Moses.

Guest speaker Gordon Hindmarch showed how Joseph's whole life prepared him to be the man for the moment, when God's promises to Abraham could have been in danger.

We were delighted to welcome as our speaker this morning Jeniya Gwendu, who spoke powerfully about the compassionate Jesus showed to the crowds of followers in Matthew 14.  She challenged us to ask ourselves how we meet the needs of our neighbours with Jesus' compassion

Continuing our Bible overview with Noah, a courageous faith.

Genesis 2:20 to 3:7. Our new series looks at the overall arc of the Bible via a series of covenants, or contracts, that God makes with his people. We start at the beginning with Adam.

Romans 8:18-28, 35-39. Bad things can happen to anyone. In the week of the terrible mudslide and flood in Nepal and Tibet, and the accident at a Christian festival, how do we think about bad things that happen to God's people?

Liz Pamplin reminded us that the Lord wants good things for us, but we often have to wait. What do we do while we are waiting? 

In a shorter Summer talk, Kate Hitchings introduced us to ways of using the Psalms to help us connect with God. 

Steve challenged us to think about what it means to be a servant of the Lord.

On Kate's last Sunday as our minister she shows that holiness is not the same as perfection. With reference to 1Peter 1:13-16; 2:4-6, 9-10. Rather, it is being set apart for God's purpose.

Cherie asks if we really believe that God is bigger than our worries and distractions, in the light of Psalm 121. 

Kate considers the disciples Peter and Judas - two men with a similar problem but a very different response. Looking particularly at Matthew 26 & 27.

Robbie Thomson spoke about the dying thief who trusted Jesus - a simple faith.

Kate spoke about the disciples, a motley bunch, rather like us. Where do you fit in?

Today we heard from Scott Paton from Harston Baptist Church on our annual Pulpit Swap Sunday. The church in Philadelphia (in modern Jordan, not USA!) in Rev. 3.7-13  had its problems but the Spirit commends its faithfulness.

David looked at the leadership style of Moses, then asked the congregation to look at 5 other leadership contexts - The Judges, Prophets (Samuel), Kings (Saul), Good kings (Hezekiah) and Empire (Assyria). The recording is only the Moses part, which is fine because it looks like a good leadership model. 

Kate summarised what we learned about the characters featured in the book of Judges - leaders who were flawed but used by God at the time of need.

The life of Samson makes for uncomfortable reading. He is a morally flawed and complex person yet God used him to rid the land of enemies. Read Judges 13 to 16 for the whole story.

Jephthah made a fooling vow, but it didn't turn out as badly as you might have thought. On the back of this story we learn what "living sacrifice" means.

We found that God made use of Gideon's strengths, and was gracious and patient with his weaknesses.

Robbie spoke from Judges 4&5 on Deborah, Barak & Jael. They all played their part, but the victory was the Lord's.

Enid starts off the new series on Old Testament Leaders with an introduction to the background of the book of Judges, and we meet Othniel and Ehud. There's another talk that you might like to hear in our archive, about Achsar, Othniel's wife.

David gave us a vivid picture of the somewhat uproarious events of the first Palm Sunday.

Kate rounds up our series on images of the Church with the Church as the Temple of God.