Faith Speaks — Reverend Neil Taylor — Sermon Podcast

Read Luke 10.38-42 Sixth Sunday After Pentecost There is nothing complicated about this text. The words are straightforward, and there are no unusual theological problems. Jesus comes to the home. Martha reacts one way and Mary another, and Jesus comments on the difference. That is all there is. Yet this simple story has confused and sometimes frustrated people. Perhaps because of its simplicity,...

Read Luke 10.25-37 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost Do you love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, strength and all your mind? Is your whole person completely focused on God? “Your religion is what you do with your solitude” – Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944) What does that mean? William Temple is saying when there are no distractions in your life, when you have time to let your mind wan...

Read Galatians 6.11-18 Fourth Sunday After Pentecost Over the years, I have had this discussion with people many times, and that is how strange and how not so strange it is that the more mature you become as a Christian, the less worthy you feel. It seems strange because the closer you come to Christ, the more his character rubs off on you. But it's not so strange because the closer we get to the...

Read Galatians 5.13-14 Third Sunday after Pentecost God has called us to the freedom of fullness which overflows in love, not to the slavery of emptiness which bites and devours and is never satisfied. In Jesus Christ, God offers us forgiveness daily help and guidance and hope for the greatest future imaginable and it is all free purchased by the death of Jesus received by faith alone. The secret...

Read Galatians 3.10-1 Second Sunday after Pentecost   Fighting the good fight of faith is: Do I believe that when Jesus died, all my "curse" was lifted so that I could say, "What can mere mortals do to me" (Hebrews 13.6; Romans 8.31–34; Psalm 118.6-7)? Do I believe that the death of Jesus is the pledge of God to withhold no good thing from those who trust him (Psalm 84:11; Romans 8:32)? Do I belie...

Read Romans 5.1-8 Trinity Sunday, June 12, 2022 “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” God’s love poured into your heart is not the same as God’s love proven to your mind. The longest distance in the world is 47cm, or in the old language 18 inches. That is the distance from the head to the heart. That is also the distance from heaven to hell....

Read Acts 2.1-21 & Joel 2.28-32 Pentecost Sunday The two questions I want to try to answer: 1) What did Joel mean when he predicted this outpouring of God's Spirit before the great and terrible day of the Lord? 2) What is the fuller significance of this event now as we view it from the standpoint of New Testament revelation?

Read Acts 16.16-34 Seventh Sunday of Easter Anyone can sing “Shine, Jesus, Shine” when life is good when you’ve got money in the bank, when your marriage is strong and when your job is secure, when you love your church, and all is right with the world. If, with Paul and Silas, you can sing praise to God at midnight in jail, then what you’ve got is real. Not only will you discover what you believe...

Read John 5.1-18 Sixth Sunday of Easter Our Gospel passage today is impressive in what it shows us about Jesus, but it also shows us and gives us pause to think that despite Jesus’ power to heal, our world is still riddled with sin, disease, calamity, and death.

Read John 13.31-35 Fifth Sunday of Easter The verse that I want to focus on is John 13.34. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This morning we’re going to look at one verse and one question, and that is what’s new about the commandment to love each other?

Read Acts 9.23-43 Fourth Sunday of Easter One of the most devastating feelings in the Christian life is fatalism, and that is the feeling that this is the way it will be forever and nothing is going to change it. However, one of the enduring messages of the book of Acts is that this is not true. Jesus Christ is not dead, he is not distant, not silent, not weak, and he is not uninterested in the wo...

Read John 21.15-19 Third Sunday of Easter On Tuesday morning, the churchwardens and I talked about the year so far, and we got into an excellent conversation about “what initiates church growth? We identified having a professional and informative website helps. Having a presence on social media with good branding helps. Make sure families with children feel welcome, and finally, essential church g...

Read Psalm 103.6-18 Easter Sunday What is Psalm 103 telling us about Easter? We’re richer than we think, we’re more blessed than we know, and we have more than we realise. We frail, mortal sinners are rich in the mercy of God, and we have found that mercy, or rather, that mercy has found us in the cross of Jesus Christ. This Easter morning, all that we believe, all that we have,  all that we hope...

Good Friday, April 15, 2022 It was the single most horrible day in the history of the world. No incident has ever been more tragic, and no future event will ever match it. No surprise attack, no political assassination, no financial collapse, no military invasion, no atomic detonation or nuclear warfare, no cataclysmic act of terrorism, no large-scale famine or disease — can eclipse the darkness o...

Read Isaiah 53.1-3 Palm Sunday Jesus was indeed the misunderstood Messiah. His own people misread him completely; they had him in a box labelled “Insignificant Rabbi from Nazareth”; the more he proved he didn’t belong in that box, the more they hated him, counted him a nobody and ultimately despised him. No wonder they were so rabid to kill him in the end. Jesus is still misunderstood today. The g...

Read John 12.1-8 Fifth Sunday in Lent What a beautiful story and a lovely thing when the worth of Jesus and his followers' love match — when the value of his perfections and the intensity of our affections correspond. Let's take a slow walk through these eight verses and ponder what they mean to us.

Read Revelation 2.1-7 Seventh Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) In one or two words I’d like you to think how can you describe a love that has vitality. In contrast, maybe also think about how you’d describe a love that is tired. Tired doesn’t mean old; in the same way as vital doesn’t mean young. Although sometimes it can seem that way. Therefore, what do we believe about love? We know that God so l...

Read Luke 5.1-11 Fifth Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) I heard a story once about an old Methodist preacher who every time he preached, someone would give their life to Jesus. But when his young assistant would preach, no one would come forward and give their life to Jesus. After a year, the young minister went to him for some clarity and some coaching. The wise old minister asked his young protégé...

Read Jeremiah 1.4-10; Psalm 71.1-6; 1 Corinthians 13.1-13; Luke 4.21-30 Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) These texts are rich with power and images that tell God’s continuous story in the world. And that is, we all share a call to be God’s prophets in the world, even though that can be a terrifying thing at times. There is a God-given invitation before us: To join together to embody Paul’s pr...

Read Luke 4.14-21 Third Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) When you hear the word “power”, what comes to mind? Is it significant influence or wealth as one who strides down the “corridors of power”? Or is it great physical strength?  Let’s think about the line that introduces our gospel passage, “Then Jesus, filled by the power of the Holy Spirit…”. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus does what he...

Read John 2.1-11 Second Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) John’s Gospel reminds us that grace isn’t just a religious ideology, that grace isn’t only about making up for something we lack; it is not transactional. God’s grace, and only God’s grace, provides more than we’d ever imagine or deserve.

Read Luke 3.15-22 First Sunday After Epiphany (Year C) Though conducted only once, baptism was never intended to be a one-and-done event. Our baptism is something we remember and renew daily, baptism like marriage may be a one-off event, but it is lived out daily.

Read Luke 2.1-20 Christmas Day For years I have wondered whether the Christmas Day sermon is of any consequence. I’ve wondered if we’re better off reading or telling Luke’s account of the Nativity of our Lord well, and allowing the carols, the candles, and Christ incarnate in bread and wine to proclaim what Luke 2:10-11 says: [the] “good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this da...

Read Luke 1.67-79 Christmas Eve Zechariah saw a significant purpose in his son’s life. People wondered, “What then will this child be?” John grew to be the voice in the wilderness that cried out, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” As we reflect this Christmas Eve on Zechariah’s song of praise, what then will you be? For what purpose have you been created?

Read Luke 1.39-45 Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year C) As Mary meets with her cousin Elizabeth the intimate conversation that follows portrays Jesus as more important than John. It also shows God is already at work to overturn the world’s structures and expectations.