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It’s time to rebuild: a concern for God’s presence and glory.

Sunday 22nd January 2023
Read: Leviticus 26:14-20; Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon: Haggai 1:1-15

Introduction:

Date: In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet (1:3; 2:1, 10, 20) to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

2 The people’s excuse: “It’s not time.”

3-4 Yahweh’s challenge: consider your commitment.

5-6 Consider the consequences.

7-11 Consider the curses and their causes.

12-15 The people’s response and its result
12 Response Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, (1) the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. (2) And the people feared the LORD

Obedience and fear (wholehearted reverence and respect he deserves as the one and only Lord) = good outcome

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Taken Up and Thrown Down

Sunday 15th January 2023
Read: Hebrews 1:1-14; Psalm 102

Sermon: Psalm 102

1-2. A request for same day service in the day of distress

3-11. All day, every day distress

12-22. “Now would be a good time to do what I’m sure you will do”

23-24. A plea of desperate last resort

25-28. Who laid the earth’s foundation? Whose children shall dwell secure? Who was taken up and thrown down for us? Hebrews 1:1-14; Matthew 26:39

 

“Taken up” = exalted & borne or carried-

Is 6:1 I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up;

Lev 16:22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself

Is 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.

Is 53:12 he bore the sin of many;

Lk 9:51 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

 

“Thrown down”,

Gen 37:20 Joseph “thrown down” 

I Kings 14:9 = “casting away from someone’s presence or face,”

Jer 22:19 = “dumped”: shameful burial, like a donkey’s; 

ALSO = God’s total forgiveness of sin Mic 7:19, God casts the sins of his people into the depths of the sea forever[1]

 

If your days seem as solid as smoke, if your courage has withered, if sleep deserts you, you can’t bear to eat and you feel friendless, the object of taunting… “It’s time” to pray Ps 102 in the confidence that Jesus has prayed it for you, He was “taken up and thrown down” so that your sins could be “cast into the depths of the sea forever” Your prayer will be heard in His name.

 

[1] Ex 22:30 Defiled food to be thrown to the dogs; Ex 32:19 (Deut 9:17) Moses casts the tablets of the Law down to the ground; 2 Kings 13:23; 17:20; 24:20; Is 38:17 in which God has cast Hezekiah’s sins behind his back

 

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YHWH proves that He alone is God.

Sunday 1st January 2023
Read: Isaiah 41:21-19; Isaiah 48:3-14; Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Sermon: Context of Isaiah 41 – 48

This series of passages explains how Yahweh presents His case to His people in exile that He alone is God and not one of these foreign gods.

Isaiah 41 Courtroom Gathered, Case explained

Isaiah 42 The LORD’s Case

Isaiah 43 Calling Witnesses

Isaiah 44
a) The LORD’s Challenge, and Counsel to His witnesses
b) Why the LORD’s Key Evidence Work
c)Prophetic Example

Isaiah 45 The LORD’s Testimony of His Integrity, & His Call to Respond

Isaiah 46 The LORD’s Stern Challenge

Isaiah 48
a) Repeated
b) Summing Up

How did Jesus fulfill the prophetic pattern? (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

In today’s Babylon, where the world seems to be winning, it is important that we,  as God’s people, remember who God is, the one whom every knee will bend.

 

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When Yhwh takes his people to court

Sunday 11th December 2022
Read: John 1:1-23; 3:16-21; Micah 6:1-16

Sermon: Micah 6:1-16

Micah 1-5 The ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’

Micah 6:1-8 What does God expect from his people?
Micah 6:1-5 When people think that salvation is boring

Micah 6:6-7 When people think that salvation is unreasonable

Micah 6:8 When people fail to understand the heart of salvation

Micah 6:9-16 The verdict on Jerusalem
Micah 6:9 Prepare for a wise verdict

Micah 6:10-13 The summary of offenses

Micah 6:14-16 The covenant curses applied

John 1:1-23; 3:16-21 Is salvation boring to us!

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The painful birth of the new Jerusalem

Sunday 27th November 2022
Read: Matthew 21:1-17; Micah 4:1-13

Sermon: Micah 4:1-13

Micah 1-3 Yhwh’s Spirit exposing sin

Micah 4:1-5 An ideal new Jerusalem

Micah 4:6-7 The people gathered to the new Jerusalem

Micah 4:8-5:1 The painful birthing of the new Jerusalem
Micah 4:8 from little things, big things grow

Micah 4:9-10 birth through the pain of exile

Micah 4:11-13 delighting in Zion’s defilement leads to a threshing

Micah 5:1 striking Israel’s judge in judgment

Matthew 21 The return of the king to Jerusalem

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The shepherd-king leading his people to a new Jerusalem via exile

Sunday 13th November 2022
Read: 1 Kings 21:1-23; John 10:1-11; Micah 2:1-13

Sermon: Micah 2:1-13

Micah 1 Israel’s incurable wound

Micah 2:1-11 When the land of rest becomes unclean

Micah 2:1-5 the LORD devises evil against those who devise evil

Micah 2:6-11 when people prefer alcoholic liars to true prophets

Micah 2:12-13 The shepherd king will gather his faithful remnant