Category: Lent

Words of Life from the Tree of Death #1 – PRAYER and FORGIVENESS

Milford Baptist Church

18 February 2024

Rev Matt Gordon

The Joy of Forgiveness
A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.

32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not [b]impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.
7 You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.

10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Toni-Maree Carnie – National Director, Mercy Ships NZ

The Mercy Ships’ Video referred to by Toni-Maree 

Reading – Psalm 32

Bruce Robinson – Interview, Evangelism

Listen to the Sermon – FORGIVE

Download a copy of the Sermon – FORGIVE

Benediction

Famous Last Words

‘Money can’t buy life’ – Bob Marley

‘I’m bored with it all’ – Winston Churchill

‘All my possessions for a moment of time!’ – Queen Elizabeth I

‘A life is like a garden, perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP’ – Leonard Nimoy

‘I’m losing.’ – Frank Sinatra

‘Goodbye kid. Hurry back.’ – Humphrey Bogart

‘Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow!’ – Steve Jobs

‘I’m going to the bathroom to read.’ – Elvis Presley

Criminal or Saviour – Jesus’ Crucifixion

3 April 2022

Listen to the Reading

 

John 19:16b-27

1916Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”[a]

So this is what the soldiers did.

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.


Download Virtual Service (pdf)

Read the Sermon  “Criminal or Saviour – Jesus’ Crucifixion” – Brian D.Lima  (pdf)

Listen to the Sermon  “Criminal or Saviour – Jesus’ Crucifixion” – Brian D.Lima

 

Humanity’s Heart

27 March 2022

Listen to the Reading

John 19:1–16a

191 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.


Download Virtual Service (pdf)

Read the Sermon  “Humanity’s Heart” – Brian D.Lima  (pdf)

Watch the Sermon  “Humanity’s Heart” – Brian D.Lima