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Sermons | Meadowhead Christian Fellowship

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  • A podcast of sermons and talks from Meadowhead Christian Fellowship
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  • Sunday Gathering – Genesis – Coping with death – Roland – Sermon Only

    Sunday Gathering – Genesis – Coping with death – Roland – Sermon Only
    Jun 30 2024
    Summary of Roland's Sermon: Coping with death (Genesis 23) This sermon focuses on Genesis 23 and explores the themes of faith, God's promises, and perseverance even in the face of difficulty. Context: Follows the story of Abraham being tested by God, where he was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22). Chapter 23 bridges a 20-year gap with little explanation of what happened during that time. Key Points: God's faithfulness: Even though there seems to be a pause in God's plan, He is still working behind the scenes. Abraham's faith: Despite loss and unanswered questions, Abraham continues to trust God's promises. Sarah's legacy: Though not perfect, Sarah plays a vital role in God's plan as the future mother of nations. (Galatians 3:29) The importance of faith: Examples of Abraham and Sarah's faith are given to illustrate the importance of believing in God's promises, even when things seem difficult. (Hebrews 11:11) Abraham's purchase of the field: Symbolic of claiming the promised land, even though it wouldn't be fully his in his lifetime. Demonstrates his belief that God would keep His promises to him and his descendants. Death and the Christian Hope: Death is not the end for believers. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) Christians have the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. (John 3:16) Core Message: God is faithful and keeps His promises, even when we can't see how. We are called to live by faith, trusting in Him even in the midst of life's challenges. Bible References: Genesis 18:14 Genesis 22 Genesis 23 Galatians 3:29 Hebrews 11:11 John 3:16 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 Transcript Is that better? I agreed to do this a few months ago and then I looked at it, I just gulped and I thought, well, it's probably one of the shortest chapters in Genesis, Genesis chapter 23. And it's basically the death of Sarah, that's Abraham's wife. Then Abraham buys a field with a cave in it and then he buries his wife. And that's it. I think there's a little bit more to it than that and we're going to find out. I do like the scriptural accounts of people in the Bible because it just tells you everything about them, the good points, the failures, the difficulties. And we have, I think chapter 23 in my mind is a bit of a transition chapter because it's all about Abraham and Sarah. And it's all about God's promises to Abraham. And of course his main promise is that Abraham and Sarah would have a son called Isaac and through Isaac all the nations of the earth would be blessed. We're going to come to look at that in a moment. Chapter 22 is from what you heard last week from Andy was about Abraham being tested, God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. And it's difficult to get your head around this. The promise of God is that he would give them a son, Isaac, and the covenant, that agreement that God had made between himself and his people would be that Isaac would be the means of the blessing of God upon the earth. And yet he asks him to sacrifice his son and he went through all that yesterday. We come to chapter 23 and in effect there's a leap forward in time. There's about 20 years gap. There's nothing said what's happened in that 20 years. It's estimated that Isaac would be in his late teens and then it goes silent. What is happening? Has God gone off for a nap, a break? Has God gone away? And it just struck me that whilst there are gaps, life goes on. God is still at work whether you see it or not, whether you feel it or not, even though it feels like you're not working is working. Yeah, even when we don't see that you're working is still working. And chapter 23 in effect is a bit of a transition as I've said. It's from Abraham and Sarah and now with Sarah's death there is going to be a transition from Abraham to Isaac. We'll read in that in the next chapters. Very little is said about the nature circumstances of Sarah's death. Sometimes death comes unexpectedly through accident or some other cause or through a period of prolonged illness and decline. But we're not told anything about that. The scripture is very, very scant on that. It simply says in chapter 23, we'll read chapter 23 and then we'll get into this. So it says this, Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Abba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead. The Hittites replied to Abraham, sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead. It just struck me as I was reading this, the choicest of our tombs. You know, the choicest of wine, the choicest of fair food. The choicest of our tombs. Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. He said ...
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    39 mins
  • Sunday Gathering – Faith’s High Point -Andy Hollingum

    Sunday Gathering – Faith’s High Point -Andy Hollingum
    Jun 23 2024
    Summary of Sermon: Faith's High Point This sermon, titled "Faith's High Point," explores the story of Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22 and how it relates to trusting God. Key Points: The story is read from the perspective of 21st-century readers, acknowledging the strangeness of the idea of child sacrifice. The original readers would have been shocked by God providing the sacrifice, not by the request itself. We prioritize things in our lives and spend effort providing for them. This passage explores how God tests Abraham's priorities. The test is not about Abraham's abilities, but about his trust in God. The things God provides us in life can become more important to us than God himself. When we die, only our trust in God goes with us. The phrase "The Lord will provide" is significant and suggests sacrifice is involved in seeing God provide. God himself provides the ultimate sacrifice - Jesus Christ - not to appease him, but out of love. The question is asked: Do we trust God? As we trust God, He provides purpose for our lives. Abraham's obedience to God leads to blessing, not just for him, but for many nations. Our obedience to God can bring blessing to others. Passages Referenced: Genesis 22 Additional Notes: There is audience participation where the attendees name their priorities in life. The speaker mentions the "Mothers and Toddlers" group and the "Impact" holiday clubs as examples of obedience to God impacting others. Transcript Morning, everybody. So, I grew up in 146 this morning, so I just come from there, greetings from the church at 146, to the church at Unit 3, and we brought our gifts and offerings with us as well, so. That's good. They did want to know if I was going to speak there, and we were going to video it back to here. So, I did get asked that question. So, we're in Genesis chapter 22, if you're following this, Genesis the first book in the Bible. I'm just going to move this over here. Can no PowerPoint today? We've gone back to old school technology. Put it there, sort of a better chance of it appearing on the camera. Is that right, Mike? Can we see that? Brilliant. Fabulous. What? Let's pop that in there. I'm probably going to kick it and knock it over. Let's see how we get on. So, Genesis 22, I'm just going to start by reading most of the chapter together. If you want to follow along, I'm reading from the new international version, and we read this. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied, then God said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Mariah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son, Isaac. When he'd cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place, God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up. He did? I lost my place. He looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, stay here with the donkey. While I and the boy go over there, we will worship, and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son, Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham, father, yes, my son, Abraham replied. The fire and the wood are here, Isaac said. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place, God had told him about Abraham, built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide. And to this day is said, on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me. Then Abraham returned to his servants and they sat off together for Bersheba and Abraham stayed in ...
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    32 mins
  • Sunday Gathering – Genesis – A time for every purpose – Nick Lugg

    Sunday Gathering – Genesis – A time for every purpose – Nick Lugg
    Jun 9 2024
    Summary of Nick's Sermon: A Time for Every Purpose This sermon is based on Genesis 21, which tells the story of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. Key Points: God is Faithful: Even though it took 25 years for the promise of a child to be fulfilled, God remained faithful to his word. The Importance of Holding On: We can easily get discouraged when our prayers seem unanswered, but the story of Abraham and Sarah reminds us to hold onto faith. Laughter in the Midst of Difficulty: Laughter is a gift from God that can help us see challenges in perspective. God Uses Our Mess-Ups: Even when we make mistakes (like Sarah suggesting Hagar), God can still work through them for good. God Blesses Our Mess: We may regret our past actions, but God is gracious and can still bless us. God Works Across Divides: While there is division in the world, God seeks to bring people together and show his grace to all. Biblical References: Genesis 21:1-7 - Birth of Isaac Scripture about laughter (not mentioned but referenced in sermon): unreferenced Additional Points: The sermon references the story of doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29). The importance of looking for God working in the lives of people from different backgrounds is mentioned. Transcript Thank you, good morning. Am I on? I think I am. Can you hear me yet? Great. We are still in Genesis, you may be surprised to hear. Genesis 21 already, and just been fascinated reading these passages, hearing what people have said through different aspects of God's Word in Genesis, and it is God's Word. Let's remember that when God gives us something on a Sunday morning it's because we need to hear it, and I need to hear it. There are challenges for me in the preparation of this Word. We need to hear what God is saying. It's quite a long passage, Genesis 21, it's quite involved, there's different elements to it, and we're just going to take a wander, a wander through it, deeper than our feet could ever wander. And we're going to, yeah, just have a table. The title on the screen is A Time for Every Purpose. It's not there, it doesn't matter, but it seems like we've been following, we've arrived, the subtitle in my Bible of Genesis 21 is The Birth of Isaac, and we've been following this story of Isaac, it seems like, for as long as Sarah was. It's just been going on and on and on. You know, God said, I'm going to give you a son, and then there's the whole Ishmael story, and there's all of that, and then years pass into years, and I think we've said, wasn't it 25 years from the time of the promise up to the time of the fulfillment, and yet we've arrived. Genesis 21, the birth of Isaac. So much drama has been generated since God made that simple promise. Like we've been on the edge of the fulfillment, week on week on week. It's around every corner, it could even be today, but today, finally, the time has come, and there is a beautiful rhythm to the first few verses of Genesis 21. I don't know what version I'm using here, English standard version. It's quite good in places and quite old-fashioned in others, but we're going to read it from here. The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as He had promised, and Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, that's true, in case we've missed it, Isaac, and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded him. Makes the life of faith look very simple, doesn't it? The Lord visited Sarah as He had said and did to Sarah as He had promised, obviously, but it's not that obvious, is it? Because we're 25 years into the story, and there's been a whole load of stuff that has happened, and yet we come to this culmination, simply the Lord visited Sarah as He had said. All the years of waiting, hoping, doubting, trying to manipulate the promise, laughing at the prospect, it all came down to this, the Lord visited Sarah as He had promised. Johnny reminded us last week that God is committed to His promises, and here we see it, 25 years on, with every passing year their faith looked more and more ridiculous. Sarah got older and older, I mean these are these are crackpot people, you know there's a 99 year old lady or whatever she's saying, oh you know God's told me I'm going to have a child, oh well okay, good luck with that. God visited Sarah as He had said. One of the burdens of modern life, as you may well know, is being on hold to telephone call centers, listening to a recorded voice saying, thank you for holding, your call is important to us, and you know with every fiber of your being that your call is not important to them, otherwise they would have answered it. If you have any involvement with the Edge Center on a Thursday morning, you know that it's not true, their call is not important, and so we can spend the best part of two hours waiting to talk to somebody ...
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    33 mins
Christianity Spirituality
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