Sermon

Introduction: Imagine, if you had never read the Bible before, what would you think if I told you that God intended to use a teenage country girl to change the entire trajectory of human history? What if I added that this young girl came from a despised village, lived in extreme poverty with zero social status? The girl, as if her whole life was expected to be nothing more than "get married, have children, do housework, and grow old." Would you ever believe that she could become the one whom "all generations will call her blessed"(Luke 1:48)?

But this is precisely the story of Luke 1:26-45. God sent the angel Gabriel, not to the majestic Temple in Jerusalem (as He did with Zechariah in the previous passage of Luke 1:1-25), not to the imperial palaces of Rome, nor to the intellectual academies of Athens, but to Nazareth in Galilee, a…

Shine bright like a follower of Jesus

Passage: John 8:12-20, Matthew 5:14-16

Big Idea: Follow Jesus, the Light of the World, and shine as his lower lights, with his light of life.

1. Follow Jesus, the Light of the World (vv.12–18)

2. Have his light of life (vv.12, 19–20)

3. Shine as his lower lights (Matt 5:14–16)

Introduction: Brothers and sisters, today we come to the opening of Luke's Gospel. Before we talk about this passage, I want to ask you a question first: when was the last time you heard God speak to you, as though he were standing right in front of you?

Not “when did you last read your Bible”, and not “when did you last pray”, but this: when did you last truly sense God speaking to you through the Scriptures? When did God last step into your life by his Spirit and turn it around and make it new? If we are honest, most of us would probably say, “It has been a long time.”

And that is exactly the spiritual climate of the time when Luke 1:1–25 was written. After the prophet Malachi, it seemed that God fell silent for four hundred years, because from the close of the Old Testament…

[Galatians 3:27-4:7] 2026.09.13 Race, Gender, Class – Think like a son, not a slave

Race, Gender, Class – Think like a son, not a slave

Big Idea: You are baptised into Christ, clothed with him, one in him. So don’t identify yourself as a slave would, but as God does: his adopted son.

1. We identify ourselves as slaves to the world’s elements (3:28; 4:1–3)

2. God sent both his Son and the Son’s Spirit to make us cry, “Abba, Father” (4:4–6)

3. Be identified as God identifies you: His adopted son (3:27–29; 4:7)