Sermons by Revd Benjamin Wontrop (Page 3)
Sign of Triumph
Signs of Conflict
The Resurrection’s Call
Mark 16:1-16 The gospel of Mark is all about strengthening our faith – presenting us with the person and the work of Christ so that we can accept the truth about Him and live accordingly. The resurrection narrative in this chapter is the apex of this call to faith. These verses contain the confrontation, comfort and command to believe that continue to shape our…
Signs of Judgement
Matthew 24:6-8 Jesus is answering two different questions from his disciples in this chapter: when will the temple in Jerusalem be destroyed, and when will Jesus come again to this world. Jesus gives us a list of ‘signs of the times’, premonitions of his return that will take place in the last days. We see these signs around us all the time, whether war,…
Let Brotherly Love Continue
Hebrews 13:1 Self-isolation and social distancing place great pressure on us because we are created in God’s image, inherently relational – and because the church is the household of God. Isolation makes us vulnerable in many ways, and this has always been the case; mutual love and fellowship were the great need of the hour for the Hebrew church, which was suffering…
Pursue New Creation Living
2 Peter 3:10-18 We learn in these verses that a seismic change is coming. The entire physical world as we know it will be consumed by fire and a new heavens and new earth will appear. This physical change will come with a moral change as the values of this world are swept away, replaced by a kingdom of righteousness. This change has profound consequences for how we should…
Skepticism Forgets
2 Peter 3:1-9 Skeptics insist that the natural world is self-sufficient, sustaining itself according to physical laws that are predictable. They are certain that the world will not end as a result of God’s final judgment. There is nothing new about skepticism. Peter knew that scoffers would come, saying: “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell…
Judgement Motivates Love
Matthew 25:31-46 After life what’s next – and why does it matter? Jesus is here describing the long-promised Day of the Lord. If the judgement described here is true then we ought to live differently: we ought to love Jesus’ people.
After Death
Luke 16:19-31 Here is a story of two men; one was filthy rich and lived lavishly. He lived for the here and now, and he made the most of his life. The other man, Lazarus, had nothing going for him: he was poor, disabled, ill, and tormented by wild dogs. And then suddenly their situations are reversed; death takes the poor man to heaven and the rich to hell. All around us…
A Call to Faithful Holiness
Nehemiah 13:1-31 Holiness is a wholehearted desire for God: a lifestyle set apart for him, a life lived wholly for him. It is easy to begin well; the real test is to finish well. Bearing fruit until the end – continuing faithful in holiness – is the test of true faith. At this point in Nehemiah’s account, God’s people having settled in Jerusalem Nehemiah…