We’re told to “eagerly desire” spiritual gifts. I for one didn’t have giving on my list of ones to desire. Of course it’s not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, although it is included in Romans 12:8.

We tend to view giving as a bit of a chore, just another bill to be paid each month, most of the time completely unaware as the direct debit kicks in. But it seems Giving really is a Spiritual Gift, in the same category as healing, tongues, prophecy etc. Here are some reasons why that’s true:

• Giving appears as a Spiritual Gift in Romans 12:8
• God has given grace to the churches in Macedonia, that causes them to give (2 Cor 8:1-2)
• Paul urges the Corinthians to ‘excel’ in giving (2 Cor 8:7) – that’s the same language that Paul uses to describe Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor 14:12)
• Giving encourages the church

There’s loads of interesting details here, loads of links to the rest of the Bible… but how to preach it, as opposed to simply giving a potentially interesting lecture, now that I think is the challenge.

Anyway, I think you’ve gotta see this through the lens of Acts 17… and ultimately Revelation 7…

It’s online if you fancy a listen – Genesis 10 Sermon

I was pleased to have the opportunity to preach two of these, chapter 1 and 5.

The thing I’ve found about the early chapters of Genesis is that once you’ve waded through the contentious issues and if not resolved them at least come to an informed opinion, they’re actually quite straight-forward to teach. There’s so much to say about the structure of the text, meaning of the Hebrew etc.

But I’ve found that it’s been really challenge to preach - not simply to preach Christ, but to make the connections clear, to show its relevance and to preach a message that doesn’t just inform the mind but provokes change in the heart…

Was thankful to Tim Neale, for his simple and profound reminder on Genesis 1.

Anyway… here are the two… Genesis 1 and Genesis 5

I got the topic of Repairing Relationships… which is ironic at best. But it was good to use lots of resources collected on the topic of Forgiveness, lots of Keller influence who’s just very helpful at explaining and applying the Proverbs…

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Talk Notes (doc)

I spoke on 2 Corinthians 8:9 – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich”

• Jesus was rich before His birth, but chose to became poor
• We are poor and need to become rich
• Jesus became poor so that we might become rich

Points shamelessly stolen from Christopher Ash, but the talk is mine.

Talk notes (doc)

I was looking at the Convicting and Attracting work of the Holy Spirit.

You can listen to the talk here (mp3)

You can get my talk notes here (doc)

Joke 1:

So I had the Chicken Tarka tonight… it’s a new dish, similar to the Chicken Tikka, but a little ‘otter

Joke 2:

I phoned up here last night… I said do you de-liver… they said no, just chicken and lamb

Joke 3:

The waiter came over, said “Curry – oke”? I said not tonight, don’t fancy singing!

Fortunately, I’ve already preached on this, earlier in the year, so have most of the talk ready. But I’ve been listening to some Tim Keller to help stimulate my thoughts afresh… by well of illustration he uses the story of Corrie Ten Boom, put in a concentration camp by the Nazis for sheltering Jewish refugees. She tells this story about forgiveness in her book ‘The Hiding Place‘:

It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein. He said. To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

Apparently Ben Southall has “The Best Job in the World”… he’s the guy who is the caretaker of a tropical island off the coast of Australia. But the Apostle Paul would beg to differ… clearly the ministry of reconciliation, of bringing God’s New Covenant, the good news about Jesus to the world is the best job ever!

That’s the back drop for 2 Corinthians 4… where we get God shining light in people’s hearts and using weak people (clay pots) to do his work.

I spoke on this passage a couple of weeks ago, bit of a last minute .com job for Kingston CU who hadn’t got a weekend away speaker.

Talk notes here (pdf)