Category Archives: Sermons

Becoming a Contagious Christian: Our Message

How good are you at memorising messages? Probably better than you realise. I suspect over the years you have memorised hundreds and hundreds of messages. Lets test you. Let see how many of these messages you can complete, and for a bonus, who said it.

To our members we’re the fourth…emergency service:
Bread wi’ nowt …taken out: Allinsons.
Don’t leave home… without it: American Express
Soft, strong and…very long: Andrex
ithink therefore… iMac: Apple
Vorsprung durch… technik: Audi
I’d love a… Babycham: Babycham
The United Colors of… Benetton: Benetton
Ahh… Bisto!: Bisto
The taste of… paradise: Bounty
Du pain, du vin… du boursin: Boursin cheese
The World’s Favorite… Airline: BA
Go to work on… an egg: Egg Marketing Board
Let the train take… the strain: BR
A glass and a half in every… half pound: Cadburys
And all because the lady loves… Milk Tray
For mash get…Smash
The man from Del Monte he… say yes
Put a tiger in… your tank: Esso
Now hands that do dishes can feel… soft as your face.
No FT… no comment.
The best a man… can get. Gillette
Guinness is… Good for You.
Refreshes the parts other beers.. cannot reach: Heineken
Beanz Meanz… Heinz
Graded grains make… finer flour : Homepride
Don’t say brown… say Hovis
Say it with… flowers. Interflora
Have a break. Have a… Kit-Kat
Never knowingly… undersold. John Lewis
Because You’re … worth it. L’Oreal
It does exactly what it says… on the tin: Ronseal
Toilers in Agriculture… Strengthen the fodder basis of animal husbandry! Raise the production and sale to the state of meat, milk, eggs, wool and other products!: Communist Party of the Soviet Union

OK so we all watch too much television but do you see the power of a well-constructed message? Why do we remember these messages? Because they are simple, memorable, visual, sometimes humorous, but most important, they are convincing, they are true – mostly. All except the last one perhaps. What is the Christian message? Can it be summed up in one sentence? How about, “For God so loved the world that… he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

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The Contagious Christian: Our Mind-Set

I got a surprise call from the BBC recently. “Did I have a spirit of adventure? Could I think on my feet and cope without home comforts? Did I like a challenge? Was I willing to appear on their programme ‘Bare Necessities’? Two teams compete against each other to see who can survive in a remote location somewhere in the world for a week with only the bare essentials provided. Was I willing to join a team of three vicars competing against three bookmakers? Naturally. With God on our side it would be no contest. Could I participate at short notice? Did I have a passport? Could I go anywhere in the world? For an audience of 2 million, when do we start? Did I have any phobias? Real men don’t have phobias – at least we don’t admit them to strangers. Would I be prepared to eat anything? Yes with my eyes closed. Could I work in a team made up of strangers? Try me. The last question – Did I have one wish? ‘To see heaven on earth’ I heard myself say. The interview lasted half an hour. It felt a cert. I was in. They loved me. The delightful programme co-ordinator assured me she would come back to me in a few days. I put the phone down and began to prepare myself.

Joanna thought I was utterly and completely mad. I had three weeks to get fit. The first thing I did was block into my diary a two hour gym session every day for the next three weeks. I had three weeks to learn how to survive in the wild. I got out my SAS Pocket Survival Guide. I began to learn about which plants and animal parts you can and cannot eat. I learnt how to trap game. How to collect water. How to make a shelter from branches and leaves. How to start a fire. I also began to prepare myself psychologically. What it would be like to join a small team of strangers thrown together in full view of the TV cameras? I began to listen to tapes on team building, determined that we were going to work well as a team. It didn’t matter if we won or not as long as by the end of the week we still cared for each other and glorified God. Finally I began to prepare myself spiritually. What did God want me to achieve through the programme? How could I show that being a Christian makes a difference in a godless cynical world? Christian Aid had nominated me because they wanted viewers to realise most people in the world have to survive on bare necessities every day and thought I could help get that message across.

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Becoming a Contagious Christian: Motivation

Have you ever wondered how God might start a conversation to get someone’s attention? How about these for starters?

“Please don’t drink and drive. You’re not quite ready to meet me yet.” God

“When you’re weary, feeling small. When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all.” God

“Can you imagine the price of air if you had to buy it from another supplier?” God

“I was thinking of making the world in black and white . Then I thought naaaah.” God

“If you think the Mona Lisa is stunning, you should look at my own masterpiece, in the mirror.” God

“Don’t’ forget your umbrella. I might water the plants today.” God

“If you missed the sunrise I made for you today, never mind. I’ll make you another one tomorrow.” God

“How can you possibly be a self-made man? I specifically recall making you.” God

“I think you are the most beautiful person in the world. Okay, so I’m biased.” God

If that is how God might start a conversation to get someone’s attention, how might you? How do we become fruitful in sharing our faith? How can we become contagious Christians? That is our theme for the next five Sundays.

It is ironic that the word ‘evangel’ means good news but the word evangelism or evangelist is so often associated with negative connotations. Why is that? We sometimes equate evangelists with men in dark suits with loud voices standing on soap boxes on street corners haranguing passers by.

You may have experienced the kind of teaching that suggests your spiritual maturity depends on how often you witness to others. And like me you may have felt a failure or guilty. That is why I am really excited about this series Becoming a Contagious Christian because we are going to learn an entirely different way of sharing Jesus. No matter what your background, your personality or temperament. It doesn’t matter whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. God has wired us uniquely. In Scripture we find many different examples and approaches to evangelism and I’m confident there is at least one that is natural for you.

By the end of this five week series, my prayer is that every member of Christ Church will:

1. Be sure that they are a Christian.
2. Be able to share their faith naturally using a simple tool.
3. Have discovered their preferred evangelism style.
4. Be able to tell the story of their personal faith journey.
5. Become a contagious Christian among friends & family.

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Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed. Hallelujah!

I wonder how many little boys born this year will be called Francis. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And if first impressions matter, Pope Francis created quite a stir on Maundy Thursday.  He washed the feet of laity not just priests. He washed the feet of sinners and not just the righteous. He washed the feet of women and not just men. He washed the feet of a Muslim and not just Christians. Traditionalists angry? Good. They better get used to it. More importantly what impact will it have on church membership? We wait to see.

When you think of ‘membership’ what comes to mind? It probably depends on how exclusive or expensive the membership is, or how badly we want it. There are arts societies, sport associations, health clubs, university alumni and professional bodies. The list of ‘memberships’ is endless, and your wallet is probably full of plastic to prove it.

Some memberships are open to anyone who can pay the fee while others are exclusive and by ‘invitation only’. Locally, there is the Virginia Water Community Association, the Royal British Legion, Savill Gardens and of course Wentworth for those with a passion for golf, tennis or physical fitness. For many people, their membership provides a rich social life in which friendships and common interests can be pursued and shared. What may surprise you, however, is to discover that ‘membership’ is a Christian word. It appears in the Bible to describe how we become members of God’s family.

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Why Did Jesus Die?

Good Friday : Why did Jesus die? (Mark 15)

Bertram Russell the philosopher and cynic once said, “most people would rather die than think… and most people do.” He went on to say, “When I die I rot”, which may have been true in his case, but not the whole truth. The reality is most people would rather not think about the one certainty in life. Recently I went to see the World Press Photo exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall. The annual competition takes entries from photojournalists, picture agencies, newspapers and magazines across the world. The winners whose photos are on display were selected from more than 100,000 entries.

I was struck by two things as I walked round: First, by how many of them portrayed people about to die, in the act of dying or afterwards. Second, by how those visiting the exhibition stood in silence, mesmerised by the photographs.  Too much reality is hard to cope with, even in black and white. It’s the same with the biographies of famous people isn’t it? Biographies always dwell on their life achievements but invariably give little or no space to their deaths. That is why it is so striking to discover that in the biographies of Jesus dedicate about one third of their space to the last seven days in the life of Jesus and specifically to the subject of Jesus’ death. Clearly, Jesus was an amazing individual. But why spend so much time dwelling on his death? And further, why is it that the mode of his death—the cross—has become the universally-recognized symbol of Christianity?

The first Christians might have chosen something different to symbolize our faith. For example, they could have chosen:

A manger—to symbolize his birth, or
A scroll—to symbolize his teaching, or
A lamp—to symbolize the light of the world, or
An empty tomb—to symbolize his resurrection.

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