The Afterword

Category: Sermons

  • In Season and Out – 2 Timothy 4

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    Peter
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    Preach the Word of GodStand in the square like a town crier,with no message of your own.Not what you think is there,not what people want to hear,but what the Word already says. Charles Simeon knew this.Locked pews.Locked doors.Chairs dragged into aisles.Preaching outsideto people who wished he wouldn’t.Thirty years of resistanceand a sentence carved into wood:Let…

  • Stand Firm – 1 Peter 5:6–14

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    Peter
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    Stand firm.The words rise like an ancient tree in the mind—the kind that has seen centuries come and go,its roots sunk deep into the earth,holding fast while storms tear across the ridgeand whole generations pass like mist.It remains steadywhere everything else shifts. To stand firm is firstto rest under God’s mighty hand.Humility isn’t instinctive,especially when…

  • A Leadership Podcast – 1 Peter 5:1-5

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    Peter
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    When you look across history,you see the pattern—good leaders steady the ground beneath us.Workplaces flourish under good bosses,families grow under gentle parents,whole nations rise when wise handsguide the wheel. And the opposite is also true:harsh, domineering, or careless leadersscatter harm in every direction. The church knows this too.We bear scars from shepherdswho forgot the flock,who…

  • Remaining Faithful – 1 Peter 4:7-19

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    Peter
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    The end of all things is near,Peter says—words that fall heavy,like the first rumbleof a coming storm.Not simply the end of hardship,but the truth that this worldis winding toward its appointed finish.Jesus will return—suddenly, unmistakably—while life hums alongas though nothing is changing. So we kneel,as He knelt in Gethsemane,and let our To-Do Lists burn awayuntil…

  • An Opportunity to Serve Him – 1 Peter 3:8–22

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    Peter
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    In some corners of the worldto follow You is to risk everything—a North Korean labour camp,a Somali beating,a Yemeni home where owning a Bibleis a dangerous act.One in seven of Your peopleknows this intimately. Even here,where streets are safeand speech is free,faith can still feel costly—misunderstood,dismissed,pushed to the edges.And when pressure rises,many of us bend,blend…

  • Strength Under Control – 1 Peter 2:18 – 3:7

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    Peter
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    We are called to live differently—not with defiance,but with the quiet courageof those who trust God’s handmore than their own defence. Do your friends see anything different about you?Not the words you say,but the way you live:how you work when no one praises you,how you love when it is not returned,how you stay gentle when…

  • The Way We Live – 1 Peter 2:11-17

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    Peter
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    Remember —the way we live really matters.People notice,they always have.When I first walked into church,The music wasn’t great,the sermons were long,but the people —their kindness —stayed with me.It was in what they saidand what they didn’t. Every testimony,if you listen closely,is about other Christians.Their kindness,their courage,their quiet patience.Light that shines before others. See the difference…

  • The Scattered Ones – 1 Peter 2:1–10

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    Peter
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    We are the scattered ones,the misunderstood,the displaced and disoriented—but not forgotten. Peter writes to name us,to steady usin a world that shakes.He reminds us who we are. We are newborn,lungs still learning to breathe grace,mouths open,hungry for the milkthat gives life—God’s word,pure and undiluted.We crave it like infantsin the quiet hours,wailing until fed.Without it,we starve.With…

  • Who Wants To Be  A Trillionaire? – 1 Peter 1:13-25

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    Peter
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    Elon Musk has not yet become a trillionaire.Halfway there, they say —five hundred billion reasonsto keep going.More than the worth of a hundred and sixty nations,and still, he worksone hundred and twenty hours a week.What drives a manwho already owns the world? What motivates you?What keeps your mind awake at night,or sends you running before…

  • Exiles with a Living Hope – 1 Peter 1:1-12

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    Peter
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    All around the world,our brothers and sisters suffer—imprisoned, beaten, killed.Twelve churches attacked each day.Four thousand four hundred people killedthis year alonebecause they named the name of Jesus. We are strangers here,foreigners in our own land,and it feels strange because it is.We do not quite belong.Our neighbours say, Yeah, nah,and laugh,while we feel the tug of…

  • What Does It Mean To Be Human? — Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:1–10

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    Peter
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    In the news this week—a name everyone’s talking about:Tilly Norwood,a rising star who never rose,an actress who never aged.She smiles from a screen,shares her feelings,but has no pulse,no breath fogging the glass.She will never bleed or bury someone she loves.And I wonder—what does it meanto be human? We could start by looking inward,but the psalmist…

  • What Happens When I Die?  – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

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    Peter
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    One hundred questions,and a third were about death.Is heaven real?Is hell real?What happens when I die? Not many of us like to ask it.Google asks about our digital assets,I don’t care about my emails—I do care about my soul. Four theories walk beside me:You rot.You are recycled.You are weighed on the scales of justice.You wake…

  • The Way Back to the Garden – John 14:1-7, Genesis 2

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    Peter
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    One question for God—how can there be only one way?It feels sharp,a polarising claim,as though doors are slammed shutand other paths erased. Fear asks it with trembling,anger asks it with fire,injustice asks it by way of challenge.The disciples asked too. We love choice—rows of coffee beans,different milks,different temperatures.Thirty percent of Gen Zchanging not just jobs…

  • Why Does God Allow Suffering? – Psalm 23, Revelation 21:1-5

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    Peter
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    I don’t need to persuade you—the evidence is all around:a child’s bruised silence,a friend’s lost job,cancer cells multiplying unseen,an earthquake flattening homes in Afghanistan,a surfer pulled under by a shark,young people shot at a music festival,sixty thousand gone in Gaza. If you are loving,wouldn’t you stop this?If you are powerful,couldn’t you stop this?And if you…

  • Encountering the Holy – Psalm 91, Hebrews 1

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    Peter
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    We live in an agewhere demons intrigue usand angels are dismissed as nonsense.Yet Psalm 91 whispers—they watch over you.Hebrews 1 declares—they are sent to serve. Natasha bought a baguette at Heathrow,a sesame seed hidden in the crust,an EpiPen, CPR,and her father’s arms could not hold her soul.He saw them—five figures, thin, winged,moving around her,and cried,…

  • That They May Be One – John 17:20–23

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    Peter
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    There is something holyabout being one—the swell of voiceshearts caught in a single rhythm.Or friends,who have carried one anotherthrough laughter and lament,their lives stitched together.Or a song that names a nation:We are one, but we are many.And for a momentthe fragments belongto something larger. On the night before his death,Jesus prayed for us:that we would…

  • The Spirit, Our Helper – John 14:15-27

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    Peter
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    Not a shadow, not an “it,”but the living breath of God,the third person—to be worshipped, adored, obeyed. If you belong to Christ,you are not waiting for a top-up,no half measure,no trickle-down of holiness.You have all of Him.But does He have all of you? Where He is,there is life,growth,faithfulness.Not dead religion,not tame or sleepy faith. Jesus…

  • Shall We Dance? – John 1:1-18

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    Peter
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    Before the first atom spun,before galaxies lit up the dark,before Mars was a dream for rocket-men,before “before” had meaning—God was there. The Word was there.Life before life,joy before joy,love before love. The Father with the Son,the Son with the Father.And the Holy Spirit carrying their love,making the Son knownto the delight of the Father. The…

  • God the Father – 1 John 3:1-3

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    Peter
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    Before you were,before there was a you to be held or known,Love was already moving—circling in light,whirling in joy. The Father has always loved the Son.The Son has always delighted in the Father.And the Spirit breathes that loveback and forth between them—unbroken, unbound,a circle never closed to outsiders. He is not like your father—unless your…

  • Overflow – Mark 1:9-13

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    Peter
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    A Sermon on the Holy Trinity We say:three persons,one God.And already our minds flinchlike startled birds. It is not easy—but it is true. The preacher might jokeabout coming down with influenzarather than preach this mystery.But still—here we are,looking into the cockpit,lights blinking,dials glowing,a thousand unseen systemsmaking flight possiblethis doctrine is the cockpit. This doctrine is…