Fisherwick Presbyterian Church
The Whole Gospel, Person, Church, World
TEACHING SERIES 2009-2010 - "Christian Decision Making in Today's World"
Introduction
According to J John, who recently visited Fisherwick, there are two rules of sermon preparation and content:
1. Keep it simple, stupid. (KISS) This could be the guiding principle behind the last two winters’ studies as we have sought to make both all the major doctrines of the Faith (Taste and See 2007-8) and the whole of the Bible (Breadth, Length, Height, Depth 2008-9) accessible and easily understood by everyone.
2. Yes, but How?!! (YBH) J John’s thesis is that too many sermons stop short of taking what has been explained or expounded and applying it to what happens in our lives through the week – giving us practical steps to take or words to say in the situations and dilemmas we encounter.
I hope that this has been part of both previous series but it is the whole essence of this winter’s programme. The congregation were asked to supply us with the issues they face in living for Christ today – whether these are issues of ethics, practice, understanding or personal integrity. And they responded magnificently. The queries and suggestions are both wide ranging and testing, if not daunting.
Attached you will find an outline of the proposed programme for the winter – there may be some small changes made to accommodate events that cannot yet be anticipated but these are likely to be few and minor. We have tried to put like subjects with like so that there is a natural flow from Sunday to Sunday and through both services. There are so many topics that it is impossible for them all to be covered at either the morning or the evening services – so you may have to go to both some Sundays or to the other one to hear your query answered.
The small groups in the congregation will follow up discussion on the topics and there will be opportunity to question the speakers over coffee after services informally.
We hope each week to supply a set of readings from scripture which apply to or give background to the discussion of the following Sunday’s topics. We will for the most part assume that you have read these. They will be available on the Order of Service each week and on this website. In addition we will provide notes on the sermons and titles for further reading (where appropriate) and questions to start further discussion and thought whether over the Sunday dinner table, in small groups or at PW or Bowls or Choir or wherever.
How do we do it?
What we are attempting to do is to apply scripture where it deals directly with a topic or the principles of conduct, faith and belief taught in Scripture where there is no specific direction to the issues of living the Christian faith in the 21st Century.
This involves drawing out the meaning of all the relevant passages of scripture when they were first spoken, in the original circumstances, and also the context in which they were written and preserved and then applying this to the issues today.
Some issues are clear – ‘you shall not kill’ – is plain and straightforward but the Bible records and sometimes commends killings, so how do we look at ‘War’ or ‘Abortion’ or ‘Assisted Suicide’?
We will discover that in many areas Christians are not agreed but we will not use that as an excuse to avoid conclusions since we cannot say ‘Pass’ when we are confronted by these issues in real life rather than academic discussion.
We are aware that there are no issues that can be discussed in vacuum – whatever the subject matter there will be someone, often many, whose life or relationships are affected by the issues. For this reason we will also explore the place of Prayer Ministry and ‘Lifeline Counselling centre’ in the ministry we offer in these matters.
Finally you will note that the first couple of weeks are spent not looking at individual issues but at some of the unstated underlying assumptions which control the conclusions we make. And how Christians have different underlying principles or assumptions than the world we live in.
Above all, we hope that we can provide answers for your questions, and help in discussing these and other matters in accordance with the will of the Lord.
The title comes from Acts 15:28 where at the close of the Council of Jerusalem which discussed the vexed questions of the place and status of Gentiles in this new faith, they made their statement beginning with these words – ‘It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us’ – our prayer is that what we write and speak will meet those criteria before any other.
Teaching Series Outline October 2009 to May 2010 (PDF)
Introduction
According to J John, who recently visited Fisherwick, there are two rules of sermon preparation and content:
1. Keep it simple, stupid. (KISS) This could be the guiding principle behind the last two winters’ studies as we have sought to make both all the major doctrines of the Faith (Taste and See 2007-8) and the whole of the Bible (Breadth, Length, Height, Depth 2008-9) accessible and easily understood by everyone.
2. Yes, but How?!! (YBH) J John’s thesis is that too many sermons stop short of taking what has been explained or expounded and applying it to what happens in our lives through the week – giving us practical steps to take or words to say in the situations and dilemmas we encounter.
I hope that this has been part of both previous series but it is the whole essence of this winter’s programme. The congregation were asked to supply us with the issues they face in living for Christ today – whether these are issues of ethics, practice, understanding or personal integrity. And they responded magnificently. The queries and suggestions are both wide ranging and testing, if not daunting.
Attached you will find an outline of the proposed programme for the winter – there may be some small changes made to accommodate events that cannot yet be anticipated but these are likely to be few and minor. We have tried to put like subjects with like so that there is a natural flow from Sunday to Sunday and through both services. There are so many topics that it is impossible for them all to be covered at either the morning or the evening services – so you may have to go to both some Sundays or to the other one to hear your query answered.
The small groups in the congregation will follow up discussion on the topics and there will be opportunity to question the speakers over coffee after services informally.
We hope each week to supply a set of readings from scripture which apply to or give background to the discussion of the following Sunday’s topics. We will for the most part assume that you have read these. They will be available on the Order of Service each week and on this website. In addition we will provide notes on the sermons and titles for further reading (where appropriate) and questions to start further discussion and thought whether over the Sunday dinner table, in small groups or at PW or Bowls or Choir or wherever.
How do we do it?
What we are attempting to do is to apply scripture where it deals directly with a topic or the principles of conduct, faith and belief taught in Scripture where there is no specific direction to the issues of living the Christian faith in the 21st Century.
This involves drawing out the meaning of all the relevant passages of scripture when they were first spoken, in the original circumstances, and also the context in which they were written and preserved and then applying this to the issues today.
Some issues are clear – ‘you shall not kill’ – is plain and straightforward but the Bible records and sometimes commends killings, so how do we look at ‘War’ or ‘Abortion’ or ‘Assisted Suicide’?
We will discover that in many areas Christians are not agreed but we will not use that as an excuse to avoid conclusions since we cannot say ‘Pass’ when we are confronted by these issues in real life rather than academic discussion.
We are aware that there are no issues that can be discussed in vacuum – whatever the subject matter there will be someone, often many, whose life or relationships are affected by the issues. For this reason we will also explore the place of Prayer Ministry and ‘Lifeline Counselling centre’ in the ministry we offer in these matters.
Finally you will note that the first couple of weeks are spent not looking at individual issues but at some of the unstated underlying assumptions which control the conclusions we make. And how Christians have different underlying principles or assumptions than the world we live in.
Above all, we hope that we can provide answers for your questions, and help in discussing these and other matters in accordance with the will of the Lord.
The title comes from Acts 15:28 where at the close of the Council of Jerusalem which discussed the vexed questions of the place and status of Gentiles in this new faith, they made their statement beginning with these words – ‘It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us’ – our prayer is that what we write and speak will meet those criteria before any other.
Teaching Series Outline October 2009 to May 2010 (PDF)Bible readings for Week 13 - 4th January to 10th January 2010
Topics on Sunday 10th January
11.00am Predestination
7.00pm What About God’s wrath
Monday Ephesians 1: 3 - 14
Tuesday Romans 8: 28 - 39
Wednesday Jeremiah 29: 11
Thursday Revelation 21: 6 and chapter 22: 12
Friday Acts 2: 17 - 24
TEACHING SERIES 2008-2009 - "Breadth, Length, Height, Depth"
So often both in church or reading at home we concentrate on a short passage of the Bible. When we pick it up we look at favourite passages from significant times in our life – and there is nothing wrong with any of this.
BUT there are for all of us vast tracts of scripture we have either never read or not for a very long time when dutifully we ploughed all the way through because we thought we should.
This winter we journeyed through a series of booklets giving an opportunity to look at the whole array of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Each week we offered a selection of short passages from a particular book which gave a flavour of its contents (those with more time to give will be able to read the whole book in larger chunks). Each Sunday morning the sermon will concentrate on ‘what God is saying from……’.
Every adult member of the church received a small booklet approximately once a month covering a major division of the Bible. PDF copies of the Booklets are below. If you know of others who would like to receive this information, please email them a link of this page.
The title is ‘Breadth, Length, Height, Depth’ – quoting Ephesians 3 ‘that we may know the Love of God that surpasses knowledge’.
Will you accept the challenge at whatever level of engagement you can manage?
To download the teaching books please click on the book icon and this will open a PDF file which you can save to your computer and/or print.
So often both in church or reading at home we concentrate on a short passage of the Bible. When we pick it up we look at favourite passages from significant times in our life – and there is nothing wrong with any of this.
BUT there are for all of us vast tracts of scripture we have either never read or not for a very long time when dutifully we ploughed all the way through because we thought we should.
This winter we journeyed through a series of booklets giving an opportunity to look at the whole array of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Each week we offered a selection of short passages from a particular book which gave a flavour of its contents (those with more time to give will be able to read the whole book in larger chunks). Each Sunday morning the sermon will concentrate on ‘what God is saying from……’.
Every adult member of the church received a small booklet approximately once a month covering a major division of the Bible. PDF copies of the Booklets are below. If you know of others who would like to receive this information, please email them a link of this page.
The title is ‘Breadth, Length, Height, Depth’ – quoting Ephesians 3 ‘that we may know the Love of God that surpasses knowledge’.
Will you accept the challenge at whatever level of engagement you can manage?
To download the teaching books please click on the book icon and this will open a PDF file which you can save to your computer and/or print.
BOOK 8 - And finally – The later Letters & Apocalyptic BOOK 7 - An EASTER INTERLUDE and WISDOM BOOKS BOOK 6 - RESTORATION - a people restored BOOK 5 - COLLAPSE - The End of a Dream BOOK 4 - The YOUNG CHURCH - ACTS and PAUL'S LETTERS BOOK 3 - The GOSPELS – the Synoptic Three BOOK 2 - The FORMER PROPHETS BOOK 1 - The TORAH