Hardwick Sunday Sermons

David looked at the leadership style of Moses, then asked the congregation to look at 5 other leadership contexts - The Judges, Prophets (Samuel), Kings (Saul), Good kings (Hezekiah) and Empire (Assyria). The recording is only the Moses part, which is fine because it looks like a good leadership model. 

Kate summarised what we learned about the characters featured in the book of Judges - leaders who were flawed but used by God at the time of need.

The life of Samson makes for uncomfortable reading. He is a morally flawed and complex person yet God used him to rid the land of enemies. Read Judges 13 to 16 for the whole story.

Jephthah made a fooling vow, but it didn't turn out as badly as you might have thought. On the back of this story we learn what "living sacrifice" means.

We found that God made use of Gideon's strengths, and was gracious and patient with his weaknesses.

Robbie spoke from Judges 4&5 on Deborah, Barak & Jael. They all played their part, but the victory was the Lord's.

Enid starts off the new series on Old Testament Leaders with an introduction to the background of the book of Judges, and we meet Othniel and Ehud. There's another talk that you might like to hear in our archive, about Achsar, Othniel's wife.

David gave us a vivid picture of the somewhat uproarious events of the first Palm Sunday.

Kate rounds up our series on images of the Church with the Church as the Temple of God.

R.A.F. chaplain Tim shares his insights on the Church as an army. 

Kate considers the image of the Church as a body, united with Christ as its head.

David investigates the idea of church as the family of God.

Robbie explores the Bible image of the church as a city.

Enid tries to dig into the image of the Church as the Bride of Christ and finds a link to the Old Testament images of God's relationship with his people.

Kate looks at the church as a flock of sheep - not the wooly-headed creatures we think of!

Kate launches our series on images of the Church by examining the language used in the Bible to describe what we now call "church". 

Kate explored the background and reason for sharing Communion together.

Kate shared her observations about the place of food in our lives together.

Robbie spoke about this time of year feeling a bit in-between, and related this to the situations described in three Bible passages. Exodus 13 - in-between Egypt and the Promised Land; Acts 1 - in between the resurrection and Pentecost; John 20 - in-between the death and resurrection of Jesus. A lot can happen in the in-between.

Kate concluded our studies of the Sermon on the Mount with the choice that Jesus lays out in Matthew 7 - which path do you want to follow?

Tim Williamson challenged us to live today in the light of the future - is our treasure on earth or in Heaven?

We've come to the point in our reading of The Sermon on the Mount when Jesus gives his followers a framework for their daily prayers - we call in The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-14.

It's Remembrance Sunday, and Kate begins her overview of our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a reflection on the wastefulness of war.

Jesus asks his followers to examine the motivation behind their religious practice.

Kate continued our series on The Sermon on the Mount, sharing more on what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, from Matthew 5:33-48.

Robbie continued our series on The Sermon on the Mount, showing how Jesus makes us shift our focus - Matthew 5:21-32.

David continues our readings in The Sermon on the Mount with Jesus and the Law, from Matthew 5:17-20. If Jesus didn't come to abolish the Old Testament Law, shouldn't we be following it?

Regional Minister Revd Canon Dr Gale Richards was with us this morning, and challenged us to view our journey of faith with reference to the experience of the disciples on the "Road to Emmaus", Luke 24:13ff

Kate continues our series on The Sermon on the Mount with the passage from Matthew 5 known  as The Beatitudes. 

After a long Summer break normal service has been resumed! The start our Autumn series on The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7) with an overview from minister Kate. When she refers to a "piece of paper" this is a diagram showing the structure of the sermon, and you can get a copy here. It may be useful as we go through the series as a aide memoire or to jot down ideas.

Kate spoke about the woman who washed Jesus' feet while he was at dinner with Simon the Pharisee - how do we place ourselves in this account?

Continuing to think about women in the Bible, now in the New Testament, with "the woman at the well", or "the Samaritan woman" in John 4.

Kate continued our series on "lesser known women in the Bible", with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary may not seem to be "lesser known", but we protestants tend to downplay her. Kate finds that we can learn a lot from her.

Robbie asks if we pay enough attention to the voices of the marginalised.

In another talk on lesser known women of the Bible, Kate spoke about Abigail, who averted a catastrophe by her quick thinking and diplomacy. You can read about Abigail in 1 Samuel 25.

On "pulpit swap" Sunday Keith Tarring looks at seven women who saved Moses' life, in Exodus chapters 1 to 4.

Huldah and Jedidah - two women mentioned briefly in the Bible but important in the life of reforming King Josiah. 2 Chronicles 34/2 Kings 22. They were who they were, where they were and when they were, in the service of God.

The situation of the Daughters of Zelophehad caused some radically importance case law to be derived. How did they do it?

David continued our series on the Forgotten Women of the Bible with a look at the importance of Isaiah's wife in Isaiah 7 & 8.

Kate launched our next preaching series on the Forgotten Women of the Bible with an overview of the topic and a look at Eve - not exactly an unknown, but often misunderstood.

"We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken"

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus"

V23: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."

David finds that God really only ever wanted one, very special, sacrifice.

Robbie compares the Old Testament Covenant with our assurance in Christ.

Kate tackles the question of who exactly was Melchizedek, and why does it matter.

The writer to the Hebrews give them two warnings - what is our response? There's an addendum to Robbie's talk, so keep listening at the end.

We examine the idea of Jesus as the Great High Priest. How did the Hebrew Christians who received this teaching view it? Their High Priests weren't always great. What does it mean to us?

The writer to the Hebrews continues to develop the theme that Jesus is greater than every other manifestation of God - this time it's Moses under the spotlight, from Hebrews 3:1 - 4:15.

David reminds us that Jesus is greater than everything, including angels and the spirit world - about which we don't know very much. But we can know Jesus.