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Revd Ken Forbes has been Minister at Lion
Walk URC since November 2003. For some
of that time the church has been recording its services with the express
purpose of sending out to those who are housebound, or unable to attend for
any reason, so that they can listen to our services when they are unable to
be present themselves. Initially that
recording was to tape, but since November 2007 we have been recording to
CD. That change makes it possible to
prepare files for upload as sermon podcasts to this website – something we
have decided to trial.
It is our
intention to continue to add to this bank of church sermon podcasts over coming
months.
Your feedback
would be greatly appreciated.
Please e-mail your
comments to our minister using the link on our home page.
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We ask that you
recognise the work that preparation of worship entails and respect that these
files are the copyright of Revd Ken Forbes and those who take part at Lion
Walk URC. Please feel free to download
any of these files to listen to yourself, but please do not forward them on .
. . if you enjoy listening to them, please encourage others to visit this
website to download them for themselves.
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Sermon
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Readings (read by members of the congregation before the sermon)
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Download any church sermon
mp3 file from its blue link below
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ALPHABETICAL SERMON TITLES:
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Disciples and Apostles
Passages you know so well, but you
are suddenly struck by something new?
Disciples or Apostles?
Student or Messenger?
Learning with Jesus and now able to go off on their own? Engaging in ministry as ambassadors; yet
learning as a church community and on our own?
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Exodus 19: 1-8a
Matthew 9: 35-10: 15
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Click here to download: 7.2
Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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Dreams and Visions; War and Peace
Joel’s ‘Stir up the warriors, let
all the soldiers draw near . . . beat your plowshares in to swords and your
pruning hooks in to spears’ or Micah’s ‘He will settle disputes among the
nations, among the great powers near and far; they will hammer their swords
in to ploughs, and their spears in to pruning hooks; nations will never
again go to war, never prepare for battle again’?
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Joel 3: 9-10; 19-21
Joel 2: 23-29
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Click here to download: 8.7 Mb
Listening time: 22 mins
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An Inclusive
Church?
The book of Acts
describes the early days of the fellowship of Christian people. At first this proclamation of the
resurrection of the living leader among them was set firmly within the
Jewish faith. Was it hard to accept
that even the gentiles seemed to be filled with this spirit and to be affected
by the life of Jesus? Was the Jewish
faith under threat from the Gentiles?
Does God love all created things, including us and including those
we reject?
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Acts 10:
44-48
John 15:
9-17
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Click here to
download: 7.9 Mb
Listening time: 20 mins
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Jesus and the
Hebrew Scriptures
How do we
regard the Old Testament and its relationship with the New Testament? Considering the spectrum of understanding
. . . treating the Old Testament with respect, with a realistic approach
and as a tool to aid our understanding by entering the world of Jesus and
of those who were the writers of the New Testament.
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Acts 24:
10-16
John 1:
43-51
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Click here to
download: 6.5 Mb
Listening time: 17 mins
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Law and Love
Obedience? In the Old Testament we feel that obeying
God keeps us in good relationship with God. That is not the only part, but
a significant part of faith. Some
wanted to carry this emphasis from Judaism.
Is love the main difference between the Old Testament and Jesus’
teaching? Universal acceptance of
love is without condition, or is there a condition to remain in God’s
love? Or is love the fulfilment of
the law? Should the church dictate
how members order their lives?
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Romans
13: 8-10
John 15:
1-17
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Click here to download: 6.7 Mb
Listening time: 17 mins
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Line and Circle:
the geometry of the Christian year
We have
been celebrating the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life – in a few weeks we
will be turning our thoughts to the end of that life; then Easter and the
day of resurrection; then Pentecost and the time of the gift of the Spirit;
then no major festivals to celebrate until we come round to Advent again –
it’s all a big circle really, isn’t it?
Or is it? At New Year, should
we resolve to be in a different place in our understanding in a year’s time
– part of our personal and community pilgrimage that takes us ever onwards?
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Colossians
1: 15-20
Luke 2:
25-40
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Click
here to download: 6.5 Mb
Listening time: 17 mins
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The Lost Sheep
and the Lost Coin
It seems
this could be the shortest sermon in the world if we take the meaning of
these short parables at face value . . . repent and be saved and there will
be joy in heaven . . . but what made them so compelling to those who
listened to Jesus . . . and why does Luke include them if it is that
simple?
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2
Corinthians 5: 16-21
Luke 15:
1-10
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Click here to download: 7.3 Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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Return of the
Lost Sheep
(Apologies
for the microphone quality, mainly at the beginning of this sermon – the
message is still clear enough even if some sections are not as good as they
could be.)
Do the
parables of the lost sheep and of the lost coin offer a message of
completeness?
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2
Corinthians 5: 16-21
Luke 15:
1-10
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Click here to download:
7.3 Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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Semper Reformanda
‘Jesus is
Lord’ can be accepted by all Christians everywhere . . . but there are huge
differences of belief and of values between the different branches of the
church. What is the ‘Christian
perspective’? Should the church
always be reforming?
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Exodus 13: 17-22
Matthew
5: 38-48
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Click here to download: 7.6 Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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Trinity Sunday
On Trinity Sunday
we are asked to reflect on God as Trinity – as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
– three in one and one in three. How
important is this to a Christian?
The central doctrine and what defines a Christian; or just one way
to try to define God? What does the
Bible say of the Trinity? Is how we
experience God; relate those experiences through the teachings of Jesus;
and commit ourselves to working through the common bond we share with other
people of faith a better to think of the Trinity?
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2
Corinthians 13: 5-14
Matthew
28: 16-20
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Click here to download: 7.9 Mb
Listening time: 20 mins
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Martin Luther: By
Scripture Alone
Sola
scriptura – by scripture alone – how does this foundational principle fit
in to the reformed tradition as we understand it?
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John 5:
39-47
John 1:
14-23
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Click here
to download: 7.4 Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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A Walk in the
Garden with Adam and Eve
Are these
myths just stories? The story of Adam and Eve is the story of Israel. A world that is full of potential.
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Genesis
3: 1-13
Matthew
22: 23-33
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Click
here to download: 8.3 Mb
Listening time: 21 mins
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A Walk in the
Garden with Jesus
Jesus takes
his friends for a walk in a garden; the story sees Jesus being buried in a
garden. Why did Jesus walk in to an
apparently obvious trap that had been set for him?
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John 18:
1-11
John 19:
38-42
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Click here to
download: 8.0 Mb
Listening time: 20 mins
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THEMES
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Communion:
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Bread of Life
Introduction to communion. Biblical
interpretation – what is the meaning?
Bread is an essential part of life – represents life itself. How does this symbol fit in to the
context of communion?
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Exodus
16: 11-21
John 6:
25-35
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Click here to download: 6.4 Mb
Listening time: 16 mins
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Images of Communion I: The Great Feast
The tradition of sharing a
symbolic fellowship meal. The
invitation from God to all to participate in the Great Feast.
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Matthew
22: 1-10
Luke 9:
57- 62
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Click
here to download: 6.1 Mb
Listening time: 15 mins
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Images of Communion II: Body and Blood
Put yourself in the shoes of those
friends and disciples of Jesus gathered with him at the Last Supper as we
consider the experience of Jesus’ passion for live, for love and for God’s
Kingdom.
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Romans 5:
6-14
Luke 22:
14-27
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Click
here to download: 7.7 Mb
Listening time: 20 mins
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Images of Communion III: The Risen Lord
What are the gospel writers saying
in their stories of the Emmaus Road and by the Sea of Tiberias? How do we understand the gathering and
sharing today?
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Luke 24:
13-35
John 21:
1-14
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Click
here to download: 7.6 Mb
Listening time: 19 mins
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Lent and Easter:
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You are the Messiah
In this season of Lent as we
approach our celebration of Easter we are challenged to look at the person
of Jesus. Who was Jesus? And who were his followers? Do we try to
make him in to what we want? What
did he ask of his followers? What is he saying to us now in today’s world?
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Genesis
17: 1-7; 15-16
Mark 8:
31-38
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Click here to download: 4.8 Mb
Listening time: 12 mins
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Easter Confusion
Easter Sunday, the most important
day in the Christian calendar. At
this time we try, in our imaginations, to transport ourselves to that place
and that time. We mark the progress
of the gospel story through to Good Friday.
On Easter Sunday we celebrate the joy. But that is not what the gospels say
happened on that Sunday. The story
is one of confusion. But what of the
inspiration, empowerment and liberation?
Follow the journey through desolation and bewilderment to amazing
confidence and faith.
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Acts 10:
34-43
Luke 24:
1-12
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Click here to download: 5.5 Mb
Listening time: 14 mins
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Easter Theme – no title
Beyond confusion and bewilderment
and the gradual understanding over the weeks and months that lead to the
proclamation that ‘Jesus is Alive!’.
A reflection on the meaning and significance of the reality of faith
in the living Christ for us in the world today. Do we recognise him in the humdrum
activities of human life?
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John 20:
1-10
John 20:
11-18
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Click here to download: 7.1 Mb
Listening time: 18 mins
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Resurrection, New Life and the Church
What does it all mean for the
friends of Jesus . . . and what does it mean for us? Replacing the old with the new. What does it mean that in Jesus we can
see God? What does it mean to see new life in Christ? What does it mean to
wait and hope for the Kingdom of God?
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Romans 8:
18-27
John 14:
1-14
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Click
here to download: 7.3 Mb
Listening time: 19 mins
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Christian Metaphor
Journeys – of people
travelling. The image of a journey
is a good metaphor of our life as Christians – but does using such
metaphors have pitfalls as well as advantages? Can they become literal?
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Exodus
12: 33-42
Luke 9:
1-9
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Click here to download: 7.0 Mb
Listening time: 17 mins
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An
Uneasy Sermon
This sermon takes its focus from
Fred Kaan’s ‘An Uneasy Carol’ – one of many excellent hymns published in
“The Only Earth We Know” (Stainer & Bell, http://www.stainer.co.uk/kaan.html)
. . . this carol opens “We come uneasy, God, this festive season, afraid
that all may be just as before; . . .”
Do we concentrate exclusively on the celebration of the signs and
symbols? Or do we look beyond?
(The
words of the hymn can be found on the Stainer & Bell website: http://www.stainer.co.uk/hymns/xmas2.html
[scroll to the middle of the page]
- please note the copyright notice at the bottom of the page and on the
hymns.uk.com home page)
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Philippians 1: 3-11
Luke 3: 1-6
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Click here to
download: 6.5 Mb
Listening time: 16 mins
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Christmas Presents and Christmas Presence
The
story of the birth of Jesus is a story full of gifts. Are we giving gifts that mean anything?
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Esther 3:
12 – 4:3
Luke 2:
8-20
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Click here to download: 7.4 Mb
Listening time: 19 mins
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