Burwell Baptist Church Sermons

Holy Week begins for this year with the usual celebration of Palm Sunday, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of an up to then unridden donkey. There were many different responses amongst the people of Jerusalem: many in favour and others vehemently opposed to Jesus. But nobody was on the fence. We face a choice then, are we to surrender our all to Jesus and accept him as King? Or are we going to reject him just like the Pharisees and teachers of the Law?

This week Chris continues looking at his series in Starting with God, this week looking at the choices we make. There is a difference between fate and destiny. Fate (which is not real, by the way) gives you no choices in life, you're restricted to the train tracks laid out in front of you. Destiny is different, where God gives us the choice to follow His way which leads to life or the other ways which.... don't. But whichever path we choose God always gives us the opportunity to turn towards His way.

Chris continues his series in Starting With God by looking at all of those things that we contstruct for ourselves to replace God or to divert our attention away from Him. The Bible has a word for those things: idols. Idols can even be things that make us think that God approves of what we're doing when we know deep down that He doesn't. We are invited to cast away all of those things and to focus and trust in God alone for all of our needs and strength. It's very easy to say it. But can we actually do it?

Chris continues our journey in Starting with God by this week looking at having intimacy with God. At the foot of Mount Sinai God spoke to His people who he had guided out of slavery in Egypt. They were so afraid that none of them wanted to go up the mountain and seek true intimacy with Him, they rejected God's true purpose for them because of fear. We now, through Jesus, recieve that same invitation to experience the fulness of God. Will we accept or will we - like the Israelites - be content with holding God at arm's length?

This week we hosted Mervyn Thomas, co-founder of our mission of the month for February CSW, who spoke to us about persecuted peoples across the world. Merv has over 40 years of experience in advocating for persecuted people groups and shares with us how we can fulfil God's calling for us to speak up for and stand with those who are persecuted for their faith.

This week we held our annual Covenant Service for 2026 where we re-commission our leaders and renew our covenant with each other and with God. Chris also continues our new series "Starting with God", looking the story from Genesis where Jacob wrestles with God. Until this point Jacob has tried to fit God into his own worldview, mould God into what he thinks God should be. It's only when God reaches deep and humbles Jacob that he sees the error of his ways and learns to surrender. How often do we act the same?

This week we begin a new series focussing on re-setting our relationship with God. In the introduction Chris lays out what the series will encompass using the illustration of a jigsaw puzzle. The final piece that completes the puzzle is Jesus, but how do we ensure that we don't lose him in the noise of life?

At the beginning of the year we revealed our year text for 2026: "Wherever the river flows, it will bring life". Now Chris puts this verse in its original context. The Israelites were a divided kingdom (sound familiar?) who had abandoned God (sound familiar?) to worship other idols (you get the idea), and as a result had been handed over to the Babylonians. Ezekiel, writing in the midst of this exile, was shown a vision of the water flowing from the temple, a symbol of the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of God's Spirit. A sign of hope that all is not lost!

For our first service of 2026 we hold our annual vision service where Chris gives us the opportunity to look back over how God has blessed us as a church during 2025 and the good things that He has planned for 2026, which just so happens to be our 175th Anniversary year. We also reveal our text for the year: "Wherever the river flows it will bring life". More on that in a few weeks time!

For our final service of 2025 Chris speaks on the visit of the Magi, commonly celebrated at the traditional festival of Epiphany. The wise men were the first recorded people who seemingly understood and worshipped Jesus as God, not just as a new messenger or prophet. It wasn't the Jewish teachers, or people who knew the Law really, really well, but (an unknown number of!) non-Jews who God chose to reveal the birth of His son to and guide so they could worship. How can we seek God's guidance so He can reveal the path to us as well?

A service of carols, readings and the gospel message of Jesus as we celebrate his coming to save us, all held by the light of health and safety compliant LED candles (plus a few torches!).

In the final of our Advent series we look at the invitation that God gives us to trust in Him and the Son he sent to save us. Chris speaks on the love that God has for us, despite all our failings, that he sent Jesus to be one of us, live amongst us, and ultimately to die for us.

As Chris preaches on 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Paul reminds us that we cannot separate our everyday lives from our faith. We need to live lives that reflect God’s Kingdom.

Chris continues preaching on 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, reminding us that Spiritual riches do not guarantee, or equate to, success or financial reward. Rather, our reward we get through serving is God saying to us, “We done, good and faithful servant”.We apologise for the truncation of this recording.

We are co-workers with God in building His church - but what is the quality of our building? Chris Johnson preaches on 1 Corinthians 3.

Chris Johnson continues the series in 1 Corinthians 2, describing the worldview at the time of Paul and encouraging us not to stay as mere infants but to grow in our faith as we learn to walk in step with the Spirit.

As Paul explains his mission strategy to the Corinthians, so Chris Johnson reminds us that our faith needs to rest on God’s power.

Continuing his series on 1 Corinthians 1 with verses 10-17, Chris looks at how unity is essential for spiritual gifts to build up the church.

Chris Johnson preaches on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. We are made holy in Christ, but we cannot continue to live a holy life without the spiritual gifts of God. When we are immersed in Christ we are also immersed in the Holy Spirit.

Unbelievably we are now in the period of Advent, time to reflect on the period of waiting for Jesus' coming. As we enter this time for 2025 Chris speaks on the times where God leaves us waiting, in our minds for seemingly no reason. But we are reminded that God doesn't work on our timing and His ultimate plans are greater than we can ever hope for or imagine. So maybe it's OK waiting sometimes.

This week we were visited by Jim Gourlay from Asia Link. Jim speaks about some of the gospel-spreading work he witnessed when travelling to Nepal earlier in the year and how the church in that country is one of the fastest-growing in the world. As part of that Jim speaks on the story of Zaccheus, particularly Jesus' assertion that he is here to seek and to save the lost. That ties into the evangelistic and mission-based ethos of Asia Link but also into our own lives, we are reminded that we were once lost and Jesus came to save us.

Continuing our series in the book of Acts, Chris this week speaks on Paul's travels after the dramatic events in Ephesus. We have seen over the course of his missionary journeys that Paul has partnered with many others, here he prepares to (temporarily!) leave the mission field and return to Jerusalem with a group composed of fellow mission workers from many of the churches he has visited and helped to establish. We see that from the very beginnings of its history the church draws together those from many different backgrounds, social classes, ethnicities, and giftings, all to work as one for the common goal of making Jesus known.