1 Corinthians

27. The Life of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:35-58)

Preached on Sunday 3rd October 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-seventh sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


On meaning and emptiness

1. What an astonishing world teaches:

God’s work is full of radical reversal (v35-41)

2 What an astonishing Gospel confirms:

Our future in Jesus is one of radical reversal (v42-49)

3. What an astonishing God gives:

Glory and value to a life of lowly toil (v50-58)

26. The League of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-34)

Preached on Sunday 26th September 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-sixth sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


How to win: Paul’s answer

1. Your hope is pitifully small (v12-19)

2. God’s project is wonderfully big (v20-28)

3. So fall in with the league of the dead! (v29-32)

25. The Lord of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

Preached on Sunday 19th September 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-fifth sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


Where does Jesus fit in the Corinthian picture of the Christian life?

Chapter 15: bigger on the inside

  • What is it actually about?

  • Why leave it till last?

1. What you received:
A once-dead Messiah, sacrificed for you (v1-7)

2. Who you believed:
A deathly Apostle, spent for you (v8-11)

24. For the Many (1 Corinthinans 14:20-40)

Preached on Sunday 12th September 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-fourth sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


1. Love teaches grownups to think of others (20-25)

2. Love teaches grownups to hold our tongues (26-35)

  • “tongues” (27-28)

  • Prophecy (29-33)

  • Questions (34-35)

3. Love teaches grownups how much we owe (36-40)

23. Building Back Babel (1 Corinthians 14:1-19)

Preached on Sunday 27th June 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-third sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


On muskets and pikestaffs…

  • Divisive speech: pride, confusion and judgement

1. Two gifts, and two goals

  • “Tongues”

  • “Prophecy”

  • The heart of the matter (v4)

2. Self-Directed Worship: Building Babel

  • Lifeless (when we were made for life and meaning)

  • Alienating (when “barbarians” are meant to be brothers)

  • Elitist (when “idiots” are meant to be insiders)

22. Love, to the loveless shown (1 Corinthians 13)

Preached on Sunday 13th June 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-second sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .


A beautiful insult…

  • The heart of Paul’s argument concerning gifts (Ch 12-14)

  • The heart of Paul’s argument with the Corinthians

1. “Giftedness" without love (v1-3)

2. “Love" without content (v4-7)

3. “Maturity” without Jesus (v8-13)


21. On love, value, and usefulness (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)

Preached on Sunday 6th May 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twenty-first sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .

Seeing things as they really are: v12-14

Think ‘We’, not ‘Me”

1. “They don’t need me” people: v15-20

God values you for more than your usefulness

2. “I don’t need them” people: v21-26

God’s work in you goes deeper than your usefulness


Learning to love God’s value system: v27-31

Be zealous for the things you have, that serve others

20. Informed Spirituality (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

Preached on Sunday 30th May 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our twentieth sermon in the series "How to win at Christianity" .

The secret to the Spiritual Realm?

  • What we want to talk about

  • What they wanted to talk about

  • What Paul wanted to talk about

True Spirituality shows…

1. …in what we confess about Jesus (v1-3)

Don’t confuse it with what dumb demons demand.

2. …not in the jobs we do for Jesus (v4-11)

Don’t confuse it with what proud people praise.



19. When church does more harm than good (1 Corinthians 11:17–34)

Preached on 9th May 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our nineteenth sermon in the "How to win at Christianity" series.

1. The problem all could see: A church they’d despised (17-22)

2. The problem Paul could see: A death they’d forgotten (23-26)

3. The problem they should have seen: A body they’d defiled (27-32)

4. The answer Jesus gives: One family, gathered round the cross (33-34)




18. Beautiful (no matter what they say): 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Preached on 2nd May 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

Our second week digging into a tricky but profoundly helpful passage,
and our eighteenth talk in the "How to win at Christianity" series.

Men and Women have been created differently, with a relational order we should honour and visibly express — especially (but not only) when we worship before a watching cosmos.

1. Shame: What is beautiful can become ugly. (v3-6)

2. Glory: What seems ugly should be our beauty. (v7-12)

3. Decency: What feels arbitrary is often rooted in nature. (v13-16)

4. Deep and joyful obedience: what would it look like?

  • Outward display

  • Inward demeanour

17. On hats, hearts, and being human (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)

Preached on 25th April 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

The seventeenth talk in the "How to win at Christianity" series.

Clearing the ground...

Communicative clothing

Complexity and clarity

Context: the glory of God

Recognising our assumptions...

  1. Hats or hair?

  2. Women or wives?

  3. Church or world?

  4. Lecturer or Lord?

Men and Women have been created differently, with a relational order we should honour and visibly express — especially (but not only) when we worship before a watching cosmos.

16. Our Beating Heart (1 Corinthians 10:23 – 11:1)

Preached on 14th February 2021 by Rupert Hunt-Taylor.

The sixteenth talk in the "How to win at Christianity" series.

Sermon Notes:

What made Paul’s heart beat? (v24-24, v31-11:1)

v25-27 An earth full of gifts

Two freedoms to enjoy…

v28-30 An earth full of souls

…and to gladly surrender….

v31-1 An earth to fill with glory

…for him who came to seek, serve and save.