Sermon Archives

We return to 1 Samuel, with Israel in crisis again. Saul is still on the scene though his kingship is ineffective and God’s Spirit has left him.  Who comes next?  What’s going to happen to God’s people?  In five weeks we cover the David’s ascent towards the throne; covering one of the most famous passages […]

There are many places in Mark’s gospel where a story starts and then is quickly interrupted by another story.  But each time this happens there is a common theme between the initial story and the interrupting one—this is Mark’s way of highlighting the main point.  The structure of the story goes like this: the initial […]

The second-last book in the bible has no chapters, it’s so short it only has verses. Though it’s short, it’s sweet and packs a critical message for our times. In the Western world, we may have thought that as Christians we could pretty much just go with the cultural flow. Recent events have caused us […]

In a TED talk given by Barry Schwartz the argument is made that the modern west has gone mad with bureaucracy because of our loss of “practical wisdom” (see here). Schwartz argues clearly that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire and yet we continue with them, in the vain hope that a few more […]

Acts 17 tells of a church that Paul and his companions started in Thessalonica as the gospel of Jesus Christ went out from Jerusalem.  However Paul was forced to leave Thessalonica because of persecution.  This historical background positions the first letter to the Thessalonians as Paul’s pastoral concern to these new believers in Jesus Christ […]

What is the Christian life? Getting better at following a bunch of rules by trying harder? Just doing stuff the church says you should?  For the period of Lent we are going to look at what the bible says about the human heart.  Traditionally Lent is the period when Christians reflect on the Cross of […]

It’s the beginning of a new year, it’s “shiny and new – so going well” someone told me yesterday as I sold them a sausage at Bunnings! It was January the 2nd. New things start with promise and with anticipation that something good will come. Yet I’ve noticed many social commentators get to the end […]

Christmas is coming again! How do you feel about that announcement? There are mixed feelings: some people look forward to Christmas, others are glad for it to be done. Often overlooked is the subversive nature of the original announcement of Jesus’ birth. See, news of Jesus birth brought change to how the world was understood, […]

October 31st 2017 marks the 500th anniversary since the German monk Martin Luther published his famous 95 Theses against the practice of selling indulgences.  While no movement flows from a singular event or person, Luther’s 95 Theses were a significant catalyst for great change and reformation of the church of the time. In the 16th […]