Welcome to the City North Baptist sermon archive! We offer most sermons online within a week of the message being given.
Worthy of our praise
Listen as Pastor Dave unpacks what we can learn from the psalmist’s experience as to why God is worthy of our praise.
The journey of faith
The Christian life is a journey… a journey of faith. And perhaps no one models this better for us than Abraham. He was far from a perfect man (thankfully!), but his continual dependence on God over his lifetime still speaks powerfully to us today. Here was a man who implicitly believed the promises of God and clung to those promises year after year. Some of them were fulfilled in his lifetime. Some were not. Yet his unwavering faith that God would one day fulfil those promises enabled him to live and die a contented man. Even today those who have faith in Jesus Christ are called ‘children of Abraham’. The entire Christian life, ’from first to last’, is a journey of faith as we learn in daily life what it means to love, obey, trust and serve our faithful God.
Playing our part
Sometimes we might be tempted to wonder whether we’re really much use to God. Does he really want to use us achieve his purposes? He does! These last verses in Colossians remind us of the ways in which God delights to use us.
Faith in everyday life
Hebrews 11 is the best known chapter in the Bible when it comes to the subject of faith. And in this chapter we encounter numerous examples of people from the Old Testament who actually lived by faith in the circumstances they faced. Today we look at two of these people – Enoch and Noah. Despite much sin and godless opposition from the world around them, their faith shone through by the way they continued to trust God and live for Him. In many ways there are parallels for Christians today as we face growing antagonism. As it was then, the answer is to focus on God’s promises (now seen in Jesus Christ) and keep walking by faith in Him.
An extraordinary task
Though we are just ordinary Christians, God has given us the extraordinary task of making sure that outsiders hear about Jesus. In this passage, Paul reminds the Colossians of what it is that they must do in order for this to happen. What a great privilege and responsibility we have!
What is faith?
Whether we realise it or not, we all exercise faith on a daily basis – the chair we sit on, the plain we catch, the tablets we take etc. Likewise, Christian faith is something we exercise as a natural part of our day-to-day dependence on God. In this message Pastor Murray helps us understand what this means in practical terms as it affects our view of the future, things we cannot see or touch, and creation. Ultimately, faith in God, true life-shaping faith, causes us to worship Him, which we see exemplified in the life of Abel. All faith leads us to God whose promises to us find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
Instructions for the Christian Home
For the Christian, the gospel of Jesus should intersect and overlap into every aspect of our lives. It should change the way we live and should impact our relationships with each other both at church, and at home. Listen as Pastor Dave looks at the Apostles Paul’s instructions for Christian homes and families and how the gospel should be at work in our key relationships.
When the Going Gets Tough
Bad things happen! What’s more, bad things happen to Christians! They happen because of our own sinfulness, because of the sinfulness of others, and because we live in a world seriously damaged by sin. So how does the Christian cope when bad things happen in life? In today’s passage the readers are encouraged in two specific ways to keep themselves from losing heart and falling away from Christ. Real faith is persevering faith. It actually becomes stronger when the going gets tough. Faith rests in the certainties of Christ when circumstances seem hopeless. What are you facing today? Look up: “The righteous person will live by faith”!
Peter Francis: Sharing the Missional Heart of God
What does it take to truly share the Missional Heart of God? A willingness to: (1) pray (2) be led (3) to serve & (4) to share the Gospel.
Peter Francis: Praying The Missional Heart Of God
Long before Jesus gave the ‘Great Commission’ he taught his disciples to pray the ‘Great Petition’, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done.” Such a prayer will always compel us to become shares in the mission of God in this world.
The Difference Christ Makes
When a person becomes a Christian, he or she inevitably begins to change. The old way of thinking and behaving, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is steadily replaced by the new life of Christ. And we are to cooperate with the Spirit in this ongoing process as we “put to death” the old life and “put on” the new life. In this message we look at some of the practical changes that take place when we allow the peace of Christ, the Word of Christ, and the name of Christ to get to work in our lives. To really know Christ is to experience the powerful difference only he can make in every possible area of life. “If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation”. I wonder whether that is true of us?
The High Calling Of Being A Mother
It seems as though our culture today is confused about the role of motherhood. On the on hand it champions the place of women and celebrates childbirth, yet at the same time it suggests that when it comes to the task of raising children and managing your home, this is in some way the last option for women and not her first choice. The role of those who chose to stay at home and raise their children is often discounted and at times demeaned. Listen as Pastor Dave looks at what the Bible has to say about the role of motherhood, that it is indeed a high calling and sacred duty that ultimately points our children to Jesus.