Sermons by Murray Lean (Page 7)
Murray Lean
Learning To Trust God … Patiently
Among the many godly women in the Bible, Sarah is specifically mentioned for her faith in the book of Hebrews. But her journey with God was a bumpy one, as we see in today’s message. Over 25 long years she waited …. and waited …. and waited, until finally God fulfilled His scientifically impossible promise and enabled her to have a baby! Her laugh of unbelief became a laugh of joy. Perhaps you have been waiting for God to answer…
Why Worry About Worry?
Anxiety is arguably the no.1 cause of ill-health in Australia today. Worry about finances, employment, illness, relationships, family, fashion, peer pressure etc. sap the joy of so many of us. So how should we handle our worries? Jesus uses two simple illustrations from everyday life, birds and flowers, to point us to the answer. Who cares for them? Of course, God does. And he cares even more for us! The question is, are we prepared to trust Him with our…
Going The Distance In The Life Of Faith
As we begin a new year with all its hopes and uncertainties, God calls us to keep on faithfully living for Him. One man who exemplified this was the apostle Paul. And in Philippians 3 he gives us a snapshot of his life – his early life, his conversion to Christianity, and how he pressed on as a Christian over many years. Clearly his personal encounter with Christ was life-changing. Whatever our age or stage of life, let us be…
A Unique Baby
Millions of babies are born every year around the world. Billions have been born throughout history. But one baby born 2000 years ago was unlike any other baby ever born. The birth of Jesus was absolutely unique, but why? Listen in as Pastor Murray shares with us three special reasons that help us understand the true meaning of Christmas, and make it relevant to each of us personally. John 1:1-5 and 1 John 1:1-4
A Unique Backstory
To understand the story of Christmas we have to go right back to the Garden of Eden. What happened there brought darkness into the world. The Old Testament records for us the long, sad story of sin and failure. For thousands of years all attempts to solve the world’s problems failed. But God refused to give up on the world and the people He had made. He promised that one day a Son from the descendants of King David would…
Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good!
Today is the day of our Annual Church Members meeting, and what better day of the year to pause and thank God for His love and faithfulness to us! We thank Him for His grace in saving us from our sin and the joy of being in His family. We thank Him for spiritual growth in our lives and in many of the church’s ministries. We thank Him for gospel seeds planted, watered and growing in people’s lives. And we…
Distinctives of true disciples of Jesus
The disciples of Jesus were slow learners. But are we any better? We can know the theory of Christian living yet struggle to put it into practice. In today’s passage Jesus exposes several important areas where His disciples have much to learn about what it actually looks like to live in God’s kingdom. Things like how we view ourselves, how we treat “little people”, how we deal with our own sinfulness, and how we help our straying Christian friends. This…
The secret of true wisdom
There are many people these days who are seriously smart (or think they’re smart!). But there’s a big difference between being smart and being wise. In the previous chapter, Paul has been making the case that true wisdom can only be found by believing in Jesus Christ and the message of the cross, which many apparently intelligent people think is plain foolishness. So how does a a skeptic become a convinced Christian? Today’s passage provides the answer. It is only…
God’s power through weak people
The way that God works has always challenged and contradicted the expectations of human beings. In our pride we expect God to conform to our expectations. So qualities like power and wisdom become our way of impressing God. How totally wrong we are! God’s salvation is for those who know they are weak and helpless and utterly dependent on Christ to save them. And to go with this, God uses people who are weak and humble to be His gospel…
Some lessons about faith
The question – “What does it mean to have faith” – is crucial to understanding what it means to be a Christian. As the Bible says, the opposite of walking by faith is to walk by sight. Faith by its very nature requires an element of risk. And that’s where the rubber hits the road when a person becomes a Christian. It means being willing to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, for life today and tomorrow, and for eternity. …
Unity in the church
Unity among Christians and within churches is a precious thing, but too often misunderstanding and friction push us apart. With the temptation to become followers of different personalities, different brands of teaching, and different causes (not to mention our tendency to link ourselves to people we “like”), the risk of factions forming is very real. Today’s message looks at the key to establishing and maintaining true unity. Put simply, it’s all centred on our common faith in Jesus Christ. The…
God’s Grand Design
Churches come in many different styles and sizes. Some are strong and healthy. Others are struggling. The church in Corinth was one of these broken churches. But the apostle Paul could write to them and positively affirm several great truths that ought to be true of every genuine church. We need to remind ourselves often that the church, including “our church” with all it’s faults and failings, really belongs to God. And He will still work through it for His…