Sermons from May 2014

Sermons from May 2014

The Great Invitation

Jesus has always been a controversial figure. And even today the opinions about Him are many, varied, and often strongly held. But before we jump to any conclusions about Him we should at least try to understand His message. In today’s passage we hear that message as Jesus calls people who are thirsty to: “Come to me and drink”. Not because they are physically thirsty but spiritually thirsty. People who have tried and failed to satisfy themselves with the material, personal and social “stuff” that life offers. Jesus offers to fill that “God-shaped vacuum” inside the human heart which only He can fill. He knows our deepest needs and kindly offers to meet them if we will sincerely “believe” in Him. This is a wonderful life-transforming invitation, almost too good to be true, and He is still offering it to us today. Perhaps there is “something missing” in your life. Have you considered Jesus?

The Good Samaritan

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could choose our neighbours? You could choose those who were pleasant and easy to get along with, but ignore those who weren’t! That’d be a perfect neighbourhood! There was an expert in the law who came to Jesus who wanted to live in a perfect neighbourhood. He knew that the Bible said he had to love his neighbour and he thought that if he could just choose nice neighbours, loving them would be a whole lot easier! But Jesus had news for him. He told him a story which challenged him to think differently about his neighbourhood and how he should be loving his neighbours. Sometimes we want to pick and choose the people we allow into our lives. People that are nice to us and don’t cause too many headaches are welcome but the different, the difficult and the dirty are not. Are we any different to the expert in the law? Listen as Pastor Michael explores the parable of the Good Samaritan. Let us consider what response this parable demands of us today

Honour your Father and your Mother

The “traditional” family seems to be on the way out and the “modern” family, with all its variations, is in. But cohesion and stability within the family is still the bedrock of society. This is why the ancient commandment to “Honour your father and your mother” is still so important. In today’s message Pastor Murray examines some key texts around this topic and suggests practical ways by which we can all live out the intention of this commandment. And for those from broken and dysfunctional families there’s some helpful teaching also.