Sermons from November 2014

Sermons from November 2014

A Beautiful Gift

The grace of God is a beautiful gift. It is a gift that ought to be on display so that the world can know how precious it is to us. However, a divided church that is always fighting about silly issues makes the precious gift of grace look a whole lot less precious than it really is. In tonight’s passage, Paul concludes his instructions to Titus with some advice on how to approach divisive issues and divisive people in the church. We see that grace demands unity and that our unity shows off grace.

David & Jonothan

Tune in as Pastor Dave takes us through the remarkable friendship between David & Jonothan.

The Man Who Couldn’t Be Ignored

National leadership dramas are nothing new! We’ve had our share here in Australia in recent years. As doubts about King Saul started to increase, the young shepherd-warrior David was attracting more and more attention. But did he have what it would take to lead a nation? Despite of his father’s jealousy of David, Jonathan saw a man to whom he wanted to pledge his absolute loyalty. David did not turn out to be the ideal king Israel was looking for, but 1000 years later a descendant of David did come who was the perfect King – Jesus Christ. He still reigns over His kingdom. Have you recognised Him? Why not pledge your loyalty to Him today?

Changed by Grace

Churches are vulnerable to rogue ideas and deceptive teachers. They need good leadership. They need sound teaching. Tonight’s passage stresses the importance of two vital aspects of this teaching …… firstly, what God expects of us in terms of Christian behaviour, and secondly, how God’s grace is the key to true and lasting change and growth in our lives. Not only are we saved by grace. We are also changed by grace. It is only with God’s help that we can really say “No” to ungodliness and “Yes” to godliness. When we really understand this enabling grace, then it not only makes the Christian life possible. It makes it necessary!

David and Goliath

Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be there to see God deliver his people from that great enemy Goliath and the threat of death that he posed? Well, today we have a special guest to tell us all about what it was actually like to see that first hand (sort of….) Listen as we hear what he learned on that incredible day.

Leaders to look for

One of Titus’ most important jobs was to appoint the right people to lead the Cretan church. But what kind of leaders was he to look for? We find Paul’s answer to this question in our passage today. We see a picture of the kind of leaders that are worth following as well as an example of leaders that we ought to avoid. Listen as we consider Paul’s instructions to Titus and how we should apply them as we appoint leaders in the church today.

Choosing a leader – God’s way

What makes a good leader? And how do we choose them? These questions are as relevant today as they were 3000 years ago in the nation of Israel. Saul had proven to be an abject failure and God decided it was time to start again and choose a new king. 1 Samuel 16 gives a fascinating account of how God used the prophet Samuel to anoint a shepherd boy as the future king, and how He empowered him for the task ahead. Despite all the question marks over young David, God saw his heart. Outward impressions are often premature, but godly character …. that’s different. I wonder what God sees when He looks into our hearts?

True worship

The topic of “worship” is bound to cause some debate in many Christian circles. And it’s true that over the past 50 years many different “styles” of worship have emerged. So which is the right way to worship God? King Saul’s view was typical of many people today, but God was not impressed. In God’s words: “To obey is better than sacrifice”. In today’s message Pastor Murray explains how easily we can mistake our own selfish (and sinful) ideas of how to please God with the true worship that God desires. And it has less to do with church services and music than we often think!