Sermons from July 2016
Forgiven much
Baptism Service: Public displays of affection are not all that common in Australia. We tend to keep our affections for others relatively private. But in baptism, the Christian stands up in public to declare their love for Jesus and their desire to live their life for him.
What would lead someone to declare their love for Jesus in such a public way? The Bible answers that question for us. Listen to a story about a woman who came to Jesus and unashamedly displayed her love for Him.
Sound advice for serious believers
There is a real place for meaty doctrinal teaching (and there’s plenty of that in the book of Hebrews). But sometimes we need to hear what God says about things like: how to relate to church leaders, and being willing to suffer disgrace and humiliation for the sake of Christ, and what “worship” 24/7 looks like. When it comes to the crunch, you have to live the faith you profess. Join us as Pastor Murray unpicks these verses and challenges us to put them into practice personally.
Singing with Christ
One of the great truths of the Christian faith is that we have been united with Christ. Listen as we consider how this truth shapes the way that we sing as the church.
Four indicators of genuine faith
God never intended faith to be a set of mental beliefs, isolated from real life. To be genuine, faith has to work in real life. As the writer of this letter starts to wind things up, he challenges his readers to put his teaching about faith into practice. Join us as Pastor Murray extends the challenge to us today in four particular areas of life – 1. how we relate to strangers, 2. how we care for prisoners, 3. how we preserve our sexual purity, and 4. how we stay content in a materialistic world. Whoever said the Bible isn’t relevant to the 21st century!
Continuous worship
Listen as we consider what it means for us to worship God with all our lives and what place singing has in our broader life of worship.
Hebrews 12:14-29
Listen as Pastor Dave continues our study into the book of Hebrews focusing on what God has done for us and how we might live in response.
Praying for help
In the Psalms we find great encouragement in the prayers of God’s people. We learn what it means to be in close relationship with God and how we too can be confident that he hears us and answers our prayers. Listen as Pastor Dave shares from Psalm 17 how King Davids prayer for help turned to an expression of hope and praise to the living God.
Divine discipline
How do you respond to hardships in your life? Listen as we consider the exhortations of the writer to the Hebrews, as he urges his readers to remember the encouraging word of God and the good purposes of God, even when we face hard times. And then, let us resolve to press on.
Encountering God personally
To those who genuinely look for Him, God promises make Himself known (Jeremiah 29:13). But how does He actually do this? Psalm 19 answers this question for us. Firstly, He “speaks” to us through the world of nature. Secondly, He “speaks” to us through His written Scriptures (the Bible). Thirdly, He “speaks” to us personally by exposing our sinful hearts and convicting us of our need to be made right with God Himself. As we take this journey of seeking to know God, it will eventually lead us to the One who alone can remove our sin and make us right with God… the Lord Jesus Christ… our Rock and our Redeemer!
Faith that never gives up
In the Bible the Christian life is often compared to a long distance race. But as we all know, many runners in these races don’t make it to the finish line. Sadly, that is also true of some who claim to be Christians today. For a variety of reasons they lose heart and give up. It seems that the book of Hebrews had these sorts of people in mind, and today’s passage is a word of strong encouragement to these people. Whatever difficulties you may be facing, and they are an unavoidable part of life for every Christian, it’s *always* worth it to run the race of life with perseverance and to keep fixing your eyes on Jesus. This is the faith that gets every genuine believer triumphantly to the finish line.