Sermons from August 2016
An ordinary servant
Under King Ahab, Israel had reached a spiritual low point, having turned their backs on the living God to worship the pagan god, Baal. Into this context comes an ordinary man, Elijah. What God does through Elijah over the following years is extraordinary. However, before God uses him, he needs to prepare Elijah for what lies before him. Listen as we are introduced to Elijah, God’s ordinary servant. Let us consider how God might prepare us to serve him in a world that has turned its back on the living God.
Worship that offends God
“Worship” is a word that conjures up different ideas to modern Christians, but to Israelites in 400BC worship always involved the temple, priests and sacrifices. This was how they met personally with God. But God was deeply offended by the quality of the sacrificial animals these people were bringing – the leftovers rather than the best. It was obvious that their hearts were not in their worship. Their worship was mechanical, burdensome and offensive to God. Today our worship doesn’t involve animals and sacrifices. Jesus has offered Himself as that sacrifice for us. But our worship involves the sacrifice of ourselves to God as our only proper response. Are our lives expressing this sacrifice? Are we giving Him our best or the leftovers?
Greg Beaumont: Walk in Truth and Love
It shouldn’t surprise Christians that there are so many false teachers around. Jesus predicted it and many of the NT letters confirm his prediction. But what is the church to do in the face of false teachers? 2 John gives instructions to a church facing the imminent arrival of false teachers. John tells the church that they are to walk in truth and love! This means, firstly, that they are to lovingly watch themselves and each other to ensure that no one is deceived by false teaching and loses their reward. And secondly, that they are to be careful who they welcome into the church so that the precious truths of who Jesus is and what he has done can be preserved and treasured.
The wonder of God’s love
In Malachi’s day the Israelites were very apathetic towards God. Their religion had become a chore instead of a joy, a duty rather than a privilege. And they were doubting whether God even loved them. This would have been very painful for God to hear, especially considering all He had done for them as His chosen and redeemed people. In today’s message Pastor Murray challenges our self-centred attitudes and expectations of entitlement, and urges us to recognise all that God – in His great love – has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t deserve His love at all, yet He has chosen to love us …. and He continues to love us. If only we realised how truly blessed we are!
Who do we sing for?
The church sings for God. We are expressing our “vertical” relationship with God when we declare His praise and our love for Him. We do all of this for His glory. But our public singing also has a public effect, that is, there are “horizontal” relationships being expressed during our gathered worship. Listen as we consider the public effects our public worship can have.
Radical Love
Jesus calls his followers to a radical kind of love. A love that extends even to their enemies. Listen as Pastor Dave unpacks what it means to follow Jesus as we seek to love our enemies.
Head, hands and… heart?
Listen as we consider the role that music and singing play in engaging our minds, our hearts and our bodies as we worship God together.
The Christian life – it’s all about Jesus!
The book of Hebrews links the Old and New Testaments, and shows how Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of all that God has been doing in biblical history. In a world that has relegated Jesus to just another figure of history, we need to recognise who Jesus really is… the divine Son of God… fully equal with God. In a world that wants to believe there are many different ways to God, Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus alone can save people from their sin through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. And when we come to know Jesus personally as our Saviour, then we begin to “live by faith”, as we learn to trust Him through the daily ups and downs of life. That’s the message of Hebrews, and what the Christian life is all about!