in Luke
Luke 18:9-14: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
INTRODUCTION Jeremiah 17:9 says of our hearts, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ Our hearts are self-deceiving, in other words we lie to ourselves. We deceive ourselves...
in Malachi
Malachi 1:1-5: Doubting the Love of God
INTRODUCTION The Puritan Samuel Rutherford, in a letter to a man who doubted whether he was a Christian wrote this: ‘We being born in atheism, and bairns (children) of the house we are come of,...
in Luke
Luke 18:1-8: The Parable of the Persistent Widow
INTRODUCTION Prayer is something that every Christian does, but nobody does well. Prayer is the native tongue of faith, but we trend towards doubt. Prayer is the hearts’ expression of love to God, but we...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:21-24: Final Encouragement
Overview We come now to the end of the book of Ephesians. This is one of Paul’s denser letters as it focused us on God’s work of building the church. Where Romans is a tour...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:18-20: The Armour of God: Part six
INTRODUCTION We come to the last message on spiritual warfare. We have spoken about the strength that God gives us by His Spirit; and we have looked at the pieces of the armour as the...
Being the Local Church and the Government Restrictions
Introduction It has been announced that on the 3rd of December all of NZ will enter the new Traffic Light situation. Along with many mandates affecting all areas of society, the church has not been...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:18: The Armour of God: Part Five
INTRODUCTION The greatest spiritual warrior to have walked the earth is Christ. He never gave in to one temptation; He faced greater temptations than anyone will ever face, and He is our teacher as we...
in Luke, Revelation
Luke 17:22-37: The Day When the Son of Man is Revealed
INTRODUCTION What is the meaning of history? Where is everything going? What is it all for? We live in a day of fear and uncertainty. Many are caught up in the fear of a future...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:17: The Armour of God: Part Four
The truth of God is something that informs every part of the armour of God. The truth of God is our belt that makes us ready for war; the truth of the gospel righteousness we...
in Luke
Luke 17:20-21: The Kingdom of God is in your midst
In his book called Mere Christianity, in the chapter called hope, C.S. Lewis writes ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hungry: well, there is such a...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:15-16: The Armour of God: Part Three
What do we need to be effective for the spiritual war we are in? So far Paul has told us that we need God’s truth, this makes us ready, and helps us against the father...
Vaccine Mandates and the Unity of the Church
(Apologies for the audio cutting off at the 43 minute mark. Please download the sermon manuscript if you want to read more.) On the 21st of October 2021 Jacinda Ardern announced that NZ will be...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:14b: The Armour of God: Part Two
The various parts of the armour seem well suited to the parts of the body they attach to. The word of God is well suited to be a sword because of its ability to penetrate...
in Baptism
Understanding Baptism
Today we have the joy of having a baptismal service, we are baptising four believers into the membership of the church. Everyone knows what baptism is, but not everyone is clear on what baptism means....
in Ephesians
Ephesians 6:13-14: The Armour of God: Part One
Holy War means two different things depending on whether you are living in the OT or the NT. In the OT the armies of Israel were God’s rod of judgement putting on an end times...
in Luke
Luke 17:11-19: The Ten Lepers
Many a Christian has come to be grateful for the particular difficulty that led them to cry out to the Lord, and by which they were saved. There are many cries to God during times...