Sermon Archive

Luke 24:48-49: Empowered Witnesses

When I say the word witness what comes to mind?  Maybe at first it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Or maybe you think of evangelism and witnessing.  Perhaps you think of the Great Commission and recognize the call to be witnesses to all nations.  I am sure that some of you even think of the legal aspect of being a witness, as bearing testimony to historical realities.  Some with a little Greek might even know that the Greek word for ‘witness’ is martureo from which we get our English word martyr.  Today as we continue looking at Jesus Great Commission...


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November 13, 2022 -
by
in

Luke 24:44-49: Commissioned as Witnesses

Each of the four gospels end with the great commission, and it is reissued again in Acts.  5 times in all we have Christ appearing to His disciples and telling them what to do now that He has died and been raised from the dead.  What is expected of us now that Jesus has risen from the dead?  This is the question that is answered by our portion today in Luke 24:44-49.  Our purpose, our identity, our mission it is all summed up in this one idea of being witnesses.  A witness is a legal witness who bears testimony...


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October 30, 2022 -
by
in

Luke 14:15-24: The Parable of the Great Banquet

We are all familiar with missed opportunities. A most important decision comes along and we don’t grab it, we choose the wrong thing and we regret it. There are many examples of this, here are some well-known examples from the world of business. In the early 2000s the company Yahoo was approached by Google to buy it for 1 million dollars, they rejected the offer and in 2020 Google reached the 1 trillion dollar mark. In 2000 Netflix approached Blockbuster to buy it out for 50 million, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and today Netflix is worth 228...


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August 08, 2021 -
by
in

Apologetics Acts: Part Two

Good afternoon everyone, it is once again a privilege to open the word for you again, continuing on my two part sermon looking at apologetics, the art and science of explain what we believe and why we believe it. And we have been going through two sermons by Paul in the book of Acts, his sermon to the synagogue in Antioch Pisidan, in modern day Turkey, and in the Areopagus in Athens, in modern day Greece. And we used these two examples to apply to the two different groups that we Christians interact with in today’s society. You have...


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July 18, 2021 -
by
in

Apologetics Acts: Part One

Pastor Nick is away in the North Island and so I will be bringing the word to you this morning and this afternoon, and we will be taking a break for Pastors Nicks exposition through the book of Luke and Ephesians. And just like the last time I preached, I will be preaching this morning on the topic of my current course this morning, and when I tell you what it is, some of you will probably inwardly sigh. And the course I am taking is about apologetics. And if you aren’t already jumping out of your seat in...


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July 18, 2021 -
by
in

Luke 8:16-21: Fruitful Hearing

Famous Reformed Baptist pastor Al Martin preached a 16 part series on Luke 8:18, the series is called Take Heed How You Hear. 16 sermons on how to listen to the word of God! He deals with how we should prepare to listen before the sermon, how we should listen during the sermon, and what we should do after the sermon. Many might think that this is overkill, but Jesus Himself in the portion before us continues to talk about how we hear God’s word. The state of your heart, whether you are willing to listen, the consequences of...


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July 26, 2020 -
by
in

1 Corinthians 15:1-5: Evangelism & The Gospel

Thanks to Graham Gregory for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised...


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January 26, 2020 -
by
in

Jonah 1:7-16: Jonah and the Sailors

‘Drawing straight lines with crooked sticks’, this is a one liner that I could write over this portion as we see God using an unwilling Jonah to do much more than he ever intended. Bringing good out of evil is another way we could summarise this portion. Jonah is running from God and being disobedient in not calling Nineveh to repentance. Jonah has brought ruin and judgement upon himself and the ships full of unbelieving sailors. Jonah has ruined his witness, but God! Despite Jonah God will use this attempt to damn gentiles to save gentiles. God will use...


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September 22, 2019 -
by
in

Acts 8:26-40: Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

Thanks to Jeff Lane for visiting from Shore Baptist to tell us about the student ministries happening in Auckland. Jeff works for OMF NZ, has been seconded to Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF), and works with international students at Massey University, Albany. He previously worked with OMF in China and Taiwan for several years and now primarily works with Chinese students here in NZ. Acts 8:26-40: Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch 26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert...


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September 01, 2019 -
by
in

The Gospel as an Argument for Christianity

Distinct to every other worldview and religion is the gospel.  It stands outside of the values and ideas of every man made system of belief.  It is the power of God to enter, confront, subvert and reform our basic understanding of everything.  It is the dynamite that explodes the rock of every man-made self-sourced system of thought, and at the end of the day, every religion, philosophy, system of ideas, etc. is a worldview.


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August 18, 2019 -
by
in

Romans 15:20-24: Paul the pioneer missionary

Introduction: I would like to begin by adapting a well-known illustration relating to missions that John Piper uses in his book Let the Nations Be Glad.1 You along with ten others are on an old school lifeguard boat with oars attending to a sinking ship. You are the captain of this little band of life savers. The ship you are attending is a liner with many people that cannot swim and there are only a few life boats. You and you little team get stuck in and are trying to rescue as many as you can. But suddenly you...


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November 18, 2018 -
by
in

2 Samuel 23:1-7: David’s Last Words

INTRODUCTION: In death all our masks are stripped away.  Any appearances of power are taken away as we impotently die; all apparent beauty disappears in rot; our deathbed tends to bring out of our hearts what we have been putting into it our whole lives and we are revealed.  Some die full of fear and terror; others self-deceived think they have nothing to fear; but many a Christian has died what was called a good death.  We don’t hear much about these anymore.  In part this is because we die in old age homes away from family and friends,...


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March 25, 2018 -
by
in

Spiritual Gifts: The Gift of Evangelism

Outline The office The responsibility Introduction John Harper was born in Scotland in 1872. He was converted at 14 and from an early age began to tell others about Jesus. He ended up planting a church in London with 25 members which grew to over 500 when he left 13 years later. He had married and was widowed but had a daughter. The Moody church in America sought out this fervent evangelist to run evangelistic meetings at his church. So he set off with his daughter to America on a ship. A few days into the journey, he woke...


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August 27, 2017 -
by
in