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 of lies. We need to guard our hearts with righteousness, firstly with the truth of our justification; and secondly with a love for holiness as we pursue sanctification. Today we want to look at the next two pieces of armour Paul places before us, the shoes and the shield, v15-16, ‘and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the...
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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 moving away from the Alert Level system to the Traffic Light system. Some of the stated goals by the government are to update the countries response in light of a majority vaccinated population, and to limit lockdown situations to relevant areas and not make them country wide. Our message today is not going to focus on the political, medical or economic logic behind these...
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Luke 17:1-10: How the Gospel Shapes our Service of Others
The differences between true religion and false religion are striking. False religion is judgemental, true religion is accepting; false religion is strident and forceful, true religion is gentle and yielding; false religion is critical and harsh; true religion is gracious and encouraging; loveless vs loving; external holiness vs internal holiness; hypocritical vs genuine; we all know the difference between true and false religion. False religion is repulsive but true religion is attractive. Our hearts are by nature religious; that means we are vulnerable to the deceptions and promises of false religion and hungry for true religion. Jesus throughout the...
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Ephesians 6:5: Slavery and Christianity: Part Two
Last week we began to try and paint the picture of slavery in the OT and the ancient world. The reason we have to do these history lessons is because of the false history that is presented in the present political climate. We live in an age of critical race theory which rereads history as a story of monolithic relationship of race oriented oppression. So the race and slavery question is a heated one that is often skewed. The Bible has become a casualty of the present cancel culture that has declared the Bible a book used as a...
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Luke 2:14: The First Christmas Carol
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” What does the birth of Christ mean to the world today? Those who do not believe the Christmas story as teaching that the saviour of the world is born; many still celebrate the story because they believe that it teaches and affirms that the birth of every child is precious. As true as it is that every human life is precious, the remembrance of Jesus in the stable is not a celebration of human life, no matter where it is born. No,...
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Ephesians 4:26-27: Putting Away Anger
Anger divides! Take one look at our culture today and notice how anger is drawing battle lines, polarizing and tribalizing groups against each other. We see the sides in the culture wars as the left are pitted against the right. Critical theory has divided society up into minority groupings who now interpret all activity towards them in terms of microagressions. They play into a narrative of victimhood and oppression which must now be met with violent revolution. Cancel culture, trolling, and the mudslinging arena of social media are maelstroms of anger. This anger is nothing new, sinners have always...
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Luke 5:27-32: Jesus the Friend of Sinners
One of the things that Christianity used to turn the world upside down was the meal, yes the simple act of sitting down together to eat. Religious and social norms were perpetuated by the meal, and it played an important role in society. Ideas about nationality, gender, class and religious purity were all supported by the way a meal was practiced. In Greco-Roman society an aristocratic woman who went to a meal with her husband was not better than a slave or prostitute; slaves and masters did not sit down at the same table, for the slave was to...
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Luke 5:12-26: Jesus-The Forgiver of Sins
If you mention the name Jesus Christ today the first thought in many minds is that Jesus is a judge and Christians are judgemental, this however is not the first thought they should think. Yes it is true that one day we will have to stand before Christ and give an account for every deed done in the body, but there are two comings of Christ, and until that His second coming we are to think of Jesus as the one who saves not the one who judges, John 3:17, ‘ For God did not send his Son into the...
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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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2 Peter 3:18: Regeneration
It is 2 days away from the end of 2019, and I’m sure you have all thought about this as the year draws to a close. New Years resolutions. As the clock clicks past midnight on Tuesday, the realisation dawns upon Christians and non-Christians alike, that they probably weren’t as good as they intended to be last year. Perhaps you wanted an improvement on your health, but that gym membership didn’t get the same amount of use as you hoped. Perhaps you wanted an improvement on your finances, but you just didn’t save as much as you hoped. Perhaps...
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Isaiah 9:1-7: Jesus, the prophesied Messiah
You noticed perhaps a similar theme between the two portions of Scripture this morning, and that is one of celebration and rejoicing. So let me ask you this question, what do you celebrate at Christmas time? Perhaps you are happy about the time off work? Perhaps you enjoy spending the break with family and friends? Perhaps you are like the neighbour down my street, and use it as an occasion to put lights on every available surface outside your home? Maybe you like the giving of gifts, or if you are a child, you like the receiving gifts? If...
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Luke 4:14-21: The Mission of Jesus
What was the mission of Jesus? What did He come to accomplish? There are various answers to those questions. The reason the answer is so important is because the Church is called to line up with Christ’s own mission. Today there are those who believe in a social gospel who believe that Jesus is primarily interested in social justice, transforming social structures, alleviating injustice and renovating cities. This has an extreme edge in Liberation theology that says that spiritual salvation is irrelevant, social liberation is all, and some have even advocated violence as a way of realising the kingdom...
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Luke 2:22-38: Jesus presented at the Temple
Jesus being presented at the temple is usually not seen as a very important part of the birth narratives in the gospels, but it is important for several reasons. Jesus presentation of the temple gives the final birth hymn, the Nunc Dimittis, that goes along with the Benedictus; the Magnificat; and the Gloria in Excelsius. It is the first visit of Christ to the temple. It is significant that He who is the temple, and the Word tabernacling among us comes to the temple and certain Spirit led things confirm His identity and purpose. This visit is important because...
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Colossians 1:24-29: Suffering, the Gospel, and Holiness – How to Identify a Faithful Christian Minister
Many of you all will have heard this verse and felt very warm and smug and contented inside. James 3:1 says: ‘Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, as you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness’ You may be breathing a big sigh of relief in your hearts as I often have, comforted by the thought that the church elders, those who preach here up the front, will be judged with a higher standard, and you may have thought that perhaps God will let those of us sitting in the pews off...
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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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Being and Doing Church
Introduction: When Hitler was trying to enthuse the German nation to get behind his expansionist programs he told them that the German race was the Ubermensch, the Beyond-man/Hyper-man. He understood the psychology of action, we do as we believe. If we think we are better than others we will happily walk over their heads. We have also given the name slave mentality to a state or mind that acts out of the way it sees itself. This is a life of subservience and submission that thinks of itself as less. Activity follows identity. We see this everyday in life,...
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