"church" Tagged Sermons
Baptism
When we come to salvation in Christ what are we actually doing? Is it turning over a new leaf? Is it making a new commitment? Is it embracing a new community or set of rules for life? Or is it something more? As we look at the rite of baptism we are going to see how this ritual is far more than mere ritual, and how it mirrors the kind of salvation we have received.
Proclamation
Every week in church we preach the gospel. Why? I mean if the congregation are already believers why do we persist with this same message? As we begin our Gospel Drama series, we take a look at preaching and why it is vital for both the church and the world.
The Witness of the Church
Many in the Christian church have theories about what the church should do with the increasingly hostile or ignorant response of our society to Christianity. But here in Revelation 10-11 God uncovers how His true church does respond when confronted with a hostile context. This reality should redirect our thinking from the speculative theories and towards the eternal call that God has one His church.
Judgment Uncovered
Living in a peaceful and happy society it is easy to feel like we humans have got things pretty well sorted. However, what we see in front of us is only a super thin slice of the broader story of human history. There is a long history of rebellion and destruction that follows us everywhere. For this reason God has always sought to show His displeasure at our rebellion through ongoing judgment against sin. Chapters 8-9 of Revelation uncover the…
The People of God Uncovered
In chapter 6 we shuddered as we heard that the world would never cease to be plagued by suffering, war, poverty and injustice. Well it seems that God knows how harrowing this revelation would be for His people because instead of moving onto the 7th seal He unpacks a wonderful vision for John and the churches that is designed to reassure us of His power and salvation.
Suffering Uncovered
In the vivid throne room scene of last week the conquering Lion that looked like a Lamb, Jesus the Christ, was the only one worthy enough to take the scroll of God’s purposes for the world and open its seals. But as Jesus opens those seals a frightening vision emerges… a vision of unparalleled suffering for the earth. But this vision is supposed to be for the good of the churches, to encourage them to cling to Jesus. So join…
Church – The Bad
As Jesus continues to share insights with the churches of Asia we find that there are a group of churches seem to be holding on to the faith, but for some reason Jesus also has found something deeply concerning amongst them. This week Pastor Joe unpack what Jesus finds concerning in the church and how we might be on the verge of embracing this concerning trend.
Church – The Good
It would have been easy for the churches in Asia to feel as though Jesus was distant to their trials and tribulations. But last week we saw that they powerful and fearsome Jesus stood amongst the lampstands of His church. He knew them and He knew their situation. So when He writes to them, He writes with both knowledge and love. This week we look at two of the churches to see what Jesus commends in His church.
Taking hold of a great salvation
The Preacher has spent a number of chapters showing that Jesus offers a certain salvation and a final purification for sins that the old covenant could never offer. He now summarises this great salvation in two statements of what we have in Jesus: 1. Confidence to approach God because our sin has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus; 2. A great priest who continues to minister to us, mediate between us, and draw us to himself. Because of these…
Waiting for Reform
AS we have journeyed through the book of Malachi we might be forgiven for thinking that the entire nation had completely lost the plot when it came to worship… their worship was nothing more than the smooth, clean shell of a rotten egg. But as we finish the text of Malachi we see that there was one small group of people that God listened for… and as we hear their voice and God’s response we will find out why the…