Sermons from May 2015

Isaiah: Vol 9: 3 of 4: The Wait

Isaiah 56:1-57:5According to one survey, over a lifetime we spend 27 days waiting for trains and 6 whole months waiting in queues. But waiting is actually integral to the Christian life. We are waiting for salvation. But Christian waiting is an active thing, characterised by the three hallmarks in this passage.

Marks of the Spirit-filled church: 2 of 3: Purposeful

John 16:5-15 The film Groundhog Day depicted someone being trapped in a time loop. And one reason the film was so popular is that it resonated with so many people’s experience. Each day follows the last, but what’s the point? We’re just trapped in this endless cycle, having to create our own sense of meaning and purpose. The film taps into a longing we have to be caught up in a grand and glorious story which is actually heading somewhere. Join us as we hear Jesus’ teaching about where history’s heading, and how we can live purposeful lives.

Marks of the Spirit-filled church: 1 of 3: Unpopular

John 15:18-16:4 One-hit wonder Joan Osborne had a top-ten hit in the 90s with a song called “One of us”. The songs asks the question about what kind of reception we would expect God to get if he became one of us. What about if God were to reveal himself to one people in the world, and if he were to show them what life’s about and how to live and flourish in this world, how do we think the world would respond to those people? Our answer to these questions reveals a lot about our assumptions about humanity. Come and hear Jesus’ answers to these questions and why a distinctive feature of a Spirit-filled church must be being unpopular.

Joining God’s Mission: 2 of 2: “What is it?”

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2 Children’s books and TV programs categorize people into goodies and baddies, but as we grow up we discover that the world is more complicated than that. Rather than seeing everything as “black and white” we discover instead “50 shades of grey”. This is why, for many people, they can’t accept the Bible with its simplistic categories of good and evil; heaven and hell; saved and lost. Listen in as we consider this issue together.

Vision 2015: 1 of 2: Mature in Christ

Colossians 1:28Fast-forward a few years. You’ve achieved all your lifetime goals – career, finance, family. And you’re now sitting in a private nursing home aged 82, and you realise you’d never bothered to ask what God’s goal for your life might be. How would you feel? It’d be rather late to realise you’d neglected what matters most. Don’t leave it til then. In this talk we discover what God’s goal is for your life.