Gordon Baptist Church, Sydney: Recent Episodes
Gordon Baptist Church
Steph shares about her work in Mongolia as an example of making decisions to align our lives with God's purposes in our work.
God cares for all things, so mission is holistic. Andrew shares about the way that Jesus and BWAA take a holistic approach to caring for others, from John 5:1-15.
John begins a new series introducing God's care for all people in his global mission from Matthew 5:43-48 and Galatians 6:7-10.
John looks at the event of Pentecost and what it achieves in bringing all people under God's reign.
Vanessa leads a discussion to close out our series on the parables, hearing from members of our congregation about their response to what they have learned this series.
Steve looks at Jesus' parable of the wedding banquet and how he uses it to comment on the Pharisee's approach to Sabbath.
Otto explores the way this parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector speaks to our own performance, comparison and self worth.
Steve explores Jesus' story about a dishonest manager and how he uses this to teach his disciples about trust.
Steve explores Jesus' parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus and what it reveals about Jesus' own impending death and resurrection.
Steve looks at one of the most tragic and brutal of Jesus' parables that Jesus tells to warn the Teachers of the Law of their error in failing to recognise him.
Steve looks at Jesus' enactment of a parable as he rides a donkey into Jerusalem, as a piece of street theatre claiming to be Israel's anticipated Messiah.
Cliff looks at one of Jesus' most famous stories of a loving father and his two sons from Luke 15:11-31.
Jesus tells a story during a Sabbath meal at a prominent Pharisees' house about who has been invited to the banquet.
John unpacks what Jesus means when he says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and leaven from Luke 13:10-21.
Steve helps us think about why Jesus calls people to follow him (from Matthew 4:17-22 and Matthew 28:18-20), and and what this might look like in our community.
Miso helps us explore how we can grow as a church who learns from one another across the generations.
Gary explores the distinctive of our church being Intercultural in Composition and some of the challenges that come with this.
John unpacks our distinctive of being Integral in Mission by looking at God's purpose for the church in Ephesians.
John helps us think about the radical way that Paul teaches the New Testament churches in Galatia to be inclusive, and what that might mean for us today.
Steve looks at the value of gentleness from Proverbs 15:4 - “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
Steve considers the question, 'What happens when we die?' looking at the description of God's dwelling place amongst his people in the age to come as described in Revelation 21 and 22.
Steve continues our Advent series looking at God building a place for him to dwell in his church, and what kind of place this would be in which God would dwell.
Steve explores the story of Israel's building of the Golden Calf, and Moses' role as a mediator in this event.
Rachael explores the role of the priests in the tabernacle and how this calling and role applies to us today.
Steve walks us through the dwelling place of God among the Israelites, looking at its symbolism for Israel and for us.
John explores God's expectations of the covenant with Israel and his anticipation of their anxious response to what they will face.
John looks at the laws of Moses and the purposes for which they are given to Israel and how we might approach their relevance to ourselves.
Steve looks at the events surrounding God's purpose-call to Israel to be 'a kingdom of priests', in Exodus 19 and 20.
Gary looks at the response of Israel to being freed from slavery in the song of Moses and Miriam.
Steve looks at the event of God's deliverence of Israel from Egypt through the waters of chaos in a decisive act of leaving the past behind.
John looks at the strange celebration of The Passover which becomes the central story of deliverance for God's people.
Steve explores the hardening of Pharaoh's heart through the plagues that God brings on Egypt to rescue his people from their oppressive rule.
Pip looks at Moses' first attempt to speak to Pharaoh with terrible results, from Exodus 5:1-7:7.
John looks at this strange passage which includes God trying to kill Moses just as he finally gets going, as we reflect on family belonging when the stakes are life and death.
Steve continues in Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush and Moses' crisis of confidence about what God is calling him to do.
Steve explores Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush with reflection on Moses' life up to this event, and who God reveals himself to be to Moses.
Pip looks at the birth of Moses in Exodus 2 which sets up this story about God's knowledge and rescue of his people.
John begins our series in Exodus, thinking about how Exodus helps us to explore and understand our stories.
Steve looks at the Pentecost event and the role of the Holy Spirit in the ongoing mission of God, asking five questions in an interactive teaching time: What is spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? Why does Jesus give us his Spirit? How is your rhythm of coming to receive from God going?
Darrell Jackson begins our On Mission series, looking at the church in Antioch where Jews first talked about Jesus to the non-Jewish people.
Steve examines Jesus' condemnation by the Jewish authorities, focussing on Jesus' response to the anxious crowd in comparison to that of his disciple Peter.
Steve considers the way Jesus intentionally engages with the anxiety he faces through prayer with his Father.
Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple and trouble ahead for those who follow him.
As Jesus teaches in the temple courts, he is surrounded by Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees and Scribes seeking to find his weak point. As Jesus responds, he directs these groups to what God really cares about.
Because Jesus brings change, the coming of the kingdom of God brings conflict. This must be our expectation in life as we live for the kingdom. In this passage we see some of the changes Jesus brings, especially regarding the temple, and consider our response in light of what we find here.
Jesus predicts his death for the third time, and Pip shows us that in doing so he predicts his destiny and teaches on discipleship.
Jesus is revealed as person of greatest honour in the transfiguration before helping the discples to see the Godward focus of his honour and the dignifying of the dishonoured in his ministry, which is ultimately expressed in his suffering death and resurrection.
Steve completes our series in the Jewish Festivals looking at Sabbath and how it helps us in integration of our work and our worship.
Steve looks at the way the Festival of Tabernacles helped form the Jewish integration of work and worship, and may do the same for us.
How should work and identity fit together? In the Festival of Trumpets and Day of Atonement God shapes the identity of his people who work with and for him.
Continuing our series John looks at how in celebrating the Festivals of Firstfruits and Weeks (Pentecost) Israel brought what they produced in work as worship, shaping how they continued working in loyalty and justice.
John explores how celebrating the Festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread formed Israel as a people freed to serve God in work and worship, thankfully reliant upon his provision.
Pip continues our Advent series looking at why Jesus says he has come, from Matthew 11:2-19.
John explores the meaning of Jesus' coming "to serve... and give his life as a ransom for many" from Mark 10:32-45.
Beginning our Advent 2021 series, Steve looks at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10 and invites us to examine our assumptions about this story, other people and God.
Discussion Questions:
- Who have you learned from in enduring hardship well? What is it about the way they have endured difficult situation that has had an impact on you?
- Read Phil 1:12-18a where Paul responds to the Philippians' question about how he is doing in his imprisonment. As you read through this text, are there questions that arise that it would be help to voice, and discuss with your group what you think it is saying?
- Paul recognised his difficult situation as one that was actually advancing the gospel in his time. How might our current circumstance enable an advancement of the gospel in our time? What might be required of us to see this happen?
- What does it mean for us to adopt a non-competitive posture in relation to other Christians in our context? You might think together about the way comparison can foster a sense of competition, and the way a secure identity and shared mission dispels it.
- What impact does a posture/perspective of thankfulness have on the community as a whole? In what ways are Paul's words to the Philippians here instructive to us today?
Practice:
Make thankfulness a habit. If you find identifying what you are thankful for difficult then this is a good thing for you to try (e.g. maybe you don't feel thankful for anything right now, so trying to name something seems disingenuous?). It's interesting that is actually in the attempted articulation of things that we are grateful for that can sometimes help us to experience a feeling of thankfulness.
If you're willing to give it a try, here are a few ideas how you could put this into practice this week:
- As you go on your daily walk, name something to God that you are thankful for today. Rather than naming something general (like 'my work', or 'my friends'), try to be as specific as possible, like a specific experience, or a specific thing about your work or family you are thankful for.
- Ask a trusted friend to ask you once a week; 'What are you thankful for today?' Take your time in answering, and it's okay to need to speak it out before you figure out what you are actually thankful for.
- Send a text, write an email (or a letter!), or make a call to say thank you to someone (for something specific that you are actually thankful to them for). And then add it to your schedule to make a habit of doing this each week as we step through Philippians.
John begins our new series Possessing Our Destiny in the Book of Exodus, by looking at the way this story starts and the situation of Israel in Egypt in a time of oppression.
In this final in our series, on Pentecost Sunday which celebrates the pouring out of God's Spirit on all people, Steve looks at Jesus' commission to his followers as 'witnesses'.
On Ascension Sunday, Steve looks at the meaning of Jesus ascensing to God in the heavens, and the implications of the ascension for our work with God now from the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray.
Russell explores the question 'What will you be doing after you die?' by looking what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 15 about life in the age to come, and then helps us think about what this means for our work now.
John explores the question of calling (or vocation), and how to discern and decide what work is best for us to engage in.
Steve looks at the way we cooperate with God as he aims to form us into the image of his Son through our work.
Russell helps break down the divide prevalent in the church of thinking about some work as sacred as other work as secular, and helps us connect our Sunday worship to Monday worship (in our work).
Steve looks at Paul's thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 to help explore how we can understand our work as part of God's own work.
At the beginning of this week leading up to the central events of the Christian story, Steve looks at Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as part of the good news he is coming to announce, and begins thinking about how this affects how we view our day to day work.
John helps us identify the way Jesus understands his own work, and explores some implications from this for how we understand his, and our, work.
“When done in a way that images God and thus cooperates with him, human work in itself is Christian missionary activity"
― Darrell Cosden, The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
John looks at the new mandate of working for justice that God desires his people to carry as his representatives in the world.
“The prophet does not mind someone going into the temple―he is only bothered if someone does not take the temple with him when he comes back out!”― David Fagerberg,Consecrating the World
Steve looks at what happens to work in Genesis 3 as humanity decide to define good and evil for themselves.
“The worst things that happen do not happen because a few people are monstrously wicked, but because most people are like us. When we grasp that, we begin to realise that our need is not for moving quietly on in the way we are going; our need is for radical change, to find a power that is going to turn us into somebody else.”― William Temple
Steve looks at the purpose God gives humans when he creates them "in His image and likeness".
"The 'image of God' verses in Genesis 1 show us that our ordinary human work is an essential aspect of deepening our relationship with God – what today we might call being transformed into his image. Our relationship with God, our imaging him, is our essence as humans – while the working activity is the expression and realization of that essence."― Darrell Cosden, The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
Starting a new series exploring God's intended integration of faith and work, Steve looks at the Jewish creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:3, where God is depicted as the first worker.
John completes our NEW series by helping us think about what we can learn from the ways the early church gained the favour of the community around them in Acts 2:41-47.
Steve explores the way two biblical metaphors of sheep / shepherds and families are employed throughout the Scriptures to help us think about how to care for one another in the church.
John looks at Jesus' commission to his disciples in Matthew 28:16-20 and helps us think about what it means for us in being a community of disciples learning together to do what Jesus commanded.
Russell looks at Stephen's speech in Acts 6-7 and his attempt to convince the Jewish leaders to continue to adjust to new ways of working with God as their ancestors had done in the past.
John concludes our Advent series in Matthew, thinking about the way that God uses the unexpected to make himself known.
John looks at the tragedy of genocide that occurs as a response to Jesus' birth (in Matthew 2:13-18), and leads us in thinking about a biblical approach to processing our own mourning.
Pip looks at the story of the wise men coming to visit Jesus after his birth from Matthew 2:1-12.
Beginning our Advent series in Matthew 1 and 2, Steve looks at Joseph's response to the news of Jesus' conception, and helps us think about how to locate joy in the midst of fear.
Steve explores Paul's counsel offered to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 7:25-40) regarding the betrothed as to whether or not to marry, with some practical advice on how to approach dating.
Steve look at Paul's examples of circumcision and slavery to encourage followers of Jesus to learn to be a disciple in the very circumstance they are currently in.
John looks at Paul's words to the Corinthian community regarding divorce in 1 Cor. 7:10-11, uncovering a biblical understanding of what divorce is, and what Paul is saying about it in the Corinthian context.
John looks at Paul's words to singles in the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 7:7-9, and thinks about how we should approach sex as singles, and understand singleness as a 'gift'.
John looks at Paul's reframing of sex in the context of marriage as one of equality and mutual service from 1 Cor 7:1-6.
Steve explores how Paul raises the topic of sex with the Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:12-20), urging them to think about the importance of how we, as spiritual beings, use our physical bodies.
Russell looks at Paul's warning to the Corinthains in 1 Cor 6:9-11 about living in a way that reflects who they are as God's people.
John unpacks Paul's warning against a believer's misuse of the power of authority against one another from 1 Cor 6:1-8.
Steve looks at the way Paul addresses incest in the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, by drawing them to the central story of freedom in the Jewish imagination.
Claire Bernard from International Justice Mission, Australia shows us God's heart for the opressed and vulnerable from the story of Elisha and the Widow's oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7.
Steve continues our BODY LIFE series in 1 Corinthians looking at Paul's contrast of Corinthian identity with that of his own from 1 Cor 4:1-17.
Steve continues our series looking at 1 Corinthians 3:5-23 and Paul's call to the Corinthian community to find their significance in being "God's field", and "God's temple".
John looks at Paul's words in 1 Cor 3:1-4 to help us measure our spiritual maturity as individuals and a community.
John continues our series in 1 Corinthians exploring from 1 Cor 1:18-2:5 what Godly wisdom looks like.
Steve continues our series in 1 Corinthians with Paul speaking about power-plays in the community, and asks 'Is Christ divided?'
We start a new series BODY:LIFE in 1 Corinthians, with Steve looking at 1 Cor. 1:1-9, and Paul's focus on the grace and peace offered by Jesus.
In response to Christ’s command, we are equipping and sending one another into the world as God continues his work through us. We envision ourselves as moving outwards to know God’s kingdom in the world, partnering in his activity (mission).
The fourth in our A Community of Exiles series in Jeremiah 29, where John explores how we might learn from Israel's communion with God in a time and place of exile.
The third in our A Community of Exiles series in Jeremiah 29, here we explore God's heart and mode of continuation of his work through his call to his people to lead.
We continue our series of A Community of Exiles from Jeremiah 29, looking at Change and what it means to flourish.
We begin a new series looking Jeremiah 29 as we think about what it means for us to live faithfully today as a community of exiles.
A combined English / Mandarin gathering.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a rush-ing wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. —Acts 2:1-2
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. —Luke 24:50-51
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” —John 8:10-11
And they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” —Acts 17:19-20
Behold, some men were bringing a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus... And when Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Your sins are forgiven.” —Luke 5:18-20