Sermons@Kingsley: Recent Episodes
Sermons@Kingsley
The celebration of the Lent is an ancient Christian tradition, but not a personal tradition for many of us. In this message we look at the way Jesus set himself to travel to Jerusalem as a place He must go through on His journey back to Heaven. In a similar way at the beginning of Lent we set ourselves to travel through a season of self-sacrifice as we move toward Resurrection Sunday. The sacrifice does not have any merit except if it is part of what we must go through for the sake of God’s eternal purpose for us. Exploring what Luke 9 describes next about our call to follow Jesus sets the tone for how we embrace this journey.
When it comes to the things that matter most, easier is not often better. Lent challenges us to count the cost of following Jesus so we may truly receive the blessings of life in Him.
As Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples He challenged them to love one another in the same way that He loved them. That’s a big call, especially given what He was about to do! In this message Mike explores the priority of love and the way that it’s put into practice in a local church. We are challenged to think about what that will look like for us this year and how we’ll stay on track pursuing the Greatest Commandment.
Why do people sometimes do amazing & wonderful things but at other times do terrible things? Why do we look back over 2024 & celebrate great contributions to human flourishing while also seeing wars drag on and other tragedies?
The opening stories of the Bible describe both the origins and outcomes of good and evil; and describe for us what it means to choose between them. We learn 5 simple principles that can help us have a fantastic 2025 as we make the better choice to embrace the goodness of God.
Isaiah 7 contains the incredible promise that God would send a child who would be “God With Us”. Matthew’s gospel confirms that this is the heart of the Christmas story: God made His home with us, so that we could find our home in Him.
God gave more information to Isaiah about what this “God with us” would be like. In Isaiah 9:6 we’re told He would be: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. This December we are unpacking each of these names to see how Jesus fulfils God’s promises in every way.
In this message we tune into what it means to not just recognise Jesus as a wonderful counsellor, but to come home to Him as our Wonderful Counsellor. Our response doesn’t change who He is, but it does change the impact He makes on our lives and in the lives of others through us!
As we finish our study in Galatians we once again marvel at the free gift of God’s grace that we receive through faith in Jesus. As he closes the letter Paul tells us that what really counts – our salvation in Jesus – also really costs. The gift is not free. Jesus gave His life so we might have life. Paul himself bore the marks on his body that proclaimed the price he paid to be a messenger of the good news to others. The gift which is free to us came at a cost to others! That leaves us with two vital questions: 1) will we receive the new life that has been purchased for us; and 2) will we count the cost so that others might receive this gift too?
The letter to the Galatians was written to guard the salvation that had come to the people of Galatia through the gospel. The message of Jesus was under attack by false teachers and many Christians in Galatia hadn’t even realised! Some of them were being fooled into following Old Testament laws that were only ever intended to prepare the people of Israel to receive their Messiah – laws which had no power to save them, only to frustrate them.
The same is true of every other ‘law’ that we are used to operating by. Most churches in our culture haven’t been fooled into operating by Old Testament laws, but we are operating under the rules of 21st century western capitalism! Our temptation is to become fixated with growing churches instead of making disciples, which means churches are competing for market share and Christians move from church to church based on the quality of experience being offered.
Galatians 6 brings us back to the reality that we reap what we sow. In our case, giving in to the law of the market economy means training Christians to be consumers instead of disciples, robbing them of the salvation that Jesus brings in our everyday experience of life and stealing the witness of the Church. God calls us to repent just as strongly as He called the Christians and the false teachers in Galatia to!
After arguing powerfully for the gospel of Grace against a religion of works, Paul now applies his message very practically in the lives of his readers. He contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit and calls us to the better path of keeping in step with the Spirit. Mike reminds us of what we’ve seen in the letter – that the works of our flesh can sometimes look like lawless self-indulgence and it can also look like legalistic self-righteousness. But the way of the Spirit is to trust in the finished work of Jesus and all that He has accomplished for us; and to express that faith in obedience that is not possible in our own strength but is possible through the Spirit’s power. The Holy Spirit moves Paul to explain this very practically as his letter draws to a close, showing what this looks like not only in our individual lives, but in the way that we need each other’s help to keep in step with the Spirit.
The Apostle Paul finishes his defence of the good news that we don’t have a list of laws to live up to, we have a new identity to live out of. This new identity is ours by God’s grace alone and is received through faith in Jesus Christ, not by any effort of our own. Having argued for the gospel from their personal experience, Scripture, history, reason and their relationship with Paul; the closing argument is an analogy from the life of Abraham and his two wives. It’s a powerful illustration of what it means to be children of Promise. Placing our faith in God to fulfil all His promises is the only way for us to have true fellowship with God and each other, for us to live in freedom from sin and law and finally, for our lives to bear good fruit – fruit that we cannot produce by our own efforts.
In his letter to the Galatians Paul is fighting a threat to the fellowship that Galatian Christians have with God and with each other; the freedom they have to live the life that Christ has given them; and the fruitfulness that comes as a result of God’s life welling up in us and overflowing through us. In chapter 3 Paul argues from the personal experience of the Galatians, the testimony of the Scriptures and the voice of reason to prove that we are made right with God and each other by grace alone which is received by faith alone in Christ alone.
Our fellowship with God and each other could never be accomplished by following the Old Testament law or through anything else that depends on human merit. This challenges the way we so often see and treat God, ourselves and other people. What would it mean to live this truth out in community today?
In our last 2 messages from the book of Galatians we’ve seen Paul rebuke Peter (2:11-14) and then the Galatians (3:1-5) for going back to obedience to the laws of Moses. Is this such a bad thing? According to Paul, absolutely! In between these rebukes (2:15-21) Paul sums up the message of this whole letter. In clarifying the purpose of the law he helps us to understand the doctrine of sin, which is essential for us to understand if we are to appreciate the value of our Saviour.
This message is far more than a correction for a group of people who were struggling to transition from Judaism to Christianity. It’s a message for every human being who needs to understand the root of our common problem and the source of our common hope.
As we celebrate Father’s Day we take some time to think about God’s design for Dads who make a difference in their families, churches and communities. Australian research published by the Fathering Project illustrates that all fathers are making a difference – it’s the type of difference they’re making that counts!
We look at the top 5 risks for children with disengaged or dysfunctional dads to understand the importance of not neglecting our God-given roles; but also to encourage us that we’re probably making more of a positive difference than we realise! We also rejoice in God’s plan for community which means there’s always father-figures who can help us grow as Dads as well as providing fathering support for children.
1 Timothy 6:18-19 describes a blessed life, where we are free to use what God has given us to overflow with good works, being generous and willing to share. This is not only a blessing in this life but it lays a great foundation for the life to come where God will reward every act of faith. These verses describe what we are free for, but not what we are free from. That came in verse 17, which also revealed what it is that frees us.
In this message we spend some time exploring the power of the two “don’ts” and the one “do” of 1 Timothy 6:17. We examine how tempting it is to look for our identity and security in wealth, but how liberating it is when we find our identity and security in God. We conclude by recognising that religious leaders and institutions have not always done well in this area. The Bible is very realistic about that, so we take care to notice the way Paul addresses Timothy’s motives before his message and recognise that leaders and institutions need to be especially careful about the love of money that can pierce them with many griefs.
Guest speaker Peter Warren challenges us from the story of Moses in Exodus 3 & 4 about how we respond to God’s call.
The Church is amazing when it functions the way God designed it to, but as long as there are people in it there’s going to be dysfunction too!
Hebrews 12:1-2 gives us that great picture of running the race of faith with our eyes on Jesus; and urges us to get rid of the things that hinder us and the sins that trip us up so we can run that race. But how do we do that?
We take a closer look at Paul’s approach when his fellow Apostle Peter got caught up in dysfunction and tripped up others in the process. It’s a really helpful model for those times when we can either be part of the problem or part of the solution!
Whenever we cross from our own culture into another one there’s sure to be some challenges. After sharing some of his own experiences in unfamiliar cultures, Mike takes a look at the challenges the Early Church faced as the gospel spread beyond Jewish communities into Gentile regions.
The hostility many Jews of the time felt toward Gentiles was deeply rooted in centuries of oppression. It caused the Jews of Jesus’ hometown to become furious with Him when He foretold the blessings that God wanted to bestow on Gentiles through the Messiah. When Jews and Gentiles were united through faith in Christ a new community began to take shape.
Galatians 2 tells the story of how even the Apostles Peter and Paul, who were completely united in the gospel, came to be at odds while trying to navigate the new territory of how Jews and Gentiles come together as followers of Jesus. It’s a great lesson in discerning how our culture of origin is shaping our obedience to Christ; it highlights the subtle danger of “acceptable” sins – those sins that don’t seem wrong because we all do them; and it demonstrates how we work this out in robust, loving community.
As Christians, what do we do with the fact that life doesn’t always feel fair?
As we continue to look at the letter to the Galatians, we pause in Paul’s account of his own story to think about whether God was fair to the people that Paul mistreated before he met Jesus. Why should a person who behaved so terribly become a leader in the Church while others (like Stephen) suffered for doing what was right? This raises thoughts and feelings that we experience in life too.
God in His wisdom has shown us in His word what to do when we are feeling that way. The stories of both Stephen and Paul demonstrate the same truth: God doesn’t treat all His children the same way, but He always treats all of them with perfect love and generous goodness. We discover a simple way of looking at our circumstances that helps us to see God’s perspective and to trust in His goodness.
God isn’t fair, He is good – and that’s a whole lot better than fair!
As Paul writes to defend the good news about Jesus he must address the issue of trustworthiness. Why should the Galatians listen to him instead of to the false teachers who have come along more recently? As he begins to address this question Paul reminds us of what he was like before he met Jesus, back in the days when he was known as Saul. As we follow that story through Acts 7 to 9 we see an account of violent, hateful behaviour that caused a huge amount of suffering to others.
How did Saul – a highly devoted student of God’s laws – end up doing these things? What can we learn about the trajectory of our own lives so that we don’t find ourselves behaving in ways we never wanted to behave?
The letter to the Galatians is one of God’s gifts to us in the way that it both promotes and protects the true Gospel – the good news that Jesus entrusted to His Apostles. As we unpack the first 10 verses we encounter a masterful summary of the gospel message; a passionate plea to the Galatians to not turn away from God by accepting a different gospel; and a resounding rebuke to those who are corrupting the Gospel of Grace by teaching that our salvation relies on our obedience.
This is not just splitting theological hairs! Obedience always follows salvation, but we must never make salvation conditional on our obedience. That’s a false gospel that is robbed of its power to save completely, because our obedience is never complete!
Paul will expand this theme over the course of the letter, but in his introduction this one resounding point is made: we are saved by Grace, and grace alone.
Everyone has rules they live by. How are yours working for you?
As we begin a series in the book of Galatians we look at the purpose and story of the letter to discover a Christian community grappling with what life as followers of Jesus should look like. The Bible paints a beautiful picture of what restored relationship with God and others looks and feels like, but so often there are spoken and unspoken rules for living that can trip us up.
Being aware of what those rules are and how they fit with the good news of Jesus is vital if we are going to be free to live a fruitful Christian life.
The book of Acts tells the story of how the first Christians lived on mission. Their lives had a purpose – to witness to Jesus as Saviour and Lord from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the Earth. They followed the example of Jesus in trusting the Father’s plans and relying on the Spirit’s power. We explore what it means to trust the Father’s plans and rely on the Spirit’s power as we live for Jesus today, learning from the practices and experiences of the early Church to guide us.
On Pentecost Sunday we listen to the story of the birth of the Church in Acts 2. It’s an amazing story as we the Holy Spirit bringing new life to people just like Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in John 3. We reflect on the New Testament’s assertion that the way that God started the Church is also the way He sustains the Church. We rely on the Spirit to do in, through and around us what only God can do. The question for us is whether or not we are willing to believe and receive.
Guest speaker Carl Carmody from Challenge Newspaper shares with us about the priority of prayer in evangelism… and everything else for that matter!
Psalm 40 is a wonderful song of thanksgiving as David reflects on what God has done to bring him out of a pit of despair. To get more insight into what David was feeling before his deliverance we tune into Psalms 38 & 39 which describe that in more detail. While our stories might be different, most of us know what it’s like to feel stuck, recognising our own mistakes and their consequences and being surrounded by people who either don’t know how to help or are taking the opportunity to have a go at us. As David comes out of that by God’s grace he celebrates that his story can also be a blessing to others if he’s brave enough to share it and if they are humble enough to learn from it. That’s the kind of community that we want to build too.
After celebrating a child dedication earlier in our service, we take a look at Psalm 78 which reflects on the spiritual journey of Israel from the generations since their exodus from Egypt. The psalm has much to teach us about how we can help each successive generation to know God and walk in His ways. It describes the blessings that are experienced when that happens as well as the burdens that come from forgetting God’s works and His ways.
With ANZAC Day approaching we take some time to reflect on the history of our nation and the world around us from God’s point of view – just as Asaph does in Psalm 78. We challenge ourselves to remember and pass on those critical lessons which are so important in navigating the challenges our world currently faces.
We remind ourselves that the same principles apply in our communities and families. We all have stories that we are part of, which formed us and shape how we are also forming others. Will we take the time to seek God’s perspective on our history so that we might step into the future with full confidence in God and obedience to Him?
On Palm Sunday we retrace Jesus’ journey from Jericho to Jerusalem with Luke’s gospel as our guide. Luke is very careful to describe both the physical and spiritual journey Jesus took with His disciples and the crowds who flocked to Jerusalem on that day. The crowds were full of anticipation of what would happen when the Messiah rode into Jerusalem as the prophet Zechariah foretold.
Their enthusiasm scandalised some of the religious leaders travelling with them, just as it would scandalise the Temple authorities when they arrived. Yet Jesus would not let the crowds be silenced. God wanted it to be clear who was arriving in Jerusalem that day. In this message we explore the reason why Jesus chose to arrive publicly on this occasion and why our decision about what we do with Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make.
In the gospels we hear Jesus call His followers to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (eg: Lk 9:51, 14:23-24). As He shows us what that actually looks like, we realise that none of us is capable of doing it!
That’s exactly the point Paul makes in the letter to the Galatians as he addresses those people who are trying to impose Jewish law on Gentile believers. He clearly sees the danger in moving away from complete dependence on Jesus to save us – not only from the penalty of sin but from its power in our lives. In correcting this dangerous error he uses the example of Peter – a fellow champion of Gentile inclusion and the person God used to lead the early Church to discover and live by these truths (see Acts 10-11). But even Peter had the opposite effect on people when he was controlled by fear rather than the Holy Spirit.
Whenever we are controlled by anything other than the Holy Spirit we drift into sin. However when we choose to die to ourselves to live for God we find that He is able to produce a love for God and others that becomes more and more courageous and complete with each faith-fuelled step we take.
After celebrating a baptism and as we prepare to celebrate communion, we take some time to reflect on what Galatians 2:20 teaches us about the life we have through faith in Jesus. It’s not a once-and-done experience, but a continual dying to self so that we might find our life in Christ.
After showing his readers how we can be sure that we’re ready to meet Jesus, Jude gives us pastoral wisdom to equip us to help others to ready to meet Him too. In this message we unpack Jude 22-23 and discover some rich symbolism from Zechariah 3 that Jude draws on to help us understand the beauty of the gospel and how we can apply it to ourselves and those we long to share eternity with. It protects us from being condemned ourselves as well as from becoming the accusers of others. It amazes us with the limitless grace and patience of God whose capacity to forgive and restore is beyond measure. It reassures us that no-one is beyond God’s reach to save and encourages us to keep holding out the word of life.
As we read through the New Testament we find the Apostles regularly urging Christians to live with eternity in mind. In this message we tune into Jude’s letter to churches which had been infiltrated by false teachers. As he warns of God’s judgement upon them he contrasts this with the confidence we have by remaining in God’s love; and the instructions he gives us for how to do that practically are worth taking to heart.
Communion is a significant part of our weekly church gatherings, but there are many different traditions and understandings that surround it. In this message we take a look at the way the Gospels record the Last Supper and Jesus’ institution of communion. We then explore the experience of the Early Church through the book of Acts and the Epistles to build a picture of how communion was celebrated by the first followers of Jesus. We discover that the new covenant that is symbolised by the bread and the cup was always closely linked to the new command to love one another the way Jesus has loved us. What will that mean for the way we celebrate communion today?
What is the relationship between my natural family – whatever that might look like – and the family of believers that God connects me to in the Church? Family is God’s design. We learn a lot about how to live together as a church family from our natural families and vice versa. However if we’re not clear about what our each of our families really need from us we can hurt them rather than help them. We take a look at how the Apostle Paul advises Timothy to pastor his church family in Ephesus for some timeless principles and timely application in our situation today. No family is perfect – natural or church. By God’s grace we keep growing to reflect the beauty of God and His design for us.
In the conclusion to our series on Hebrews 10:24, we take a look at how the Apostle Paul carefully considers his dear friends in Philippi as he writes to them to “provoke [them] to love and good deeds”. His prayer for them in chapter one is a beautiful expression of that goal. As he continues his letter he addresses some points of tension they are experiencing – opposition from outside the church and division inside it.
Like the Philippians, most of us have people around us who try to pull us away from Jesus at times; and many of us have people who are following Jesus with us, but just struggling to get along as we do that. The way we deal with each type of tension is actually quite different, so we need to be very clear about what kind of tension we’re experiencing in order to choose the best response to it.
As we ask God to show us how we can grow together in 2024, we take a look at Romans 15:5-7. It’s a beautiful conclusion to a section of the letter to Christians in Rome where Paul is helping them to understand what it means to live in harmony when we don’t think and act the same. We learn about what harmony is and what it isn’t, which is just as important! We’re also challenged to rely on God to do His part while we commit to doing ours, which is to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.
Ephesians 6:4 has a concise challenge to Fathers: don’t exasperate your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. This is the essential task of fathers… but not just of fathers!
In this message Mike highlights something that was obvious to first century readers and obvious to anyone who steps back to look at the context of the verse – this is a team effort! We explore some of those team dynamics and also take time to unpack what that task can actually look like in the context of our lives today.
Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount powerfully challenges us to choose our Master. We’ll either serve God or money (which basically means the stuff of this world). For those with faith to see, it’s actually a no-contest when it comes to which is the better master! God offers us eternal treasures that we can begin to receive right now and will never come to the end of enjoying. The stuff of this world is – in contrast – fragile, limited and demanding. What we think will satisfy us is actually robbing us of the things that matter most. It’s only when the stuff of this world becomes our servant rather than our master that we can find real enjoyment in it. Mathew 19 and Luke 19 tell the stories of two men whose lives illustrate the truth of what Jesus said in His message to the crowds. Ironically, it was the guy who people thought was much closer to God who ended up walking away when his true master was revealed. The guy who traded in his old master for a new one gives us all hope for joyful transformation when our treasure is in the right place.
What’s Stewardship of your Tribe all about? We needed a word starting with “T” to go with Treasure, Talents and Time! By “Tribe” we just mean the people that God has chosen to bless you with and make you a blessing to. It’s not everyone, only God has that kind of capacity! So how do we figure out who we’re supposed to take responsibility for as wise stewards of the grace of God? Who are the people we are particularly called to serve in love? We turn to a conversation Jesus had on this topic in Luke 10 to find out!
The word “talented” comes from the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25:24-30. As we think about what it means to be faithful with the talents God has entrusted to us we take a look back at the life of William Wilberforce and the role John Newton played in his life. As we think of William’s great purpose of abolishing slavery in the British Empire and John’s vital guidance and encouragement to him; we see a glimpse of what God can do through us in the world and for each other as we trust in His equipping and calling.
Church Discipline sounds very heavy, but it’s actually what brothers and sisters in Christ are willing to do for each other to stop sin from messing up their lives and their church family! Stepping into conflict instead of running in the other direction is hard for most of us, but as we see from 1 Corinthians 6, it’s something that God calls us into for very good reason. It’s a big responsibility and we’re not going to be good at it right away, but if we really love God and people it’s something that we’ll give ourselves to and grow in.
What is the role of the Church in reconciling people to God and each other? In this message we explore the task God gave the Church as being ambassadors of reconciliation; and we briefly look at three peacemaking practices that Christians offer each other and the world around us.
Note: before watching this message it would be worth watching the story of Betty Bigombe at: https://www.usip.org/public-education-new/betty-bigombe-building-peace-uganda
We all know what it’s like to feel unheard. Hopefully we also know what it’s like to be listened to really well. As we think about the difference good listening makes in our lives we allow God’s Word to speak to us about some of the reasons we don’t always listen to others the way we’d like to be listened to ourselves; and we think through a practical way of asking wise questions and listening well. When we do this we have a wonderful opportunity to draw closer to others in knowing and living by the truth of God.
In our series we’ve discovered that genuine reconciliation happens when people are drawn together in the truth. But it’s one thing to know the truth, it’s another thing to be able to apply it skillfully to life – that’s called wisdom. Truth leads to right belief; Wisdom to right behaviour. In this message we take a look at the big idea of the book of Proverbs, which is all about building a community of wisdom.
We start with 2 proverbs that seem to say the opposite thing, leaving us no wiser about what to do in that situation! But as we look deeper, we discover the life-changing power of wise words when we are fully dependent on the source of Wisdom.
Jesus set the tone for his Church when he talked about his followers not just as students or even friends, but family. This language is picked up by all the New Testament writers and embodied by the practices of the early church. Being reconciled to God and people creates a new kind of family.
As we pick up on how that worked for Paul and Silas with a bunch of people in Thessalonica who became a family to them, we discover the crucial role of nurture. It’s where we treat every member as being precious to us and we take great care to help each other grow in Christ; and take great pains to make sure we’re not putting any barriers in one another’s way.
Sounds easy right? Taking a closer look at the story helps us to learns the lessons we need to move this from a nice theory to a life-giving experience.
In his letter to the Philippians Paul asks the church to help two ladies come to agreement in the Lord. In his letter to the Corinthians he asks the whole church to come to agreement in the Lord instead of splitting off into factions. Both these appeals reflect Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that God would bring us together as one. Moving toward agreement is something that all God’s people are called to do, but it’s also something that we all struggle to do!
In this message we explore some of the obstacles to agreement and challenge ourselves to let God do His work in us to overcome them.
In Matthew 26 Jesus tells His followers that when He’s taken away from them to be crucified, they’re all going to scatter. None of them can believe it, especially Peter! Less than two months later Jesus is again preparing to be taken away from them. This time they’re not going to scatter, they are going to change the world together! What changed?
We cover some of the foundational principles that help Christians to stay together on mission rather than being blown off course, noticing how the early church went about this in Acts 15.
Every community needs to decide how it deals with the tension between what the individual wants and what is good for the whole community. We’re seeing institutions at all levels – from families, schools, community & sporting groups, churches up to whole nations – grappling with how to have the conversations and put in place systems to manage that tension for the good of all.
The Great Commission actually provides that framework for the Church. Jesus shows us what that looks like as we make Him the centre of our personal life and our community life. We step through the story of Matthew 26:1-16 as one example of how Jesus helps a community of people to figure out a situation where they disagreed about how one person’s actions impacted on other people. It’s a great guide for how we can love each other well and grow in Christ-like maturity together.
Jesus didn’t ask His disciples to gather a crowd, He asked them to make disciples!
Crowds had flocked to Jesus and even proclaimed Him as King; but they’d also screamed “Crucify Him” when Jesus didn’t deliver what they wanted. As we think about Jesus’ command to make disciples we remind ourselves of what a disciple is and who a disciple follows; then we explore what it means to make disciples both locally and “to the ends of the Earth” (Acts 1:8). We look at the different ways the local church and the universal church play their part making disciples and ask ourselves whether we are allowing God to shape us through a healthy approach to both – to draw on the wide array of gifts, resources and service opportunites of the universal church while also going deep in life-on-life learning with those God places close to us.
We live in a culture that entices us to go wider rather than deeper and that’s having a huge impact on discipleship in our churches. What might we have to say “no” to if we are to say “yes” to deep discipleship in our local church?
Have you ever noticed that some Christians talk a lot about the authority of God but don’t seem to experience or express His gracious presence? Or maybe they chase after encounters with God but don’t seem too keen on daily obedience to Him? What does a genuine disciple of Jesus look like?
It’s pretty important to know, because that’s what we’re called to be and to make!
At the end of Matthew’s gospel we see Jesus answer these questions as He reveals who we are; who He is and how we are to help more people to discover who they are in Him.
The Bible is always honest about the fact that God’s people go through hard times, often not knowing why or for how long.
The faith to worship God in the midst of our struggles grows as we learn to lament – to honestly come to God with our doubts, frustrations, sadness and whatever else is going on inside. In this message we connect with generations of Jews who were waiting for God to fulfil ancient promises and with individuals who each had their own personal struggles to contend with. In Jesus, God meets them and us in the midst of our struggles in order to achieve His good purposes for us and through us.
This message explores biblical patterns for how faith in God helps us to start with lament to find strength and hope as Jesus displaces our struggles at the centre of our lives.
In the conclusion to the series we take a closer look at the good news that changes everything about how we live. Since the gospel is the power for every good thing that God does in the His Church, knowing and sharing the gospel is the most powerfully good thing we can do in life. As we’ve seen from the first four episodes in the series, the Apostle Paul never claimed that his telling of the gospel was the only way the message could be shared or the only version that people needed. There’s only one gospel – it’s the gospel of God (ch.1). Every person who God appoints to share that message will do it in a unique way – a way that God has shaped them to do as part of His perfect plan. And God is able to work through each of our different ways of telling the gospel to build faith in others (ch.16). There is only one gospel, but countless ways of explaining and illustrating it. Do you trust that God is able to use your understanding and experience of the good news to help someone else come to believe it as well? Do you realise that your way of sharing and declaring the love of God is exactly what other people need to receive?
In the last message of our “Rewinding Romans” series we look at the second common roadblock to being the church that God calls us to be. The first roadblock was the fact that Christians don’t agree on what loving God looks like in all situations. That can make serving God and each other well pretty challenging! The second roadblock is how we relate to a world which is still in bondage to sin. In chapters 12 & 13 the Apostle Paul fleshes out what it means for us to love sincerely, hating what is evil & clinging to what is good. How do you do that in a world which often hates what is good & clings to what is evil? The pastoral advice Paul gives the Christians in Rome centres not in fighting against sin in others, but in ourselves! This is how we best help others to see the beauty of holiness. We spend some time to look at some recent public issues of ‘sin-spotting’ in others and our culture is becoming increasingly tribalised into self-righteous groups that go to war against each other with little apparent regard for truth or love. That’s not the way that God has established for His Church. Churches that focus on condemning sin in others promote hypocrisy in themselves. Churches that focus on confessing sin in themselves promote holiness to others.
In this message we tune in to the power that creates the kind of community we long to be. Romans 12 can at first sound like a bit of a to-do list of what we need to do for God and one another. In fact it points us to our need for God to first do for us and in us what only He can do. The energy we need to serve God is the energy that comes from God! Romans 12 definitely calls us to be part of what God is doing to build His church; but it first invites us to receive His grace both directly from Him and through one another.
As we move back through Romans to discover how they got to be where we want to be, we find that the beautiful picture of teamwork we saw in chapter 16 and the end of chapter 15 can be sabotaged by division that creeps into the church. We look at how the Apostle Paul dealt with some issues that were coming between Jewish and Gentile believers and why that was such a big deal for the church in Rome at that time. In chapters 14 and 15 we see not only the wisdom God gave Paul for that situation, but the timeless principles that help any family of believers to stay united in Christ and resist the natural drift and spiritual attack that creates division.
The ending of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome paints a beautiful picture of shared life and ministry in the Church. In this message we unpack 3 simple things Paul did that helped bring that about, and ask what that might look like for us today.
Brendan shares with us from Ephesians 6 about how parents can help children to have a great start in living a godly life.
Pastor Mike wraps up our youth service with a message from Psalm 1 about how as a community we can help young people live happy lives now and into the future.
Following from last weeks message about how to be a godly man, this message continues the theme of building a community of spiritual mothers and fathers; brothers and sisters; daughters and sons. We see how Paul encourages Titus to build that kind of community among the churces on Crete and learn from the very practical instructions he gives about how godly women can be effective spiritual mothers to those who are younger. We notice that the original meaning of the text can get distorted when we read our own life experience into it, so we take some time to unpack what the original readers would have easily understood by the phrase “workers at home”. We then go on to explore how godly women can help those who are younger to work through the issues surrounding the working at home/working outside of home challenges that men and women in our culture must grapple with. Pastor Mike is assisted in this message by his wife Carolyn who shares her experiences and insights about how women can support each other as spiritual mothers, sisters and daughters.
What does it mean to be a successful man? For followers of Jesus, it means to be a godly man – a man who is increasingly like Jesus. In this message Mike explores how God has designed us to grow in godliness as men, moving from spiritual sons and brothers to become spiritual fathers – men who reproduce godliness in others. Not all men are called to be biological or legal fathers, but we are all called to be spiritual fathers. One of the clearest examples we can see in the Bible of this is the Apostle Paul, who became a spiritual father to those he invested his life in. His letters to his spiritual children give us great insight into God’s pattern for spiritual parenting.
After answering the disciples questions about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and His second coming, Jesus goes on to the application part of His message. He tells four stories all driving home the one basic idea – but it’s an idea that surprisingly easy to miss or get twisted up. We too often think Jesus is telling us how to be ready for His return – how we can make sure we’re on the right side of His judgement on that day. That’s seems close to what He’s saying, but it’s actually dangerously far from the point. After answering His disciples questions, Jesus is now answering one of His own. It’s not “How will people be ready?”, it’s “Who will be ready?”. *note, the video is missing the introduction to the message!
Dr Anton Beukes joins us to share Paul’s heart for partnership in the gospel from Philippians 1:1-11. Anton recently returned from leading a mission trip and study tour in Greece where they were able to visit some places that Paul travelled and ministered, including Philippi. Understanding the context for this letter and the relationship Paul had with these Christians helps us to grasp the beautiful sense of partnership that we too can enjoy as people who have been caught up in the glorious calling of making the good news of Jesus known wherever God places us.
As Jesus describes His second coming in Matthew 24 He creates a challenging tension – you won’t be able to predict when it’s going to happen, but you’ll need to be ready for it when it does! In this message Mike explains a common misunderstanding of what Jesus meant when He said that His words would all be fulfilled before “this generation” passes away, to show that in no way did Jesus mean – or the people He spoke to believe – that His second coming was sure to happen within their lifetimes. Instead, Jesus is giving us the tools to recognise signs that show His return could be imminent. But regardless of how well we pick the time of His return, the key idea is to be ready for it. To be found doing what He’s asked us to do. Jesus soberly predicts that His return will be a time of mourning for many, who recognise that judgement is not good news for them. It means being separated from God and His goodness for eternity. For those who do not fear judgement because they have been forgiven, judgement is a joyful experience. It means the removal of all evil and the ultimate flourishing of all that is good.
Jason Eow shares a message from Mark 1 about Jesus calling His first disciples. There’s some amazing aspects to this story we can easily miss if we don’t know the culture of the people involved. This story of how Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James and John gives us a great encouragement about how God graciously calls us to follow Jesus too; and prompts us to think about what that practically means for how we live our lives. Jason’s own experience of being called to serve as a missionary to Japan with his family is a great illustration of the adventure that awaits all those who are willing to hear Jesus’ call.
As Jesus continues to prepare His followers for life between His ascension and return, He tells them to be watching for a terrible event called the abomination of desolation that was prophesied by Daniel 6 centuries earler. When they see it, they’re to run for the hills! In fact, they should even be praying in advance that it doesn’t take place at a time when it will be hard for them to get away from Jerusalem and Judea. Jesus’ followers would have been pretty shocked by this announcement, because they thought that Daniel’s prophecy had already been fulfilled over 175 years earlier! We explore where the prophecy and history meet to discover the amazing story of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the way it fulfilled in incredible detail many of the prophecies in Daniel 8 to 12. However Jesus announced that this wasn’t the final fulfilment. Within the lifetimes of those who were listening on the Mt of Olives, a second fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy would occur, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in AD70. Those who paid attention to the warnings of Jesus were spared from being caught up in an incredible tragedy at that time. In a similar way, the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24 is meant to be taken to heart as a warning for people even today. Not every part of His prophecy has yet come about. Events spoken of by prophets and recorded in both the Old and New Testaments are yet to come; and being ready to respond is vitally important. Prophecy is not just for prophecy buffs and conspiracy theorists – it’s given to us from God to prepare us and to deliver us. To be forewarned is to be forarmed!
In Matthew 24:4-14 Jesus tells His disciples about labour pains that will be experienced in waves up until the birth of the new age when He returns. He begins with the sorts of things that will be experienced around the world at different times by all people, then moves to the unique challenges that will be faced by His followers. In all of these things He doesn’t want us to be alarmed or deceived but to trust Him until the end and spread the good news of His Kingdom. We take some time to explore what these labour pains have looked like in history and why Jesus is so careful to warn us in advance; and we challenge ourselves to be aware without being alarmed; to be discerning rather than deceived; and to let nothing pull us away from wholehearted love for God and others while we wait for Christ’s return.
As we prepare to listen to Jesus’ answer to His disciples questions about the future, we take some time to familiarise ourselves with the pattern of prophecy throughout the Bible. Jesus knew what His disciples didn’t – that when God speaks of future events there’s often more than one event that God has in mind. We use an illustration known as “the hills of prophecy” to help us understand how Jesus understood His first earthly ministry and how He accomplished everything that God had promised for that time in history. This doesn’t mean He’s yet fulfilled everything God promised that His Messiah would do. There are some things that are still on the way, but God has made clear the reasons that He’s holding off on the last part – He’s saving people before the day of judgement arrives. When we understand the concept of the hills of prophecy & see it in the events of history that have unfolded so far we get a fantastic assurance that God always knows what He’s doing, is never surprised by circumstances and nothing will stop Him from doing every good thing that He plans to do.
The release of 2021 census data has led to a flurry of headlines reporting that Australia is rapidly turning its back on religion – even on God. Before taking a closer look to see if that is actually the case, we spend some time with Jesus as He prepares to give the last of the major teachings in Matthew’s gospel. From chapter 26 onward the action moves quickly through His arrest, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension; but in chapters 24 & 25 Jesus gives us instruction about what it will be like in the time between his ascension and His return; and how we should live as a result. It’s very practical stuff! However before He describes the judgement that is going to come during this time upon the religious leaders who crucified Him, He points out something that had already happened… their house (the temple) had been left desolate. God had literally left the building! As we think about the place of religion in our society the same challenge applies to us. Is God in us and among us, or is it just an empty shell? Are Australians rejecting God, or are they rejecting something else?
After celebrating some great stories of God doing good in the world through His people earlier in our gathering, we now turn to God’s Word to explore our calling to be agents of His goodness in the world. Using Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-14 & Hebrews 10:24-25 as examples, we see the consistent theme in the New Testament of God’s creative work in shaping us to do good; and His creative work around us to prepare the works for us to do. When who God has made us to be connects with what God’s prepared for us to do, that’s our sweet spot! Our job as God’s people is to be part of that creative work for each other, helping each other to become who God’s making us to be and to do what God’s designed us to do. We don’t do that unless we are talking together very practically about life and service with freedom and frequency!
Reconciliation Week is an important part of the Australian calendar as we seek to understand and address the impacts of colonisation on the first nations of this land. Reconciliation is a theme that is central to the gospel. As we conclude our studies in Matthew 23 we see again see how Jesus’ rebuke of sin is also an invitation to life. He exposes the hypocrisy of showy obedience that does not require transformation of the heart; the pride that says we are not as sinful as others; and the inevitability of repeating the sinful patterns we have inherited. All of these things are barriers to genuine reconciliation. But those woes can turn to wow as we allow God to transform our hearts, teach us true humility and free us from the sinful patterns of living. In this message we unpack these foundations that make reconciliation possible between us, God and others, freeing us to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world.
In Matthew 23:16-22 Jesus addresses the issue of honesty. Why have a system that compels people to be truthful sometimes but not all the time? Every culture has a system for limiting dishonesty, but why should the people of God need that? Deceitfulness is an offense to God no matter how you phrase it! As we look at Jesus’ rebuke of the leaders for the system they oversee, we discover that we too sometimes prefer to live by rules that give us permission to not be completely truthful. There are times we don’t what to do what we said we would do; and times we do not want to say what is really true. We need Jesus to first change our hearts so that we want to be truthful as He is truthful; then to help us learn the skills of truthful living in community with each other.
In Matthew 23:13 -15 we see Jesus turn His focus to the impact the scribes and Pharisees are having in the lives of others. It’s a vital challenge to us as well, because we all have influence in the lives of other people… whether we like it or not! In this message Mike explores the reality that we might teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. We confront the fact that the way we live and the choices we make matter far beyond ourselves. If we care about the people God’s put around us and the people God’s called us to reach out to, we have to take our own righteousness seriously. Woes into Wows pt 2: From Delivering Destruction to Reproducing Righteousness. Matthew 23:13-15 15/05/2022 Woes into Wows Is it worth bruising someone’s ego in order to save their life? Is it worth suffering short term pain for eternal gain? That’s what Jesus is doing right here – He’s delivering hard but life-giving truths to people who are heading for destruction and taking a bunch of others with them. Last week we laid a foundation of what’s happening in this passage and exposed the root problem of pride that manifest itself in hypocrisy. When pride is allowed to grow in your heart, hypocrisy is inevitable in your lifestyle. Your actions will not match your words. We explored some ways that even with the best of intentions we can do that and we can even push others in that direction. If you missed it I’d encourage you to check it out on the website, youtube channel or podcast. Remember if you have the elvanto app you can get all our sermons on there as well! But right now we’re following Jesus as He turns His...
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Matthew 23 is well known for the “woes” that Jesus speaks to the Scribes and Pharisees. The chapter is taken up with a stinging rebuke from Jesus, so it’s not the place you’d naturally turn for inspiration – but it should be! Recognising where you’re headed is the first step in taking a better path. In Matthew 23 Jesus draws on principles the religious leaders were already familiar with and exposes the way they’d failed to live up to the truth they already had. We can be the same. Just knowing the truth does not protect us from straying from the truth. God rebukes us not to punish but to protect us. He gives us every opportunity to confess, to be forgiven and purified from sin so that we can enjoy the blessings of life with Him. In the opening 12 verses Jesus diagnoses the key issue that led to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees – pride. He then turns His attention to His followers and gives them very practical ways to protect leaders in His church from the same trap. We all have a role to play to make sure we don’t put a few people in the spotlight, but are a whole Church that burns bright for His glory and our good.
After being tested by the religious leaders 3 times as they tried to prove to the crowds that Jesus could not possibly be the promised Messiah; Jesus now tests the religious leaders with a question of His own. It’s about who they expected the Messiah to be, and their answer showed that they had missed critical truths in the Scriptures. Their problem wasn’t that Jesus didn’t fulfil God’s promises, their problem was that they didn’t realise how great God’s promises really are! In this encounter from Matthew 22:34-46 we are challenged to not settle for a version of Jesus who can’t really save. We want to let God reveal the true Jesus to us. We want to make sure that we believe in the essential truths that are necessary for us to enter His Kingdom and to continue to get to know Him so we can live as citizens and ambassadors of His Kingdom.
As ANZAC Day approaches we’re very aware of how important good government is; and how devastating the consequences can be when governments go astray. With a federal election coming up in May, we turn our attention to Romans 13:1-7 to discover the role that God has given us to support good government. At first glance it seems we’re being told to do whatever we’re told, but we find that resisting tyranny the right way is actually vital in supporting healthy government! There is no value in being punished for doing what is wrong, but we do need to be willing to pay the price for doing what is good. We explore the moral dilemma faced by people in Russia & Ukraine and how this passage speaks to that situation; then we apply it closer to home. We need to be willing to stand against ungodly patterns of behaviour in our own society that are doing real damage and undermining good government.
Matthew 22:34-40 tells us about the last test from the religious leaders who are trying to split Jesus off from the crowds who love Him. They’ve tried money, politics & religion. This last test is once more a tried-and-tested question that has caused division for centuries as people grapple with a genuine problem: how can we be expected to remember all God’s commands and to know which ones are most important in any situation? We explore how they’d been tackling the problem up until this moment, then how Jesus gives them the answer from Heaven which shows us how we can live God’s way all the tim
Guest speaker Dr Anton Beukes shares the vision of Revelation chapters 4, 5 & 7 as God reveals the glories of Heaven that we are invited to experience both now and in the future. When we see God the Father, Son and Spirit in their glory and the amazing unity of people from every tribe, language, people and nation who have been welcomed into His kingdom, we get a new perspective on our life here and now.
As the Sadducees tried to trip Jesus up with a question about the Scriptures and the life to come, He first dealt with their flawed approach to the Scriptures. Having explored that last week we continue on with Jesus to hear His correction about the Resurrection. His answer about how marriage is different in the life to come gives us a great oppportunity to understand the significance of marriage now in the big picture of what God is doing; and to be enriched in our relationships with God and people as we consider both the purposes and the limitations of marriage.
Matthew 22:23-33 records the second attempt to use the “Divide and Conquer” strategy against Jesus, as the religious leaders test him with a doctrinal question. The Sadducees hit Jesus with a hypothetical question about marriage in the next life in an attempt to show how the laws of Moses don’t make sense if there’s life after death. Jesus will either side with Moses and say there’s no resurrection, or He’ll side with the Pharisees and the popular view. Either way, they’ll have dragged Him into a doctrinal dispute which will alienate people. But once again Jesus turns the tables and exposes a bigger issue. Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees had a problem with Scripture! Their faulty approaches to Scripture led to endless disputes instead of life-giving conversation. It robbed them of the opportunity to be well equipped for the life to come as well as the here-and-now. That’s a problem we still have today! As we see how Jesus deals with these groups we have an opportunity to check our own approach to Scripture to see if we’re falling into the same traps. We don’t want to be in error because we don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God!
As the religious leaders respond to Jesus’ words of judgement in chapter 21 & the start of chapter 22, they realise that His popularity with the masses prevents them from acting openly. They devise several strategies to turn people against Him – the old “divide and conquer” techniqe! Matthew 22:15-22 tells the story about how two political groups that normally did not get along with each other join forces to take Jesus down. They use a classic trap, seeking to get Jesus to get involved in a contentious political issue – taxation! His response will make him unpopular either with the masses or the Roman occupiers and their cronies. Either outcome will be a win for them! As Jesus evades their trap He shows us once again how amazing He is, and He gives us a brilliant example of how to follow Him in civil matters. As we look at how some church leaders have related to political leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump we recall Jesus’ reminder of where our true allegiance lies and how that shapes both our participation in politics and our day-to-day life choices.
After Jesus clears out the commercial operations in the temple courts the religious leaders come to challenge his authority. Who does he think he is to waltz in there and take charge like that? Jesus responds with 3 stories that show what this showdown is really all about. In each story he exposes a different way that these leaders have chosen a path of rebellion against God and pronounces judgement on them for that. But there’s a positive side: each story mentions people who choose a different path. So while this is a heavy passage it’s also hopeful. We don’t have to make the same tragic choice as those leaders! There’s 3 really helpful signs that will help us see what direction our lives are headed in, so let’s pay attention to the signs and choose the path of life!
Jesus’ promise that we will receive whatever we ask for in prayer has been widely misunderstood and misused, often with heartbreaking consequences for those with misplaced hope. We can trust this text, but we have to remember that any text, taken out of context, is a pretext! We don’t want to read our hopes for the future or our existing beliefs into what Jesus is saying. We want to understand what’s going on in the story so we can receive this promise confidently and do the things that only God’s power makes possible.
That’s got to be the most unappealing sermon title ever, right? We just don’t want to see angry, legalistic people telling everyone else that God’s gonna get them!
But we all actually want there to be judgement in our world. We want someone with the right authority, power, knowledge and motivation to step in when people are suffering injustice and to put things right. Even though most of us don’t like the idea of being accountable to someone for our actions, we do want to know that there are people we can turn to for help with the actions of others are causing us pain.
In Matthew 21 we come across one of the stranger stories about Jesus. He curses a fig tree for not having any fruit on it when He was hungry, so it whithers & dies! It sounds really petulant and very un-Messiah-like! But when we think about the story a bit more and remember what was going on at the time, we realise that Jesus is teaching something very important about judgement and about what God was doing in the events that would happen that week and in the years to come. This short story is a very powerful illustration of judgement and it’s one that we need today as much as the people of Jesus’ time needed it.
After Brendan shares some big news with our congregation, Mike takes us to James 4 where we allow God’s Word to speak to us about those times in life when we are thinking about our next steps. We discover that a posture for living that God’s children must adopt in order to experience the blessings of life in His will – His good, pleasing and perfect will (Rom 12:2).
Join us as we read through a famous passage of scripture. Jesus enters the temple and clears house, so what are we to make of this passage? Is it a precedence for us to use righteous anger, or is there something else going on?
In the second part of our look at the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we explore the amazing way that Psalm 118 predicts these events and shapes the expectations of the crowds. By getting familiar with their mindset and the circumstances they were living in, we can appreciate why they were so caught up in an agenda that didn’t actually line up with what God was doing. We can also see how easy it is for us to do the same thing. Sometimes that means we chase things God doesn’t really want for us… at least not yet. Sometimes it also means we reject the One who is working for our good and resist what He is doing in the moment. The only way to be part of the glorious, eternal kingdom that God is building is to trust in who Jesus is and allow God to build our lives on Him. That’s how the Christian life begins and it’s also the daily, moment-by-moment discipline of how it grows!
Texts: Matthew 21:1-11, Psalm 118, 1 Peter 2:4-10
What difference does it make to be a follower of Jesus as we approach Australia Day?
As we continue through Matthew’s gospel we discover the story of how Jesus enters Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. We pay attention to the behaviour of the crowds as Jesus leaves Jericho and travels up to Jerusalem – first as their procession is interrupted by the cries of two blind men, and then as they finally celebrate Jesus’ arrival. As we approach Australia day we can be like those crowds approaching Jerusalem – excited by what we want Jesus to do for us, not so excited about what He wants to do for others!
This message unpacks why that is often the case with us and calls us to turn away from condemnation or competition and instead choose compassion. It shows us how to have hearts capable of making that choice. We imagine how this can make a massive difference in the life of our nation in 2022 in two key areas: our response to how others are dealing with COVID-19 measures and our treatment of Australia’s first nations peoples.
In Matthew 19:13-15 we find Jesus re-teaching a concept He’d taught His disciples back in chapter 18. Why did the greatest teacher in history need to repeat Himself?
In this message we explore the challenge of change, and why there are actually some good reasons that change is harder than we often expect. We discover why it’s worth persevering with ourselves and with the people around us instead of giving up; and the simple principle that if applied consistently, will help us to become the Kingdom People Jesus called us to be.
Mike shares from 1 Corinthians 10 about the power of communion (aka “The Lord’s Supper”) in a church family. This message will help you see the biblical perspective on how communion helps to bind a church family together in a way which needs us to be physically present to fully experience. Online communion is not without blessing and usefulness, but only ever when it fills a gap and calls us back to the full joy and transforming power of physical presence.
As we head into Christmas we celebrate the true Light of the World and the amazing opportunity we have to experience and share the difference Jesus makes.
We look at the story in John 9 of how Jesus gave sight to a man born blind. Everyone in the story had a wrong understanding of what God is like and why bad things happen to people. Jesus helped them to see what was really going on, but not everyone was willing to listen. Some people are born physically blind, but everyone’s born spiritually blind! Jesus is the only One who can perfectly show us what is real and true.
There’s something about suffering for Jesus that helps us to better follow Jesus. The hostility of the World and the holiness of the Church seem closely linked!
In this message we listen to Peter as he gets very specific about what following Jesus environment can look like in the home, at work, with friends and in society in general. We discover very practical instruction about how humility & gentleness can actually go together with courageous determination to do what is right even when people in power try force us to do what is wrong.
As we live for Jesus even when it costs us there is a curiosity aroused in people who may ask us the reason for the hope that we have.
In the first chapter of his letter, Peter describes the way followers of Jesus are strangers in a world that has rejected Him. This is not our home and there’ll be moments when it becomes really clear. As well as holding out in faith until we are finally at home with God, we’ve been given something else really precious that gives us the capacity to keep living for Jesus in the world – we’ve been joined together as the people of God.
In this message Mike shares with us from 1 Peter 2 about the work that God is doing to build us together and two critical things we must do to experience the blessings of belonging to God with His people.
As we look to the 1st chapter of 1 Peter we are challenged to be Strangers in the World. But what does that mean? Brendan helps explain what was going on as Peter wrote his letter and why he calls not just the original readers but us too to be strangers in this world.
On halloween Mike reflects on the increasing discomfort many Christians feel in the way our society is moving further and further from our Judaeo-Christian heritage. However as we examine this discomfort more carefully we see that it’s just part of the broader human experience as we instinctively make judgements about environments where we fit or don’t fit and people who we feel safe with or nervous around.
As we look more closely at this issue we get to a core problem: some people are treated better than others! That problem has always been with us, ever since sin entered the world. Our society is grappling with it, sometimes well and sometimes poorly. But the real definition of the problem and the only complete solution to the problem is found in the Bible, which points us to Jesus and who we are called to be in Him.
We look at the beautiful way the Church is invited to live in Colossians 3 as a roadmap to healing and hope.