St Andrews CHB sermons: Recent Episodes
St Andrews CHB
We exist to love God, love others, and to make disciples. A key way we do this is to listen to God's word and to let it work in us that we might work with Him.
Curious Questions #2 - Election
2022-8-21
The bible talks about election, predestination, and God choosing us, but how is that fair?
Does that mean that we are just robots or without any choice?
Today we look at these questions and the important answer that the bible gives us.
2022-8-14
God's family is a large family!
Far larger than we know or generally appreciate. Today Jeff from Barnabas Aid opens our eyes to what many of our brothers and sisters in the faith face daily. This is an encouragement to know! This is an encouragement to care. It is an encouragement to pray!
Encouragement to Sow!Sunday 24th AprilHow is our sowing going?In the parable of the sower Jesus calls us to keep going. To keep sowing. It is not easy and He knows it. In fact He is realistic about it, but He still calls us to keep going!
Easter Sunday - What does Christ's resurrection mean for us?Sunday 17th April 2022What does Jesus' resurrection mean for us?Many things, but key amongst them is that Jesus' resurrection is the proof of who He said He was and what He promised us.And that gives us a solid hope!!!
Why the Cross?Sunday 10th April 2022This Palm Sunday we consider why the cross?Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die? (question 24 from the New City Catechism). We look at 13 points that show that Jesus' cross was necessary for our salvation!
Stacking Wood #72022-4-3Question #7Q) What does the law of God require?A) Personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience; that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves. What God forbids should never be done and what God commands should always be done.
Stacking Wood #62022-3-27Question #6Q) How can we glorify God?A) We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.
Stacking Wood #52022-3-20Q) What else did God create?A) God created all things by His powerful word, and all His creation was very good; everything flourished under His loving rule.
Stacking Wood #42022-3-13Question #4:How and why did God create us?Answer:God created us male and female in His own image to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and glorify Him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to His glory.
Stacking Wood #32022-3-6Taken from the New CIty Catechism.Question #3Q) How many persons are there in God?A) There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
Stacking Wood #22022-2-27Taken from the New CIty Catechism.Question #2Q) What is God?A) God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.
Stacking Wood #12022-2-20St Andrews CHBThis term we are learning together the New City Catechism. That we all (young and old) have things to learn about God, about this world, and about ourselves either for the first time or to remember again. We're calling this series Stacking Wood, because we want to have the wood (truth) of God in our lives ready for the fire of God to ignite!
The Greatest Threat to Following Jesus2022-2-13Matthew 16:24-27The bible talks of three threats or foes to our faith in Jesus. The world, the Devil and our flesh. The latter of these is threat we can never escape in this world because it is in us. Part of us, but Jesus calls us to follow Him by dying to our flesh. Surely one of Jesus most radical calls to us ... and one of the most important. The risk is great, but so is the reward, if we will take up our cross!
Confidence - God's Eternal ProvidenceGenesis 37-502022-1-30God is always at work. In, through and behind the events of our lives and this world He is at work - but do we trust Him in His work?If we do we can find rest in this wild world and the motivation we need to keep working. Today we look at the intricacies and scale of God's providence in the life of Jospeh and how it even includes us.
God's Eternal FamilyEphesians 1:3-142022-1-23The church is the family of God (Ephesians 2:19), but in Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul gives us an introduction to how it all starts with God's family, the trinity! That God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all in on our salvation. Planning, calling, saving, and perfecting us. We couldn't ask for a better family!
God's Eternal Way2022-1-16What is the way to God?The bibles resonding answer is JESUS!He is the way to God.But it is as we see the pointers that God has arranged for us that we start to feel the wonder of this truth. Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, and David are five key people of the bible that point us to Jesus. They prepare us to meet the one who fulfils God's promises to them and to us!
God's Eternal Plan2022-1-9As a new year begins we are all making plans and having dreams of what it might hold. If we're honest though - we really don't know what will happen. We don't even know what tomrrow holds for us!Yet we can have confidence in GOD!He is eternal and His plans have not changed. They stand firm forever. Today we locate ourselves in His eternal plans that come what may, we would have confidence in Him!
God WillingJame 4:13-172022-1-2As we start a new year it is natural and wise to look ahead. To make plans. but before we get to WHAT we might be planning we need to think about HOW we are planning.Are we planning with God or without God?Are our dreams working from God or away from God?Because the starting place of our plans will effect our destination. It will effect our trajectory. It will effect our faith. Are we living from our will or God's will?
Hebrews 1:1-4 - The GiftWe can lose Jesus. We don't generally do it intentionally. Instead we get distracted by other things. Sometimes good things, but they take our attention off Jesus and before we know it the manger is empty as our faith is placed in other things. We're not the first to face this challenge. Not at all! Even second generation Christians faced this problem and in Hebrews 1:1-4 we hear the call to see and to know Jesus for who He truly is. It calls us back to that manger too see the wonder of what God has done in Jesus. It reminds us of the joy we can only have in Him. Merry Christmas!
Advent 2021 #2 - Bread of Life2021-12-5Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life, but what does He mean by that?What does it mean to eat His flesh or drink His blood?Today we press into one of Jesus more unusal names, but a name that helps us know the One who gave His life that we might live. The one who is the Bread of Life from heaven!
Advent 2021 #3 - Immanuel2021-12-12One of the richest names or titles for Jesus is that of Immanuel (Matthew 1:23).This is a name that translates as 'God with us', but it's meaning is far richer, becuase it doesn't only speak to us of God's presence in Jesus, but also God's person and purpose in Jesus as well. That in Jesus' arrival we see the greatest sign and proof of God's character and purpose in relating to us. He is the God who cares to save us!
Advent 2021 #1 - The TruthNames are important. They tell others who we are. And for Jesus this is even more true. He has several names that tell us who He is. They help us know Him and in knowing Him we can trust Him. Today we look at one of Jesus' best names or titles - that He is the Truth!
This Sunday Andrew Chesswas leads us through one of the most interesting and perplexing passages of the bible - Matthew 24 and the abomination that causes desolation. Ever asked questions like:What does Jesus care about?What threatens our faith?What do we need to be on the look out for?Then this is the passage for you!
Frustrated with the state of things?
Unhappy with the slowness of time?
You're not the first. Daniel wasn't happy with the state of things in His time and he mourned over them...and God encouraged him in an unexpected way. With a vision of the future. A vision of times to come. A vision that called for faithful endurance. A vision that calls for us to be faithful in our struggles and trials. God is still at work. Purifying. Making spotless. Refining a people for Himself!
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Today we look at another of Daniel's visions, but this one starts with a prayer.
Actually it starts with Daniel reading his bible and understanding that their time in Babylon might nearly be up.
This leads him to pray a fantastic prayer. A prayer that can teach us a lot for our own prayers, but Daniel's prayer is to small for God. God has something bigger and better in mind!
And this is what leads to Daniel's vision.
A confusing passage, but if we remember Daniel's prayer then it starts to make sense.
God will answer Daniel's prayer, but with more than he was asking for.
God will bring about everlasting righteousness.
God will bring His people home once and for all.
But this will take time.
It is coming and the road there won't be easy, but it is guaranteed!
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Ever feel like things are out of control?
We all do - but the reality is that God is in control!
In Daniel chapter 8 we see a vision of the future, our past. A vision that speaks of judgement and grace. A vision that disheartened Daniel. God's people would be return home to Jerusalem, but make the same mistakes again...and they would suffer for them. But the promise is that though judgement and suffering would come, God would restrain evil. He would limit the suffering. He would be in control!
And we need to know this today.
We need to grasp the immensity of our God. We need to know the sureness of His justice and the certainty of His care. For then we can persevere. Then we can get on with His work in this often crazy world.
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Daniel 6 - Standing Firm to the End
Daniel's final story from the end of his life is a lot like the story from the beginning of his life (Daniel 1). We might know it as the story of Daniel in the lions den, but in it we hear again the lesson that our faith will be tested. We might do everything right, but we will face opposition and the question in that time is will we be faithful? Will we have built out life upon trusting God, so that in the time of trial, we will carry on trusting God? Daniel calls us to learn from him. He call us to value God above the pleasures and worries of this world, that we might stand firm to the end.
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FAITH IN A PANDEMIC
We are not the first to live through a pandemic. Not at all. In fact the Christian Church has lived through man pandemics and plagues. This Sunday I want us to look back at three pandemic and how the church navigated them faithfully. I want us to learn from them and to be encouraged in our own time. We're going to consider:
1) The Cyprian pandemic
2) The Black Death
3) The third Cholera outbreak
I pray that we are encouraged and equipped to be faithful in our own time. While we don't know the future, we do know the One who holds it!
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Let Love Be Genuine #3
This week Sally Huggett leads us through the conclusion of our passage from Romans 12:9-21.
What does love in action look like?
Because in this world and in our lives we will either be overcome by evil, or we will overcome evil with good!
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2021-9-26
Let Love Be Genuine #2
Andrew shares with us how Jesus models for us the theme of Romans 12:9-21 with the story of the woman at the well (John 4). He draws out four p for us:
1) Presence
2) provision
3) Protection
4) Promise
Daniel #5 - The Writings on the WallIn the first four chapters of the book of Daniel we have watched God work patiently and graciously with king Nebuchadnezzar to bring him to a place of humility and repentance - but the story doesn't stop with his death.
In Daniel chapter 5 we meet a new king. King Belshazzar. He shows us that there is a limit to God's patience. Who ever we are, kings or less, God holds our lives in His hand. And this means that we will all have to give an account for how we have used His gifts.
For all of us, the writing is on the wall.
So are we prepared to meet our Judge?
God wants us to be prepared.
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Daniel #4 - Testify
King Nebuchadnezzar is the most consistent character in the first four chapters of the book of Daniel. This is important because God was seeking him like a shepherd seeks a lost sheep and in chapter 4 we hear his testimony of what God had to do save him.
For Nebuchadnezzar this involved loosing everything to gain it all back.
He lost his authority.
He lost his palace.
He even lost his mind!
But all of this was so that God could eventually raise him up and give him more.
Yes, Nebuchadnezzar shows us the lengths God will go to save us.
He shows us the depth of God's grace towards us.
He wants us to learn from his story of faith.
And he prepares us for Jesus, the King of the universe who will lower Himself to save us and raise us up.
Daniel 3 - True Faith
The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace teaches us what it means to be in the world, but not of it. What it means to be in the world, but sent to it. What it means to know the God who can be trusted, but not whether He will save us or not.
They show us what TRUE FAITH looks like.
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Warren Hokke shares some of his story of how God has been nudging him towards trust and rest.
Listen in, be encouraged, hear what the Spirit is nudging you towards.
Ephesians 4:17-5:11
Identity is a hot topic of our time.
We can find it in our culture, our nation, our family, our work, or many other things - but especially these days our sexuality.
This search for identity and meaning are key to our lives and the bible would agree. It has a lot to teach us about identity and where we should find them because God created us in His image, His likeness. Gaining this identity back is what the bible is all about.
Yes, we have what the world is looking for - but do we know it?
Because if we don't know it then the world likely won't know it either.
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Matthew 19:1-12
There is a lot of talk around sexuality and gender in our time.
While these might be challenges that we'd wish to avoid I don't believe that we can. God has us here for a reason. He has us here to shine as lights in the darkness.
In Matthew 19:1-12 Jesus speaks to the issue of divorce, but He also speaks to much more as well. He speaks to God's foundational design. He speaks to image and identity. He speaks to what good sexual expression is. And He calls us to faithful what ever state God has us in.
May God find us faithful in this time.
May we be lights in the darkness.
How do we think God's plans are going today?
This is an important question for us. It will effect our expectations and peace. Do we think God is in control of events? Do we think that God's will is being done? Do we think God is sovereign? King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler who took Daniel and his friends into captivity, gives us a powerful lesson of this. God whispered into his dreams with the truth of what was happening and who was in control. King Nebuchadnezzar recognised Daniel's God, but he didn't trust Daniel's God. At least not yet. That would come later. We need to make sure we aren't making his mistake. We need to make sure we know which kingdom we are part of. A passing kingdom of man or the eternal kingdom of God?
Daniel #sovereignty #inexile #wilddreams #whoisincharge #kingdomcoming
Daniel 1
2021-7-18
The book of Daniel is a timely book for us. It teaches us that God is faithful and in charge, even when we struggle to see how. It teaches us that though the powers arise against us God is still for us!
In chapter 1 of the book of Daniel we see three main lessons:
1) We are in Babylon
2) We are here for a reason
3) The greatest threat we face is spiritual assimilation
Our God is amazingly faithful! Let us be faithful in response as we await our salvation!