Pastorals
Sex, Lies and Videotape (Revelation 17-19)
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- Written by: Adam Cetrangolo
Sex, Lies and Videotape: The Real Deal audio (5MB)
[Begin with latest Crown Casino Advertisement, http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/22809362]
What you have just seen is the most recent television advertisement for Crown Casino. It is the only one I could get a hold of for today and in some ways it is tamer than some of its predecessors. But what it does depict is Crown as a place of glamour and excitement … A world of entertainment!
Last month an Australian magazine printed the following comments regarding gambling in Australia:
• On average a person with a gambling problem loses about $12,000 a year, and even non-regular gamblers lose roughly $600 a year.
• There are estimated to be over 300,000 problem gamblers in Australia and for every problem gambler there are five people affected by their addiction. That's 1.5 million Australians.
Rev 14-16
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Eternal Gospel audio (4MB)
What is the gospel? Is it really good news, or is it something more? The answer to that question is important because if we get it wrong it’ll affect two things: the message we give people who don’t yet know Jesus, and more importantly whether we think it matters whether they hear about him in the first place.
But before we examine that question let’s look at how our passage begins.
It’d be easy after the horrifying pictures of chs 12 & 13 to be discouraged. Here are the Dragon and the two beasts making war on the church, seducing national leadership, fooling the religious by their counterfeit miracles, binding people in an economic straitjacket and it seems that they’re invincible.
But suddenly the scene changes again. God takes John’s eyes away from the problems of life on earth by giving him a short glimpse into the reality of life in heaven.
The Devil Exposed
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangelo
Revelation 12-13 audio (5MB)
We’re going to start with a questionnaire this morning. I want us all to think about how we would answer these statements, as true or false? (This is only for private reflection, not to share)
1. I believe that Jesus has saved me from being lost and without hope. (TRUE/FALSE)
2. I live my life in such a way that others around me know I believe this. (TRUE/FALSE)
3. I regularly tell people how Jesus has changed my life. (TRUE/FALSE)
4. Every day I ask God, ‘who do you want me to talk to about you today?’ (TRUE/FALSE)
5. I have to be involved in at least one outreach group to feel like I am part of the church community. (TRUE/FALSE)
6. I believe in Satan. (TRUE/FALSE)
‘Do you believe in Satan?’
I can remember being asked this question, years ago, in my first year at uni. A friend of mine whose name was Belinda, asked me this question. I proudly responded, ‘I believe in God.’
And she said, yeah I know but, ‘Do you believe Satan exists?’
Rev 8-11
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Trumpets of Chaos & Destruction audio (6MB)
Do you feel secure? What sort of thing shakes your sense of security? What do you think of when you see reports of disasters like the earthquakes we’ve just seen in New Zealand and Japan? Or the civil uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya? What does it make you think of? Do you worry about your own security here in Australia? Or friends who may be living somewhere equally unsafe? Or does it make you realise your own mortality, your own frailty before the power of nature, your own dependence on God if you’re to survive in this world? Was this God’s work or just a random event of nature? If it is God at work, what is he doing? What’s he trying to achieve?
As we’ve read through Revelation thus far we’ve seen the 7 seals being opened and now the final seal is broken - and suddenly there’s silence. We’re left in suspense. What does the scroll say? What is this message that’s been sealed up until the last day? Do the things that have happened as each seal has been slit constitute the contents of the scroll, or is there more?
Revelation 5
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- Written by: Adam Cetrangolo
GOD’S IN CHARGE, SO GET WITH THE PROGRAM audio (4MB)
Some of you here may know that up until the end of 2008, Heather and I were living on the Gold Coast, where we had been for four years. I was working as a full-time Lay Pastoral Worker in the Catholic Church and Heather was in her second last year of formation for ordained ministry. And I was thriving in my work but wrestling with the possibility that God might be calling me to ordained ministry too.
