Jonah
Daniel 1
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Surviving the Education System audio (5MB)
Daniel 1
There’s lots to be excited by in the book of Daniel. Daring stories of young men standing up to mad kings. Fiery furnaces, strange dreams of statues and trees, men turning into beasts, hands appearing out of nowhere writing on walls, let alone Daniel being throne into the lions den, perhaps one of the most well known stories from the bible, thanks to Sunday school and kids clubs. All that’s just in the first six chapters! Then there’s all the dreams and visions in chapters 7-12. We’ll get to those next year. About all it’s missing is a damsel in distress and a dragon. Although if you read the Apocrypha, both of those are associated with Daniel.
But when you stop and think about it for a moment, Daniel and his friends are an unlikely bunch of heroes. Sure we read in verse 3 that he was from the royal family or nobility. Young, without physical defect, handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight and competent to serve. Daniel’s the kind of boy you hope your son, or grandson, or great grandson might be. What’s more he’s studying on exchange, might be a humanities degree, but he’s got good job prospects!
Is 7:13-17
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Emmanuel, God is With Us audio (3MB)
Is 7:13-17
Can you imagine a world without signs? No “No Standing” signs – that might be good. No “Stop” signs. That might be disastrous. No “Exit” signs. No “No Smoking” signs. No “One Way” signs! Not so good. Our world couldn’t operate without signs could it? But tonight I want us to think about one particular sign – perhaps it was a warning sign; or was it a sign of hope? This sign was announced by Isaiah some 700 years before it actually appeared. The sign was this: a virgin shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
This is not just any virgin, nor any child. This is the child whose birth we celebrate today: Jesus the son of Mary.
Habakkuk 2
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- Written by: George Hemmings
A Promise of Vindication (Unfortunately due to technical difficulties the audio for this sermon was not recorded.)
I wonder how are you at waiting? How was that wait? Were you itching for the sermon to start? Could you not wait to hear a response to the reading?
Chapter 2, begins with Habakkuk waiting. He’s waiting for God to answer him. If you were here last week, you’ll know that the book of Habakkuk is a conversation between the prophet and God. It started with Habakkuk complaining to God about the injustice he saw going on in Judah. He asked God – Why are you letting all this violence go on? How long will you let it happen? When are you going to do something about it?
Habakkuk 3
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- Written by: Ian Thomason
A Prayer of Faith: A God Who Delivers audio (5MB)
Habakkuk 3:1-19
Good morning.
Before I preach on Habakkuk chapter three, I’d like to pose a question that I hope everyone will devote a little time to in quiet reflection, as I speak for the next twenty minutes.
It’s been my experience that preachers will often ask rhetorical questions in sermons, sometimes with a knowing look and a gentle tilt of the head. Stagecraft aside, they do this because preachers don’t want us to be passive pew-sitters, they want us to be actively thinking through the implications of a given point.
My question is quite straightforward, but the proper response has consequences that directly affect everyone in church today.
The question is this: for what purpose were we created?
Habakkuk 1
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
A Call for Justice audio (5MB)
The cry for justice is a common occurrence in our world isn't it? Injustice takes place at all sorts of levels and we wonder, why does God allow it? It's like what we saw in Psalm 73 a few weeks ago. Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the powerful get away with taking advantage of the weak and helpless? Why doesn't God do something about it if he's the good and powerful God that we think he is?
Those are the sorts of questions that Habakkuk struggles with as he looks at the nation of Israel. And as we'll see in a moment there's an even more difficult question that needs answering. That's the question that arises when we see evildoers being punished at the hands of those who are just as evil if not more so.
We occasionally see on the news stories of bikie gang members being shot by members of rival gangs and you think that's justice - yet it's justice carried out by someone whose as wicked as the one receiving the punishment.
It's sometime around the end of the 7th century BC. The nation has gone through a period of revival under Josiah but now he's dead and the rich and powerful are back to their old tricks.
