Virtue 5 - Brain Surgery
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Virtue 5 - Brain Surgery audio (6MB)
Colossians 3:1-17
This is part of a series of sermons at St. Thomas' based upon Tom Wright's book 'Virtue Reborn.
Before we start this morning, I’d like you to try a little exercise. It’s designed to boost your attention and awareness, a good thing to do before we look at the Bible! [If you want to try the exercise for yourself at home, watch this video.]
We’ll come back to this later. For now, keep your bibles open to Colossians 3. It’s a great example of what we’ve been looking at over the past four weeks. It’s a clear picture of what virtue looks like. Let’s pray as we come to look at it.
Virtue 4 - The Kingdom Coming and the People Prepared
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- Written by: Ruth Newmarch
Virtue 4 - The Kingdom Coming and the People Prepared audio (6MB)
Matthew 5:3-11
A while ago Andrew and I were trained to lead marriage preparation for engaged couples. One part of the course was on handling conflict, and we were taught about different ways people express anger. It was eye-opening for us, and explained why we got into a stew or a stalemate. The knowledge was helpful, but in those moments of conflict, we found it really hard to put the new knowledge into practice. It was dis-heartening, but we began to notice what we were doing more, and de-brief the quarrel afterwards. And each time we ran the course, we'd drive home and talk more probingly about what it felt like for each other in the heat of the struggle. Very slowly, we began to form new habits of handling conflict.
Read more: Virtue 4 - The Kingdom Coming and the People Prepared
Virtue 3 - Priests and Rulers
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Virtue 3 - Priests and Rulers audio (6MB)
1 Peter 2:1-10
This is the third in a series of sermons at St. Thomas' largely based upon Tom Wright's book 'Virtue Reborn.'
I wonder what you want to be when you grow up? To give you a few minutes to think about it, we asked a few people that question this week.
[At this point in the sermon a video of a vix-pop of members of the congregation, youth group and a local school was played, each person answering the question, 'When I Grow Up I want to be....]
I wonder what you wanted to be when you grew up? What you want to be when you grow up?
Virtue 2 -The Transformation of Character
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Transformation of Character audio (6MB)
Romans 6:1-14
This is part of a series based largely on 'Virtue Reborn' by Tom Wright.
At 1526 on January 15, 2009, US Airways flight 1549 took off from La Guardia airport in New York bound for North Carolina. All was normal until, 2 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft ran into a flock of Canada Geese. Geese don’t do much for Jet engines and in this case both engines were disabled. The plane was at that moment heading over the Bronx, one of the most heavily populated areas of New York. It looked like a disaster in the making. The nearest airstrip was too far away and probably too short for a loaded passenger jet and the freeway just below was crowded with cars. That left just one option: land in the Hudson River. Now that’s a lot easier said than done, especially with no power from the engines. One small mistake and the plane would most likely flip over, break up and quickly sink, with huge loss of life in the freezing water. The captain, Chesley Sullenberger and his co-pilot had just 2 or 3 minutes to do everything necessary to get the plane down safely – cut off the engines, turn off the autopilot and the flight management systems, get the speed right, adjust the flaps to enable them to glide in, keep the nose at just the right angle, activate the “ditch” system to seal off the vents so it wouldn’t sink once they’d landed, etc., all while they manoeuvred the plane into the direction the river was flowing. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But they did it all. The plane landed safely and all the passengers got off.
So how did they manage it? They didn’t have time to think through an escape strategy. No time to look up the emergency procedures. No, all they could do was rely on what many years of practise and experience had taught them to do, almost without thinking.
Virtue 1 - How Do I Live?
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Virtue 1 - How Do I Live? audio (6MB)
Mark 10:17-27
This is the first in a series of sermons at St. Thomas' based upon Tom Wright's book 'Virtue Reborn.'
What must I do to inherit eternal life? That’s the question that’s at the heart of today’s passage. It’s the question the rich young man rushes up to ask Jesus. But it’s also the haunting question that’s in all our hearts’ isn’t it? What must I do? Or, what on earth am I here for? These aren’t easy questions to ask, even harder to answer. Where do we go to find those answers?
Series: Theme: Virtue
- Details
- Written by: Chris Appleby
Virtue
A Series based on Tom Wright's book 'Virtue Reborn.'
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What Must I do? |
Mark 10:17-27 |
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The Transformation of Character |
Romans 6:1-14 |
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Priests & Rulers |
1 Peter 2:1-10 |
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The Kingdom Coming and the People Prepared |
Matt 5:3-11 |
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Brain Surgery |
Colossians 3:1-17 |
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Virtues, Fruit & Body |
Gal 5:19-23 |
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The Royal Priesthood in Action |
1 Pet 2:4-12 |
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The Virtuous Circle |
Heb 12:1-3 |
Micah 6:1-8 - The Kingdom Lived
- Details
- Written by: Ruth Newmarch
Kingdom Lived audio (6MB)
Micah 6:1-8
A grim statistic haunts South Africa. The South Africa Medical Research Council reports that a woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours. In response, a development agency has a program called Channels of Hope, tackling gender inequality. Recently two young academics, one a Melbourne woman, have been evaluating the success of this program. They've found themselves wrestling with the argument that religious and secular spheres don't mix. This is not true to the lived experience of people they've interviewed.
