John 1:19-28 A Voice in the Wilderness
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- Written by: George Hemmings
A Voice in the Wilderness audio (2.6MB)
John 1:19-28
Christmas is over, the presents are unwrapped, even the leftovers have been eaten. Which means the start of a new year is almost upon us. (I know for some the new year is almost a month away!) Now’s when we start looking forward to what’s to come isn’t it? It’s a time when people make predictions about what 2014 will hold. We’re told what to look out for in fashion, technology, politics and finance. And there’s all sorts of ads and articles telling us what TV shows, or movies, to watch out for in 2014.
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.
John 8:12-59 Who's Your Father?
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Who's Your Father? audio (5MB)
John 8:12-59
Meet Peter. He’s an average, Aussie bloke. Not long after he got married, he left a career in Sydney to move to the country and raised a family. Nearly twenty years in, his marriage fell apart. After a few dark years and some soul searching, Peter emerged more compassionate, more caring, more sympathetic. You might even say wiser! He’s worked hard all his life, as you might be able to tell from his face. He’s either out on the farm, or in his farm supply store. He goes out of his way to ensure his customers are looked after. In fact many of them, and the people he’s worked with over the years would think of him as a friend. Peter's an average Aussie bloke. You're unlikely to ever see him in the news, or read about him in the paper. But if you met him, you might think you knew him. Because Peter's my father. There's a lot of him in me. There's a lot that he's said, and done, that's shaped who I am. I see aspects of him in a lot of what I do, what I say, how I react. I wonder what your Father’s like? How do your parents define you?
John 7:1-52
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Feast of Tabernacles No audio available this week
John 7:1-52
You probably won’t be surprised to discover that there’s a link between this chapter and the previous one. Last week we saw how some people find it hard to believe in Jesus, because faith is a spiritual activity and they’re basically materialists, or because they don’t accept the possibility of supernatural forces in our world, or because the idea of Jesus the Son of God dying on our behalf is too hard to believe.
Well this week we continue to think about the question of belief or unbelief.
Here we find a series of people who observe Jesus’ behaviour, who speak with him or listen to him and who apply their own standards of judgement to him and get differing answers to the question “who is Jesus?”.
John 6:22-71
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Jesus The Bread of Life audio (4MB)
John 6:22-71
You may have noticed that there’s been a significant revival of Atheism over the past few years. More and more people have begun to question the validity of the claims of religions, particularly Christianity, of a supernatural power being at work in the world. It’s like carbon in the atmosphere. If you can’t see it, it can’t be there. Or so they say. Certainly the claims of Christianity that Jesus was God’s own son, born in human flesh; that Jesus died then came back to life; that he could walk through locked doors; they must surely be the inventions of his followers after the fact.
Yet we Christians firmly believe that what we read in God’s word is true. We have a deep inner conviction that the Christian message is the truth. So why is that? Are we so simple that we’ll believe anything? Well no, most Christians are reasonably intelligent, rational, thinking people.
So why is it that some people believe and some don’?
I think that’s a question that Jesus addresses here in John chapter 6.
John 6:1-21
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- Written by: George Hemmings
Bread for Life audio (7MB)
John 6:1-21
I want to start this morning with a quick quiz. What do these signs mean? The first is easy. What about this one? Easy again. The great thing about signs is that they’re universal. No matter where you are you know what this sign is telling you. Signs are all around us. They help direct us, they tell us where to go, or what to do. They communicate important things quickly, like be careful, this is hot and if you touch it you’ll get burnt. Or this floor is very wet and you might slip over! It’s important that we pay attention to signs because they often tell us what we need to know.
John’s gospel is full of signs. Not signs on posts, but rather in the form of Jesus’ actions, and words. John doesn’t use the language of miracles, or wonders, because he wants us to understand that these things point beyond themselves. They’re signs of God’s kingdom. It’s just as important that we pay attention to them, and that we understand them properly.
John 4:1-42
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Woman at the Well audio (7MB)
John 4:1-42
If you were here last week you may remember how John saw his main role as telling people about Jesus. You may also remember that that task of proclaiming Jesus is also our task. Well today we move on to the next episode in John’s account of Jesus’ ministry. Here we find Jesus’ providing a great model for sharing the gospel. We find Jesus taking every opportunity to bring people to a knowledge of the truth which is found in him, and then we see the woman herself becoming a witness to Christ. And we finish with a reminder that the task of evangelism is ongoing.
Jesus has decided to return to Galilee. The most direct route to Galilee passed through the region of Samaria, so that’s the way they went. We’re told they came to the town of Sychar where Jacob’s well was, and still is. It was the sixth hour, that is midday, and being tired from the journey, Jesus sat down to rest while his disciples went into the town to buy some lunch.
Just then a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water. Now this is strange. No-one goes out in the heat of the day to draw water. That’s a job for the morning or evening when it’s cool. So why would this woman come now? Maybe, as we’ll see later, because she’s a social outcast. She comes now so she won’t have to bear the looks and comments of the other women from the town.
