I Talk Back to the Devil: Enter Lion Country
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- Written by: Garrett Edwards
audio (6MB)
I don’t know if you’ve ever had someone you thought you would absolutely love to be like, someone you looked up to so much, that It would be everything to be like them. I did, his name was Alistair, well, still is. I was in high school, year 11 and I was so confused about who I wanted to be. I’d been walking away from God, while remaining a Church goer. I don’t know if you can relate to that, but it left me utterly confused.
The fun life promised by my friends at high school was losing its shine, but I still wasn’t sure I wanted to embrace Christianity, this faith that promised fulfilment. But then I met Alistair, he had just moved down from Townsville in Queensland with the other members of his rock band, you guys see where this is going, right! Well he moved down and came to church one night, I met him and couldn’t believe that a guy as cool as he was, who had his own band, would come to church on Sunday night.
Series: Theme: Decision Making and the Will of God
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Decision Making and the Will of God
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God will guide you |
Luke 4:16-24 |
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The Spirit’s Leading |
Luke 10:38-42 |
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God’s Sovereignty & Decision Making |
1 Sam 1:1-9;19b-20 |
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Making Big Decisions |
1 Samuel 3:1-10 |
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A Dead Girl & a Sick Woman |
Rom 5:1-8 |
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With a bit of help from my friends |
1 Sam 8:1-21 |
Guidance 1
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
God Will Guide You audio (3MB)
I recently bought one of these new smart phones. It's great. It does everything, except make the coffee. One of the best “apps” on it is the navwoman. You type in your destination and a very clever woman tells you exactly how to get there. “Turn right in 300 metres.” “At the roundabout take the second exit.” And she’s very forgiving. If you miss a turn she calmly says “Recalculating.” I mention this because this is how some Christians expect God to guide them. At each decision point he’ll tell them which way to go. If they make a mistake or ignore his prompting he’ll simply forgive them and recalculate their path.
Well, there’s some truth to that perhaps. God’s sovereignty does override our sinfulness. You can see that in the history of Israel and of the Church. God certainly promises in various places to guide us. Jesus promises his disciples that when he goes he’ll send them another counsellor to be with them, the Holy Spirit who'll guide them into all truth.
But does that mean that God will tell you which way to go at every decision making point? Does God have a wonderful plan for your life that you need to find if you're to be happy?
Rev 21-22
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The City that's a Bride audio (3MB)
Well, we’ve spent the last three months working our way through Revelation, so I guess we all have a pretty good idea what it’s about, don’t we? But now that we’re finally at the end, at the account of the last day, at the revelation of the new heavens and earth I wonder whether this what you would have expected? Is this your picture of heaven?
I have to admit that I have no idea what heaven will really be like. I actually think it’s so far beyond our human experience that we have no way of comprehending it until we actually get there. But God, as always, is gracious and so he gives us pictures of heaven that give us an idea, even if it’s only another set of moving images, of what it will be like.
Good Friday 2011
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
1 The Fear of God - Keep away audio (7MB)
To truly understand the events of Good Friday we need to delve deep into the history of Israel. So let me take you back to Mt Sinai, in the first few weeks of the Exodus, the journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. [Bible Reading: Exo 19:16-21]
As the Israelites look up at Mt Sinai, cloaked in clouds, with thunder and lightning cracking around the peaks, accompanied by a loud trumpet call, they’re reminded of the nature of God, the fear of God.
Fear of God is something we struggle with in the 21st century. We’re so steeped in the concept of a loving God who cares for his people that we forget that that same God is a God to be feared. And I do mean afraid in the sense of terrified.
The people come out to the edge of the mountain and we’re told there’s a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. They don’t actually need to have Moses tell them to stay clear of the mountain. In fact they tell Moses, we don’t need to come up with you. You just go on your own and speak on our behalf and then tell us what God says. We’ll take your word for it.
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.
