Gen 45 - God's Providence
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
God’s Providence audio
God has a wonderful plan for your life. That’s how a popular evangelistic tract of the 70s and 80s began. The implication was that if you decided to become a Christian your life from then on would be wonderful. But was that true?
Well, you could get that idea if you chose the right set of Scripture verses. Let me give you some examples:
“All things work together for good for those who love God.” (Rom 8:28)
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1).
“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”" (Psalm 34:8).
“5Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Certainly there’s a recurrent them in the Old Testament that those who obey the Lord will be blessed, will live a long and happy life.
But is that the experience of every Christian? Is it even the experience of most Christians?
Making Margins for Generosity
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Today we’re thinking about Generosity but before we talk about that I’d first like to do a little test. I’d like you to put up your hand if you consider yourself to be holy. Anyone?
Well, let’s hear what God says about you being holy: (reader) “9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. So put up your hands now if you consider yourself to be holy.
Of course there’s a big difference between being holy and acting that way isn’t there? So what does it mean to act as in a holy way?
Matt 10:5-34 - Trust in the Lord
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Trust in the Lord audio
I wonder if you’ve ever had the experience of suffering for your faith. I think for most of us that would be a rare occurrence. Though of course suffering for your faith can take lots of forms. In Australia it rarely comes in the form of physical suffering, though it certainly does in other parts of the world. In Australia it’s more likely to be in the form of disadvantage in employment, or being shunned by friends, or being mocked for your beliefs. In the public arena it often takes the form of being sidelined or ignored in public discourse in political policy making.
Prayer and the Trinity
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Heb 4:6-8; Eph 1: 3-14; Luke 11:1-13
I wonder, if you were here last week, how what Steve said about prayer has affected your prayer life, especially what he said about prayer in times of difficulty, when you just can’t find the words to use.
But maybe that isn’t your problem. Maybe you’re happy to pray whatever your circumstances. Or is your problem that you’re not sure if you’re good enough to pray? Are there times when you feel like you’ve been so disobedient that God won’t hear you; or perhaps that your problems are so insignificant that you shouldn’t worry God with them?
Well, as Linus would say good theology can be very reassuring.
Creating Margins: Time to Serve Others
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
I guess you’ve worked out by now, if you’ve been here over the last three weeks that the theme of this sermon series is cutting back on the busyness of life.
What do you think? Is your life too busy? Do you find yourself trying to pack as much in to your life as you can?
I wonder have you done any of these things:
- Stopping at an airport stopover on the way to holidays to visit friends or relatives you haven’t seen for a couple of years?
- If you’re a parent do you find yourself dropping one child at ballet, taking the next to a piano lesson, doing the shopping then hurrying back to pick them up in the reverse order?
- If you’re a worker do you find yourself arranging meetings one after the other with no break in between?
I haven’t done all of those, but I know others who do.
Mark 11:27-12:27 - Who do you listen to?
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Who do you listen to? audio
By What Authority 11:27-33
The story is told of a ship’s captain during the war, who was sailing along on a dark night and saw a light on a collision course. So he got his signaller to flash a message: “Alter your course 10 degrees west.” The reply came back “Alter your course 10 degrees east.” The captain then signalled “Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a Commander.” The reply came back “Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a seaman third-class.”
By this time the ship’s captain was getting furious. So he signalled: “Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a battleship.” The reply came back almost instantly: “Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a lighthouse.”
That story addresses the issue of our passage today. That is the issue of authority. Where does authority come from? Sometimes it comes from your rank or status, as the commander in that story obviously assumed. But sometimes it comes from something innate like the immovable nature of a lighthouse set above a cliff. So where do you look to for authority for your life? That’s not an easy question to ask in this day and age. Life has changed so radically in the last 50 years that what was taken for granted 50 years ago can no longer be assumed. Truth is all relative, we’re told. Alternative facts are the go. Authority comes in various shapes and forms.
Mark 11:1-25 - Jesus Enters Jerusalem
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Jesus Enters Jerusalem audio
I wonder how many of you were around for the opening of Parliament house in Canberra in 1988. We were living in Canberra at the time so it was a big event for us. The weekend before we took part in a prayer walk around the Parliament House hill with thousands of other Christians, but the big event was the arrival of the Queen for the opening ceremony. People flocked to Parliament house to get a look at her. Schools took their students along – in fact our daughter Katherine was in the front of the crowd and was able to give her a rose as she went by. That really impressed her grandparents!
Well that’s a bit like what it must have been like when Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. The city was buzzing. The word had got around. Jesus, the great teacher and healer was coming to Jerusalem, despite the danger from the Jewish leaders. Word was that he'd even been talking about death, predicting that he was going to be crucified, and saying that people had to be willing to take up their cross if they wanted to follow him. But that hadn’t stopped him from teaching and healing people and he was still arguing with the Pharisees.
