Acts 9:1-30
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Are you a Tool? audio
I have a great collection of tools in my work shed. Most of them came from my father and grandfather though some I’ve bought for myself. Of course the fact that I have them there doesn’t necessarily mean they get used; or get used well when I do use them. But the ones I do use and can use well are the ones I particularly look after. I enjoy woodwork and so I have some good quality chisels and planes. But as many of you will know, a chisel or a plane aren’t much use unless they’re sharp and without chips in the blade. So I sharpen them regularly.
But we’re not here today to talk about my hobbies, we’re here to talk about witnessing to the gospel. So what have tools got to do with that? Well, as we’ll see in a moment God’s tools are people and he chooses to use the most unlikely of people as his tools in that task of sharing the gospel
I mean, who could be more unlikely than Saul? He hasn’t got a clue has he? I wonder if you’ve noticed over the past few weeks how there’s something of a theme of blindness and sight running through these chapters
Phil 1:12-3 - Priorities & Purpose
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Priorities & Purpose audio
Suffering
I guess we all know that there are two types of people in the world: pessimists and optimists. One sees the glass as half empty and the other sees it as half full. Actually there’s a third type –engineers and economists realise that the glass is twice as large as it needs to be, but we’ll forget them. Some people look on the things that go wrong in their life and feel defeated by them, while others look for the good things that have happened alongside the disaster.
Paul is one of the latter. Lots of bad things have happened to him but he remains positive, optimistic about the future. But perhaps some of us may need some background. Paul has been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for several years now, all the way from Jerusalem to Corinth and back, several times, and he’s faced significant opposition all the way – including in Philippi. On his last missionary journey he returned to Jerusalem knowing that the Jews there were plotting to kill him. When he was arrested he knew he wouldn’t get a fair hearing and in fact would probably be killed by the Jews, so he appealed to Caesar. That meant being sent in chains to Rome. On the way he’s experienced various hardships, including a violent storm at sea, culminating in a shipwreck during which he was almost put to death by his guard. And now he’s under house arrest in Rome, guarded night and day by members of the palace guard, awaiting trial and possible execution. But his circumstances haven’t worn him down.
Luke 15:11-32 - The Waiting Father
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Waiting Father audio
Today we’re thinking about fathers: we all have them; and they’re all different. For some, their father is someone to look up to, to be proud of. Some will feel greatly loved by their father. Others though, may not have known their father or may not have had much to do with him. Others again may be afraid of their father; or angry at him; for some of us our father is no longer alive and we miss him. Some of us may be fathers and, again, that may be a matter of great joy and pride or one of disappointment or even sadness – or a mix of both.
Whatever our situation, having a father, being a father, even knowing a father, means that we come to a service like this on Father’s day with a mix of thoughts and emotions.
But what I want to talk about today is a story about a son and a father: you may well have heard it before under the title, the Prodigal Son, but I’m calling it the Waiting Father.
The story is set in a rural area in the Middle East, where a man and his two sons are working a farming property.
One day the younger son comes to his father and says: “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” T
Ecclesiastes 7:1-20
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Is Wisdom Enough? audio
Wisdom is one of those things we all wish we had – especially in retrospect. It’s one of the things we try to teach our children. In fact that’s always been the case. The collection of sayings we find in Proverbs was apparently meant for training young people who might one day be leaders.
And we continue to use these sorts of saying today. I’m sure you heard them over and over again from your parents or your teachers as you were growing up: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Bad workmen blame their tools. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. All's fair in love and war. One of my favourites is "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Often these proverbs involve contrasts: Better late than never. Better safe than sorry. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread; Waste not, want not; or they’re simply pragmatic: "You can't take it with you." In fact I saw one in an Age headline last week: “Better to be good than happy”.
2 Tim 3:14 - 4:5 - Why Read The Bible
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
I wonder how many of you are old enough to remember a TV show called the Greatest American Hero. It was about an ordinary guy who encounters aliens, who’ve decided that earth’s in such a bad way it needs saving. So they give him a belt that gives him super powers. They also give him a set of instructions for using the belt but somehow he manages to lose them; and so he blunders from one adventure to another, never really working out how to control these new super powers. I mention that because it’s something of a parable of many Christians who’ve received the gift of the Holy Spirit, have been brought into the people of God, but they don’t really know how to live from then on, because they’ve forgotten to read the instruction manual. It’s not that they’ve lost the instructions but they’ve never stopped to read the details. In some cases they’ve never had their own copy of the instructions or the one they have isn’t readable because it’s in such old fashioned language. So, let me ask you,
Does it matter if I read my Bible regularly?
Hope At the Margins
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
This was the final in a series based on "Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission" by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.
At the margins?
It’s ironic that we’re talking about hope at the margins today, sitting in a church in the inner city. But of course we’re not talking about being at the margins geographically. We’re talking about socially, philosophically. We’re talking about our morals, our ethics, our worldview; we’re talking about the basis on which we make our decisions, live our lives. We’re talking about our belief systems, in particular our belief in a God who created and maintains the universe; and who’s intervened in our world to bring us salvation, redemption, freedom; who’s promised us the hope of glory in his presence forever.
All of that puts us far out from the centre of Australian society. You know we have this myth that Australia is a Christian country. Certainly much of our national ethos derives from Christian values: love your neighbour as yourself; do unto others as you’d have them do to you; justice and fairness for all; care for others in need. But the reality is that worshipping Christians have never been in the majority in Australia and our influence appears to get weaker every year.
The Trouble with Work
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Trouble with Work audio
[{Based on the book: Every Good Endeavour by Tim Keller}
Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing in this world can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. But of course he could have added work to that short list, couldn't he?
To reword a proverb recorded by Erasmus: “Work: you can’t live with it; and you can’t live without it.”
That’s the trouble with work. We want to do it. If you’ve ever been unemployed you’ll know how much you wish you had a job. I retired from being a Vicar about 12 months ago and it was great for about 3 weeks, then I started looking for things to do: because life quickly gets boring without any work to do.
But on the other hand, work is a pain; it’s often hard, or boring, or frustrating. Not that we should be surprised, if we’re familiar with the creation story from Gen 2-3.
