Matt 6:5-8 - What Shall We Pray
- Details
- Written by: Chris Appleby
What Shall We Pray audio
A few weeks ago Steve talked about why prayer is easy; then the following week Hannah explained why prayer is hard. I was away for that one but I’m sure what she said would have resonated with me. A regular and consistent prayer life is hard. But equally hard is knowing what and how to pray. There are so many needs in the world, so much going wrong; how do we decide what to pray about?
When you think about the great needs in the world do you feel guilty if you pray for something for yourself? For example, is it OK to pray for a parking spot when you’re going out to dinner or the theatre? Or is that bothering God with something that’s both trivial and self-centred? Well, I have to confess that I do pray for parking spots on occasion – and more often than not God seems to provide them.
But more seriously, what shall we pray about when we stop to pray? And what sort of shape might our prayers take?
Gen 45 - God's Providence
- Details
- 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
- Details
- 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
- Details
- 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
- Details
- 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
- Details
- 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.
Page 11 of 16
