Romans 12:9a — “Let love be without dissimulation.” “Fake news” is a term that we’re all getting used to. It describes a real phenomenon that’s swirling around the world of social media and it’s also a term that certain politicians use to dismiss unflattering news stories. More than ever we need a healthy level of scepticism…
Matthew 5:13-16 — Since 1911, the census has collected information on religious affiliations and in 2016, for the first time, more Australians identified as having “no religion” than anything else. In 2006 it was 19% of the population who identified this way, in 2011 it was 22% and now it stands at 30%. This is a remarkable change…
Psalm 42 — Christians are not immune to seasons of discouragement and despondency. These are part of the human condition. Thankfully, God tells us how we can endure these seasons without losing all hope. Instead of listening to ourselves we need to start talking to ourselves. We need to do what the Psalmist does in this…
II Kings 3:4-15 — The kings of Israel, Judah and Edom were in big trouble. They had marched their armies for seven days into the wilderness and had run out of water. They were now ripe for defeat by the forces of Moab. In desperation, a prophet was called for and by God’s good providence…
Various Texts — What are we saying about God’s sovereignty when we are cynical? What are we saying about his goodness? Or His promises? In the first part of our study we learned that cynicism is a love problem, in this second part, we learn that it’s a faith problem as well. Cynicism reveals a deficient…
I Corinthians 13:7 — Cynicism is the inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest. A cynical person is overly skeptical, constantly distrustful and generally pessimistic. We live at a deeply cynical time in history. People are more distrustful and contemptuous of institutions than ever before. Unfortunately this attitude can find its way into…
I Kings 21:1-16 — Letters had come from the queen to the elders of Jezreel. It was her wish that an innocent man be falsely accused and executed. They complied and Naboth died. Why did these leaders do what Jezebel wanted? How will we respond when we are pressured to do something that violates our…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 — How should a Christian think about time? Our life unfolds as a series of events in linear succession. This movement from beginning to end is inescapable. We are, as it were, bound by time and yet we think about realities outside of time. Why is it that we have a sense of…
Various Texts — One of the beautiful things we see in the Gospels is Jesus’ great compassion. In this sermon, we consider five occasions where Jesus was moved with compassion in the course of His public ministry. We discover that the circumstances that touched His heart, are circumstances we all experience at some point in our…
Matthew 5:43-48 — Of all the things that Jesus calls us to do, loving our enemies is perhaps the hardest! It goes right against our natural desires. We want to repay the evil done to us with evil and not with good! At the same time Jesus gave us this command, He taught us that when…