We meet at 10:30am every Sunday (9:30am on Good Friday and Christmas Day) on the corner of Forest and MacKenzie Streets, Bendigo. You can also catch us on 105.1 Life FM, each Sunday at 9am.
We confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice in the salvation He freely gives His people by His grace. In response to God’s goodness in this way, we seek to love God in return and seek to share what we have come to know with the people of Bendigo and surrounds.
Are you searching for more about this salvation, what it means to be a Christian or what is so good about the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus? We’d love to meet you and answer any questions you have. Or maybe you have something you’d like us to pray about? Why not contact us and let us know?
Together with Eaglehawk PC and Reforming, Bendigo East PC, we form the three Presbyterian ‘sister’ churches in Bendigo.
In May of this year, it will be 20 years since the rescue of the trapped miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell was unfolding in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. After having been given up for dead because of the thick rock that kept the men from freedom, in the course of time, they were rescued from their captivity and the watching world sighed with relief! Throughout the whole ordeal and after, tribute was rightly paid to the rescuers who toiled tirelessly to reach the men in extreme circumstances and at great risk to themselves. A movie of it was made too!!
The mine rescue story reminds us of another rescue story, an even better one. The Bible tells us that ‘all men have sinned’ (Romans 3:23) and that because of this we are unable to save ourselves. All of us are ‘trapped’ in the cage of our own sinful natures and all are in need of a Rescuer. Jesus Christ is that Rescuer. At great cost to Himself and to rescue His people, He died upon a cross and was buried and then, to prove that His work was sufficient and accepted by God, and that He was and is the Son of God, God raised Him from the grave after three days, appointing Him to be the “Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).
We all need to be rescued – especially from the coming Judge! Every time Easter comes around, it’s a great opportunity to be reminded that only Jesus Christ can be the Rescuer that we need. Through faith in Him, all who believe are granted full and free salvation. He said, ‘If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed’. (John 8:36). Seek Him. Great joy will follow your rescue too.
In this message, Ryan Smith (AFES worker at La Trobe Uni, Bendigo) shares how as the people of God, believers should expect to be hated by the world… because the world hates Jesus. It’s hate by association. Jesus tells his disciples this in John 15:18-16:4 and he does this ahead of time so that those disciples won’t be surprised and to help them persevere and not give up, either following Him, or sharing Him. It’s what believers today also need to hear and know.
Message
Outline
Are you ever tempted to give up?
Christians will be HATED (15:18-25)
The world will hate Christians
Because the world hates Jesus
Because it doesn’t know God
Even so, Christians must TESTIFY (15:26-27)
The Spirit testifies
The Apostles’ testifying
Our testifying
Jesus says this so that Christians won’t give up! (16:1-4)