Author: Philip

‘Joy in trials’ (James 1:1-8)

AudioPhilip

In this message, Ryan Smith applies James 1:1-8 to our daily experience of the ‘trials of life’ which always bring to the surface our most desperate need for wisdom!

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: Standing on the Promises
00:18 Introduction
00:31 Prayer
08:09 Bible reading: Romans 8:26-39
Song: Be Unto Your Name
10:42 Bible reading: James 1:1-8
Song: Grace Unmeasured
Sermon: James 1:1-8
Song: Teach Me Your Way
11:51 Closing

Outline

Introduction: An extended season of trials

  1. How to think about trials (v2-4)
    Count it joy (v2)
    Because they’re ‘perfecting’ us (v3-4)
  2. What to do in the midst of trials (5-8)
    Ask God for wisdom (v5)
    NOT doubting? (v6)
    Double-minded and unstable?? (v8)
    God gives generously! (v5)
  3. Joy and wisdom in God’s most generous gift
    Wisdom in Christ (Col 2:1-3)
    Jesus’ joy in the cross (Heb 12:2)
    God’s most generous gift (Romans 8:31-39)

Pray with us for our nation and the election!

Philip
The upcoming federal election in May will, in many ways, shape and define the future of our country. But so too will the prayers of God’s people! Proverbs 21:3 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

Come and join us as we pray together to the Lord for our nation and election. We’ll be meeting on Saturday May 7 and Saturday May 14 from 10am-12noon in our ‘Upper Room’ (meeting room off the church hall, enter through the car park door). Of course, you are welcome to pray at home if you can’t come. (If you intend to do this, why not let us know?)

‘All of God’s free grace’ (Luke 18:9-14)

AudioPhilip

In this message, Rev Peter Phillips reminds us that in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14, Jesus gives us a very clear picture of how salvation is never earned or merited, but is always given freely by God to those who are undeserving. It is the not the self-righteous ‘good’ who make it in God’s eyes, but those who come to Him in complete humility and repentance. All this, is of course, a gift of God’s free grace.

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: And Can It Be
00:17 Introduction
00:35 Prayer
03:30 Bible reading: 2 Chronicles 33:1-20
Song: We Are His People
08:31 Kids’ Talk – Colin Buchanan (with thanks to Compassion)
18:08 Bible reading: Luke 18:9-14
Song: Jesus Strong and Kind
Sermon: Luke 18:9-14
Song: Rock of Ages
19:19 Closing

‘An empty tomb, a blatant lie and a message for the world’ (Matthew 28:1-20)

AudioPhilip

When the women first went to the tomb where Jesus has been buried on that first Easter Sunday morning, they never expected to find Him alive. But when Matthew records in Matthew 28:1-20 that Jesus was alive, this changed everything. While they worshipped Him by falling down at His feet, the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb (and saw what happened) and the Jewish authorities were meeting together to spread misinformation about the truth. But no lie can stop the truth, and the whole universe is now under the Lordship on Jesus!

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
00:17 Introduction
00:43 Prayer
04:20 Bible reading: Matthew 27:57-28:7
Song: In Christ Alone
07:06 Kids’ Talk – Colin Buchanan (with thanks to Compassion)
14:42 Bible reading: Matthew 28:1-20
Song: Never Alone
Sermon: Matthew 28:1-20
Song: Thine Be the Glory
17:02 Closing

Outline

• If the gospels ended at the cross…
• The resurrection is the great game changer
• Three scenes in the text
• See how Matthew tells us of…

  1. Feet worth touching (v.1-10)
  2. Lies worth telling (v.11-15)
  3. Commands worth keeping (v.16-20)

A choice to be made… which will be yours?

‘Tried before Pilate, mocked by soldiers, crucified before all’ (Matthew 27:11-44)

AudioPhilip

Matthew’ gospel continues to record the ‘things that happened to Jesus’ in Matthew 27:11-44. His sufferings did not end with His denial and betrayal or His arrest and trial, but also extended right up to and including His death on the cross. Matthew records all these things to make it doubly clear that Jesus was innocent of all crime and all sin. That He was the One who was ‘the righteous’ who died for the unrighteous’, to ‘bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18)

Outline

• Where we are in Matthew 26
• Vivid, remembered details
• Three scenes in the text
• See how Matthew tells us of…

  1. Jesus on trial before Pilate (v.11-26)
  2. Jesus on show before the soldiers (v.27-32)
  3. Jesus on the cross before the world (v.33-44)

All this… at great expense to Himself… for you!

‘Hardened unbelievers, failing and remorseful disciples’ (Matthew 26:57-27:10)

AudioPhilip

After Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested and separated from His disciples, the Bible tells us that they all forsook Him and fled. All but one. Peter followed, but at a distance. And through the providence of God, Peter found a way to be nearer to Jesus than the rest of the disciples were… nearer, but sadly, further away from Him. Being close up to Jesus didn’t help Peter at all. It just magnified his weakness. It showed up what he wasn’t made of. He had professed that he would die with jesus, but he couldn’t even testify that he was one of His disciples! Poor Peter… but poor us when we think and act as if we have more strength that we do!

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: There Is a Fountain
00:17 Introduction
00:39 Prayer
05:27 Bible reading: Isaiah 53
Song: Jesus Paid It All
07:41 Kids’ Talk
Song: Jesus Didn’t Sin
13:11 Bible reading: Matthew 26:57-27:10
Song: Jesus Thank You
Sermon: Matthew 26:57-27:10
Song: Man of Sorrows
16:50 Closing

Outline

• Where we are in Matthew 26
• A downward spiral begins
• The changing scenes before the reader
• See how Matthew tells us of…

  1. The threats of many witnesses testifying against Him (v.57-68)
  2. The tragedy of one disciple who denied Him (v.69-75)
  3. The fate of one disciple who betrayed Him (v.1-10)

See the Saviour in the midst of enemies and failures!

‘Trials, submission and victory in the garden’ (Matthew 26:36-56)

AudioPhilip

Was there ever a scene so poignant as the time that Jesus spent in the garden of Gethsemane right before the cross? The gospel writers make much of this, as we find in Matthew 26:36-56. The text tells us that Jesus struggled with the enormity of the ‘cup’ placed before Him by the Father, which He must take and drink. It wasn’t out of fear of pain or death that he recoiled from drinking it. Not at all. But He knew that on drinking it, He would face separation from His Father. And yet (thanks be to God), He obeyed! What a wonderful Saviour!

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: Holy Holy Holy
00:17 Introduction
00:38 Prayer
04:52 Bible reading: Jeremiah 25:8-17
Song: Jerusalem
06:40 Kids’ Talk
Song: Jesus Rose to Pray
11:49 Bible reading: Matthew 26:36-56
Song: My Hope Rests Firm
Sermon: Matthew 26:36-56
Song: When I Survey
15:14 Closing

Outline

• The garden
• Extreme trial for Jesus
• The ‘heavy load he chose to bear’…
• See how Matthew tells us of…

  1. The sorrow of Jesus (v.36-42)
  2. The submission of Jesus (v.43-46)
  3. The betrayal of Jesus (v.47-56)

Victory won – before the cross!
‘I have come to do Your will, O God’

Good Friday: God’s love for the ‘ugly’

Philip

‘Reality’ TV shows about how plastic surgery changes the way people look, are to me, only mildly interesting. They seem to portray a sad reflection on a society that is so obsessed with image. As they say, ‘beauty is only skin deep’. It’s superficiality at its best. Dying on the cross on that first Good Friday, Jesus wasn’t a pretty sight. He was beaten, tortured and naked. But the Bible holds out his death to us as the most amazing thing God has ever done for us! (See Romans 5:8) So why this death on a cross? To make us new on the inside! The Bible says of those who trust in Jesus, that they are ‘a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17) This Easter, forget about image. Seek the One who loved you enough to die and rise for you even when you were His ugly enemy. Join us on Good Friday at 9:30am to hear the message of His transforming grace!

‘Some shock news, a significant meal and a daring pronouncement’ (Matthew 26:17-35)

AudioPhilip

The scene at the Last Supper as recorded in Matthew 26:17-35 is so full of significance. Much could be (and has been!) written about the event which connected the Passover to this institution of the new covenant by Jesus. But what happened after the Last Supper is also important for setting the scene that would take place in the garden of Gethsemane, and this specifically concerns Peter, who, on hearing what was about to take place, boldly claimed to ‘even die with Jesus’. Poor Peter… but yes, how many times have you and I been like him?

Service

00:00 Welcome
Song: Praise to the Lord
00:18 Introduction
00:39 Prayer
03:35 Bible reading: Zechariah 13:1-9
Song: Be Unto Your Name
05:38 Kids’ Talk
Song: I Can’t Save Myself
10:09 Bible reading: Matthew 26:17-35
Song: How Deep the Father’s Love
Sermon: Matthew 26:17-35
Song: This Life I Live
12:33 Closing

Outline

• Where we are in Matthew 26
• The calm before the coming storm
• The focus switches to Jesus and the eleven
• See how Matthew tells us of…

  1. The astonishing news that He broke to them (v.17-25)
  2. The memorable meal he shared with them (v.26-29)
  3. The bold pronouncement made to Him (v.30-35)

The disciples… what a mixed bag!
Remember who we are and whose we are…