There’s something wrong when the water is in the boat, or when the world is in the church. In this last message from ‘Sundays@Six’ for 2012, Rev Philip Burns highlights the real issue from James 4 and where the solution to it all lies.
Sermons
‘Wisdom: The good and the deadly’ (James 3:13-18)
When is wisdom not wisdom? When it’s the wrong kind of wisdom! Did you know that there is such a thing as heavenly and earthly wisdom? Can you tell them apart? James enables us to do just that…
‘Chasing after the wind’ (Ecclesiastes 1:1-18)
Commander Mike Oborn RAN, Executive Officer of HMAS Cerberus preached this message at the Annual Seafarer’s service based on Ecclesiastes 1. Mike spoke of how life can present itself as meaningless without God at the centre, and, with illustrations from his Navy career told of how the message of the book of Ecclesiastes (which presents life in this negative view) reinforces how our need to be right with our Creator.
‘Taming your tongue’ (James 3:1-12)
In tackling these verses from James 3, Joel Thomas reminds us that what we say is a big deal. Words can hurt and destroy when they should encourage and uplift. And the problem is our all at the tip of our tongues! It’s not enough to just keep our tongues from ‘speaking evil’. They should also ‘do good’ to others and promote the gospel.
‘A Pharisee, a tax collector and an Australian stand before God’ (Luke 18:9-14)
Russ Grinter’s message on Luke 18 concerns the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. Jesus told this parable to warn those who trusted in themselves and looked down upon others, or in other words, the self-righteous. Because ‘God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble’, it was the tax-collector and not the Pharisee who received the grace that saves. Even within our increasingly secular Australia, self-righteousness still remains and it is still a barrier to receiving the salvation that God offers.
‘The Apostle Paul’s view on the eldership’ (Acts 20:13-38)
The text of Acts 20 concerns Paul’s meeting with the elders from Ephesus and his parting words to them. From this we can glean what Paul understood to be the role of an elder in God’s church. The elder is to minister to people with sincerity, handle the truth of the Word of God with care and protect the flock of God’s people with truth. No-one is perfectly suited to this high calling in themselves, yet this does not negate the fact the God calls and appoints men to lead His people. In the end being like Jesus the Chief Shepherd is what makes a man suitable for this noble task.
‘A tale of two donkeys’ (Numbers 22)
Rev Hugh Price preached from Numbers 22 concerning the wayward prophet Balaam who had to be restrained from doing evil by his own donkey whom God enabled to speak.
‘Of snakes and salvation’ (Numbers 21:4-9)
The text of Numbers 21 concerns the snakes that bit the people of Israel after they grumbled against Moses and the Lord. In an act that would foreshadow the salvation that Jesus would bring, Moses lifted up a bronze snake upon a pole and all who looked to it were healed and kept from certain death. Jesus spoke of this in John 3:15-18 and said that He would be lifted up (on the cross) and all who look to Him in faith will be saved.
‘Faith: the real and the not so real’ (James 2:14-26)
Faith is a concept that both unbelievers and believers can struggle with. This part of the book of James tackles the question of faith head on, showing that genuine faith will be seen and shown by deeds. No deeds will mean that there is no faith present or even that we have the faith of demons (whose belief in God leads them to do no more than quake in their boots!). So how do faith and deeds sit together? James points to the examples of Abraham and Rahab so that we might know!
‘The fall of a great man’ (Numbers 20:1-13)
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