Talks by Tim Johnson
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Talks by Tim Johnson

St John’s Extra: The End of Suffering

The Christian faith, including the Christian understanding of suffering, centres on the good news of Jesus: his life, death and resurrection. Last episode we discussed the amazing truth that God experiences pain and suffering in the person of Jesus. God understands our suffering, not in a merely theoretical way, but experientially. But the Christian faith offers us more than a God who has experienced our pain. That is amazing and comforting but it doesn’t solve the problem of suffering and…

When will suffering end? || Tim Johnson || Job 42

When will it end? When we’re in the midst of suffering, it seems to go on forever. But today, we’ll see the end of Job’s suffering, as we also come to the end of the book of Job, and the end of this series on the problem of suffering. Connect with us a…

St John’s Extra: God’s experience of Suffering

The heart of the Christian faith is the good news about Jesus: his life, death and resurrection. It is this which shapes the Christian understanding of suffering too. Perhaps the key thing that Christians can say about suffering is that God is not remote or removed from human suffering. Christians believe that God himself took on human flesh in the person of Jesus. He lived as one of us, he experienced all the highs and lows of human existence, and…

St John’s Extra: Suffering within our Story

As we wrestle with the problem of suffering, we need to think about how suffering fits within the story that we are living in. Humans are storytellers and we understand the world we live in through a ‘big story’ (the fancy name is a metanarrative) which provides a framework for understanding and interpreting reality. For Christians, our big story is contained in the bible and the first two ‘episodes’ of this story helps us understand the problem of suffering in…

Are you allowed to shout at God? || Tim Johnson || Job 30

Jesus shouted “MY GOD MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!?” as he hung on the cross. But are we, as God’s created beings, allowed to talk to God in that way? Are we allowed to shout at God, get angry at God, lament with God? Connect with us at ➜ Website:…

St John’s Extra: Taking God out of the Equation

In these episodes of St John’s Extra we are wrestling with the problem of suffering. Last week we acknowledged that suffering is a real problem but not everyone would agree with this. For an atheist suffering is not a problem at all because it is just the way things are in a materialistic universe and there is no point trying to grapple with it and explain it. This is the way that the prominent atheist Richard Dawkins puts it: ‘In…

St John’s Extra: The Problem of Suffering

We need only look at a news feed or social media to see that the world is full of suffering. Around the world there are wars, violence, sickness, and starvation. There are natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis. Closer to home, we experience serious sickness and disability, relationship breakdown, and the death of people we love. Suffering is very real. The challenge for us as Christian people is how we respond to this suffering. Let’s be honest, it’s…

The Problem of Suffering || Tim Johnson || Job 1:1-2:10

You don’t have to look far to see suffering in our world. But how could an all-loving and all-powerful God allow suffering to continue?   Connect with us at ➜ Website: https://stjohnsdc.org.au ➜ Facebook: https://facebook.com/stjohnsdc ➜ Instagram: h…

Crazy Beliefs || Tim Johnson || Acts 25:23-26:32

Is it crazy to believe in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? Are the claims of Christianity too far flung to be reasonable, justifiable, and above all, true? That’s the question Paul was asked in his ongoing legal drama that we’re following through in …

Mission on Trial || Tim Johnson || Acts 24:1-27

Paul, who was Saul before he encountered the risen Jesus, was a busy man. He’s responsible for writing half of the booms found in the new testament of our bibles. The book of Acts follows his journey most closely, and today we’re picking up our long ru…
Dear Church Title

Dear Church || Tim Johnson || Revelation 1:1-20

Starting out a new year is a great time to find new rhythms – God-created ways to help us flourish.   Connect with us at ➜ Website: https://stjohnsdc.org.au ➜ Facebook: https://facebook.com/stjohnsdc ➜ Instagram: https://instagram.com/stjohnsdc  …