Talks (Page 13)
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Talks (Page 13)

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Strangers || Elect Exiles || 1 Peter 1:1-2

Over the next 9 weeks, we’ll be reading through the first letter Peter wrote to early Christians, scattered throughout the known world- included in the Bible as the book of 1 Peter.  Peter was the leader of the early church, the first to realise that Jesus was and is the Son of God. Peter still though, was human. Peter denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, claiming not to know him, nor be his follower. Regardless, Jesus forgives and restores Peter to his identity as a follower of Jesus, and as the leader of the church.  This letter from Peter is addressed to “elect exiles”; what does this identity mean for Christians? Sam explores who this letter was written to then, and how that can still identify us today.

Strangers || Feed My Sheep || John 21:15-19

We’ve all got stories of times we’ve failed in our lives. Whether it’s leaving the Salmon out of a Salmon Tortilla, or leaving $200 in cash in an ATM. Tim looks at the failure of Peter, one of the key leaders of the early church, when he denies knowing Jesus three times just as Jesus is arrested and crucified. Jesus knows our failures, he isn’t surprised by them, or unaware of them: he knows everything we’ve done in our lives. BUT Jesus knows about these failures, and forgives Peter, just as he forgives us, giving Peter a new life, with new purpose.  This biography of Peter’s failure and life serves as an introduction to our new series, Strangers Far From Home, looking through the book of 1 Peter, an open letter written by Peter to believers scattered throughout the world.  

Mission Partners || The Heart of God || Luke 18:28-30

“If you take the work of God’s mission out of the Bible, all you’re left with is a front and back cover.” Kat Shields takes a look at what mission looks like and finds that for the most part, it is ordinary. An ordinary life, saturated with gospel intentionality- a commitment to building relationships modelling Jesus, and talking about faith as a natural part of conversation.  Kat is a regular member of our Sunday evening service, bringing us this talk from Luke 18.

Mission Partners || Anglican Overseas Aid || Luke 10:25-37

As a church, we’re proud to support a number of excellent organisations across the world. We give 15% of our offerings to missions, including Anglican Overseas Aid. Their CEO, Bob Mitchell joins us, sharing about their work in Syria, as well as reflecting on the story of the Good Samaritan- asking who is our neighbour?

Joy In Your Life || Stand Firm in the Lord || Philippians 4:1-23

The final section of Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi packs a whole bunch of great points into a pretty short section. Tim manages to squish seven talks worth of tips from Paul into just one! Paul gives us seven things to help us “stand firm” in Jesus. Both Paul and Jesus knew of the challenge that many people go through, with the burden of worry and anxiety. Paul speaks to this in his letter, and Tim lends his thoughts and experiences to the reality of anxiety in our lives.  If you or someone you know struggles with anxiety to an extreme, reach out to someone for help. You can always call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Joy In Your Life || It’s All Rubbish || Philippians 3:1-11

If you’ve done enough “good things” in your life, you get to go to the Good Place, right? And if you haven’t done enough “good things”, then you’ll go to the Bad Place, right? God says no! The only right way to be right with God is through a relationship with Jesus. It’s not about the things that you do in your life, it’s all about Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians even says it’s not about Jesus PLUS anything. It isn’t about Jesus plus these few key things, or traditions; it’s just about putting your faith in Jesus. If you think you’ve done too many bad things, so many that God can’t love you, to put it plainly: you are wrong. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus can receive God’s love and forgiveness.

Joy In Your Life || Work Out Your Salvation || Philippians 2:12-30

Our journey through Paul’s first-century letter to the church in Philippi continues this week, exploring a slightly unusual phrase: “…work out your salvation…”. Tim looks at what this phrase doesn’t mean, to try to understand what it does mean.  What do we do in our lives to ‘work out our salvation’? Tim offers a framework in his talk, which you can find here.

Joy In Your Life || Humility || Philippians 2:1-11

UPDATED: Apologies, as we originally used the wrong audio for this episode. Call it a lesson in humility. Continuing our series through Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi, Tim explores what Paul says about humility. Paul makes it clear that if you’re a Christian, you’ve received love and acceptance through Jesus, before you’ve done anything at all. Our reaction to that, though, our response to God for uniting himself with us, it to be united with others. If it’s true that we’re loved by God, we should be loving others. If we have the Spirit of God within us, we should be united with others through that same Spirit.  In response to Jesus, we necessarily need to live differently. 

Joy In Your Life || All about Jesus || Philippians 1:12-30

Do you have a mate (or maybe yourself), who is fully devoted to something? Do they use every spare moment to work on their cricket skills? Are they like a sheepdog, focused on herding the flock?   Paul, the author of this letter to the church in Philippi, was fully devoted to persecuting Christians, throwing them in jail, and giving them a hard time. That was until he had an encounter with Jesus, and turned his devotion to the spreading of the good news of Jesus. Paul laid his life bare for Jesus, willing to give up his freedom (he’s writing this letter from prison), and willing to give up his reputation – Paul says that he’d be happy for people to be preaching the Gospel even if they do it in a way that brings Paul harm; as l […]

Partners in the Gospel || Philippians 1:1-11

When you think about Christians, how would you describe them? Would you think that they’re judgmental? Bigot? Do-gooder? Paul, in the first century, wrote a letter to a new church in Philippi, saying that believers should be characterised by the joy in their lives. Throughout the book of Philippians, Paul uses the word joyful, or rejoice, over and over again.  Paul says that we can find joy in ‘partnership’ in the Gospel. He finds joy in the fact that both he and those in Philippi are on the same team, sharing the good news of Jesus. Tim Johnson looks at some of our mission partners, and how we can be finding joy in those partnerships.

Come and See: Lost and Far Away

When Julie was 17 years old, she lived in a Buhdist temple in Thailand. She learnt of compassion, and elements of Buhdism, as well as the power of positive thinking, and even dabbling in palm reading.  Julie’s outward picture looks pretty good: a successful career, a dynamic social life, Julie saw the world as her stomping ground, and was stomping proudly. Though her life on the surface seemed positive and strong, living in China for a time threw a number of challenges at her, and she found all those positive things she had relied on brought no relief or support. Julie found her support in a Christian family, and the way that they lived out their faith, to love God and to love others. She was stunned that they not only believed that, but lived it out! Christianity is about more than being a good person though- it’s about a relationship with the God that loves you!

Freedom

If you don’t have much experience of church, or Jesus, this talk is for you. Kirk shares some stories about how he came to be standing up talking about Jesus to people, his experiences around Christianity and how he came to follow Jesus. This episode features a clip from The I.T. Crowd. The I.T. Crowd is ©Channel 4 2006-2013

Sharing Jesus Course Sneak Peek

For four weeks, starting last week, St John’s is hosting author Stephen Abbott, as he leads a course about sharing Jesus in everyday ways. This episode is a snippet of week one of the course, which continues on Wednesdays until May 16th. If your interest has been piqued, you can join the course by registering at https://stjohnsdc.org.au/notices. Payment can be made for the course’s handbook online, or in person at the events.

The Resurrection of Jesus – Fishermen

Jesus’ resurrection is real. Jesus’ resurrection is miraculous. Jesus’ resurrection is about relationship.   Tim takes a look at John 21:1-14, and the third time the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples. In this somewhat ordinary time, the disciples go fishing, and then have breakfast with Jesus. But this simple story shows us somewhat profoundly what the resurrection of Jesus is about.  If Jesus is really risen from the dead, and if he is really with us now, what would you say to him? Maybe you’d say, “Jesus, I do believe you rose from the dead, and I want to start following you.”, or maybe you’d say “Jesus, I don’t know if you’re real or not, but if you are, show me!”, or if you’re already a follower of Jesus, you’d ask him for help with something you’re struggling with, or you’d thank him for something great in your life. Jesus is alive. The resurrection isn […]

The Resurrection of Jesus – Transformation

After Easter, Jesus hung around for a while. This mini-series follows the Resurrected Jesus as he meets with his disciples and transforms their lives. Sam begins our series looking at how Jesus took the fear of the disciples, and turned it into peace a…

By His Wounds We Are Healed

Jesus is risen! Easter Sunday celebrates the new life we have in Jesus; but to get to that new life, Jesus had to be broken. This revelation of the resurrection was first encountered by Mary Magdalene, and Simon Peter. In this talk, Julie looks at the …

Good Friday – The Servant

Superheroes are huge at the moment. 2700 years ago, a prophet named Isaiah wrote about someone who would come and save the world; but unlike Superman, Batman, and the Flash, who are obviously super, Isaiah’s hero is named The Servant. This ordinary character doesn’t sound impressive, nor like they could save the world. Yet at Easter, we remember this person, this factual person, Jesus.  The greatest outrage of our nation this year has been focused towards the Australian Cricket Team, and their faults and failings. The players broke the rules, and went against the spirit of the game, and have been harshly criticised by people who themselves, have undoubtedly bent or broken rules to their own benefit. No body does the right thing, all the time. No one! This is why we all need the hero of the Servant, of Jesus. We don’t need to earn forgiveness, as God offers it freely through Jesus Christ, and his death on Good Friday.

The Servant – Obedient

Kirk wraps up our series on the prophecies of Isaiah, and the character of The Servant. Isaiah 50:4-11 speaks of the Servant being obedient, even to death, and that they are to be obeyed, in the same way that God is to be obeyed. The Servant, who we living so far in the future from these prophecies know to be Jesus, is said to bring a light into dark places. God doesn’t promise to make life easy for Christians, and the Christian faith isn’t one of earning God’s love, but accepting God’s freely given gift. God does promise to love us, though, and be with us in those dark places, and tough life circumstances we might find ourselves in.

A Light to All Nations

Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born, that a figure called the “Servant” would come. In Isaiah 49:1-13, it seems as though this Servant is the nation of Israel; but at the same time, is going to restore Israel. This Servant will also restore the entire Earth, all the nations, and show God’s compassion to everyone. Tim looks at how we as a Church are likewise called to serve the nations beyond our own walls.

The Servant – Justice

Some 700 years before Jesus, a guy named Isaiah wrote about a mysterious person called “The Servant of the Lord”. Tim begins this series looking at the Servant being the one to bring justice to the world. Chapter 42 of Isaiah is applied directly to Jesus in the book of Matthew, referring to Jesus as the Servant who God has chosen, and it is this passage which Tim focuses on in this talk. 

Loving Like Jesus

In this week’s episode, Tim looks at the first point of our Church Vision, to “Love Like Jesus”. Love is thrown around in our culture all the time, and something that everyone gets on board with. Jesus shows us a much deeper way of loving though. Christian love doesn’t come naturally or easily, and involves massive personal sacrifice. God is love, God loves us, and if we love one another, God lives in us.  The bible reading for this talk is 1 John 4:7-12.