Talks (Page 14)
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Talks (Page 14)

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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.

An Intergenerational Community

Kirk continues unpacking our new church vision, Vision 2022, looking at our desire to be an intergenerational community. Jesus asks his followers, “Who is my mother, and who is my brother?”. As Christians, we are all a part of God’s family, and should treat each other as such. Doing life together, with people from generations outside of your own, can be one of the best examples of Christian life. The bible reading for this talk is Matthew 12:46-50.

Know Jesus, Make Jesus Known

This week at our annual St John’s Training Day, senior minister Tim Johnson explores how we should consider our priorities, in the context of St John’s Vision 2022, when compared to knowing Jesus and making him known. In an example of this from the New Testament, Paul writes to the church in Philippi telling them of a choice he has come to make. A choice between knowing Jesus and everything else in his life. This week’s Bible reading is from Philippians 3:7-11.

Follow Me

In the fourth instalment of our Look at Jesus series, senior minister Tim Johnson explores the social connections we form with people of different faiths and the negative stigma around the Christian faith as he challenges us to always be ready to defen…

Come and See

This week, Delle Matthews continues our Look at Jesus series by following John the Baptist and his disciples as they follow Jesus. The Bible reading comes from John 1:35-42

Lamb of God

Our Look at Jesus series continues with Kirk exploring why John the Baptist would call Jesus the “Lamb of God”. What the heck does that mean? Kirk refers to the bible, John 1:29:34.

Who are you?

In her first sermon at St John’s, Robyn Delbridge kicks off our new series, Look at Jesus, picking up where our Christmas series left off, in the book of John. We meet John the Baptist, who is telling everyone he can about Jesus, who is about to start his public ministry. When asked by the religious leaders, John makes it clear that he isn’t the be all and end all, and that soon, someone even greater will be them.  The reference for this talk is John 1:19-28.