Burleigh Church Podcast

The book of Romans is a letter to the church in Rome, which was experiencing difficult divisions over how best to live out their faith. Paul wrote this letter to help resolve these tensions before he arrived in Rome en-route to further missions. Join Steve as he looks at the big questions this book asks us today. (Apologies for the sound gremlins.)

With the end of our series on Mark, Steve reflects on what God is doing, not just in Burleigh, but around the world, and how we might join in. Join him as he explores the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and communities.

Was Jesus boxed in by the grave? Are we trying to box him in ourselves, in our lives? Join Steve as he celebrates Easter Sunday with this message of Jesus' triumph over the greatest box of all: death.

What are you wasting your life on? Join Steve as he explores how we waste our lives on the wrong things, and how we can waste our lives on the right things. Waste our lives on the right things? Yes, listen to find out what that means...

In Mark 12 Jesus reveals the core of the gospel: two actions that transform your being. Another way of looking at these commands is to ask the question: what is capturing your heart right now? Join Matt as he presents this simple and profound challenge.

Join Jacob as he unpacks just what Jesus means when he enters Jerusalem on a donkey. This simple act has resounded down through the ages, and has profound impacts in our own lives, if we are brave enough to let it.

Who is Jesus? Does it even matter? Join Graham as he works through Mark 8 to explore the powerful reality of Jesus' identity. If Jesus is who he said he was, and who he showed himself to be, then our lives can never be the same.

As recorded in Mark 2-3, Jesus does not muck about as he begins his ministry. Rather he starts at full strength, refusing to ease either himself or his audiences into the radical changes he was demanding. Join Malcolm as he explores why and how Jesus was so confrontational, and what impacts that might have on our lives today, two thousand years later.

What is prayer, and why is it so important? Join Steve as he unpacks why we need to pray more. This message starts with prayer (for our youth leaders), because we need to pray more.

In the first chapter of Mark, Jesus is baptised, tested, and calls his first disciples. Is there anything we can learn from this? Join Matt as he shares the process Jesus goes through and how it may apply to us.

In the Wizard of Oz (spoiler alert) the great Wizard turns out to be little old guy manipulating things from behind a curtain. In his account of Jesus, called a "gospel" (good news) Mark dares to draw back the curtain to reveal behind the scenes of Jesus' ministry. Is this, like the Wizard of Oz, a disappointment? Join Steve to find out...

Everyone is a disciple of something. So how do we avoid falling into discipleship of the world, and instead be genuine disciples of Jesus? Join Steve as he shows how we might abide in Jesus to grow as his disciples, and to make new disciples.

On Australia Day we look back to look forward. As Christians, in the month named after the two-faced Roman god Janus, how do we look back and forward? Join Ian as he explores the guidance the Bible give us for this important practice.

At the very end of his ministry here on earth, right before ascending into heaven, Jesus returned to Galilee with the small band of disciples he had started with, and he commissioned them. This act utterly changed the world--no country is free of its effects. So what was it, and why is it still important? Join Graham as he explores the Great Commission and its relationship to us today.

Christian faith centres around an historical event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As such, if that event did not happen, our faith is not merely meaningless, it is toxic. But if that event did happen, then everything changes! So is our faith supported by the evidence? Join James as he walks through three significant areas the demonstrate why we should all hold to Christian faith.

Our emotions are not simply unhelpful, rather they are God-given faculties which can be used along with our reasoning to help us to love God. Join Malcolm as he explores how we can manage dangerous emotions and press into helpful ones to better love God and others in 2025.

Christmas is all about gifts, right? Why is that, though? Join Steve as he unwraps the greatest gift ever given. A gift that our palid imitations will never quite live up to, and yet a gift that lifts them and everything we do onto a higher level. The gift of Christ.

The Magi travelled far from the east to find the newborn king in Bethlehem. And yet, when these ultimate out-of-towners encountered the situation in Judea, they responded with wisdom and grace. How did they manage that? Join Steve as he unpacks the secret of the Magi eye.

In 2024, Coke thinks what the world needs is more Santas (and Cokes), but Steve thinks there is something a bit more useful than that. Jesus established a church which sends its people out into the world to make new disciples. And the church does that through more than mere advertising and exhortation. Perhaps that's what the world really needs? Join Steve as he explains why (and how).

The good news doesn't stop once you've encountered Jesus and received his life-changing gift. Rather, that is the beginning of a journey. A journey with all the characteristics of any good story: peril, conflict, triumph, failure, and ultimately, a happy ending. But to get to that happy ending, we must be renewed. Join Steve as he explores how that might work in our lives.

We were created good, but rebelled against from our creator and fell. What happens now? Amazingly, what happens is that the person we treated with such contempt comes to our rescue! How could such a rescue happen? Join Steve as he dives deep into the amazing grace of Jesus' mission on earth--a mission to rescue us from Satan, sin, suffering and our own rebellion. (Apologies for the strange distortion at the end of the recording.)

Conflict is endemic in our world: beauty marred by agony. Conflict makes for great drama, but is it just conflict that excites us? In the third chapter of the Bible, we find the origin of all conflict. What really happened? How could this ancient conflict still be resounding eons later? Join Malcolm as he explores the epochal story of Adam and Eve at the tree of knowledge.

We are all shaped by the stories we listen to and invest in. How our stories explain the world define how we engage with the world. What is the Bible's story? How does it define the world, and how does it influence the way we live? Join Steve as he starts this series exploring these foundational themes of the Christian Worldview.

In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul addresses claims that he is not a true apostle by pointing to his suffering for the Gospel, and the way he still has hope. And his hope is not a faint, wishful hope, but a true confidence in the promises of God. How does he manage that; how can we manage that in the midst of our world's troubles? Join James as he delights in this profound letter.

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, continues the strange genre of the book of Daniel with what are called "apocraphyl" prophecies. How are we to understand this? What does it have to say to us? Join Graham as he unravels this mystery.

Anxiety is an increasingly distressing reality for Australians. Why, when we are increasingly safe and protected, are we increasingly worried? Jesus and the Apostle Paul have some powerful insights about anxiety and how to respond to it. Join Malcolm as he unpacks these encouraging and transforming passages of Scripture.

Burleigh is a church that desires and models following Jesus and working with him to transform lives. Join Steve as he unpacks that and invites congregation members to share how that's happening in their lives.

In Daniel 7, the book takes a strange turn as we enter Daniel's own dreams, filled with weird imagery. This type of literature is called "apocalyptic," which refers to how its secret meanings can be "uncovered." Join Steve as he guides us in how to unpack these meanings, which are still relevant for us today.

Daniel 6 contains the iconic story of Daniel and the lion's den. Does this story mean that we, too can escape certain death through faith in God? Of course not! It's meaning is much deeper and more profound than that. Join Steve as he delves deep into this surprisingly complex account.

In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar encounters the power of the God of Israel for a third and final time. What is God trying to teach this great king? What does Nebuchadnezzar learn? What can we learn, today, from this clash of human empire and divine sovereign? Join Malcolm as he delves into the drama of Daniel chapter 4.

In his parable of the talents, Jesus describes three servants who are each given responsibility for a different amount of money. How does this apply to us, Jesus' modern-day followers? What are our "talents," and how are we to use them? Join Jacob (and some surprise guests) as he unpacks this important teaching of Jesus.

When the leader of the mighty Babylonian empire creates a powerful symbol of his dominance, and demands that everyone bow down, no-one expects rebellion. Especially not rebellion from priviledged imigrants. And yet that's what we see from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. What is driving them? What can we learn from their situation and the way they handle it? Join Steve as he unpacks this timeless story of rebellion and obedience.

No sooner are Daniel and his friends installed as mystical advisors to the king, than they are sentenced to death for the other advisors not being able to explain a dream to the king. The way that Daniel responds to this life-and-death challenge reveals not only his character, but the reality of his God, as well. Join Steve as he unpacks how we, too, can live wise, tactful lives in the midst of the deadly tantrums of culture.

In Daniel we encounter brave Jews, young men who are pressured by great empires to conform and obey, but who, longing for home, resist the pressure and remain faithful to God. What can we learn from these young men? Join Steve as he begins this journey into resistance and faith.

Jesus finishes his masterpiece sermon on the mount with a simple story that has almost become a children's story. But the parable of the two builders is not childish, but rather profound. Join Adam to find out how this story can transform us as he wraps up his rock-foundationed time at Burleigh with this final sermon.

The final beatitude Jesus shares at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount is "blessed are the persecuted." Why would we be persecuted, and how can that be good? Join Graham as he unpacks this counter-intuitive observation from Jesus. There are two clips in this sermon (removed from the podcast to avoid copyright infringement), the first from Ray Comfort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiKB-_N_a5Q and the second is from Mar Mari Emmanuel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c45e2bFmyYo

Jesus tells us in his beatitudes that "blessed are the peacemakers." But what is peace, what is a peacemaker? In a strife-torn world, one of the problems that makes peace so hard to achieve is our profound misunderstanding of the source of peace. Join Adam as he explores what peace truly is, and so how we may be peacemakers in a storm-tossed world.

Simon Ward shares encouragement along with some of the important work Compassion is doing in partnership with Burleigh Church of Christ and other Gold Coast churches in Salatiga, Indonesia.

Who are the pure in heart, and why and how do they see God? Join Malcolm as he unpacks this deceptively simple beatitude, exploring topics as diverse as the "Beatific Vision" and Seasonally Affective Disorder (SAD).

In his 5th beatitude, Jesus claims that the merciful will receive mercy, and are thus blessed. But what is mercy? What does it mean to be merciful, or to receive mercy? Join Adam as he unpacks this potent beatitude and explores how it can transform our society when we live it out.

In our next practice in the Transformation Trek, we turn to Charity. What does this mean, and how is it unique to Jesus and his followers. After all, there are heaps of charities out there that are not Christian. Join Adam as he unpacks the distinctly Christian practice of Charity, and how it transforms us and our world.

In the fourth beatitude Jesus explains how those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. What does it mean to hunger and thirst like this, and what is satisfaction here? Join Matt as he explores the fourth beatitude and its profound impact on our lives.

The third of Jesus' beatitudes talks about the "meek" inheriting the earth. But who are the meek? And what does inheriting the earth mean? Join Jess as she (and some puppets) explain to the kids and us what Jesus meant.

Jesus claims in his second statement of the Sermon on the Mount, that those who mourn are blessed. Huh? How could that work? Join Graham as he unpacks this deceptively simple claim. There were two videos in this message that we don't have a license for. You can watch Toby Mac's song here: https://youtu.be/s9bsjmZfIJU and his message here: https://youtu.be/Wt2vc93Q6Jk

Jesus started his famous Sermon on the Mount with a series of statements known as the "Beatitudes." What are they? What do they mean? Who and what are they for? Join Adam as he kicks off our series on this world-transforming series of deceptively simple statements.

On the first Easter Sunday, something happened that had never happened before, and has never happened since. Even though that event occurred almost 2000 years ago, it is still changing people's lives today. Join us as we here what that event was, how it changes the world, and hear from two people whose lives it has changed in recent weeks.

On Good Friday we come together to reflect on Jesus hanging on the cross. Why is he there? What is he hoping to accomplish?

In Jonah 3-4 the story resets. Jonah gets to Ninevah and makes his prophecy. But the whole time he is strill striving for control over himself and even God, and casting judgement on Ninevah. What does this say to us today? Are we just like Jonah?

God calls. Jonah flees. But the story doesn't end there, does it? What can we learn about God from his behaviour in the account of Jonah? Join Steve to find how amazing and (in some ways) scary the true God is.

The book of Jonah is known for its spectacle: great storms, great fish, great cities. But these are not its core. Its true purpose is to explore the power of God in human repentance. In the depths, Jonah repents. Join Steve as he explores Jonah's psalm-from-the-belly-of-a-fish, and how it can transform 21st century Australia.

The story of Jonah is so full of startling imagery that it has become a favourite kid's Bible story. But was it written just to be a children's story? If not, what is the vibrant plot and setting intended to convey? Join Steve as he unpacks the incredible relevance of Jonah to 21st century Gold Coast.