Sermons recorded during our regular Sunday services and our Everyday Androvian podcast.
St Andrew's Anglican Church Wahroonga
Rather, in James 3 the focus is on how faithful Christians speak about other human beings made in God's own image, calling us to account for abusive language. However, to get to this argument, James begins with a meditation on human speech and on the potentially destructive power of the human tongue.
True, saving faith is inherently active and inevitably produces good works, while faith without action is dead, useless, and merely intellectual agreement.
Favouritism - if you fail to love God and other people, everything else falls apart.
True faith perseveres through trials, finds joy in spiritual status over earthly wealth, and matures by obeying God's Word.
James says that for followers of Jesus, joy is not to be tucked away on a shelf like a fine wine, kept on special reserve and poured out only in those rare occasions when we believe all is as it should be
The necessity of constant spiritual readiness for the return of Jesus, as the exact time is unknown.
Stories of the King - the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, where a king invites guests to his son's wedding feast, but they refuse and mistreat his servants, leading to judgment
Stories of the King - the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, where Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven operates on God's generous grace, not human fairness.
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
Come Lord Jesus, come.
The glorious future for believers: a new heaven and earth where God dwells with humanity, eliminating death, sorrow, and pain, centered around the magnificent, jeweled New Jerusalem, a perfect city descending from God, symbolizing His perfect presence and relationship with His people, the ultimate fulfillment of biblical promises for a restored, eternal dwelling place for the redeemed
Jesus's physical resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith, proving His victory over sin and death, and guaranteeing believers will also rise with immortal bodies, transforming our hope from a mere wish to a powerful, enduring reality, urging steadfastness in faith and service.
1 Corinthians 14:26-40 is about good order in the church - God's good order and not ours.
How do you speak to encourage people when you come to church?
1 Corinthians 12 & 13
7 Trumpets
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 addresses the Lord's Supper, highlighting its purpose and proper observance. The passage emphasises that the Lord's Supper is a time to remember Jesus' sacrifice and not a regular meal or a social gathering where divisions are displayed.
The throne room of heaven.
Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.
Two parables that teach the immense value of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is worth sacrificing everything for
Jesus's Parable of the Sower, which illustrates how different "soils" (hearts) respond to the "seed" (the word of God)
Satan, Sin and Death are Finally Eliminated
The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the general resurrection of believers
1 Corinthians 14:26-40 instructs the Corinthian church to organize their worship services to be orderly and edifying, rather than chaotic, emphasizing that all spiritual gifts should be exercised for the building up of the entire body of Christ.
Details the outpouring of seven "bowls" of God's wrath upon the earth in the final days, bringing severe and escalating plagues on those who worship the beast and its image.
Paul's instruction is clear: use spiritual gifts, especially in church, in a way that is understandable and beneficial to everyone.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
There are seven signs that are introduced in the passage by the words “and I saw” The whole cycle makes two points: The dragon loses, flee him; The Lamb wins, worship him! The Old Testament book of Daniel (especially Chps 7-8) helps us understand what we see…
That while spiritual gifts and knowledge are temporary, "love never ends," and as a greater virtue
The blowing of the seven trumpets - “What is this teaching us about what God is doing about evil in the world?”
Spiritual gifts within the Christian community, emphasising the unity and diversity of believers.
Farewell from Josh Lewis - Remember Jesus... something that's beyond our experiences, our feelings, it's the unchangeable action of God in history - the truth about Jesus... because remembering, trusting... connects us to him and brings the wonderful hope of life.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 addresses the Lord's Supper, highlighting its purpose and proper observance. The passage emphasises that the Lord's Supper is a time to remember Jesus' sacrifice and not a regular meal or a social gathering where divisions are displayed.
Let the focus be on God, not on yourselves.
The throne room of heaven.
The letter to Laodicea - of the seven letters in Revelation. It is jam packed with a massive rebuke. Yet, its blessing is even greater. We want to hear a rebuke about trusting in ourselves and our wealth that pushes us to earnest prayer and repentance. We ought to also hear Jesus give us such a beautiful and heavenly promise that we should be motivated to pray and praise our God diligently.
A word to the weak. We feel weak for a range of reasons - physically weak through sickness, or surgery, or tiredness; psychologically weak, as we feel sad or stressed; spiritually weak as we wrestle with doubts and temptations. To the church at Philadelphia, and through them to us, Jesus says, “ I know your deeds… I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my Name.” Jesus with the keys to the Kingdom in his hands, keeps the door open for the weak. Join us to apply these words to our situations. Amen
In Revelations 3, Jesus speaks to the Christians at Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and, through them, to us! We notice one church is hot, one is cold, and one is lukewarm with respect to their relationship with Jesus. Listen out for which is which, and which one reflects your heart. There are great promises here for the person who takes following Jesus seriously. Let the one who hears listen to what the Spirit says to us through these letters!
Some decisions are simple and sensible, but in the heart of the moment hard to make! This Sunday we're taking a look at 1 Corinthians 10. It is a passage addressing our decision making again. It will help us see why we struggle to let go of freedoms, the danger of that, and where to go with that struggle.
Having a certainty in life that lets us truly live! I've been encouraged thinking about it this week, and I pray you will be too - along with it being a clear invitation to trust Jesus for those who haven't yet.
The average person makes around 34,000 decisions a day. That's a lot! Some are very small. Some are life changing. But, big or small, all of our decisions have reasons, motivations, implications. 1 Corinthians 8-10 is an invitation from God's word to take a radically different approach to our decision making. It's brilliant, and I can't wait to explore chapter 9 together on Sunday.
I wonder where you make most of your decisions - both the small, day-to-day ones and the big life changing ones? Do you have a goto place? Perhaps late at night with a cuppa? Perhaps you wait for a holiday, or a long-weekend to have time for such deliberations? Or maybe you're so busy you just have to make decisions on the run? Wherever you make your decisions, I wonder what factors go into deciding what the right decision is; especially when there are a number of right options? This Sunday we begin a 3 part section of 1 Corinthians (ch. 8-10) that will invite us to rethink the way we think about decisions. It is an invitation to have what we know as Christians actually impact the day-to-day of our decisions.
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