SERMON INTRODUCTION
30 MARCH 2025
Partnership in Christ
The briefest letter authored by Paul is addressed to his beloved friend and fellow believer, Philemon.
According to biblical scholars, the original text comprises just 335 words. This letter, like those written to Timothy and Titus, is directed to an individual. Despite its brevity and singular chapter, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit while imprisoned, crafted this personal correspondence, which contains significant insights that remain relevant and beneficial for the disciples or followers of Jesus Christ.
In our sermon this morning, we will explore a crucial aspect highlighted by Paul in his letter, which is often overlooked: the partnership we share in the work of Christ.
by Jay Sabin
23 MARCH 2025
Discipleship
Doing what Jesus commanded is not about earning one’s salvation, but about discipleship.
Salvation is a free gift, but discipleship is a life-long journey of dedicating ourselves to become more like Christ.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus was called ‘Teacher’ and ‘Rabbi’ by those around him, and members of the early church universally called themselves ‘disciples’. They were mathitis (Greek for ‘student’), followers of the Way that Jesus had taught.
When Jesus called his disciples to ‘follow me’, they were to follow in his literal footsteps. They followed as he taught, healed and performed miracles throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria. This morning, we will commence our study of Discipleship for 2025.
by Peter Kennedy
16 MARCH 2025
Dear Loveless Church at Ephesus
I don’t know if I have a favourite church in the Bible, but if I did, it would probably be the church in Ephesus. Let me tell you what I like about it.
Here’s what we know about the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. When John wrote Revelation, the population would have been about 225,000. It was an urban centre, a world-class city. It was a major financial centre, & home to the Pan-Ionian games. It had a temple to the goddess Artemis, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It had an amphitheatre that could hold about 25,000 people. It was a centre of business, politics, and religion.
That's the city, but what about the church? The church was founded by the apostle Paul (Acts 18:19). His coworkers Priscilla and Aquila helped the church grow. It was such an important church that Paul returned and spent another two-and-a-half years there (Acts 19:1-10). Paul spent more time there than in any other church. I would have really liked this church! And out of all the churches, it’s this one that Jesus addresses first in Revelation Chapter Two.
by Stuart Plasket
23 FEBRUARY 2025
Prophetic Fulfilment
The opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel account of the life of Jesus are filled with wonder at the announcement of the coming of Jesus. From the time Gabriel is speaking to Zechariah about the birth of his son, John, to Gabriel’s revelation six months later to Mary that she will conceive a Son.
John will be filled with the Holy Spirit and turn many to their God, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Jesus is revealed to be the Son of the Most High, and that God will give him the throne of his father, David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.
These stories fulfil so many of the words of the Prophets. Let’s mediate on these together this morning.
by Peter Kennedy
16 FEBRUARY 2025
Well Dressed Christians
Clothes say a lot about a person. Mark Twain said, ‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’ 'Dress for success’ is still common advice that is widely considered. The fact is most of us give a substantial amount of attention to what we wear and what is in style.
However, there is a major problem. Styles change and they change quickly. They also vary from culture to culture. What is viewed as acceptable and even attractive in one is seen as offensive and in poor taste in another.
I love paisley. It has been around for two-thousand years. The design hit its peak during the 60s and 70s, when psychedelic art and fashion was all the rage. The popularity of paisley in fashion slowly declined following the 70s, until a short-lived comeback in the 1990s thanks to the music of Oasis and Kula Shaker. Then, it declined. Now, it is on the rise once more.
But, here is the good news that we have for us in Christ; devoted Christ followers. What was in style in the first century is still in style in the twenty-first century. In fact, it is in style anyplace and anytime. Our text this morning is Colossians 3:12-17.
by Stuart Plaskett
9 FEBRUARY 2025
We All Have a Part to Play
Off the back of the congregational meeting last week, and ahead of the next one next week, I sense that there is an appetite to change things up a bit, which is a good thing. There’s an appetite to do more with the time we have together, to do more to spread the word in our community here in the east of Sydney, and to grow the Lord’s kingdom further. It can be so easy for us to punch in and then punch out on a Sunday, to see each other like passing ships in the night, so the desire to do more, to learn more about God’s word through a Bible class is a good thing. Sometimes when we do the same thing, week in week out, it can easy to fall into the trap of just going through the motions.
So I want to use the sermon this morning to try and channel that desire. To really focus our hearts and minds on the countless opportunities that we all have as individuals and as a community to help grow and develop the church.
As we’ll read and study this morning, Paul has much to say about this in Romans, 1st Corinthians and Ephesians.
by Nicholas Bargholz
26 JANUARY 2025
Avoid Provoking One Another
Provocation is endemic in this century. All forms of media reward those politicians, celebrities and influencers who promote outrage, anger or fear. It is a proven short-term way way to stand out, get attention and " become viral”.
Provocation is also way to bully, belittle and dismiss.
The Bible points to the dangers of provocation: the Jews provoked God and ended up in the wilderness for forty years (Hebrews 3: 8-9). Fathers are warned not to provoke their children (Ephesians 6:4) and Christians ought not provoke one another (Galatians 5:26).
There is a difference between encouraging and stimulating each other towards love and good works (Hebrews 10:24) and embittering each other through impossible challenges.
Today’s sermon will explore the difference between encouragement and provocation, and point to a way to avoid hostility in our fellowship: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
by Michael Bargholz
22 DECEMBER 2024
Responding to the Madness in the World
All my adult life I have been a news junkie. I really want to know, but more importantly, to understand, what is going on.
I studied economics for that reason. I remember second year at uni seeing how everything ties together: the labour market, the market for goods and services and the market for finance. There was always a path to equilibrium. It was a big deal that the boy from immigrant parents in East Oakleigh could understand GDP growth, inflation and interest rates. It felt like a super power. I was trained in Treasury then at National Mutual to forecast the economy and financial markets. Today, I am paid to oversee teams of people who do the same work managing a huge portfolio of assets.
So, every day I follow the news closely, everything is analysed by the markets and impacts on superannuation funds and on the funds managed by ACCET. Frankly, it’s getting harder: things are moving to extremes in wealth and inequality, then there are wars and massive transformations in climate change and energy generation. And in charge of all of this, increasingly, are men and women who are more concerned about celebrities, slogans, pronouns and flags. It feels like things are on the cusp: leaders, nations, alliances, markets, the enviroment and many things we take for granted are unsustainable.
I asked my brother David Payne if he felt the same way and how should Christians respond to all the madness in the world? My sermon today is built around his answer from the old and the new testament.
by Michael Bargholz
15 DECEMBER 2024
Unto Us A Child is Born
It’s that time again where we wonder ‘Where did the year go? ’ Now, in the month of December, we feel the pressure of tying up loose ends from work, scrambling for those last minute presents and beginning food preparations and seasonal decorations leading up to December 25.
In the midst of all this commercial mania it’s easy to lose sight of the Christmas spirit. We know Jesus wasn’t born on the 25th December but it does provide an opportunity to take time out to reflect on the significance of what occurred so many years ago. God became flesh and dwelt among us.
Perhaps what is more significant is the fact that only two of the four Gospels record the infant narratives of Jesus. By contrast, all four Gospels record the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. Herein resides the power of the Gospel. While we celebrate the birth of a baby, we are also reminded this particular baby was born to die. As the prophet Isaiah so adequately expressed it, “a lamb led to the slaughter,” (Isaiah 53:7) that “will justify the many.” (Isaiah 53:11)
In Matthew 2:1-12 the author doesn't appear to be interested in the birth of Jesus at all, for he only mentions the event in a passing statement. “Now after the birth of Jesus.” (Matthew 2:1) The emphasis shifts to the Magi, King Herod and the Scribes and their response to the good news. Today we will examine the responses of the aforementioned to the Messiah and show how this little baby really can justify the many.
by Grant McFarland
8 DECEMBER 2024
What is Going on in the World?
What’s really going on in the world? Well, that really depends on where you get your news.
I follow an account on social media called ‘All Sides.’ The tagline is, ‘Tired of media bias? Expose yourself to different perspectives.’ It covers news stories, & then gives examples of how the left, right, & centre cover those stories. It’s fascinating to see the same news stories, the same events, covered in very different ways depending on the perspective of the one reporting the news. The result is that when you ask someone about what’s going on in the world, it will really depend on the sources they’re listening to that inform their interpretation of what is happening in the world.
The book of Revelation is unique in so many ways. It is the only book in the New Testament where the writer is told to write at the direct command of the Lord who appears to him (1:10-11, 19). It was written at the end of the first century when the church faced persecution from without, and compromise from within. It was written by the last living apostle, the apostle John, who also gave us a gospel and three letters that bear his name in our Bible. Three times in the twenty-two chapters, at strategic moments, three great visions of the exalted Christ take the stage. Some even believe Revelation was written as a three-act or seven-act play patterned after the Greek theatre.
by Stuart Plasket
1 DECEMBER 2024
Restore Him
In the opening verse of Chapter 12, the Hebrew writer acknowledges the witnesses he mentions in Chapter 11, and states that they now surround us. With this in mind, the writer goes on to say ‘let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’
There can be no doubt that sin inhibits us and waylays our faith.
When such an instance occurs to someone in the faith, in the letter to the Galatians, Paul address the subject of how to restore such a person who is caught in sin. In Chapter 6, Paul seeks to answer the question: What should a Christian’s attitude and action be toward another believer who has indulged his sinful nature and is caught entangled in it? The answer, according to Paul, is to ‘restore him’. This should be our primary concern and goal.
Let us not be too quick to judge, condemn and isolate the sinner, but rather gently restore them to the path of faith and fellowship with us.
by Peter Kennedy
24 NOVEMBER 2024
Two Paths Forward
Over the past nine months, I have led us in what has turned out to be a seven-part series through the most famous sermon in history. The sermon is Jesus’ kingdom manifesto — a constitution that governs and guides the people who are part of the kingdom of heaven.
It begins in Matthew Chapter 5, where Jesus fulfils the laws of the Torah; laws about Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Oath Making, Retaliation, and Enemy Love. It’s a chapter about how we treat one another.
Then, in Chapter 6, Jesus warns against hypocrisy, teaches us how to pray, and challenges the trust we place in our money and possessions. There’s lessons about generosity, fasting, and anxiety. It’s a chapter about what we really value, and who we really trust.
And finally in Chapter 7, Jesus teaches about judgement, generosity, and the famous Golden Rule. It’s a chapter about relational conflict, and how we deal with people who wrong us.
Although I plan to return to the Sermon on the Mount next year, as my final sermon for 2024 I thought I would conclude this year’s series by listening to the way that Jesus ends his sermon — with an invitation to consider two different paths forward.
by Christian Bargholz
17 NOVEMBER 2024
Trusting God in Trying Times
Many of you are familiar with the phrase ‘Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire.’ If you are a fan of J.R.R Tolkien's ‘The Hobbit,’ you may well recall that this saying is the title of the sixth chapter (it’s also quoted in the first movie). But its origin goes way back to an Italian author Laurentius Abstemius, who wrote a collection of 100 fables called ‘The Hecatomythium’, during the 1490s. Shortly after him, an anonymous author penned one of Aesop’s fables, called ‘Worse and Worse’ where we read that, ‘The fish jump 'out of the frying-pan, into the fire.’’
That is David’s situation in Psalm 56. Psalm 56:4 asks, ‘What can flesh do to me? ’ Actually, a lot, according to David. They can twist your words. They can plot and conspire against you. They can lurk and wait for a chance to pounce and destroy. The list of things that people can do to you is almost endless.
Some of the biggest problems we will ever face come from what other people can do to us. I’m not saying this will happen all the time. But it will probably happen sometime in our lives, and it will hurt, and you will have to figure out what to do.
by Stuart Plaskett
10 NOVEMBER 2024
Living Through Anxiety
If there’s something that I think that we can all probably relate to its that there comes times in life, especially if you’re walking with the Lord, where something significant happens, but it’s not necessarily something you had planned for, nor something you had foreseen to happen. During these times, it can be easy to stop and look around and ask “Lord what is happening? What is going on, where are you taking me? ” What is Jesus doing in our lives day to day, it can be hard to tell sometimes, especially during the difficult moments. I’ll be honest with you, most of the time I don’t specifically know. Nevertheless, as Christians we remember that Jesus told his disciples to follow him, he never told them where they were going.
This morning we’ll be looking at a story from the Old Testament where Jacob, whilst on the run from his brother trying to kill him, finds himself in a place not even worth mentioning. Jacob has absolutely nothing with him, so much so that he needs to use a stone as a pillow to sleep. However, it’s through this experience that Jacob learns that the Lord is with him every step of the way, even in his most challenging circumstance.
As Christians, the beauty of following the Lord every single day is that it allows us to let today’s troubles be sufficient for today, whatever those troubles may be. As Christ said on the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Dont worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own.’
by Nicholas Bargholz
3 NOVEMBER 2024
The Great Colossian Heresy
The church of Colossae was located 193 kilometres east of Ephesus in the Lycus Valley along the Lycus River and a major trading route connecting east and west passed through it. As a result of its location Colossae was exposed to many practices and beliefs from various parts of the known world, hence scholars called this the Great Colossian Heresy.
In the world today there are no fewer than ten thousand religions and of those ten thousand religions, eighty five percent of all people identify with at least one of them. The largest religions are: Christianity; Islam; Buddhism; Hinduism; Taoism; Judaism and Sikhism. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a religion is “a personal set or institutionalised system of religious attitudes, beliefs and attitudes.” Essentially, religion is mankind’s attempt to reach God. By contrast, the Bible portrays a God who has reached down to mankind. These are very different approaches. The former is saying I want to get to God by making up a system (works) approach whereas the Bible presents a God who has already made himself available (grace).
Our text this morning is Colossians 2:16-23. Here Paul will warn these young Christians to keep their focus on Jesus and not be persuaded by other religious practices that were taking religion to the extreme. This morning we will examine three such religious practices that were confronting the church, namely: legalism; mysticism and aestheticism, and examine how Paul will help guide their focus back to Jesus.
by Grant McFarland
27 OCTOBER 2024
Condemnation & Discernment
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ most famous and memorable teachings, faithfully compiled, preserved and presented by the disciple Matthew. The sermon is Jesus’ kingdom manifesto — a constitution that governs and guides the people who are part of the kingdom of heaven.
The passage that we’re looking at today comes at the very beginning of Matthew Chapter Seven, the third and final chapter of this famous sermon. In Chapter Seven, Jesus’ teachings are about conflict in relationships. What do we do when someone wrongs us? Or, when we wrong someone else? What’s the course of action to take when we see someone doing the wrong thing? And the chapter begins with the lesson we’re looking at today — Jesus’ perspective on what it means for us to judge.
by Christian Bargholz
13 OCTOBER 2024
What Kind of King is Jesus?
We read in Luke Chapter 19 the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to much fanfare and adulation. For the crowds around him, they threw their garments on the ground along with palm branches crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!" " Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" " Hosanna in the highest!" . They were welcoming in the promised king who would overthrow their Roman captors and establish a great Jewish kingdom. However, little did these crowds know that the man that they welcomed with such exaltation would be the same man that they would cry out for execution only a few days later. Simply because Jesus was not the heroic king that they thought he would be.
Grant touched on the point last week of not allowing our present circumstances sway us in our faith, not letting the environment around us dictate our relationship with Jesus. Reading a story like the one found in Luke Chapter 19 poses questions to us: who do we think Jesus is, and do we think that he is acting in our lives the way that we think he should act? Do our lives around us impact how we view Jesus’ timing and actions in our own lives?
Jesus rode into Jerusalem with such a lively welcome, only to weep over the city and say that their enemies would destroy them, not leaving one stone on another, because they did not recognise the timing of God’s coming to them. They completely missed that God was creating a kingdom in front of their very eyes. What sort of king do you think Jesus is? Can we miss what he does in our lives because he doesn’t do the sort of things that we think he ought to be doing? That’s what we’ll be exploring this morning.
by Nicholas Bargholz
6 OCTOBER 2024
The Price of Redemption
During one Christmas school holiday, a young boy decided to build a model boat. He put so much love into this boat, meticulously hand making the little sails, rails, painting it blue and white and making it seaworthy. When the job was completed he held it and joyfully said, “I made you, you’re mine!” Early the next morning the boy took his boat down to Lake Macquarie. When he arrived he attached some string to the stern and gently guided it out onto the water. It wasn’t long before the weather changed and a strong gust of wind broke the string attached to the vessel and he watched his boat sail away until it disappeared.
A few months later the boy was walking past a shop and noticed a boat that looked conspicuously like his. Upon closer inspection he realised it was. He walked into the shop, pointed to the boat and said to the shopkeeper, “Excuse me sir, that’s mine, I made it!” The shopkeeper replied, “Son, you did a really good job, but it’s mine now and if you want it you have to pay for it.” The little boy walked out of the shop disheartened but quickly came up with a plan. He got a job delivering newspapers in his local neighbourhood. By the end of summer he had made enough money to buy the boat. He walked into the store, laid down the cash, took the boat and said, “Now you’re twice mine.”
This allegory represents the idea of redemption, the theme we will be exploring this 15.
by Grant McFarland
29 SEPTEMBER 2024
Finding Grace in Suffering
It's a sad but true statement: God allows bad things to happen to good people. For many, this is a difficult concept to grasp in the midst of a suffering world. Moreover, we know life delivers positive and negative experiences to all people.
However, we see in Scripture time and time again how God can take a hopeless situation and makes something positive out of it. Consider Joseph, David, Daniel. This is also true of the Apostle Paul, a man who gave his life to Christ to further the Gospel and in so doing experienced something so negative he entreated the Lord three times to remove it. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul identified it as a thorn in the side.
Today we will see how God took that negative experience in Paul’s life and turned it into a positive using one of God’s most powerful tools, grace.
by Grant McFarland
8 SEPTEMBER 2024
Good Eyes & Bad Eyes
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew Chapter Six:
‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!’
Over the years, these mysterious lines have invited all kinds of speculation. We can crack this cryptic saying about the eye by hearing it within its Hebrew context, and grasping the figures of speech Jesus was employing.
by Peter Kennedy
1 SEPTEMBER 2024
The Parable of the Four Soils
Jesus used dozens of parables in his teaching. Multitudes of people heard them, yet only his disciples really understood them and not all his disciples practised what they learned.
Today we will focus on the first twenty-three verses of Matthew Chapter Thirteen.
Starting in verse ten, the chapter reads thus: And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables? ” Jesus answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
The humble parable is a firm foundation for the saying (attributed to many) that " information is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom”. Jesus teaches the multitudes about the sower who sows in four different soils with very different results. Later he explains the spiritual lessons to his disciples and by extension to us. A key conclusion is that the word of God is powerful but the result of hearing it is always and everywhere dependent on the condition of the heart of the hearer.
by Michael Bargholz
25 AUGUST 2024
Scarcity & Abundance
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ most famous and memorable teachings, faithfully compiled, preserved and presented by the disciple Matthew. The sermon is Jesus’ kingdom manifesto — a constitution that governs and guides the people who are part of the kingdom of heaven.
The passage that we’re looking at today comes from Matthew Chapter Six. It comes at the very end of the chapter and follows a triad of teachings in which Jesus addresses the topic of money and possessions: storing up treasures on earth and in heaven, the eye being the lamp of the body, and serving two masters. Each teaching is a different way of exploring the dichotomy that is often present between God on the one hand, and material wealth on the other.
Today’s passage follows on from those three teachings. These are some of the most encouraging words that Jesus has ever spoken. They have brought comfort and reassurance to so many in times of stress and anxiety. They are so powerful and prescient that I often get tingles down my spine and tear up whenever I read them. And by considering Jesus’ perspective in these words, we’ll learn two things about anxiety and peace in the kingdom of God.
by Christian Bargholz
18 AUGUST 2024
God's Cure for Loneliness & Vulnerability
Do you ever feel lonely? An estimated that 1 in 3 Australians reported an episode of loneliness, with 40% of these people experiencing more than one episode, pre-COVID. Even though we are connected in every imaginable way electronically, research tells us people are lonelier today than in 1984, that is, before the Internet.
Loneliness is particularly prevalent among the elderly. One study in Britain discovered that half a million people over the age of 60 go for an entire week not talking to anyone. That same study revealed that a million people over the age of 50 only talk with someone every five or six days. The research is clear. A lot of people struggle with loneliness, but it is rampant among the elderly.
Paul taught Timothy about the importance of pursuing godliness in his life. In addition, he taught Timothy about the hard work of ministry. This morning, as we enter the later third of 1 Timothy, Paul was teaching Timothy about the importance of relationships and how we treat one another in the church. While the church may look like just another group, the relationships that we have with one another are fundamentally different.
by Stuart Plaskett
11 AUGUST 2024
RUNNING THE ETERNAL RACE
Recent events at the Paris Olympics, including the Last Supper parody, images of the the white rider (Revelation 6:2), remind us that " ...our struggle is not against flesh rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12).
golden calf (Exodus 32), and and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the
Rather than focus on these affronts, we must " fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
As such, we should focus on four principles for maintaining faith during challenging times:
1. Running the Race of Faith: Pursuing Christ-likeness with perseverance (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
2. Standing Firm: Putting on the full armor of God to withstand opposition (Ephesians 6:13-17).
3. Loving Enemies: Responding to mockery with Christ-like love (Matthew 5:44).
4. Being a Light: Reflecting Christ's light in a troubled world (Matthew 5:16).
As followers of Jesus, we are called to stand firm in grace and love while extending compassion to a world in need.
by Dylan Bourke
4 AUGUST 2024
Heavenly Treasure
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ most famous compiled, preserved and presented by the disciple Matthew. The — a constitution that governs and guides the people who are part
and memorable teachings, faithfully sermon is Jesus’ kingdom manifesto of the kingdom of heaven.
Today we’re looking at a truly iconic lesson from Jesus in Matthew Chapter Six. During my last sermon, we looked at the beginning of this chapter, where Jesus addresses the importance of avoiding hypocrisy in the religious practices of generosity, prayer and fasting. Now, Jesus turns his attention to our things; our money and our possessions.
In Jesus’ mind, how we relate to our money and possessions tells the truth about what we really value. And by exploring this teaching from Jesus this morning, we’ll discover two things about the meaning of ultimate value in the kingdom of heaven.