Welcome to the City North Baptist sermon archive! We offer most sermons online within a week of the message being given.
Revive us, O Lord!
Isaiah 64:1-12Severe drought often leads Christians to desperate prayer. How much more should spiritual drought drive us to God! The Jews in Babylon were desperate. Now, in their desperation they cried out for God to “rend the heavens and come down” as He had done in the past at Mt Sinai. They recognized that it was their sin that was blocking their deliverance, and pleaded for God’s mercy. We today also need God to revive us with a fresh visitation…
Omnipresent
God is not bound by space. He is everywhere fully present. Listen as we think about what this means for us, who are only ever able to be in the one place at the one time.
What God thinks about worship
Isaiah 58:1-14The subject of worship can be rather controversial in many Christian circles. Often the conversation will focus on the Sunday service ….. music, what we do with our arms, liturgy etc. But what does God think about worship? In today’s passage God uses the practice of fasting (common among the Jewish exiles in Babylon) to make the point that true worship must come from the heart and must involve all of life 24/7. In particular this will be seen…
Immutable: The God of Limitless Sameness
We live in a world of constant change and, to a large extent, being adaptable is celebrated. And yet we often live as though we, or the things in our lives are constant. But God is the only one who does not change! His Character remains fixed, his plans remain steady, and his promises remain firm. This truth gives comfort, freedom, and certainty to the believer.
The Greatest Invitation
Isaiah 55:1-13 God issues a universal and urgent invitation to us to come to the banquet of grace. To accept the invitation is to repent, turning from our wicked ways and thoughts. Those who do will experience the mercy of the God who fully pardons and know that their future is certain and better than they could ever imagine.
Eternal
God is eternal. We are not. This reality should shape the way we live now and the way we view the future. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:14).
A day to be thankful!
Psalm 100:1-5 Comment: Being thankful should come naturally to Christians, but sometimes we need to set time aside to do it intentionally. Today is such an occasion for us at City North, and this message reminds us of some specific reasons why we ought to be thankful in 2019. “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
The self-sufficient God
Isaiah 40:12-25Understanding all there is to know about God is a task too big for any human mind to fully comprehend. But there is always more for us to discover about God through the pages of the Bible. In this message Pastor Murray explores God’s self-sufficiency. He is perfectly able to look after Himself without being dependent on anyone or anything else. He does not need us, but we need Him. We have been created to be dependent on Him.…
Self-Existent
The first of our series on some of the ways that God is different from us. God is self-existent. He has no origin and he is the origin of all things. This truth should shape the way we depend on him for life, the way we understand and use our creativity and the way we worship.
Good news for troubled times
Isaiah 49:1-50:3Where do we turn when life seems hopeless? Isaiah is writing to his people in exile in Babylon, slaves with no apparent hope of being rescued. Except that God had not forgotten them. Firstly, He promised that a day would come when He would send them His “servant”, whom we now know as the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate Deliverer. But secondly, He promised that a day was coming when He would set them free and lead them back…
No more barriers
Acts 8:26-40 The Ethiopian could say, “what can stand in the way of my being baptised?” because he had come to understand that nothing stood between him and God. As we celebrate baptisms, let us rejoice in the fact that in Jesus, God has removed all the barriers that exist between us and him.
The Futility of Idolatry
Isaiah 44:6-23 “Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” Idolatry is Isaiah’s day involved statues made of wood, stone and metal. Idolatry in our present context involves finding our sense of identity, our self-worth or our joy in anything other than God alone. It is subtle, deceptive and pervasive. Isaiah helps us to see the absurdity of making and worshiping idols and encourages us to offer ourselves exclusively to the God who alone is in control and who…