Sermons from July 2017

Sermons from July 2017

Our story, our song

Israel’s song tells the story of what God has done, who God is, and what God will do. Everyone who has a story of salvation has a song to sing, including us.

Hear, O Israel…

Deuteronomy 6 speaks to a generation who need to hear and remember the story of God’s salvation if they are going to love God and live for him wholeheartedly. Like them, we need to pass on the story of God’s salvation, through Jesus Christ, from generation to generation.

Deliver us from evil

Israel’s great deliverance through the Red Sea reminds us that we desperately need deliverance, that we experience deliverance by trusting God and that when we are delivered, God is the one who gets the glory.

Challenge to a young pastor

Today we welcome a new pastor to our team at City North. What does God’s Word say to a young pastor about his life and ministry? Actually, quite a lot… especially in the pastoral epistles (1 & 2 Timothy and Titus). In what appears to be the last letter he wrote from his prison cell before being martyred, Paul wrote to Timothy to urge him on. Stir up the gift God has given you! Be strong in the face of opposition! Be clear about the gospel message! Don’t deviate one millimetre from it, even when it’s unpopular to be a gospel man! See yourself as a guardian of this gospel to your generation! Be willing to suffer for it, if necessary! It’s getting harder to be a preacher and pastor in Australia today. May God continue to raise up more Pauls and Timothys today.

Greg Beaumont: The Passover

The Exodus story is one of many big “movie moments”. But perhaps there is no moment bigger in the Exodus story than that of the final plague and Passover. There are many things that we can learn about God from this massive moment: His power, his judgment, the freedom he secures for his people from suffering. But there is a bigger lesson to be learned in this passage. As we look at the plague and the Passover meal we discover that Israel has a much larger problem than Pharaoh and that this problem isn’t isolated to them alone – it is the fundamental problem that all humanity faces, including us today. Thankfully the Passover Lamb offers the solution.

Ready to face the Judge?

What happens when we die? The atheist says: “We rot!”. But most people have at least vague notions of an after-life. And generally these notions are positive and often expressed at funerals, such as: “At least Dad’s no longer in pain and he’ll be up there now having a good time with his mates!”. But is this true? According to Jesus a day is coming when we will all face Him as our judge and there will be a division into two groups. More sobering, He will take into account not just what we have believed but how we have lived out those beliefs in practical deeds of love and compassion. And even more sobering, many will be surprised on that day to find themselves rejected by Jesus and consigned to eternal punishment. Never joke about hell! Jesus says it’s real.

The danger of resisting God

Is God relevant in the 21st century? Does He have any power? Should we fear Him? Should we take any notice of what He says in the Bible? These questions are extremely relevant today because if the answer is “NO” then Christianity is a waste of time. On the other hand, if the answer is “YES”, that has huge implications. Pharaoh tried to brush God off …. over and over again as God sent one plague after another. Every encounter ended badly for Pharaoh and his people. Yet his pride and stubbornness refused to admit defeat, and his heart became increasingly hardened. This was not so much a battle with Moses but a battle with the one true God, Yahweh. Still today this God is real and very powerful, and he will one day judge us all. Beware the sinful, unbelieving heart.