Bendigo Presbyterian Church

When Peter got up to preach at Pentecost, it was his first time ever! Luke records a summary of his sermon in Acts 2:14-41 which only takes up about 7 minutes, and yet it is chock full of Old Testament quotes that had found their fulfillment in Pentecost’s events. The sermon is also clearly Christ-centred, […]

Many people can tell you what the Parable of the Good Samaritan is all about and what Jesus was teaching by it. However, many people can also take the parable in a rather simplistic fashion which makes it all sound ‘nice’, even sort of ‘ a good thing to do’. But Jesus meant so much […]

The whole chapter of Luke 9 seems to be about discipleship and this is confirmed by the finanl paragraph of the chapter, Luke 9:57-62. here, Jesus meets people who ‘would-be’ His disciples – people He asked to come and follow Him, and those who were ‘wannabe’ disciples – those who came up to Him and […]

The 12 disciples of Jesus were certainly a mixed bag – hot one day (think Peter saying ‘You are the Christ) and cold the next (think their argument on the road to the cross as to which of them was the greatest!). In Luke 9:46-56 it seems that some pettiness in their minds and hearts […]

When Jesus went up high on the mountain in Luke 9:28-36, the disciples saw His glory revealed to them by God the Father. But when Jesus came down the mountain into the valley in Luke 9:37-45, He immediately encountered the impotence of the disciples to deal with the situation at hand. Once he has dealt […]

The account of Israel’s crossing through the Red Sea is quite stunning. Stuck on the western side of the Sea, crying out to God in anguish and despair, the people of Israel were in desperate straits. Pharoah and his armies had pursued them and all looked bleak…except for God. He had to act and He […]

In Exodus 14:1-14, the people of Israel who have just departed from Egypt, find themselves in a very, very tricky situation. With Pharaoh and his armies in pursuit of them and impassable mountains to the left and the right, the people (who had been led clearly by God through pillar of cloud and fire) were […]

When the Lord God led His people Israel out of Egypt, there was an ongoing need for the people to be led the right way. They did not necessarily know the way that God was taking them nor was it explained to them. All they knew what that God had a plan for them, and […]

In Exodus 13:1-16, the drama of chapters 7 to 12 of Exodus have passed by. The people of Israel are now free from the clutches of Pharaoh. Not yet completely free to ‘do their own thing’, but free to serve the Lord their God who led them out of Egypt into the desert regions in […]

In this message, Ryan Smith (AFES worker at La Trobe Uni, Bendigo) shares how as the people of God, believers should expect to be hated by the world… because the world hates Jesus. It’s hate by association. Jesus tells his disciples this in John 15:18-16:4 and he does this ahead of time so that those […]

Exodus 11:1-12:51 details for us the tenth and last of the plagues that came upon Egypt. Of all the plagues this was the one that would really break Pharaoh’s stubborn will and also his father’s heart. The death of the first-born sons all throughout Egypt was a most dramatic event that the people of Israel […]

In Exodus 7:8-10:29, the showdown that had been threatening took place. Pharaoh, in his stubborn unbelief and refusal to let the people of Israel go, could only sit back and watch his nation and land be devastated by plague after plague – all designed to show him that he was not calling the shots. While […]

When the women went to the tomb early on the Sunday morning after the death of Jesus, they never expected to find that the tomb would be empty. The fact that the tomb was empty is recorded by all the gospel writers, even Luke in Luke 24:1-12. Perhaps there has never been a more important […]

When God revealed something of a glimpse of the future to the prophet Isaiah who lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet saw the person who was to come, the ‘Servant of the Lord’, the Saviour and Redeemer of God’s people. The 53rd chapter of his prophecy is well-known for the way […]

After Moses heard back from the Lord God that He would do as He had promised, in Exodus 6:10-7:14, we find again the narrative of this tense looming showdown between the Lord and Pharaoh, bookending a section where suddenly there is a whole genealogy of Moses and Aaron. What’s going on? Only just that Moses […]

In our studies so far in the book of Exodus, we have met the Lord God’s appointed deliverer, Moses, and his many excuses and fears. Having gone to Pharaoh as the Lord God had commanded him with the result being far from what Moes had expected, Moses could only now go back to the Lord […]

It’s hard enough to cope with circumstances getting worse at any time, let alone when you’ve shown a willingness to obey the Lord’s directions! But in Exodus 4:18-5:23, Moses found out that obeying God doesn’t always mean that everything will go smoothly – sometimes it just doesn’t. In fact, the circumstances for Moses and the […]

When God called to Moses from the burning bush, He also commissioned him for the task He had in mind – of Moses going to Pharaoh with the news! As Exodus 4:1-17 tells us, Moses was quite unwilling and hesitant and…well, frankly…scared! So instead of implicit obedience from Moses, there was continued excuses…. but the […]

There is no more important text in the Old Testament than that recorded in Exodus 3:1-22 where God revelaed Himself to Moses through the ‘bush that was buring but not consumed’. God speaks! And what he says is so vital to our understanding of who He is and what His plans are! It’s a great […]

The text of Exodus 2:11-25 helps us see some of the details of what became of Moses the baby rescued in Exodus 2:1-10. This text, along with a section of Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:17-29, tell us that in growing up in the palace, Moses was equipped to be a great leader in Egypt. But […]

The book of Exodus, continues the story of God’s sovereign control over all things, especially the plan to save His people, Israel. It begins in Exodus 1:1-2:10 with the people of Israel in slavery in Egypt, struggling under the weight of the burdens laid upon them by Pharaoh, whose evil designs were to bring the […]

Guest preacher and theological student, Daniel Hitchcock, spoke from Luke 9:18-27 about following Jesus. He asked his disciples who the people said he was and many were still perplexed. Then Jesus asks the disciples and Peter gets in right, “The Christ of God”. Jesus surprises as he explains what it means to be God’s chosen […]

Guest preacher and theological student, Daniel Hitchcock, spoke from Luke 9:1-17 about a very different king. Maybe even more so than in our day, politics in the ancient world were heating up with persecution and rebellions in the shadow of the Roman Empire. Herod was perplexed by the new kingdom Jesus heralded through his twelve […]

Guest preacher and theological student, Daniel Hitchcock, spoke from Luke 8:40-56 about two very different people. Jairus is a synagogue leader who comes to Jesus openly, while an unnamed woman approached Jesus with the cover of the crowd. Both came in faith with a great need. Jesus heals and even raises from the dead but […]

When Jesus arrived on the ‘other side’ of the Sea of Galilee, he was immediately confronted by the presence and power of the evil one in the form of a man possessed by demons. The story recorded for us in Luke 8:29-36, shows that this encounter proved to be no problem for Jesus. He remained […]