Chatswood Baptist Church

1. Introduction In world war 2 there was one action that meant almost certain jail time and in some cases death by execution. It didn’t matter whether you were in the US Army, the Soviet Army, the Germany Army or …

1. Easily Deceived At times people are so easily deceived. 1.1 We can easily be deceived by others According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, last financial year, an estimated 596,000 people fell victim to scams. According to the Sydney …

Galatians 5:16-26 Keeping in step Growing up in Australia in the 1970’s one of the rituals that we went through when I was in primary school was to line up before school began. The bell would ring and we would …

I have been looking over the past week at a bit of American history around slavery. Specifically those who had gained their freedom and how they held on to it. One example that has stuck with me is the story …

Galatians 4:8-5:1 No Brainers There are some choices that ought to be “no brainers”. A “no-brainer” is a decision or a choice that you are given where one option is so obviously that much better than the other that you …

1. Our Identity Where do you find your identity? How do you see yourself? Some find it in what they do Many seek to establish their identity in what they do in life. It’s the things that we do or …

Where do you think self-help books rank in terms of popularity in Australia? Top 10? Top 5? Top 3? Well, if Google is correct, it’s in the top 5! They’re very popular, and some of them are very helpful! Deep …

1. Hypocrisy At times, I think we can all be hypocritical. Hypocrisy is when you pretend to be something that you are not. It is to play a part for the benefit of others that doesn’t really align with either …

1. Being a parent I’ve been a parent now for over 33 years and a grandparent for the last year. Being a father or a mother is a unique privilege and a responsibility. It really is a high and holy …

Introduction How do we know that something is the truth? Many years ago Larissa and I were in Fiji. This was before we had children. And we were staying at the fijian which has a wonderful lagoon that heads out …

Galatians 1:1-10 Letter writing When was the last time you got a letter from someone? I don’t mean an email or even a bill or bank statement that got in the post or even a birthday card from your grandma, …

When you run a race, you get a medal. But Daniel 12 holds out something far greater than that. I’ve done the Sydney Marathon a few times, but last year was the most significant. That race was the result of …

Daniel 9 More than we ask for Sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we are not expecting or would have ever dreamed of. Of course, sometime we are asking for the wrong things. At times we ask for things …

Introduction Hope is such a powerful emotion. When hopes are realised, our joy can be monumental. I remember the day of our wedding, my wife was walking down the aisle and at that moment I was overwhelmed with joy and …

2 Corinthians 5:14- 6:2 Deaths that had a profound impact on others When some people die, their death has a profound effect on a great many people around the world. People all around the world seem to be impacted heavily …

1. What’s up ahead Don’t you wish that sometimes we knew what was up ahead of us? ● None of us know what’s up ahead of us If you knew that the war in the middle east was going to …

1. Turbulent times We are living in turbulent and chaotic times. There seems to be a level of instability in our world that we haven’t seen for some time. At present two of the three most powerful nations in the …

Introduction With such a well known story there is often the tendency to think that we might have nothing new to learn here. But friends, God’s word is living and active. So let’s together look at what this passage has …

1. The writing was on the wall “The writing was on the wall”. This is a common idiom/expression that people use all the time. For instance, after another round of retrenchment at work some might remark that, once they brought …

1.    The problem with pride In one of my favourite novels, “Pride and Prejudice, the author Jane Austen makes a distinction between ‘pride’ and ‘vanity’. Mary Bennett, one of the characters in the book, makes the point that there is …

Introduction Today’s passage in Daniel 3 is written in the context of Babylon and its King from 2600 years ago. But there is a country today in 2026 that has many of the hallmarks of what we see in today’s …

1. Dreams We all dream dreams – sometimes we remember them and sometimes we don’t. a. Dreams are strange things Dreams are odd things. They can be bizarre and strange. We can be dreaming that we are sitting at home …

1. Taken to Babylon Today we begin a series of talks looking at the book of Daniel. This book is largely about Daniel and three other Jewish young men from Jerusalem. They were taken from Jerusalem as captives and led …

Introduction I want you to imagine that all through school you love science and your favourite subject is biology. You are completely enamoured with the way in which the human body is structured. The cells, DNA, biodiversity, infectious diseases. You …

Introduction I am naturally nearsighted. I remember in around year 11 at school that the whiteboard at the front of the classroom (this was way before smart boards were invented) started to become a little blurry from time to time …