Disciples Church Sermons

This is the final sermon in the Permission To Speak series from the Book of Psalms. Passages from the Psalms are some of the most often quoted passages from the Old Testament in the New Testament. That's because the New Testament writers were thoroughly convinced that these passages were about Jesus - Psalsm of the Messiah!

Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world, and that helps us interpret the Psalms of the King found in the Book of Psalms. Psalm 97 is a good example of a psalm procaliming the Divine King, Yahweh, and it begs a question of the reader - whose kingdom do you belong to?

The Book of Psalms contains many encouragements to follow and keep God's instructions for how to live our lives. For Christians, the Good News of the Gospel is that our salvation is secure in the person and work of Jesus. How we now live is an indication of our salvation, and the Psalmist encourages us to love God's instructions.

Psalms that request God to bring vengeance to our enemies seem to be at odds with the teaching of Jesus to love our enemies, so how do we resolve this? The answer comes in seeing how the justice of God and the grace of Gospel allow us to trust our hurts to God, who will ultimately put all things right.

Psalms of praise call us to rejoice in the goodness of God. The psalmist invites us to experience God, confident that the result will be one of praise - because God is trustworthy. Fittingly, this sermon was preached on Easter Sunday 2012.

Psalm 88 is unique among the Lament Psalms. There are no platitudes; no quick fixes; no affirmation of faith; and no resolution to praise. The psalmist is experiencing what feels like complete abandonment. If you're feeling abandoned, then this psalm is for you. If you're feeling abandoned, so did Jesus.

The Psalms of Lament make up approximately one third of all the psalms. In this sermon, Greg Gardiner explores the value of these psalms and finds that to lament is not a sign of unbelief but instead a recognition of trust in God.

There are some Psalms that are very familiar to us, while there are other Psalms that contain lines that make us wonder why they are in God's Word. This sermon is an introductory talk to kick-start a new series from the book of Psalms called Permission To Speak.

Dave Fandey is the Lead Pastor of The Fields church in Carlsbad, California (USA), and he is the Australian Co-ordinator for the Acts 29 Church Planting Network. Here, he preaches at Disciples Church Springfield on how every Christian can and should be participating in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel.

Christians are uniquely placed to live with hope - the promise of Heaven. But often, our gaze is not heavenward, but focussed much lower on earthly things. The Apostle Paul said Christians should live as citizens of heaven, letting this Gospel Asset effect our attitude and the focus of our daily lives.

Christians are adopted into God's family and enter into an intimate relationship with the Almighty, supreme, ultimate power over all things. Jesus told His disciples that they need not worry and stress over the everyday things of life, instead they can rely on this life changing Gospel asset - a trustworthy God.

The Gospel is not only a free ticket to Heaven, purchased by Jesus and delivered by God's grace through the Holy Spirit. It is that, but not just that - there is more. When the Holy Spirit indwells us and revives our spiritually dead hearts, we are given the power to overcome sin and live lives that are pleasing and glorifying to God. This is the mark of a Christian.

Martin Luther called it "the great exchange" - Jesus not only takes the sins of believers (to the cross) but he also gives his perfect righteousness. Christians are made right with God through the atoning death of Jesus and the sinless life of Jesus applied to them. What a wonderful Saviour!

Sin is the result of hearts that are spiritually dead toward God. Sin is evil and should rightly be punished. The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus - God's Son - came into the world to die on a cross and take the punishment our sins deserve. He made a way for sinners to be forgiven and reconciled to God for all eternity - what a glorious Gospel asset!

If the Gospel is the solution, what is the problem? This opening sermon in the Gospel Assets series seeks to give some context for the application of the Gospel in our lives.

You may have heard the saying, "more is caught than taught" - this is the case with discipleship. It is a hard thing to get your head around a discipleship culture and lifestyle without seeing it in action. In this final sermon of the series, we take a closer look at the value of a discipling community and the benefits it has for us.

Paul told Timothy to equip reliable people with Gospel truths so they could pass these truths on to others. This is the model of second and third generation discipleship that we need to work towards, and this sermon outlines what it takes to be an effective discipler.

Christianity is not simply a free ticket to heaven when you die. Yes it is that, but having a genuine relationship with Christ, where He is your Saviour and Lord, also means a transformed life. This transformation is an ongoing process, which means a life of learning.

Jesus said "go and make disciples", which involves making converts certainly, but it also means nurturing people in their faith as they grow to maturity. So, what does this look like? In this sermon, Pastor Anthony Sligar maps out a biblical rationale for one-to-one discipleship and calls the church not to omit this crucial element of the Great Comission.

It is so easy to get caught up in the trappings of Christmas and miss the reality of what the birth of Jesus Christ means. The angels understood and they responded by glorifying God. The shepherds came to understand and they responded by glorifying God. What about you? Do you see the fulfilment of God's promise and what that means?

The New Testament unveils Jesus to us as God's promised Saviour. In the first chapter of Colossians we see Jesus as Creator and Redeemer - the only one to turn to for salvation!

700 years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah declared that God would send a King. Not just any King, but a King whose reign would be eternal. This King would put an end to all evil, an end to war, and would be righteous like no other before Him. Matthew's Gospel tells us that this King, in the promise declared by Isaiah, is Jesus!

The story of Christmas doesn't actually start with the New Testament Gospels. Yes, the Gospels record the coming of the Saviour, Jesus, but God's story of redemption starts with the first human beings. They rejected God, but He predicted, even then, that evil would ultimately be crushed - a theme that dominates Psalm 2.

Having set forth the credentials of Scripture as God's inspired Word to us, Paul now turns his attention to the use of Scripture. His message: Preach it & Teach it! God's Word is not a museum piece to be protected, studied and admired. When applied to our lives and illumined by the Holy Spirit, God's Word plays a vital part in transforming us into committed followers of Jesus.

Living in the last days, there will be many things to contend with. There's the daily battle against sin, the challenge of sharing the Gospel with others, guarding against false teaching, and facing trials and persecution. Paul encourages Timothy to withstand all these battles by remembering the truths of Scripture - God's inspired Word to us. Using the "sword of the Spirit" is using the weapon th...