Disciples Church Sermons

A new day is about to dawn - one that involves a new covenant between God and His people. A covenant mediated by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Praise On Repeat - Psalm 148 calls the reader to "praise" 12 times in just 14 verses! Why? Repetition can be mundane, but repetition can also lift something out of the mundane by building anticipation or increasing enjoyment. Known as "The Pinnacle of the Psalms," Psalm 148 does just that as it puts praise on repeat.

Questioning God - When our world is on fire and we feel out of control, often we turn to God to question Him. Where are you, God? Why are You silent? Why won't You do something? We are not alone in our questioning of God, and Psalm 74 helps us see that our desperate cries to God are a healthy part of trusting Him - if we can just remember who He is!

This Sunday Pastor Sly continues our summer sermon series in the Book of Psalms. And this week, we go from lament to praise! The Psalmist recognises the faithfulness of God, even when His people are unfaithful, and cannot help but praise His glorious Name.

This Sunday (and for the month of January) we return to our series from the book of Psalms. Every other book in the Bible is God speaking to us. The Psalms, however, are our cries to God. Yes they are Spirit inspired like the rest of Scripture, but they uniquely reflect the passion and pain of life in a fallen world, and how this means we react toward our Creator.

Shortly after the birth of Jesus, there were a series of Jewish rituals that were undertaken by his parents Mary & Joseph. One of these took place at the Temple in Jerusalem, and marked a moment where the destiny of their little baby would be declared, and the reality of His mission would cause them to soberly reflect on what lay ahead.

Chapter One of Luke's Gospel continues this Sunday with the birth of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah, gets his voice back, and praises God not just for the birth of his own child, but for keeping His promise to send a Saviour.

After detailing the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist, Luke moves directly into his account of the foretelling of the birth of Jesus. A girl of no rank from the backwater of Nazareth is introduced as the mother of the Saviour of the World.

We start two things this Sunday: 1) Our journey into the Gospel of Jesus according to Luke, and 2) our Advent Series for Christmas. One of the unique things about Luke's Gospel is the detailed account of the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. This week, we begin with the announcement of the birth of the man Jesus described as the best person who has ever lived.

The Apostle Paul finishes his letter to the Ephesians with an appeal to put on all the "armour" God gives so that we can stand firm against the strategies of the devil. It's sobering to realise that the devil will target us. But it's encouraging to realise that Jesus has our back, and He provides all we need to live in victory over Satan, sin and death.

When you become a Christian and receive the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, you are not only provided with the means to grow in holiness personally, but you are also empowered to do relationships in a whole new way. And it stands in stark contrast to our culture and the selfishness that usually drives most if not all relationships, even with the people we are supposed to love the most.

Paul describes the Christian life as walking in the light. Which means that prior to becoming a Christian, you were walking in darkness. But now that the Gospel has broken through, and you see what Jesus has won for you, and you experience the work of the Holy Spirit, you will no longer live in darkness but in the light from the Lord.

If we live a certain way, it will make God sad. It's true. If, after God has chosen us to be His, sent Jesus to live, die and rise again for our redemption, and had the Holy Spirit place His seal on our hearts... if after all this we continue to live the way we used to live before we became a Christian, then that will bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus was given a mission (to live, die...

People on a raft that is negotiating some rapids don't have time for relational dramas. They are frantically working together to make sure they achieve their mission of getting through safely. For Christians, our oneness in Christ demands we don't get sidetracked on relational dramas, but remain keenly focussed on the ministry we have been called to serve in together.

So far, the Apostle Paul has laid out a beautiful reminder of the Gospel of grace, a summary of our spiritual resources, and the new identity we have united with Christ and united with other believers. From here, his focus is to show how the knowledge and understanding of these Gospel truths becomes our inner strength, enabling us to live for God's glory. 

To be a Christian means that you are not what you once were. You used to live in sin; you used to follow legalistic religious practices; you used to identify with a particular race; you used to be ignorant of God's grace. But now, the Gospel has changed all that. Salvation is God's gift, and it means we are united with Christ and adopted into His family.  

This Sunday we begin our new sermon series in the book of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus while he was imprisoned in Rome, possibly around 61-62 A.D. Ephesus, which was located in modern day Turkey, no longer exists, but in the first century it was a strategic and influential city. The letter's big theme is unity: all Christians are saved by grace and empowered to live b...

Psalm 19 makes a remarkable journey from the general to the particular in three stages: from the vastness of God’s skies, to Yahweh’s law, and finally to the worshiper himself. We stand in awe of the magnificence of God’s creation and the final revelation of himself through Jesus. When we read Psalm 19 through its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus, it becomes more desirable for us than gold and sweeter...

This Sunday, we round out our Presence of God series with an overview of the fifth and final book of the Torah - Deuteronomy - as we explore the blessing of the presence of God. As the Israelites prepare to move in to the Promised Land, they have the promise of the Lord going before them.

This Sunday, we jump back into our Psalms series for just a week, where our focus will be on Psalm 85. There is a strong emphasis in this psalm on restoration. This is what God does - He restores His people. And He does this through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus!

This Sunday, we journey into the powerful narrative of Numbers. Here we find that although God is in their midst in the tabernacle, an old problem arises… doubt. Despite everything telling them otherwise, the Israelites are having trouble trusting God as His presence leads and guides them through the wilderness.

This Sunday, we return to our Presence of God series, and we get to Leviticus where we see the Holy and Consuming Presence of God get dangerously close to the Israelites by moving into the newly built Tabernacle. Remarkably, this new proximity provokes a transformation of God’s people.

As we continue to trace the presence of God through Exodus, we move from the waters of the Red Sea to the fires of Mount Sinai. Here, we can see clearly that God doesn’t just redeem His people from slavery, but reveals Himself to His people and invites them to draw near to the ultimate manifestation of his presence, Jesus Christ.