Journey of a Thousand Steps

How do you stocktake the year that's been and set goals for the year ahead? Would you like to try a biblical framework for your planning? As we prepare to enter the new year, this final Sunday of 2025, we considered Paul's teaching to the Corinthian church about the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15.18-25). If we believe that we have been spiritually reborn in Christ and will be physically resurrecte...

By the end of this message we hope you will see how believable the Christmas story is - not a fariytale! So many of the details in the accounts of Jesus' birth are too random, inconvenient and imperfect to have been made up. In the middle of an economically depressed and unsafe political context; as well as a socially lonely and difficult situation, signs and wonders emerged. This is exactly how f...

Do you ever wonder whether the story of Jesus' birth is simply a ridiculous fairytale? As we take a close look at Joseph's story in Matthew 1.18-25, we see his anxiety and uncertainty as he faced a very hard decision. We also notice three dynamics that combined to make sense of something crazy. First, he had knowledge of the scripture and recalled the prophecy of a birth that would come only from...

Even the greatest of leaders experience doubt. At the end of his journey, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus - 'What on earth is going on and why are you moving so slowly?' The words in scripture read, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” ( See Matthew 12.2-12) John was under immense physical and psychological pressure as he faced imprisonment, but he was also conf...

What makes a movement last? John the Baptist built a following that scaled quickly (we know this from Christian and non-Christian historic sources)!! This week, as we continued our teaching series, 'The Sifting Years', we considered John's strategies as a leader of systemic change. His cry was to convert people to an entirely new economy - one led by God as the CEO of our lives and Prime Minister...

Have you been watching the news? This month we are praying and donating to support communities across South East Asia affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as we continue to hold in prayer so many nations impacted by war and many individuals recovering from religious persection and abuse in religious institutions. Where is God is allowing so much hurt to go on? This week we took a deep dive into Jesus' plan...

We aren't meant to be church mice! This was the take home message this Sunday. Heather shared some of the reasons why church communities can become timid and happy to be small, keeping the bar low on their Mission Action Plans. As Heather shared the three-year plan ahead of Holy Trinity, she encouraged the congregation to move towards making a noise in the local community - not an offensive, rude...

How can God be both good and all-powerful? Surely God can be good, but powerless to stop all suffering, or all-powerful and, therefore, unkind? This week we explored the meaning and practice of worship as described in Psalm 145, in which the singer makes a promise to praise God every day, in all circumstances. We encountered the commitment that people of faith have to exhalt, bless, praise and con...

Are you someone who loves singing and dancing in church, or are you more likely to arrive fifteen minutes late so you can miss the opening worship? Music in church is often one of the greatest sources of conflict in church communities. This is no surprise, since it matters, and is so much more than the icing on the cake of Christian life. Today we considered the lyrics in Psalm 96, which tell us a...

What if it were possible that we will see a revivial of faith across the nations in our lifetime? This week we welcomed Cameron Healey, the Senior Pastor of Albert Park Baptist Church, to share with us from Isaiah 9.1-7. Cameron spoke about God's promise that light will shine in the darkness, as he shared from his experience of praying in the area of Port Melbourne and setting up a 24/7 Prayer Roo...

This Sunday we launched a new, five week teaching series called 'Christian Worship', exploring the meaning of prayer and worship in our lives. We hosted a guest preacher, David Jones, who shared with us from Psalm 95, about his own experience of inviting God to soften his heart.  Podcast by David Jones, 19 October 2025

What credibility rating woud you give Christianity as a source of wisdom about sexuality or finance? Do you feel the Bible holds wisdom the world needs, or are you inclined to think of biblical teachings about money and sex as outdated? It is a common and understandable response to the moral failings of Church leaders, to throw out the credibility of the whole tradition. However, Paul, in his lett...

Some churches seem to care more about truth, standards and biblical orthodoxy than compassion and kindness. Other churches can kindess and inclusion above truth. But in truth, love rejoices in facing hard things, having hard conversations. For this reason Paul urges the Church to "grow up", to "mature", and to find the balance between speaking the truth and showing love. Today at Holy Trinity, we...

How do you feel about the way Christianity is represented in the media today? One of the earliest marks of Christian faith, from its infancy, when it was still considered a small, Jewish sect that was likely to phase out, was its multi-ethnic, multicultural framework. No longer did followers of this faith need to share the same national, political or cultural identity. Gentiles were welcome, and t...

Do you ever feel as though you are fighting a battle that you never chose? Perhaps it is with your teenager or colleagues, or your line manager at work? Perhaps there is an internal battle you observe, with unhelpful thoughts or temptations? This week we welcomed guest preacher Campbell Brice, who spoke to us about the armour we are encouraged to "put on" in Ephesians 6.10-18. Campbell started by...

"Once we were dead," says Paul to the early church across Asia Minor. Once we were dead, but now we are alive together with Christ. We can sow into the things that lead to life, or that which leads to death. These are our choices, says Paul in Ephesians 2.1-10.  This final Vision Sunday for 2025, we considered where the signs of life have been in our past and present at Holy Trinity, and where the...

Do you ever wish you had a portal, so you could travel back and forth from different parts of the world in seconds? Imagine if you could literally move back and forth from Heaven in seconds, as easily as walking through a wardrobe. C. S. Lewis depicted this concept so beautifully in the Narnia Chronicles. The real life version is, however, even better. Today, we began our six weeks series explorin...

Have you ever been in a church that had big plans and exciting projects, but these collapsed as soon as the leadership changed? Or have you ever been in a church that built stability on keeping everything the same as it's always been? This Sunday, we considered Jesus' teaching about humility from Luke 14.1, 7-14 , which highlights two temptations that church leaders, in particular, must avoid: The...

Have you ever felt anger or regret about the way your money has been handled? Have you ever been cheated out of fair pay, a fair property settlement, child support payments or your rightful inheritence? Do you carry shame or regret about financial losses in your life, or have high hopes of building your financial portfolio? This week we took the opportunity to strengthen our financial literacy bas...

Do you ever feel stressed that you don't have enough money, support, confidence or strength to do what you really want to do? When Jesus' disciples asked him, "Teach us how to pray," they weren't just asking for a general lesson on prayer (Luke 11:1-13). They were in the middle of building the mission of their organisation, with a growing team that was now seventy leaders strong. They were asking,...

Is it more important to be a good person or to go to church? Chapter 10 of Luke's Gospel could trick us. After relaying the parable of the Good Samaritan, which sends a clear message that there's no point being religiously observant if you walk past a neighbour in need, Luke immediately hits us with the story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42). Suddenly we are told that spending time with Jesus, r...

How do we discover or step into our life's purpose? We all wrestle with this question. Perhaps you are someone who, like the lawyer in today's passage (Luke 10:25-37), wonders whether the Christian faith can really help you know this. When challenged to be specific and to properly explain the way to have fulness of life, Jesus responds with the parable of The Good Samaritan. The story tells us tha...

This week we encounter Jesus' brilliance as a manager and founder. He knows how to build a startup ministry from nothing, even whilst facing opposition! As we see in Luke 10:1-24, he passes on three financial strategies to his newly appointed team of 72. First, he instructs them to offer their services for free (no exceptions). Secondly, he says to have no hesitancy relying on partners and donors...

Everyone who follows Jesus eventually encounters a tension; a very painful tension. What do you do when your faith is growing ahead of the people you love, even the people you love the most? Sometimes, we have to let go of hoping that a friend or family member can stay with us on the journey, and give ourselves permission to move ahead of them. Sometimes we even risk the possibility that if we go...

Does anyone remember the song 'Blow Up the Pokies' by The Whitlams (1999)? It was a song written about gambling addiction and the chorus was marked by a plea: "I wish, I wish I knew the right words to make you feel better, walk about of this place." Have you ever met someone who was very hard to help, or seen a situation that seemed too hard too fix? This week we encountered the power of Jesus to...