Restoration Church Toowoomba Sermon Podcast

Every person is always doing something with food. The way we use food tends to reflect our faith or our idolatry. Our culture is well accustomed to the use of food and drink as a kind of anaesthetic (or functional saviour). We, like the author of Ecclesiastes, can tend to default to sensual pleasures as an alternative to the more significant satisfaction that God offers us.

Death is the big problem we all know exists but don't want to talk about. If this world is all that there is then it kinda makes a lot of sense not to talk about it. The writer of Ecclesiastes spends the majority of a chapter deliberating about death - his deliberations are very helpful to us.

Easter Sunday means hope for the whole world. Jesus has risen ... anything can happen now.

Good Friday had a couple of hopeful moments but was mostly good and dark. Jesus entered into a hopelessness that threatened to swallow him for good. This is our tribute to him.

The Project has almost finished working through the book of Mark. Join Peter as he summarises four key themes present in the book of Mark.

In the midst of the assortment of colliding opinions in Mark 14 there are two characters that seem to be unaffected by others - Jesus and the woman who anointed him. The Garden of Gethsemane unlocks the secret to staying true under fire.

In this section of Mark an unnamed woman shows the world how to love Jesus - in doing so she demonstrates how outsiders are the real insiders when it comes to relationship with Him.

When Jesus died on the cross he laid the groundwork for both salvation and judgement. When he returns he will save some and judge others. We need to be awake and awaiting his return.

Jesus knows the future because he is God. In Mark 13 he gives some details about some events that will be happening in the future. The information he gives us falls well short of what we would normally want to know - that is because he wants us to trust him in the present rather than trust in an outcome. God will share with us things that will guard, inspire and protect faith. He will not share wi...

Australians are pretty ordinary at giving to charities and the church is no exception. Mark records the story of a widow giving her last two pennies to God to remind us that Jesus lays claim upon everything we have and are. This is freedom.

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is? What is the main thing you are supposed to be doing? A legal expert of Jesus' day asks him this question and then responds very warmly to his answer.

This world is a dangerous place. The blinding effects of sin, the hiddenness of people's agendas and the strident nature of Christianity's opponents remind us that we need to be careful. In this passage of Mark two groups of people try to trap the untrappable Jesus and are left red faced.

Pride always brings trouble and division - there are no exceptions. Peter explains the trouble that pride caused in the parable of the tenants and describes how God subverts human pride.

Every angry person thinks that their anger is justified and every angry person thinks that it is everyone else's fault that they are angry. Almost all anger makes people blind, stupid and self-righteous. Today Peter looks at someone who was angry and didn't blow it - Jesus.

Nathan unpacks the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as recorded by Mark. He concludes that faith in Jesus gets loud but must last through the excitement and hype into the everyday.

In the story of the healing of a blind man we see the intermingling of faith and mercy. The blind man's faith, and his plea for mercy, reach the ears of Jesus and result in a dramatic outcome.

Jesus' instruction to a young man to sell all and give the proceeds to the poor tested what was in the centre of the man's life. His refusal to follow the instructions of Jesus revealed that his love of success and riches was greater than his love for life. Success and riches are well able to keep us away from what is most important.

In Mark 10 the Pharisees attempted to get Jesus to define marriage by what would constitute' a valid reason for divorcing one's spouse. Jesus resists their strategy and reminds them that the meaning of marriage is found in God's original intention not in the rules governing the failure of his original design.

The remedies that Jesus recommends for sin highlight how lethal it must be. Peter encourages us to be vigilant and to live with an ongoing awareness of the inherent dangers in this world.

Since the fall, humanity has been dogged by the temptation and desire to be great and glorious in their own right. When Jesus (the truly great and glorious one) came he caught his disciples, and humanity off guard because he came not to be served but to serve. He calls us to imitate him.

Nathan teaches on Jesus' interaction with the unclean spirit and the disciples lack of faith.

Peter workshops his way through the story of the transfiguration.

Since humanity rebelled against God no one has been able to think straight. Peter shows how Jesus is counterintuitive, how his call is counterintuitive and how the consequences of that call are counterintuitive.

Peter talks about the nature of faith, the contagion of unbelief and the gift of sight (faith).

Peter talks about how God has a holistic plan to redeem the world that is not limited to spiritual redemption only.