South East Anglican

Guest preacher from Moore College, Nikhil Kurien, preached on the familiar-yet-challenging story of the Good Samaritan. It's a story of an unlikely hero, and unlikely love, and a demonstration of a love that gives life.

This question has been asked by many, many people over the years, because pain and suffering will eventually be a reality for all of us. However, we need to be careful in how we respond to this question, as it can be asked in very different contexts. Dave outlines what three main types of people will ask this question, and how each different asker requires a different response.

This is a specific but important quesiton! How does the Holy Spirit function in us and communicate to us? Whilst there isn't an easy answer, Scripture has not left us in the dark. Dave looks at some of the key Scriptures and theological understandsings that help us know the intimate access that Christians have to God through the third person of the Trinity.

Sharing about our faith can feel daunting, especially when some people in our lives don't like Jesus or Christianity. If we are going to be Christians in our world, we need to develop a resilience in our evangelism, so that we persist even in the face of rejection. This doesn't mean we try and force salvation, rather we trust God to do what only he can: save people.

This the beginning of our Big Questions series, and we kicked it off with a look under the bonnet of 'salvation'. After the sermon there was a time of Q&A, where Dave took questions from the congregation.

The story of Zacchaeus is multi-faceted, and this week it serves as a great example of what can happen when 'the rich' encounter Jesus. Stephen concludes the series by encouraging us to consider our own attitudes towards giving back to God that which he has graciously given us.

When Jesus encountered the proud, which was mostly the Pharisees, no one knew what was going to happen. And then when they saw it happen, no one could believe it. In these encounteres with Jesus we keep being reminded that he is not like us, and his encounter with the proud is no exception.

On multiple occasions Jesus encounters really obviously guilty people. How do you think a holy God might respond to such guilt? Well, probably not as you might think. Dave preaches on what we can learn from Jesus' response to the guilty, and what that means for our churches and how we respond to those who might come to us.

What happened when Jesus crossed paths with people who had been rejected by society? When God comes into contact with a demon-possessed man, and an unclean woman, how does he react? How are they affected? These and many other questions are answered as Dave preaches on these two incredible encounters of Jesus with outcasts.

Guest speaker, Adrian Lane from Bush Church Aid, highlighted how Joseph, Jesus' earthly Dad, displays such profound trust in God, even when the result isn't clear, or when it comes at significant cost and risk.

Have Australians lost the ability to lament? The Aussie culture has so many wonderful aspects to it, but staring truth in the face and lamenting our actions, or the grieving the sad state of a situation, isn't one of them. This Israelites, however, didn't seem to have this problem, with 59/150 psalms falling into the category 'lament'.

It's easy to think that in this day and age we understand how to praise God. In fact, maybe we're praising God better than any time in history! But Psalm 8, and other psalms in the Praise genre, stand as a powerful corrective to some of our modern praise practices and understandings. 

Kings, queens, and rulers come and go, rise and fall. This is good news for those living under bad rulers, and shot of reality for those enjoying good governance. But God's people have never put their faith in earthly power structures, not even the best ones. God's people put their faith not in kings, but in the King of kings.

The author of this anonymous psalm has incredible confidence and trust in God. But at first glance, the confidence perhaps seems a bit misplaced, or at least exaggerated. Will God really not allow you to strike your foot against a stone if you trust him? Dave shares how we can interpret these tricky passages in a way that proves consistent, and enables us to trust God and his Word more deeply.

Psalm 30 is a reminder to us that God's people have always been thankful people. But their gratitude doesn't just come from mountain-top experiences, or from their circumstances, King David's gratitude came from the nearness and goodness of God.

Often the Church can expect an emotional reaction from our world when we hold up the baby in the manger as 'the hope of the world', and we are disappointed when we don't get it. But maybe it's because we haven't been telling the whole Christmas story. So this Christmas Dave tells the whole story, so we can all 'come and adore him'.

Christmas is a busy season for lots of people. It can be a chaotic finish to a year that often sees people collapse over the finish line. But is that the way of Jesus? Is that the life that Jesus calls us to? Dave looks at what lessons we can learn from Exodus about the pace of life that disciples of Jesus should be marked by.

Some of us are very good at preparing for different things: building a house, going camping, running a marathon, or planting a garden. But how many of us are prepared for Jesus to return? This week Dave preached on how we prepare for meeting a holy and loving God, and how the requirements are different for Christians and non-Christians.

Ben Allen from East Coast Anglican was our guest speaker this week, preaching from 2 Corinthians 4:7-5:10, encouraging us to live for Jesus by fixing our eyes on the invisible work that God is doing in us and through us.

This week was a special service as we had our first ever Kids Takeover! And guess what... it wasn't complete chaos! In fact, it was one of the most encouraging services we've ever had! And we don't think that is by accident. In the Bible we frequently see how God makes babies, children, adolescents, and youth a part of his plan for redeeming the world.

On Sunday Johanna van Tienen joined us to share about the incredible work of Compassion in realising children from poverty in Jesus' name. This is a recording from her sermon at Sorell, where she helped us ask the question of 'who is my neighbour?'

Chris Jones, CEO of Anglicare Tasmania, shared about the work of Anglicare throughout Tasmania, and why, as Christians, we are motivated to 'work for the good of the city'. 

Josh Skeat, Regional Officer for Bush Church Aid in Tasmania, asked the question, "How far would you go?". For Jonah, the answer was 'not to Nineveh'. For Jesus, the answer was 'all the way to the cross'. How far will you go with the life-transforming, soul-saving message that Christ offers salvation to sinners?

The wisdom of Proverbs really is 'wisdom for real life', and perhaps nothing is more personal or real to us than our sexual desires. And what does God think about them? Does he care how we satisfy our sexual desires? Is he upset with us for talking about it? Maybe he loves it when we do???  Dave unpacks all things beautiful and harmful about the the expression of sexual desire from the wisdom of P...