St John’s Diamond Creek Talks

Jesus' entry to Jerusalem a week before his death was not the triumphant royal parade many of his followers expected. He rode in, not on a war chariot, but a donkey. Many asked then, and continue to ask now - "Who is this man?". Julie explores who Jesus is and was this Palm Sunday.

With the increasing restrictions on day-to-day life, many of us are missing and grieving the loss of being together. Since the beginning of the year, we've been going through a series - In The Valley - looking at 'valley' emotions, those difficult emotions we have to deal with. As we continue through the valley that is Coronavirus, it's important to fix our minds on God for our comfort and protect...

In our first Live Streamed service, we welcomed Chris and Julie Dean, our new link missionaries from CMS. Chris and Julie hope to go to Timor Leste (once the global shutdown is lifted) to bring the good news of Jesus to people there. Chris looks at Luke 24, and the reality of the risen Jesus.

Hope. Through all the Valley emotions in this series, hope remains. The state of mind that something good might happen, or something bad might not happen. Through the bible, we see an ultimate hope in Jesus - the belief that something good WILL happen. Kirk finishes our In The Valley series with this valley emotion - hope.

This is a tough topic. We believe that God has something to speak into all the circumstances of our life, including fun times and tough times.  Through this series, we're dealing with difficult emotions. In this episode, we look at despair. Tim encourages us to trust this difficult area of our emotions to our loving heavenly father. To trust that God's word speaks into all areas of our lives. And...

Do you feel guilty about buying things you don't need? Or about drinking too much on the weekend? Maybe sugar and chocolate is your guilty pleasure. What does the bible tell us about feelings of guilt? Julie continues our In the Valley series, looking at the feeling of guilt, and what Psalm 38 says about it.

The imagery of 'anger' is often fire - burning with anger, smouldering with anger, anger flaring up inside us. There's always a spark to it as well, something that sets us off. Do you get irritated, annoyed, or frustrated? Don't we all. Tim continues our In the Valley series with this look at Psalm 137, and the anger contained within.

There are many ways the Bible approaches the feeling of fear - too many to fit in one talk, in fact - whether it's a helpful caution or a reverent fear or an irrational anxiety. This week, Kirk bring us one of these examples from the book of Psalms as well as a personal example from his own life as he explores how the love of Jesus fits into all this.

As the first of the year, this new series - In the Valley - focuses on various "negative" emotions we might face in life, and where we might find biblical examples of some of these feelings. This week, Tim shines a light on grief and its relation to love, as well as a prominent example of grief from David in the book of Psalms.

This week in our Summer Stories series, Kirk brings us one of Jesus' many parables from the book of Matthew, in which he points out the hypocrisy of the religious elite and the importance of repentance.

This week, Jack Joynson debuts his first talk as he explores a story from the book of Acts and how we might relate in many different ways to some very different characters.

If you were the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present creator of absolutely everything, and you wanted to reveal yourself to the human race, how would you do it? God chose to do it by becoming a human himself. Sending Jesus down to earth, to live and breath and one of us. This Christmas, Kirk looks at how God speaks to us, initially through the prophets of the Old Testament in the Bible, then th...

The Sunday before Christmas, Tim concludes our series O Come O Come Emmanuel. This talk looks at the verse of the carol calling Jesus "Rod of Jesse", as seen in the prophecy from Isaiah. Images of despair and destruction precede the passage read in this episode, a prophecy which ultimately came to pass in 722 BC, and in 587 BC, with foreign armies destroying Israel and capturing their people.  But...

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death's dark shadows put to flight. The carol O Come O Come features names of Jesus from prophecies hundreds of years before his birth. This week, Delle looks at the verse and name - Dayspring.

The Christmas Carol O Come O Come features different names of Jesus from prophecies 200 years before his birth. Andi looks at the verse "Lord of Might", the future hope of a just lord, ruling over all the nations.

Advent is again upon us, and this year, these four Sundays leading us to Christmas will be spent exploring the various names given to Jesus in the popular Christmas carol: O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This week, Kirk kicks off our Advent series by looking at the first name Jesus is given: Emmanuel - "God with us" - and what it means when Isaiah receives the name in a prophesy over 400 years before the...

How would you want to be captured in a portrait? What would you include? What would you omit? And when that portrait was finished, would you still be recognised by those who knew you? In the wake of three baptisms, special guest Bishop Kate Prowd brings us this week's talk on the nearness of God even in the darkness of life and how we can reflect who Jesus is just as he reflects us in the sufferin...

This week, Julie brings us a story from the book of Mark, of the freedom that comes through mission, and invites three guests to talk about their experiences with different parts of local mission.

This week, St John's celebrates its 152nd birthday and as is tradition, we spend the time giving thanks to God for all he has done in the past year. Also, Tim brings us a story from Luke that highlights the importance of thanksgiving.

What does it mean to be a Christian in this day and age? Sometimes we can complicate the answer when it can easily be summed up in one word: love. But for such a common and meaningful word, "love" can be vague. So what does it really mean? This week, Tim rounds out the series by looking at one final interaction where Jesus is once again approached with a question. But this time, there is no tricke...

Death is inevitable, whether we often think about it or not, and that can be troubling. But have any of us got reason to believe there is more to life than just our physical existence? And if so, how confident can we really be? This week, Tim brings us the next group of opponents: the Sadducees, as they approach Jesus with their intricately woven questions on death and the possibility of resurrect...

No one really enjoys paying tax. Some of us don't mind, but tax is generally regarded as a "necessary evil" in our modern society. In Jesus' time, however, tax served as a harsh reminder of foreign rule - of Roman occupation. This week, Tim continues the story as the teachers of the law send in the Pharisees to confront Jesus with a question about this controversial tax.

This week marks the beginning of a new series looking at some of the altercations between Jesus and various opposing groups. In this first talk of the series, Tim explores an interaction between Jesus and some of Israel's highest authorities as they confront Jesus and challenge his authority.

Our Bible reading for this episode is a famous one. It's one of the most well-known passages on love and you've most likely heard it at a wedding at some point. This week, our talk comes from guest speaker and Vice-Principal of Ridley College, Tim Foster. Tim offers a different perspective on Corinthians than the one most commonly preached at weddings and encourages us to base our lives on a spect...