St John’s Diamond Creek Talks

You don't have to look far in our world to see injustice. The plight of refugees being held in indefinite detention, or the impact of climate change on developing nations and the failure of wealthier nations to respond in a timely manner, or something else.  We need Christmas because God, through Jesus, brought and is bringing justice to His world.

The book of Malachi, the last book of the Bible before Jesus was born, is pretty harsh towards Church leaders of ancient Israel. Julie brings us this second talk in our Why We Need Christmas series, showing how following Jesus is about focusing on him, and making small decisions which bring you closer to him, and not about a single big moment. Likewise, falling away from Jesus is often about small...

With his final talk at St John's, Sam launches our Advent series leading into Christmas: Why We Need Christmas. This series looks at the prophet Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, as evidence of why Israel (and ourselves), need Jesus to come and live as one of us. Sam looks at the questions posed in the first chapter of Malachi, 'Does God love us?', and 'Do we love God?'.

Like Sam Johnson, who's excited about his train set, and wants to show his dad, Andrew and Rosemary invite us to come and see how Jesus has been at work in their lives. Coming from two very different life experiences - Andrew a staunch atheist, and Rosemary attending Sunday School from day dot - these two share how they came to follow Jesus, and the strength and support that came from that.

When we find something really good, like an exceptional bowl of strawberries and ice cream, we feel compelled to tell others about it, and to get them to try it for themselves. In the same way, we're inviting you to Come & See how good a relationship with Jesus is! In this episode, Julie chats with Chais and Phil about their life before and after getting serious about Jesus.  [Editors Note: apolog...

On our 151st birthday, Tim gives us an ABC of thanks from Psalm 34. 

When making a decision, Christians often look for a sign from the Holy Spirit; a prompting, or a miraculous sign clearly saying "YES, GO THIS WAY".  Even Paul though, facing a decision to return to Jerusalem, experienced the Spirit both encouraging him to go, and working in the lives of his friends to persuade him not to go. How do we discern what God is telling us, and make Godly decisions withou...

In this section of Acts, Paul is compelled by the Spirit to end his journey through the ancient world by returning to Jerusalem, where he doesn't know what will happen to him, other than he has been prompted that prison and hardships are waiting for him. As he finishes this journey, he says farewell to many of the church leaders he has met from Ephesus, Greece and Asia.  Alongside Paul's farewells...

 In a story which includes someone being raised from the dead, you'd imagine that would be the focal point- the highlight of the story. In this passage of Acts though, this act of raising a young man from the dead is not prioritised, and instead, the act of Paul preaching the Word of God is highlighted, along with sharing of the Lord's Supper. There is power in prioritising the Word of God, in gat...

This passage in Acts is real history, with real people, and real events in time - a good reminder that the bible is about real people, and it is a historical account. But what do we do with this story? How do we learn from it and what can we take away about God from this riot in Ephesus? Tim examines the cause of the riot (Acts 19:23-28), its escalation (Acts 19:28-34) and its resolution (Acts 19:...

During Paul's journey through Asia Minor (Turkey) and Greece, he spent a long time in specific places - two years in Ephesus alone. While he was there, he would have worked his trade, making tents. The people of Ephesus, believing so strongly in the good news he was preaching about Jesus, people began using Paul's sweaty rags to heal people. Exciting, but also weird.  As well as the extraordinary...

This episode launches our new series, The Church on Mission, following Paul as he travels around Greece and Asia Minor in the first century, commonly referred to as his 3rd Missionary Journey. Kirk gives us an introduction to reading Acts, unpacking how to read this historical account, and how we can learn from history.  This section of Acts speaks about some supernatural occurrences, including sp...

We've finished working through the first letter Peter wrote to early Christians in the first century, and this week, Julie brings us a "P.S.", reminding us all that God loves us. Psalm 23 describes God as our Shepherd, and Julie looks at four things we can learn about God from this song. Following Julie's talk, we hear from three people from our community and how they respond to God's love.

Finishing off this first-century letter to early Christians, Peter addresses the'elders' of the communities he is writing to; that is, the senior leaders of the church. He gives them three tips for good leadership within the Church, which can be easily translated to any leadership positions. Peter then addresses people in positions of 'followers', under someone else's leadership. Essentially, Pete...

As Megan delivers her final talk at St John's after filling in during Tim's leave, she shows off her Latin vocabulary and looks at the phrase sub specie aeternitatis, meaning "from the perspective of eternity". Peter uses this section of his letter to first-century Christians to lift our eyes to the reality of eternity - the present reality of suffering can make our lives difficult, but we must li...

Continuing our look through Peter's letter to first-century Christians, scattered throughout the Roman Empire, Peter addresses a people who are beginning to be persecuted for their faith. Within a few years of this letter being written, Christianity is outlawed throughout the Roman world, and Christians are arrested for their faith.  Sam explores what happens when Christians suffer for doing good,...

Grappling with harder and weightier topics in the Bible together as we strengthen our community and our faith in God. Megan tackles Peter's instructions to first-century Christian Slaves, Wives and Husbands to submit to authority. These early Christians were freed in their relationship with God, and welcomed into this new family - no Jew or Greek, Slave or Free, Male or Female. The identity of the...

How do you know how to take the right path in life? Sam explores these two verses from Peter's letter to first century Christians, and how they show us which path we should take in our lives.  Should we walk the path of isolation, of assimilation, or of proclamation?

Peter's letter to churches scattered across the known world of the first century speaks to the identity of the recipients of the letter and reminds them that they are a chosen people - chosen by God. Julie looks deeply into the phrases used to identify these early Christians, and by extension, us today. Being called 'living stones', and a 'royal priesthood' isn't something we easily relate to toda...

A 2000-year-old letter written by one of Jesus' friends, 1 Peter presents the Christian life as a journey that we all go on - beginning when we decide to start our relationship with Jesus, and ending when we see him face-to-face. Peter gives us directions for this journey, and this week Kirk explores Peter telling Christians to "be holy", by being obedient. Obedience has a pretty lame reputation i...

Peter's letter to early churches scattered across the world speaks to people waiting in hope of something great to come. Though the people this letter was originally written to were facing trials and persecution, Peter encourages them that trials "...have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, g...

Over the next 9 weeks, we'll be reading through the first letter Peter wrote to early Christians, scattered throughout the known world- included in the Bible as the book of 1 Peter.  Peter was the leader of the early church, the first to realise that Jesus was and is the Son of God. Peter still though, was human. Peter denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, claiming not to know him,...

We've all got stories of times we've failed in our lives. Whether it's leaving the Salmon out of a Salmon Tortilla, or leaving $200 in cash in an ATM. Tim looks at the failure of Peter, one of the key leaders of the early church, when he denies knowing Jesus three times just as Jesus is arrested and crucified. Jesus knows our failures, he isn't surprised by them, or unaware of them: he knows every...

"If you take the work of God's mission out of the Bible, all you're left with is a front and back cover." Kat Shields takes a look at what mission looks like and finds that for the most part, it is ordinary. An ordinary life, saturated with gospel intentionality- a commitment to building relationships modelling Jesus, and talking about faith as a natural part of conversation.  Kat is a regular mem...

Wycliffe Bible Translators aim to see disciples of Jesus growing through the Scriptures available in the language that speaks to their hearts. To that end, they are actively working on translating the Bible into new languages. While there are 2,000 languages currently being worked on, there are still 1,500 languages with no one working on a bible translation. Josh Barlett visits us to give us an u...