St John’s Diamond Creek Talks

As a church, we're proud to support a number of excellent organisations across the world. We give 15% of our offerings to missions, including Anglican Overseas Aid. Their CEO, Bob Mitchell joins us, sharing about their work in Syria, as well as reflecting on the story of the Good Samaritan- asking who is our neighbour?

The final section of Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi packs a whole bunch of great points into a pretty short section. Tim manages to squish seven talks worth of tips from Paul into just one! Paul gives us seven things to help us "stand firm" in Jesus. Both Paul and Jesus knew of the challenge that many people go through, with the burden of worry and anxiety. Paul speaks to this in his lett...

Julie continues our Joy in Your Life series, looking at Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. With her triathlete training, Julie was given heaps of tips and skills, and in the same way, she gives us three tips on finishing a spiritual race. 

If you've done enough "good things" in your life, you get to go to the Good Place, right? And if you haven't done enough "good things", then you'll go to the Bad Place, right? God says no! The only right way to be right with God is through a relationship with Jesus. It's not about the things that you do in your life, it's all about Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians even says it's not a...

Our journey through Paul's first-century letter to the church in Philippi continues this week, exploring a slightly unusual phrase: "...work out your salvation...". Tim looks at what this phrase doesn't mean, to try to understand what it does mean.  What do we do in our lives to 'work out our salvation'? Tim offers a framework in his talk, which you can find here .

UPDATED: Apologies, as we originally used the wrong audio for this episode. Call it a lesson in humility. Continuing our series through Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi, Tim explores what Paul says about humility. Paul makes it clear that if you're a Christian, you've received love and acceptance through Jesus, before you've done anything at all. Our reaction to that, though, our response t...

Do you have a mate (or maybe yourself), who is fully devoted to something? Do they use every spare moment to work on their cricket skills? Are they like a sheepdog, focused on herding the flock?   Paul, the author of this letter to the church in Philippi, was fully devoted to persecuting Christians, throwing them in jail, and giving them a hard time. That was until he had an encounter with Jesus,...

When you think about Christians, how would you describe them? Would you think that they're judgmental? Bigot? Do-gooder? Paul, in the first century, wrote a letter to a new church in Philippi, saying that believers should be characterised by the joy in their lives. Throughout the book of Philippians, Paul uses the word joyful, or rejoice, over and over again.  Paul says that we can find joy in 'pa...

When Julie was 17 years old, she lived in a Buhdist temple in Thailand. She learnt of compassion, and elements of Buhdism, as well as the power of positive thinking, and even dabbling in palm reading.  Julie's outward picture looks pretty good: a successful career, a dynamic social life, Julie saw the world as her stomping ground, and was stomping proudly. Though her life on the surface seemed pos...

If you don't have much experience of church, or Jesus, this talk is for you. Kirk shares some stories about how he came to be standing up talking about Jesus to people, his experiences around Christianity and how he came to follow Jesus. This episode features a clip from The I.T. Crowd. The I.T. Crowd is ©Channel 4 2006-2013

For four weeks, starting last week, St John's is hosting author Stephen Abbott, as he leads a course about sharing Jesus in everyday ways. This episode is a snippet of week one of the course, which continues on Wednesdays until May 16th. If your interest has been piqued, you can join the course by registering at http://stjohnsdc.info . Payment can be made for the course's handbook online, or in pe...

Jesus' resurrection is real. Jesus' resurrection is miraculous. Jesus' resurrection is about relationship.   Tim takes a look at John 21:1-14, and the third time the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples. In this somewhat ordinary time, the disciples go fishing, and then have breakfast with Jesus. But this simple story shows us somewhat profoundly what the resurrection of Jesus is about.  If...

After Easter, Jesus hung around for a while. This mini-series follows the Resurrected Jesus as he meets with his disciples and transforms their lives. Sam begins our series looking at how Jesus took the fear of the disciples, and turned it into peace and purpose; how he took their doubts, and turned it into worship, and ultimately took death and turned it into life. Sam bases this talk on the book...

Jesus is risen! Easter Sunday celebrates the new life we have in Jesus; but to get to that new life, Jesus had to be broken. This revelation of the resurrection was first encountered by Mary Magdalene, and Simon Peter. In this talk, Julie looks at the reactions of these two followers of Jesus, and how the resurrection changed their lives. How has Easter, and the resurrection of Jesus changed your...

Superheroes are huge at the moment. 2700 years ago, a prophet named Isaiah wrote about someone who would come and save the world; but unlike Superman, Batman, and the Flash, who are obviously super, Isaiah's hero is named The Servant. This ordinary character doesn't sound impressive, nor like they could save the world. Yet at Easter, we remember this person, this factual person, Jesus.  The greate...

Kirk wraps up our series on the prophecies of Isaiah, and the character of The Servant. Isaiah 50:4-11 speaks of the Servant being obedient, even to death, and that they are to be obeyed, in the same way that God is to be obeyed. The Servant, who we living so far in the future from these prophecies know to be Jesus, is said to bring a light into dark places. God doesn't promise to make life easy f...

Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born, that a figure called the "Servant" would come. In Isaiah 49:1-13, it seems as though this Servant is the nation of Israel; but at the same time, is going to restore Israel. This Servant will also restore the entire Earth, all the nations, and show God's compassion to everyone. Tim looks at how we as a Church are likewise called to serve the nation...

Some 700 years before Jesus, a guy named Isaiah wrote about a mysterious person called "The Servant of the Lord". Tim begins this series looking at the Servant being the one to bring justice to the world. Chapter 42 of Isaiah is applied directly to Jesus in the book of Matthew, referring to Jesus as the Servant who God has chosen, and it is this passage which Tim focuses on in this talk. 

Julie Blinco puts on her P-Plates and delivers her first talk at St John's. Wrapping up our Vision 2022 series, she looks at how we are to share Jesus, and 4 practical things we can all be doing. This week's talk refers to Acts 20:17-24.

Trusting that God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, by 2022 we aim to be: An Intergenerational Community, which is Loving like Jesus, Growing in Jesus, and Sharing Jesus. Tim this week, looks at how, as a community, we can be Growing In Jesus. We grow up and mature in many ways in our life, but how do we mature in our relationship with Jesus in our work, in our school, in our ev...

In this week's episode, Tim looks at the first point of our Church Vision, to "Love Like Jesus". Love is thrown around in our culture all the time, and something that everyone gets on board with. Jesus shows us a much deeper way of loving though. Christian love doesn't come naturally or easily, and involves massive personal sacrifice. God is love, God loves us, and if we love one another, God live...

Kirk continues unpacking our new church vision, Vision 2022, looking at our desire to be an intergenerational community. Jesus asks his followers, "Who is my mother, and who is my brother?". As Christians, we are all a part of God's family, and should treat each other as such. Doing life together, with people from generations outside of your own, can be one of the best examples of Christian life....

This week at our annual St John's Training Day, senior minister Tim Johnson explores how we should consider our priorities, in the context of St John's Vision 2022, when compared to knowing Jesus and making him known. In an example of this from the New Testament, Paul writes to the church in Philippi telling them of a choice he has come to make. A choice between knowing Jesus and everything else i...

In the fourth instalment of our Look at Jesus series, senior minister Tim Johnson explores the social connections we form with people of different faiths and the negative stigma around the Christian faith as he challenges us to always be ready to defend our faith. In the Bible, we see Philip invite Nathaniel to meet Jesus. Tim references the Bible at John 1:43-51

This week, Delle Matthews continues our Look at Jesus series by following John the Baptist and his disciples as they follow Jesus. The Bible reading comes from John 1:35-42