Urban Vineyard

In this follow on sermon from last week, Jonathan returns again to Jesus' "difficult" words about our blindness to greed and our need to learn how to live open handedly when it comes to sowing for the kingdom. While it is true that some giving produces a clear and direct feedback loop of receiving, there is another kind of giving which the Bible affirms; one which is shocking and sc...

In this opening sermon in our new series on God's generosity, Jonathan reflects on Jesus' teaching in Luke 12:13-34 and its grounding in the creation narrative. He concludes by challenging us to open our lives up to become participants in God's generous flow of gifts in the world.

In the conclusion of our series on Jesus' upside-down kingdom, we look at Paul's final instructions to be made strong in the Lord and to take up his armour so we can stand against the schemes of the enemy.

In this sermon, Lloyd (following the apostle Paul) reminds us of the core elements of the life of discipleship – prayer, worship, and witness.

As part of our intergenerational service, and as part of the Season of Creation, we spent some time in our worship out of the building cleaning the streets. Here Jonathan offers a very short message explaining why this is a distinctly Christian thing to do.

How do we hold onto hope in the face of no-exit situations? How do we live when death seems to be running amok? In this sermon, Jonathan explores these questions in the context of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians.

Carrying on in our series, Pete brings us into the letter to the Ephesians, exploring the opening lines and showing what a rich inheritance we have in Jesus. With this gospel of grace, Pete reminds us the Father has planned it all, the Son has paid for it all, and the Spirit applies it all. Hallelujah.

As part of our series on Jesus' upside-down kingdom in the letters of Philemon, Ephesians and Colossians, Jonathan teaches on the so called 'household codes' or Paul's teaching on what happens when the gospel of grace enters into the most domestic, ordinary and foundational contexts of life.

Pete continues our series on Jesus' upside-down kingdom, looking at the implications of our new life which is hidden and contained safe forever in Christ.

In this sermon, Jonathan continues our series exploring Colossians 2:6-23. In doing so, he shows that Christ has everything we need and that all attempts to modify ourselves to make us "more" than human are ultimately going to fail. Instead, our role is to continue to find our life hidden in Chrsit because the irony of Christian hope – of the upside-down kingdom – is th...

Jonathan continues our series on the nature of Jesus' upside-down kingdom by looking at the opening and closing remarks in Paul's letter to the Colossians.

Pete begins our new series by exploring the radical way of reconciliation in Paul's letter to Philemon.

For Pentecost Sunday, Lloyd grounds the story of Acts 2 in the bigger story of God's redemptive work and encourages us to desire more of the Spirit's work in our lives.

Pete concludes our ascension series by looking at how Jesus acts as king, and what it means to live the adventure of faith as we follow him and seek his kingdom today.

In his earthly ministry, Jesus functioned in the mode of a prophet. In his ascension, he continues to act as a prophet to us, calling us out of patterns of existence where we try to live self-protected and overly controlling lives. Jonathan offers an example of how Jesus acted as a prophet by looking at Jesus' encounter with the rich young man in Mark 10. In doing so, he draws out lessons for...

In this sermon, Anne show how Jesus both teaches and demonstrates the God-honoring, life-giving attitude toward servant leadership. She makes the point that while this attitude must undergird any of our leadership endeavors, it does not provide guidance on what it means to lead or what we should be leading toward. For that, it is helpful to understand the human experience as a combination of two a...

Jonathan reads from John 20:19-31 and reflects on the way Jesus disregarded the doors his disciples had hidden themselves behind in an effort to preserve their fragile lives. The disciples were quite rightly afraid of what the Jewish leaders might do to them; they had seen what happened to their master only a few days earlier. Hiding b...

On Easter morning, Jonathan offers some reflections on our hope of resurrection, encouraging us to see how our little deaths and resurrections find their ultimate fulfilment in Jesus' death and resurrection.

Jonathan concludes our lenten series with a reflection on why we still hold palms on Palm Sunday, how they represent our incomprehension of the sheer magnitude of God's grace, and how, as the palm leaf becomes a cross, we catch a glimpse of our true desire.

Lloyd offers the final reflection on the baptism and testing of Jesus in the wilderness focussing on how we can learn to respond like Jesus to the common temptations that we all face by utilising particular spiritual disciplines/practices.

What does it look like to live a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit and which seeks to please God? It looks like great spiritual highs and great spiritual testing. Jesus offers not only a blueprint of how to overcome the core temptation – to believe we are alone and have to solve our own problems – he also acts as our substitute, succeeding where we fail. In the end, it is in...

Lent is a season of repentance, renewal and preparation. Traditionally it is has been a time the Church has welcomed people to be reconciled to God and to be baptised. While we don't wait for lent to invite people to be baptised, we do seek to understand the significance of the act theologically, spiritually and relationally. In this sermon, Pete offers a rich theology of baptism which will b...