Sermons

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost – John 6:56-69

Grace, peace and mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We who attend services regularly and who believe in Jesus Christ’s saving work which was completed on the cross can forget how difficult it can be for people to believe in him. After all, we readily believe and so we accept what God says through the Bible. We may accept so readily we can forget that for other people, the claims Jesus made are just too fantastic to be true, or too hard to believe.

After many of his followers chose to leave Jesus because they found his words too hard to accept, Jesus asked his twelve apostles, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” In faith and by the Holy Spirit Peter answers on behalf of the twelve, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Heavenly Father, sanctify us in the truth, your Word is truth. Amen.

  • Download and read the whole sermon as a pdf here

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Ephesians 5:15-17

Grace, peace and mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Each year we consider anew where God is calling us as a congregation. How does he want us to serve one another? In many cases the answer will look very similar to the last time we considered the question; and so ti should. But the value of asking the question again is that it reminds us once more of the reasons why we live out our faith in the way we do.

Earlier this year we reviewed and re-wrote our mission statement to reflect a more simple understanding of how God is calling us to serve. Do you remember how it goes? "We are called by God to shine the light of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through His Word, into the time and place God has placed us." We are called to shine the light of Christ - so how are we going to do this, as individuals and as a congregation?

Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

  • Download and read the whole sermon as a pdf here
  • Listen to the sermon mp3 recorded at our Trinity 9 am combined service here

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – Ephesians 4:22-5:2

Grace, peace and mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The sermon for today is based on the New Testament reading from Ephesians, but I would like to pick it up from verse 22. Let me read verses 22-24 then bookend the reading with the final two verses 5:1-2. “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the Spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 4:22-24,5:1-2)

Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Download and read the whole sermon as a pdf here

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – John 6:24-35

Grace, peace and mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

As Jesus walked the earth, proclaiming the good news concerning the kingdom of God which had come to humanity, people consistently missed the significance of who Jesus was and the blessings he brought for all people. So often people wanted Jesus to perform the spectacular miracles but they missed the simple truth that he was heralding in not a better life in this world, but the perfect life that is given in unity with the Triune God.