Through Suffering Into Glory (A post-Christmas sermon)

Text: Matthew 2:13-23

Reading: Jeremiah 31:1-17

Outline

Through Suffering into Glory

1: Jesus fulfils OT prophecy: Israel in Egypt

2: Jesus fulfils OT prophecy: Israel in exile

3: Jesus fulfils OT prophecy: The suffering servant

And so: Trust in this Messiah, so that through sharing in his suffering you may also share in his glory

Songs: Rej 337; Rej 458; 176; 357; 530

Dear congregation

What is it that people say? Nothing good comes easy. Nothing worthwhile comes cheap. If you want something good for nothing, you get something good-for-nothing. Basically - if you want something worthwhile, you need to work for it, pay for it, struggle for it, suffer for it.

Jesus: King Of The Jews, King Of The Nations

(A Christmas sermon)

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Reading: Luke 2:1-20

Songs: 264; 257; 270; 255; 282; 265

Dear congregation, family and friends

What is Christmas all about? Isn't it about remembering Jesus born in a stable to Mary and Joseph, laid in a manger, and celebrated by angels and shepherds? A surprising thing is that Matthew doesn't even mention most of those things. In fact he doesn't even describe the birth - it gets a quick mention in the last verse of chapter 1, and now in the first verse of chapter 2 the time could already be up to 2 years after the birth.

But in spite of that, Matthew says an awful lot about who Jesus is. From chapter 1, you see that Jesus is a new beginning - a fresh start who makes good where Adam failed. He's a new king of the Jews, descended from King David. And most importantly of all he's the One who will save his people from their sin. And so God gave him the name Jesus, which means 'He will save'.

When Seeing Isn't Believing Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Days 29-30a

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:1-18

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ...

When we considered Lord's Day 28, we saw clearly the spiritual meaning of the Lord's Supper. There we were reminded that the value of this sacrament is not in what is physical. Rather, it's what the physical represents that's important. That's why we speak of this as a sign and seal of the Word.

Throughout the history of the church, however, Christians have had difficulty seeing this. Many have misunderstood and been seriously led astray in taking the physical to be the same as the spiritual.

We can look back at the various examples of this, and wonder why. We can think to ourselves, and even say out loud such things as, "How silly that Roman Catholics believe that it's the actual body of Christ they're eating!" Or even, "Who do those Lutherans think they're trying to kid by saying that once the bread and wine has entered into their bodies that it then becomes Christ's body and blood?"

!-- @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->Promises, Promises Scripture Readings: Luke 1:5-25; 57-80

Scripture Text: Luke 1:67-80

Introduction

One of the sad facts of life is that we live in a world of broken promises. Just recently (2006) there was another state election in Victoria. Before we went to the polls we were literally bombarded with promises. Every time we went to the letter box it was stuffed with promises from political hopefuls wanting our vote. And yet very few of us believed them. Promises, promises and more promises, but we didn't take them seriously. Why not?

Maybe because we have memories. Remember when the premier promised us that the Scoresby Freeway would never be tolled? What happened? Years before it was due to be completed the name was changed to Eastlink. And guess what? It's going to be a toll road.

And many of us will remember the days before GST. We were told it would never be introduced. It was far too unpopular with the voters. Well the rest of the story is history. Australia has now had GST for the past seven years.