Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.02 - October 1974   Jesus Christ... Star!   Advent Sermon by Rev. John Goris, on Numbers 24:17-18 Scripture Readings: Revelation 12; Numbers 24:10-19 Psalter Hymnal: 111; 129;1,2 (Law); 231 (Creed); 219; 331; 400:1,5   Beloved in the Lord, Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone who will celebrate Christmas this year, would REALLY know Who Jesus is? Many at least know of Baby Jesus in the manger, but there is little more about Him that most people know.  And what they know about His glorious Person is such a far cry from what the Scriptures...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 42 No.3? – October 1997   Moses & Aaron Stumble on the Last Step   A Sermon by Rev. P. Archbald on Numbers 20:1-13 Scripture Readings: 1Corinthians 10:1-12; Numbers 20:1-13   Covenant People of God. How frustrating it is to come near to finishing a long and arduous task, only to have something go wrong at the last minute.  Something that sets you right back – right back to square one.  Something you're building, or making, or drawing, and little brother comes along and wrecks it.  Or that long composition on your computer, and it's accidentally...

Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.31- August 2001   Grasshoppers or Powerful Royalty?   Sermon by Rev P Abetz on Numbers 13:33 Scripture Readings: Numbers 13:26 - 14:9; Mt 28:16-20; 1 Pet 2:9   Beloved in the Lord, In the hippie era of the 1960s and 1970s, many young people made pilgrimages to India and other places to try and find themselves.  They painted slogans like “make love, not war” on the sides of their beat up old VW vans.  They tried alternative lifestyles of communes to living off the land.  They wanted to know: Who am I?  What is life...

Word of Salvation - September 2010   Numbers 9 - FOLLOW THAT CLOUD... OBEY THAT WORD - by John Westendorp (Sermon 9 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture Reading: Numbers 9. Singing: Book of Worship - 115 / 203 / 358 / 441   Introduction: Do you believe that God really guides you through all the ups and downs of your life? This week, as you make tough decisions, are you convinced God is actually leading you? God’s guidance! It’s a topic over which Christians disagree. Perhaps I could sum up the debate by mentioning two extreme positions among believers.  ...

Word of Salvation - August 2010   Numbers 8 - CONSECRATED UNTO THE LIGHT - by John Westendorp (Sermon 8 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 8. Singing: Book of Worship: 92 / 182 / 431 / 117a   Introduction: It’s been said that half the fun of a holiday is making the preparations beforehand. There’s a lot of truth in that.Some of us have made an overseas trip at some time or other (perhaps to Tassie...!?!)We prepare for that trip months and months beforehand.And the excitement grows and grows as the departure date gets closer.You begin to puts...

Word of Salvation - July 2010   Numbers 7 - HOUSEWARMING GIFTS! - by John Westendorp (Sermon 7 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 7:1-17 & 84-89. Singing: Book of Worship 99 / 218 / 203 / 240   Introduction: It’s been a long time since I last attended a housewarming party. Maybe I’m a little out of touch... but it seems to me that they’ve gone somewhat out of fashion.Or maybe in our affluent society we no longer need them? Housewarming parties were particularly for young newlyweds when they got their first house.The couple finally moved out of...

Word of Salvation - June 2010   Numbers 6 - RADICALLY DIFFERENT - by John Westendorp (Sermon 6 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 6 Singing: Book of Worship 115 / 177 / 214 / 215   Introd: Many who read the Bible for the first time begin the same way they read most books: at page 1. They read Genesis and find it interesting. The first dozen chapters of Exodus are not hard either.But then there’s chapter after chapter of instructions for building the Tabernacle.And by the time they get into all the laws in Leviticus they’re just...

Word of Salvation – May 2010   Numbers 5 - THREE KINDS OF DISORDER... AND CHRIST - by John Westendorp (Sermon 5 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture Reading: Numbers 5. Singing: Book of Worship: 34a / 23a / 139a; “Create in me a pure heart” Introd: It’s amazing how things keep going wrong in life. Everything is coasting along nicely and we feel we’ve got our life in order.And then suddenly – boom – a crisis – and life falls apart in disorder.As I prepared this sermon a story in the local paper vividly demonstrated that. A 9-year old girl...

Word of Salvation - February 2010   Numbers 4 - CARRYING TENT PEGS FOR GOD - by John Westendorp (Sermon 4 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture Reading: Numbers 4 Singing: Book of Worship 161 / 215 / 148 / 23a Introd: I learnt early in life that there is a lot of social status attached to the work we do. I grew up in a church that consisted largely of blue-collar workers.We had lots of trades people and factory workers in our church community.A neighbouring church was made up of mainly white-collar workers.I recall that at youth events young people...

Word of Salvation – February 2010   Numbers 3 - THE WORSHIP OF THE REDEEMED - by John Westendorp (Sermon 3 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 3:1-10 & 40-51 Singing: Book of Worship 143 / 392 / 435 & Rejoicing 124   Introd: I want to begin with a question that some of us probably won’t appreciate. The question is: How important is worship to you?What sacrifices will you make – if need be – to make sure that worship happens?   I ask that because it troubles me as a pastor to see so much irregularity in...

Word of Salvation - March 2010   Numbers 2 - IT’S NOT JUST A MAP - by John Westendorp (Sermon 2 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture Reading: Numbers 2 Singing: Book of Worship 505 / 91 / 34a / 96 & ‘Oh the mercy of God’   Introd: An older colleague of mine was visited for the first time by his grandson from interstate. When he came into his granddad’s study he was awestruck by the shelves and shelves of books. He said: Opa, what a lot of books you have. Have your read them all?My colleague laughed and replied...

Word of Salvation - January 2010   Numbers 1 – NOT JUST A LIST OF NUMBERS Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp (Sermon 1 in a series from Numbers) The author acknowledges his debt to Iain M. Duguid. By means of his devotional commentary "Numbers: God's Presence in the Wilderness" I discovered that it was possible to preach my way through the book of Numbers.I heartily recommend this book to any who have appreciated this on-line sermon series. Scripture Reading: Numbers 1:1-21 & 42-54. Singing: Book of Worship: 104a / 441 / 34 Introduction: Can you imagine that after reading Numbers 1...

Word of Salvation – Vol 49 No 29 - August 2004   The Lord Bless You Sermon by Rev J Haverland on Numbers 6:22-27  Scripture Readings:  Psalm 67; Ephesians 1:1-14   Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The theme of this sermon is: The Lord blesses His people with His grace and favour. And the purpose of preaching this sermon is to encourage and comfort us with a knowledge of God's blessing and favour on us in the year to come. At the end of every worship service the person leading the service will pronounce the benediction. "Benediction" is an old...

Word of Salvation - January 2011   Numbers 13 - TWO FROGS AND TEN TOADS - by Rev. John Westendorp (Sermon 13 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 13. Singing: Book of Worship 27 (1,3,4,10) / 103b / 468 / 214   Introduction: Australia had a number of early explorers who helped open up the country for settlement. One of the most inspiring stories is about (Robert) Burke and (William) Wills. Burke and Wills set out to travel right across the centre of this land from south to north.They wanted to see what their country looked like... what kind...

Word of Salvation - February 2011   Numbers 14 - WATERSHED DECISIONS - by Rev. John Westendorp (Sermon 14 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 14   Theme: Two watershed decisions – one from unbelief, the other from faith – that had momentous results.   Introduction: In 1997 I stood on the Columbian Ice Fields in Canada. It’s one of only two places in the world that is a triple continental divide.What that means is that a snowflake falling at the centre of the Ice Fields can go any of 3 ways. If it falls in one place if...

Word of Salvation - March 2011   Numbers 15 - IT’S ALL ABOUT FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD - by Rev John Westendorp (Sermon 15 in a series on Numbers) Scripture reading: Numbers 15:1-7 & 22-41 Singing: Book of Worship 331 / 199 / 73a / 190.   Introduction: Sin wrecks relationships. And we’ve all experienced it in one way another. Some years ago I was very friendly with a man involved in church leadership.But one day this man had an affair and walked out on his wife and family.He justified his actions by claiming that he felt that what he had done...

Word of Salvation - April 2011   Numbers 16 - DESCENT INTO HADES - by Rev. John Westendorp (Sermon 16 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture reading: Numbers 16:1-35. Singing: Book of Worship 67 / 95a / 514 / 296   Introduction: In recent times we’ve seen again the horror of a major natural catastrophe. When a huge earthquake (like in Haiti or Chile or Japan) strikes we see the scenes of utter devastation.We know instinctively that there’ll be many victims so we grimly await the body count.As the days pass the toll rises from the hundreds to the thousands. We...

Word of Salvation - May 2011   Text: Numbers 17 - CHRIST: THE ALMOND BRANCH - by John Westendorp (Sermon 17 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture reading: Numbers 17. Singing: Book of Worship 146 / 431 / 182 & In Christ alone   Intro: Complaining is a common human pastime. Nobody particularly likes grumbling... and yet we all do it.   There was once an order of monks in which members took vows of silence.Only after a year were they permitted to speak to the abbot of the monastery.One monk, when given that opportunity said: “My cell is too cold.”A...

Word of Salvation - June 2011   Numbers 18 - MINISTRY AND ITS SUPPORT - by Rev. John Westendorp (Sermon 18 in a series on Numbers)  Scripture Reading: Numbers 18:1-13 & 26-32. Singing: Book of Worship 27 / 451 / 434 & Rejoicing 312   Introduction: An interesting modern development in worship is the popular concept of Café-Church. I discovered this past week just how popular it is.I searched the Internet for the term ‘Café-Church’.On Google that search returned thousands of entries.I then searched on ‘Coffee-Church’ and ended up – in total – with some 35,000 entries.You’ll be pleased to hear...

Word of Salvation - January 2012   Numbers 19 – THE RED HEIFER – by John Westendorp (Sermon 19 in a series on Numbers) Scripture Reading: Numbers 19. Singing: Book of Worship 178 / 102 / 111a / 531 & "Purify my heart"   Introduction: In Jerusalem there’s an organisation called The Temple Institute. And they have been searching for many, many years for a red heifer.   This Jewish organisation wants to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. But they can’t.One of the reasons for that is supposed to be based on our text in Numbers 19.Numbers 19 shows that...