Sermons

Baptism of James van der Kolk

Good Friday 2025 Service

Our 2024 Christmas Carols message. We take a look at the significance of the names found in this passage of Matthew!

Birds are creatures that live on the earth but reach for the heavens. They exist in the space between heaven and earth. They have their feet on the ground but their heart is in the sky. In this sermon Tom takes us through Jesus’ command to “Look at the Birds” and what that means.

The theme of this sermon is on “the Kingdom” and how “blessed, happy, fortunate” we are as Christians to have entered it.

The final part of the series on The Temptation of Jesus.

The second of a three part series on The Temptation of Jesus.

The first of a three part series on The Temptation of Jesus. Why was Jesus tempted?

A gift reveals your needs (what they think you require) and your worth (what they think about your value). Your response to the gift shows what you think about your need and worth. How well do you understand the gift of Jesus and what is your response?

How often do you stop to pray? Do you schedule it in? Do you want to pray and make time for it? Our Heavenly Father is waiting to hear from us. He is Lord of our lives, our hearts. Give Him the glory and honour He is due.

We all have a part to play in ensuring the Gospel reaches all tribes and nations. God has given us His authority and power to go out and make disciples, while also encouraging us that we are never alone in this great task.

This sermon is how one comes to and stays at the wedding celebration of the King’s Son. It focuses on that fact that not only do you need to respond to the King’s invitation (God’s Gospel invitation) to be part of the wedding celebration, but in order to stay for the wedding celebration, you must be dressed in the provided garment of the king … which is the righteousness of Christ. You can’t stay if you’re not appropriately dressed.

Life is complicated. It seems the more life we experience, the more complicated things become. Anxious thoughts and worry seem to be ever present realities. So, how does Jesus’ promise of ‘rest’ impact on us as his followers? How can he promise us rest if he also promises to burden us? Answering these questions will give us new insight into who Jesus is and what he has come to do.

The third and final part of Matt’s short series about Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is strong in His condemnation of sin, His speech against false converts and in what the Bible teaches. Jesus will deal with us kindly if we confess our sins, His yoke is easy and He will give us rest.

When Jesus came, He was very different to what people expected. John doubted Jesus was the Messiah, and the people wanted someone different. As the people’s expectations were not met, they missed Jesus as the Saviour and our Redeemer. In this sermon we hear how Jesus is the true Messiah, but not the Messiah we might expect. We need to make sure our expectations are aligned with the Bible, or we also risk missing who Jesus really is.

In this sermon the cost of following Jesus is considered. Following Jesus is a wholehearted commitment, there is a price to pay but we gain everything. Where else have we to go?

Jesus teaches us to pray that God’s name will be hallowed, magnified, lifted up in this world and in our own lives.

Prayer is an important topic and doesn’t come easily to us. Yet, it is a wonderful thing to draw near to God and to pray and then to know that we have a Father in Heaven.

Does praying make any difference at all. Sometimes we can think we are wasting our time or not achieving what we hope.

We live in a world where God’s will isn’t done in so many areas of life. We also need to pray this for ourselves, our families and our church community.

Jesus teaches us to pray for the expansion of God’s Kingdom in the world.

We all need to hear this message as we live the Christian life. We are so prone to sin and we need to keep on praying this line of the Lord’s prayer.

This is one of the most difficult struggles of the Christian life. We acknowledge there is no simplistic answer here and so we look closely at what God is offering us and also what he is encouraging us to do.

After focussing our attention on God’s agenda, God allows us to pray for our needs.

Jesus flight to Egypt indicates how the forces of evil are determined to strike at the Messiah, the one who is the seed of the woman who will crush the head of Satan. Already from birth, Jesus life is in danger and ultimately Satan will see Jesus’ crucified and yet it is only a pyrrhic victory.

The story of the wise men is in many ways a strange one and in this sermon we look at some of the reasons that Matthew included it in his gospel. Many of the themes in this story come out later in the Gospel of Matthew and are well worth exploring.

In this 2nd sermon on worry, we consider that sometimes or worry comes from a lack of faith. We also have to ask if we treasure the things on earth more than we treasure God and trust him when he gives us what we don’t want or does not give us what we do want. In Jesus, we see a man who did not worry. Not about his life, death or praise of man. His death and resurrection means that we can be in a relationship with him, part of his kingdom and live a life of no worries. We like Jesus can know the perfect love of the father, a love that drives out fear and worry.

In this first part of 2 sermon’s, we consider what the bible has to say about worry. Whether long term or short, whether significant or even insignificant, worry is weighty. Worry can consume us, it can change how we think and feel and act, it can paralyse us, it can limit and reduce our lives in a way which very little else can. And it is something that affects so many people. we worry about many things but likely they all fall into 2 categories – something we want to happen and doesn’t or something we do not want to happen that might. Yet, God in the bible says to us, Do not Worry! How can this be so?

The theme of the chapter is about discernment and wisdom. In these verses Jesus is helping us to discern good from bad and especially good leaders in the church from bad leaders in God’s church. I would also say this, “That bad theology and bad fruit are intricately linked by Jesus.”

At the heart of Jesus teaching, there is a question about both your attitude to God and about your attitude to your possessions. The question essentially comes down to this, “Who or what occupies the greatest place in your life?” Is God and Christ your treasure or is your money, your possessions and resources your treasure? To be entirely accurate, the word used is not “Money” but “Mammon” which includes money, but can also mean your possessions and resources.