Be quite DAD ed.11/5/14

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

The sermon for today is from the epistle reading acts 2:42-47

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you oh Lord our rock and our redeemer.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to Fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers."

These are the distinguishing features of the Christian community after the events of the First Pentecost. The church was new, Jesus the Christ had only recently ascended into heaven and The Holy Spirit had just been given to the disciples, flooding them with power from God. Peter had just preached his first recorded sermon and 3000 people became followers of Christ.

These Christians were either Jews, or converts to Judaism, they had been waiting for a messiah, and they rejoiced in the good news that their Messiah had come and set them free from the punishment for their sin. It was a joyous time for the first Christians, we read how they had everything in common, they devoted themselves, to the apostles teaching to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They even considered their own possessions to be part of the community, selling possessions and goods to distribute to any who had need.

This was a special time in the Church's history. It was a blessed time, full of generous hearts and praising God. This early church community was especially blessed by God who himself added daily to the number of those being saved. This was a church lead by the Holy Spirit.

We are also a church that is lead by the Holy Spirit, we have the same Spirit in us that was poured out on the apostles and looked like tongues of fire.

It was the Holy Spirit that was leading them as they acted as they did. It was the Holy Spirit that moved them to generously give of their possessions to those who had need. And as an aside if The Holy Spirit is leading you to give of your possessions to the church or those who are worse off, Go for Gold, there is no command against giving. If you can spare some extra funds to assist others, that is a good thing. It is also a good thing to wisely use the gifts your heavenly Father has given you, so that you can provide for the family that God has given you.

But this is a sermon I will preach when we have harvest thanksgiving, Today I am reminding you of the four things the early church devoted itself to which are the same things that we should devote ourselves to.

In the early Church they had the living apostles to teach them about Jesus. Today we have the words of the apostles written by the Holy Spirit in the bible. As you read God's word you are devoting yourself to the apostles teaching. As you come to this building gathered with your fellow Christians, you are coming to hear God's word read and spoken into your lives. As you gather for bible studies, you are devoting yourselves to furthering your knowledge of God's Law but more so his wonderful love and compassion that he has for you.

Now I'd say it's because it's from the bible but do not remember going to a bible study that did not also have food, and here at Rainbow/ Pella and Hopetoun I have had the same experience. As we have gathered and will start and continue to gather to study God's word we will also be devoting ourselves to Fellowship.

This fellowship couple with the apostles teaching is a wonderful venue for God to use his Holy Spirit and use Christians to educate and comfort their fellow Christians, but clearly fellowship is not restricted to only accompanying bible study.

 In the few short months I have been here I have received an exceptional welcome to your parish and community, case in point just this last week I was invited out three times to enjoyable discussions and very good food.

As Christians, we are called to have fellowship with each other. It is at these times where we can relax, and open up. It is as we have fellowship together that God uses you to comfort each other, He uses you to remind each other of the brighter side of life, the side where Jesus is king. He reminds you of the grace you have received through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Through fellowship, through having a coffee or a yarn in the backyard, The Holy Spirit uses you to speak God's word to your fellow Christian. Sometimes this word will be the good news that God is pleased with you and has forgiven you, and sometimes God will use your fellow Christian to show you your sin and through the Holy Spirit call you to repentance.

This is part of my vocation as Pastor, God has called me to speak his word, condemning sin and proclaiming that Jesus died in your stead and by his sacrifice, God has forgiven you. I use the bible to know the difference, I study the apostles teaching so that I can distinguish between Law and Gospel and so that I can help you do the same.

As you read your bibles, and have your devotions, you are devoting yourselves to the apostles teaching. As you gather on Sunday as fellow Christians and receive the body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, you are devoting yourselves to the breaking of the bread.

 As you join me in the prayers throughout the service and as you pray at work or home with family or alone you are devoting yourselves to Christ's call to pray to God with thanksgiving through all things.

In Acts these four things were coupled with the growth of the church. The church was devoting itself to them and God was making it grow, and it is the same today. God uses us as we do these things to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ and to make more of them. as we have fellowship and invite our friends over for meals God uses us to proclaim his good news. God uses our fellowship with others to bring them into his church, it might take years and we might never see it happens, but as we gather with Christians and non Christians God uses us to proclaim the good news concerning His son. He fills us with the Holy Spirit giving us the words to say. He uses our kind actions and generous natures to bless others, often without our knowledge. As we devote ourselves to the apostles teaching to fellowship, the breaking of the bread and to prayer, just as he gave growth in the early church God in his time and his wisdom will do today. Amen

Waka waka waka

^{Psalm 19                                                                                                                                    8/3/15}

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

The earth is a testament to the greatness of our God. I have travelled around a good deal of Australia, though there is still heaps I have not seen. This country we live in is amazing, I have seen numerous different landscapes, desert, rainforest, mallee, Farms of all different sorts, I've swum in lakes, dams, oceans and rivers. climbed mountains, trees and hills. This land we live in vast and wonderful. At night, especially here at Rainbow the heavens put on a magnificent show, and the sunsets and sunrises we get here are breathe taking.

            Our psalm today reminds us that creation points towards it's creator. " The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech,

and night to night declares knowledge. "

The heaven tell us of God, but we as Christians know that we shouldn't look to the heavens for our answers, we shouldn't look up into the heaven to find evidence Of God and his will for us. Right after telling us that the heaven tell of God's glory, the psalmist tells us that we do not hear it's voice.

            " There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;            yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. "

The heavens, the mountains, this earth proclaims God's handiwork, but you are not going to be able to come into a loving relationship with God, by sitting on top of a mountain looking at stars.

The one way, the only sure way of knowing God, and having a relationship with him is through his word.

The old testament was broken up into the Pentateuch,  the prophets and the history and wisdom books. The Pentateuch is the first five books, they are the more important books of the old testament, where God creates everything and sets forth the plan of salvation that reaches fulfillment with his Son.

In Lutheran theology we teach Law and Gospel. Law is what you have to do to get into heaven, and the gospel tells us that Christ, fulfilled the law on our behalf. In the old testament Law is not always so narrow, sometimes it's those first five books of the bible, and sometimes it's used to talk about all of scripture.

            The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;

            This is clearly not just the laws we heard in the ten commandments. when I hear those I do not feel revived, but I am reminded of my inability to live them out. If I want to be revived I'll read something of Paul or go to a gospel and hear What Christ promises to do through the water of baptism, and his body and blood at Communion.

            God's word revives us, it brings peace and often puts things in perspective. It reminds us of God's everlasting love for us and the joy he has in us. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. each individuals created with our own strengths and weaknesses and known and loved by God.

            We know God loves us because we read it in scripture, as we read it our soul is revived and we gain a greater understanding of God, we gain wisdom.

 the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;

Trust in God is the purest form of wisdom. And it comes from the Holy Spirit through prayer, and hearing God's word.

AS we read God's word, The Holy Spirit works in us, changing us to be more like Jesus, and strengthening our trust in Him. There is lots of practical advice in the bible. The ten commandments and the book of proverbs are great for those sorts of things. It is a good thing to have the ten commandments on your mind, to go through them in the morning before you start the day, and go through them at night at the end.

as the psalmist says,

            Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

            At the start of the day if you think of the ten commandments use that as a warning to keep you on the straight and narrow, praying along with the psalmist, Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

            And then when the day has ended or when the burden of broken commandments weighs you down, turn to God in trust and prayer, asking him for the soothing balm of the gospel.

The commands of God are very good things, they tell us how to live in harmony with ourselves and with others. But in the end, knowing what the good and right thing to do does not help us do it. It is only the Holy Spirit and the constant return to God in repentance that helps us live a righteous life. I could tell you all the things that you could and should be doing but it's useless unless I tell you that Jesus Christ has already done what matters.

God is in control. He has given us His word and the confidence that everything we need to know about God is in his book. God has sealed us with his Holy Spirit, and it is through that Holy Spirit alone that we do good works, and have come to believe in Jesus. we hear it multiple times in the bible, God lets people suffer the results of their sin and the sin of others, hoping that they will turn to him, who can redeem them and cure all their wounds.  Your sin, your struggles to live out the Holiness you have received, does not mean you are any less of a child of God.

            This world has amazing things in it, wonderful people, beautiful scenery all of it singing the praises of it's creator It's good to enjoy the blessing's of God's good creation enjoying fellowship and food, but by far is enjoying those things along with God's word.

           

            God loves you, he knows you intimately, and he loves you. He sent his Son, to live out the commandments perfectly on our behalf. We are righteous because of what he did, We added no good things to Christ's sacrifice, but that's ok, because the payment He paid, was the perfect amount. Trust in God, be filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to deepen your relationship with God and your trust in his word. amen.

the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus amen.

Bahumbug ed. 4/5/14

1 Peter 1:17-23

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

Sanctification, it is the process of being made holy. It is the part of our Christian lives where we are made increasingly more Holy. It is the process where we become more and more like Christ, it is happening when we read our bibles and receive the sacraments, It's fruits are the fruits of the Spirit. Sanctification is seen when we become more loving, and joyful, where we are blessed with peace and patience, we become kinder, our goodness and gentleness overflows to those around us, our  faithfulness is increased and we are blessed with self-control.

Sanctification the process which makes us more and more like Christ is where good works flow through us. As we are sanctified we become more selfless giving more of ourselves to God and other people. It is where we follow God's commands to a stricter and stricter sense. Where we hit the mark more often, our temptations are conquered  more often and the sins which we commit are less.

Sanctification is what Peter is talking about in our reading, where he tells us to live in reverent fear of the one true God, who we call Father.  Sanctification is where we have genuine mutual love, and love one another deeply from the heart. Sanctification is where the old evil Adam stays dead for longer and the new Adam, the holy child of God wins out.

Now in Lutheran theology Sanctification is the third part of the Law.  First is the curb that stops us from murdering our sisters and brothers, next is the mirror which shows us how we have failed God, and failed to fear him, and third is the rule, the guide for how we should live our lives as Christians. The guide for how we should live our lives after we have repented of our sins and received forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice.

 Sanctification is the answer to "what now?" after we have been convicted of our sins and forgiven, and for me sanctification creates some of my greatest struggles.

The second use of the Law is easy to hear. As I'm sure you do as well, I know many of the places where I have failed, not all, but many of them. The deceiver loves bringing up old faults and tempting us into new ones. He uses our weakness to breed more weakness, binds us with our sin and brings us to despair. The Holy Spirit working through God's Word also shows me my sin, but graciously the Holy Spirit brings me to the foot of the cross instead where I see all my sins paid for.

The Holy Spirit works through God's Word reminding me that though I was a slave to sin I have been ransomed from the futile way of life that I inherited. I have been ransomed from the bonds of sin that have been on mankind since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden. Ransomed; not with perishable things like silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

This Gospel is preached by the Holy Spirit Through God's word, and received first at baptism and continually in the confession and absolution of sins and the body and blood of Jesus Christ. I am a sinner, you are all sinners. But Christ is stronger than your sin and has paid your dept, ransomed your souls, and brought you into the loving presence of your heavenly Father. By the gift of the Holy Spirit when you hear the good news preached I pray your souls are lifted up. that you are strengthened by the Holy Spirit. That you grow in confidence in God's mercy for you and the redemption now and for eternity that Christ earned for you, trusting that, Just as Peter through the Holy Spirit wrote, "You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God"

After this good news has been preached to us, even as this good news is being preached to us we are being sanctified. This good news makes us holy as it is proclaimed that by God's grace you have been made holy. A concept that I had drilled into me at SEM speaks wisdom to this. "now but not yet."

Now. but not yet.

this is our life as Christians, we are Holy now, but at the same time, not yet. we are sinless now, but at the same time not yet. Right now through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Ransom that Jesus paid in his blood in your body and soul the Law has been perfectly fulfilled. but also right now you are struggling to keep God's Law and fear God faithfully. We have been sanctified and we are being sanctified.

Each time we stumble and repent, receiving God's forgiveness we are being sanctified. Each time when through the grace of God we keep to his commandments it is not our work but the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We do not take credit for when God does good works through us and I encourage you to not turn to despair when your good works are lacking. Turn to God, cry out to God that you are not strong enough, and through the Spirit and his word he will remind you that he is. when you struggle to believe in God and his promises seek wise council, seek your brothers and sister in Christ who will aid you in your struggles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that does live in you, to turn to God praying the lament psalms, psalms that more often than not end in praise.

and these psalms will be a mirror to your life. In life there will be times of struggle but there will also be many blessed times of Joy and peace times when you receive a foretaste of the blessings of heaven. and you have a sure hope in Jesus Christ that in the end after you have died, you will yet praise God, you will be raised from death, Justified, Sanctified, and raised to life eternal in God's joyful presence.

Amen

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermons

Eh, heaps of preachers have their sermons up for perusal. having listened to some, I am super glad that mine are not recorded, i just don't practice them enough, and I really don't want to hear how often I stumble over words... but then again,it's good to know where we are struggling.
Anyway I'm going to get bored of this real quick but Here are some of my sermons.

WOD night 2

Jack awoke in the swamp with a thirst to quench, he went into the streets and found a group of hobos sorrounding a barrel of fire and went to the most secluded, he fumbled his attempt to drink and was surprised by a group of police that had some good reason to be there, something to do with crime? Jack was surprised and ignored their commands to stop. He ran into the swamp but was followed by four cops, they chased him through the puddles and hindered every chance Jack had to hide. he took several pistol rounds to the head, but when things were looking dire one of the pistols backfired. the pursuit stopped and Jack learnt later that one of the cops fingers had been blown off in the accident.

Jack, thirsty, wounded and angry, found the others as they were organising their activities for the night.

They had a contact who was going to help them get Aisi's van off the police search list, or whatever.

Some really weird stuff happened that night, a lot of it taking Jack by surprise and causing a lot of confusion.

on the way to the meet, they found a group of ~8 year olds mugging a lady with the dog, the leader cramped his pants and then tried to run away, but the other kids cumb stomped him, Chippers crew then apprehended all the kids, but then the old ladies dog grew in size and tried to attack the captured boys. the dog stopped and then the kids dissapeared, there was probably a lot of talking going on but Jack wasn't interested.

Later on they found a guy on a bike who had some connection with the kids, Chipper tried to talk him into something which would help the guy's "master", there was some fight between some different children, but Jack just had to stand alongside Chipper and look tough. more stuff happened and words were spoken.

then they were at a night club talking to another guy who knew who they were. he had apparently cleaned up Chipper's mess of the other night, but he didn't seem to want a favour for that. but to get the Van in the OK, he sent them on a mission to find his friend? enemy? some guy that he knew across the river.

So off they went over to the other side, they talked a boaty into getting them across and then easily found the place they were looking for. It had a man doing some weird dance on the top and a guy with a whole in his torso lying out front. deffinitely suspicious.

Inside the house it was a made place, times seemed to jump around with jack having prophecies of possible future outcomes that really messed up his mind. Inside they met a guy who summoned a scary beasty, then told it to go away. then when Chipper started saying something, the guy made a metal cage appear around him, but then it didn't. there were three vampires strapped to benches and the guy wanted Aisi to drink from them to help with some research he was doing. Jack was mad keen to get a drink, because he knew how good that vampire blood could taste, and he was still hurt and upset from his failure to drink earlier.

Jack pushed Aisi aside and started drinking from one of the guys, and man it tasted good. he was grabbed by Chipper at one stage and there was lots of yelling and talking going on. Partway through his drinking Jack noticed that the vampire was Asian, and a furious rage came over him. there was no way this scum of the earth deserved the boon of undeath, The vitae that he had within him had to be redeemed and only it's removal from his tainted corpse would acheive that. Jack drank and drank though it felt like it only took a few seconds.and then when there was no vitae left Jack continued on. He would not let that Asian bastards soul leave to wherever Vampire souls go, Jack would enslave it to his will, dominate it and destroy it and so he continued to drink.

When he had finished he felt a blisful joy for a few moments before the voices started, He could hear the voices of the previous vitae owners in his head, thankfully the asian was not amoungst them but Jack was drinken to save the comrades of him anyway, He noticed that they guy was now a crumpled heap in the corner, it seemed he had fallen through a tear in space and then Heath had mercilessly butchered him.

when the other vampires where free one enraged and attacked the corpse of the guy ageing everything around him, the boss vampire, put him to sleep and then had a yarn with George and Heath, seemed this was his place and the dead guy was a mage. he had some Rod that Vampire boss wanted to destroy, eh there were heaps of voices in Jack's head he wasn't sure which ones were real, though they all felt real.

They left the house and tunred in for the day their mission complete, but Jack couldn't help but feel odd about his actions, he decided he should probably stay low for a bit because some of the other vampires he had met well complete fools who did not see those yellow swine for the cancer they truly were. Surely his gangrel brethren would be fine with iit though, but as George said, probably wasn't the kind of thing you wanted to go telling people about.

But man did that blood taste good.