To Know Christ. To Serve Christ. To Proclaim Christ.

REFLECTION: Isaiah 42:1-9 “The Servant of the Lord” What is it you look for in a leader? If you were God, and you were going to send the earth a leader to rescue humanity from the mess we have gotten ourselves into, what would that leader be like? Would you choose a warrior, an orator, a diplomat, a business leader, a strategist, a philosopher, or a great intellectual? We find here in Isaiah 42 that the one that God delights in and that has been chosen as his instrument is fi

REFLECTION: Isaiah 60:1-6 “A light to the Nations” Today we celebrate Epiphany. The dictionary definition of Epiphany is “a moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is very important to you.” When we use Epiphany in its Christian senses, it refers to the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matt 2:1–12). It is the realization that the gospel is for all nations and not just for Israel. Go

REFLECTION: Matthew 2:13-23 “Evil in the World” As we continue through our Christmas readings, we see that the Christmas story takes a very dark turn as the ageing tyrant King Herod tries to kill the new-born king. It is a sober reminder that that the birth of Jesus is not just some sugar-sweet story for Children but God’s intervention into the world to overcome the power of sin and evil, and in these events, evil fights back. Evil is real. Here is an outline of the message.

REFLECTION: Isaiah 7:10-16 – “Immanuel – God is with us” Where is God when we are in trouble? Sometimes he just seems silent or even absent. We start to wonder if we have got it all wrong with him. You wouldn’t be the first to feel that God sometimes seems far away. At many times in their history, the people of Israel felt alone and far from God and wondered if they were about to be extinguished as a nation. They wondered if God had abandoned them. They needed to know that he

REFLECTION: Isaiah 35:1-10 ‘Is he the one?’ John the Baptist was beginning to doubt himself. He had believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the one that God had promised to send, but he was having second thoughts so he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus directly, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Matthew 11:2. Jesus’ answer draws strongly from our reading in Isaiah 35 and other parts of Isaiah. He has given sight to the blind, healed the lame

REFLECTION: Isaiah 11:1-10 “The Ministry of the Messiah - The Root of Jesse” Advent is a time for hope. Today’s reading from Isaiah is a reading filled with hope, firstly for Israel as they hope for their Messiah, but also for all nations, as the messiah is not just the King of Israel, but the king of Kings & restorer & redeemer of all things. They had waited for centuries for God’s promised Messiah. God had promised King David that one of his sons would be called the

REFLECTION: The Kingdom of the Messiah: What do you think it will be like in God’s Kingdom of Heaven where Jesus reigns as King? Will it be clouds and harps and angels? Will be a kingdom of peace and righteousness? The Bible gives us many colourful images and metaphors that describe what is impossible for us to fully comprehend. We know it will be wonderful beyond our imagination and we would love to know more, but some surprises are worth waiting for. God’s kingdom has come

REFLECTION: Colossians 1:11-20 ‘’What’s so great about Jesus?” Is Jesus over-rated? What is so great about him? Why are so many people completely committed o follow him and even to die for him? In today’s reading in Colossians, we are reminded that Jesus is fully God and through him all things were made. We learn that he has rescued us from the powers of darkness and given us the forgiveness of sins. We discover that through him, God is restoring and reconciling all things to

REFLECTION: LUKE 21:5-19 “STAND FIRM” What is your view of our world? Will it always exist or will it one day be destroyed? Should we be worried about it ending or should we just go on living, knowing that there is nothing we can do about it? How should we approach this theme of the end of the world? Jesus addresses the theme in today’s reading as Jesus announces that not a single one of the stones of the Jerusalem temple would be left on another. The disciples with filled wi

REFLECTION: Luke 20:27-40 The God of the Living Today’s reading has a group of religious leaders called the Sadducees ask Jesus a question about life after death. They tell him an absurd story about seven brothers who all die one after the other and in between they all marry the same woman. Finally, the woman dies too and they all meet up again after the resurrection, staring at each other. Who is the woman married to now? It’s a deliberately absurd story with a twisted quest

REFLECTION: Ephesians 1: 11-23 “Do you know how blessed you really are?” Do you remember your parents or perhaps even your employer telling you: “You don’t know how good you’ve got it!?” The truth is that many of us live our lives ignorant of just how lucky we are and of how many blessings we have. Too often we find little things to complain about when we have so much to be grateful for. Just as we sometimes forget how blessed we are in this lucky country, sometimes, we don’

REFLECTION: Welcome everyone to the Dedication of our new St James’ Parish Centre. HYMNS: TIS 678 How firm a foundation. O how good it is. TIS 154 Great is your faithfulness. TIS 147 To God be the glory. DEDICATION: Our service this morning will be a service of thanksgiving to the Lord for his rich provision and his many mercies in enabling this new Parish Centre to come into being. Our prayer is that this Centre would be a place where people are nurture

REFLECTION: Luke 18:1-14. How should we approach God in Prayer? Have you ever found yourself in the situation of meeting someone really important and at the same time have a huge favour that you would love to ask them, but you’re not sure how to go about it? In biblical times, to appear before a king without an invitation, or to make a request of the king could have you beheaded instantly. If this is the case with the rulers of earthly kingdoms, how hard must it be to approac

REFLECTION: Luke 17:11-19 “Only One Returned” Jesus healed thousands of people in his time. John writes at the end of his Gospel “But...

REFLECTION: Luke 17:1-10 “Faithfulness in Service” In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 17, we get a glimpse into God’s own heart on what...

REFLECTION: Luke 16:19-31 “The Rich Man and Lazarus” When you have your mind made up on something, how hard would it be for someone to...

REFLECTION: Luke 16:1-13 “Invest now in the Kingdom of God!” The parable of the shrewd manager is a parable that has us shaking our heads...

REFLECTION: Our gospel reading today contains three pithy parables all of which contain a similar theme. Jesus has chosen carefully three...

HYMNS TIS 583 Take up your cross TIS 658 I the Lord of sea and sky (Here I am ) TIS 589 Jesus calls us o’er the tumult TIS 595 ...

REFLECTION: Hebrews 13:1-16. Service that is pleasing to God Who are you trying to please with your life? Are you a people-pleaser,...