The Two Advents of Jesus
By Not Known Today is the first Sunday of Advent. ‘Advent‘ is an old word that means ‘coming‘. In Christian use, it refers to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ The coming of Jesus has two time frames. The first is his past coming. As John records it: ‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us’ (Jn 1: 14a). The second is his…
… work it and care for it (Gen 2: 15)
By Not Known The balance between humanity and the physical earth is a pressing issue. Thus we hear warnings about irreversible environmental damage and witness the emergence of the Greens as a significant force. The Bible speaks with balance and practicality on this issue. On the one hand, humanity and the physical earth are united. We are created and have a physical…
God’s Physical World
By Not Known Our focus today is on the physicality of God’s creation. God made a world of dirt, rocks, water, plants, animals and people who are physical in nature. Some have a problem with this physicality of the creation and oppose it to the spiritual. This is not Biblical, but it is very common. Some of the early Christian thinkers were more influenced by pagan…
Answers in Genesis
By Not Known Today we begin a series of sermons and Bible studies from the early chapters of Genesis. These haven a battleground ever since the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s book, The Origin of the Species. Perhaps these chapters confuse some of us. Perhaps some still think that the whole Bible is debunked because what we appear to read in Gensis 1 -3 seems…
How to Become a Christian
By Not Known We will hear the Christian message today. It is a message about Jesus. It is a message that Jesus is God’s Son who came, lived, died and was raised so that we can be saved and belong to God in the fullest and richest sense. Some may ‘tune-out’ and decide not to listen to this message. Some may listen and dismiss it as nonsense. Some may…
Issues of the day – Truth and Tolerance
By Not Known Bigoty of all kinds is out of fashion presently, especially when it comes in a religious guise. Having strayed into the abyss of strongly held and intolerant opinions, the civilised world rightly says 'no thanks'. Some get confused at this point. They confuse truth and tolerance and act as though the only way to have tolerance is to abandon all…
ISSUES OF THE DAY – MATERIALISM AND HEDONISM
By Not Known The young sometimes complain that their parents are obsessed about making money and need to enjoy themselves more. Parents sometimes complain that their young are obsessed about having a good time and need to settle down and be serious about career and savings. Both complaints have…
Issues of our Day – Uncertainty
By Not Known Ours is an uncertain age. We marry and wonder if it will end in divorce. We bear children and wonder if they will be drug addicts. We enter hospital and wonder if we will return. We go to work and wonder if this is our 'today' for retrenchment, restructuring or retirement. James reminds us that life is intrinsically uncertain:Now listen, you who…
Issues of the Day – The Education of our Children
By Not Known Choosing a school is a nerve-racking task for parents. We typically read media reports, scan the school ranking tables (however they are configured); and talk to other parents – all in an effort to find the 'best' school. This is a hard challenge in the stressed…
Living for our Neighbour
By Not Known Like all churches, the Church at Rome had her fair share of contending issues. However, in order for Christian discipleship to be walk rather than mere talk, Christian consecration (as summarised in Rom. 12: 1-2) must be applied onto these problems. When Paul wrote to Rome, there seemingly were two groups of Christians: The 'strong' and the…