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St Thomas' Sermons

Please note that the sermons on this site are here to encourage and challenge you. If you would like to use what you find here for your own preaching please feel free to do so with the following proviso: that you don't change the intent behind, or the theology of, the sermon.

I would also appreciate it if you let me know what you've used and if you've improved on it I'd love you to send me a copy so I also can improve.

To find sermons prepared before this site was launched please go to our archive site.

Joshua 3: Two Kinds of Memorial

Sunday, 29 August 2010 08:26 Heather Cetrangolo

Two Kinds of Memorial audio (4MB)

Joshua 3

Lately, when I look in the mirror, there are a few things that bother me.

I notice that my top lip has a particular dip in it that is exactly like my mother’s. I also have a slight overlap in my front-two teeth just like she does.

I’ve noticed that I have the exact same forehead as my Dad’s Mum, and that my hair is starting to resemble my Dad’s long frizzy hair that he had in the 70’s.

And sometimes, when I’m being cheeky, I do this thing with my mouth that my grandmother on my Mum’s side does.

And it’s not only when I look in the mirror. Every now and again I catch myself in the middle of a passionate speech about something that is only moderately important, and I notice that I’m overreacting and I think, “I just sounded exactly like my Dad.”

And when I’m at kid’s club and eighteen kids arrive, and Annette has to leave suddenly, which means I have to cook … I noticed myself kind of panic and rush around in a manner that strongly resembles my mother.

And the problem with all of this, is that it totally ruins the promise I made to myself as an adolescent, that I was not going to be like my parents … that I was going to be my own person.

Joshua 2 - Rahab

Sunday, 22 August 2010 04:09 Chris Appleby

Joshua 2 - Rahab audio (4MB)

Joshua 2

Joshua has received the call of God. If he’s to be a good leader he needs to show courage. But he also needs to show wisdom. They’re still on the east side of the Jordan, not yet in the Promised land and he’s working out what to do first. So before embarking on a campaign of war he decides to find out the lay of the land. So he sends a pair of spies to check it out.
But before we look at this little spy adventure let’s just stop to think about what they’re about to do and why. In Deut 31 God tells them, through Moses: “3The LORD your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ... 4The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.”
At first glance this seems like a terrible thing the Israelites are about to embark on. Their mission is to drive out the inhabitants of the land; to utterly destroy them. Yet as we see in that passage it’s actually God who’s doing the destroying. It’s God who’s going before them to dispossess that people of the land.

Joshua 1 - The Foundation of Leadership

Sunday, 15 August 2010 08:37 Chris Appleby

Joshua - The Foundation of Leadership audio (4MB)

Joshua 1

Today I want to talk about leadership. How can we develop it in ourselves? How can we recognise it in others? But first let me ask you, do you want good leadership in the church?
I trust that you all said an emphatic yes to that! Well then, let me tell you how you can get it.
Choose leaders who have been called to leadership by God, choose leaders with courage, devotion and obedience to God and be people who in turn are obedient, courageous, loyal and encouraging of your leaders.
Let’s look at today’s passage to see how these three sets of conditions come out in the history of Joshua.

Three Partners in Leadership

The first thing to notice is that leadership here involves a 3-fold partnership, between God, the leader and the people.

From Doubt to Belief 12 - God as Trinity

Sunday, 08 August 2010 10:00 Chris Appleby

God As Trinity audio (4MB)

John 17

What is God like? What’s your image of God? We began this series by commenting that everyone has a picture of God in their heads, even if they profess to be atheists. Whether or not it’s an accurate picture, in order to say you don’t believe in God you actually need an image of what this supposed god is like.
So what is your picture of God? Is he the all powerful creator of the universe; powerful yet remote? Is he the kind, forgiving grandfather figure who loves you no matter what you do? Is he the scolding father who watches your every move and disciplines you when you get it wrong?
Of course, there are many perceptions of God in our world. Each religion has its own view of what God is like. But where Christianity varies from all of the rest is that every other religion sees their god, or gods, as unitary beings; singular beings around whom the universe revolves. If there are multiple gods then they’re either each doing their own thing or they’re competing with each other for popularity.
Christianity on the other hand sees God as triune: three persons in one God. Not that the Bible ever explains how this works. That would be too simple. But it does make it clear that there are three separate manifestations of God, sometimes working alone and sometimes appearing in the same setting.

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