Merri Creek Anglican

Pursuit of an ‘authentic life’ has become important in our culture today, but what do Christians look at to determine who we are and how to live this authentic life? God tells Israel in Micah, and Beck Miller encourages us, to look at God who has liberated us in many ways and ultimately through Jesus Christ and who has established us as his people to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly.

Here Patrick Senn preaches on Micah 3.5 - 4.5 looking at the major demolition and renovation required in God’s house. Micah calls out the rot beneath the shiny façade highlighting the greed and injustice being perpetrated by God’s people. He reminds God’s people that while renovation is hard, it is done through the Holy Spirit and for the purpose of creating more beautiful room for God. We, too, are called to confess the areas in our lives which need demolishing, inviting and trusting God to rebuild them.

Peter preaches on Pentecost, reminding us that Pentecost shows God to be the great leveller, empowering all those who call on the Lord and have faith in Jesus. There are no imposters in God’s kingdom, instead every Christian has received the Holy Spirit who enables and strengthens lives which powerfully glorify God.

In this final week of the Vision series Peter looks at how and why the church can inspire creatives. Our mission as Christians is sharpened and our worship in enriched through valuing creativity for its own sake and through encouraging creatives to see how their work can glorify God. Without watering-down the gospel or beating down others, Christians can follow Paul in making connections between culture and God which show God to be the ultimate creative who willingly, lovingly suffers for the sake of his art.

Many people seek spiritual nourishment, but how do we know when we are being spiritually nourished? Here Peter says that spiritual nourishment rightly understood is found in Jesus Christ and will be reflected in growing obedience to Jesus Christ, desires which align with God’s desires, finding meaning and significance everyday, and taking courageous steps of faith.

In this second sermon in the vision series for 2021 Peter encourages us towards being people who transform the world into the Kingdom of God starting in our own household. Christians can bring the kingdom as peacemakers who show love, generosity and hospitality to others, through God’s power made available by Jesus, not by the idols of leisure we so often seek.

Peter opens the Vision series for this year looking at how we can cultivate an open and charitable dialogue with the ‘no-religion’ tribes in our area. We are encouraged to have a responsive ministry which requires wisdom in taking opportunities to share our faith in an attractive manner. This will include gracious action and humility along with gospel confidence, as Jesus Christ has perfectly modelled.

Having remembered Jesus Christ’ resurrection, Flyck Clift looks at what the resurrected life looks like for Christians today. In understanding our position in relation to God and knowing the benefits of such a position we are free to explore a life of good works. Through good works we realise the fullness of our resurrected lives as God intended through Christ.

This Easter, in the climate of grief over the continuing revelation of abuses against women, we are reminded by Patrick Senn of God's wisdom displayed in Jesus’ resurrection. At the resurrection God shows his love for women, and through women to everyone, by making them the heralds of his extraordinary news.: Jesus has been raised to new life. and has overcome the power of evil. Jesus' resurrection stands in history, not as a quick fix to our problems, but as the source of our lasting hope in this life and for life to come.

This Good Friday, 2021, Beck Miller encourages us to think of the story of Jesus Christ’s death - not as a tragedy but as a great love story, which we are each invited to step into.

Peter preaches on one of the trickier passages of 1 Corinthians looking at excommunication and how the church is to respond to immorality among its members. Does the church respond to immorality within it by excommunicating immoral Christians, just like when a child is sent to ‘time-out’? Peter discusses how the church is to pursue holiness, and points to Jesus Christ's excommunication on our behalf.

In this sermon Peter asks two important questions: Who is watching your behaviour, and Whose virtue are you signalling? When people look at you do they see a virtuous life which imitates the cross-shaped life of Christ? 1 Corinthians tells us that we learn to imitate Christ by imitating the apostles who live out gospel power through imitating Christ in humility and self-sacrifice.

Today, in the 1 Corinthian series, Peter continues to teach about true Christian spirituality as presented by the apostle Paul. Here, Paul is using the example of good ministry leaders to encourage the church towards maturity. Just as good ministry leaders will be servants, will build using imperishable materials, and will have Jesus as their judge, so too will the mature Christian seek to follow Jesus' example as servant leader.

Continuing the 1 Corinthians series, Peter talks about how to be wise, how to be spiritual, how to be smart. If we are to learn something from the Corinthians it is that, instead of getting ahead of ourselves, we should build our spiritual practices on the one true God. It is in God that authentic wisdom, spirituality and spiritual knowledge are found, and these are generously given by God to those who humbly accept ity.

In this sermon Peter sets out to persuade us to pursue God’s wisdom rather than worldly wisdom. This persuasion comes in the form of an invitation to foolishness: to accept a foolish message, to live a foolish life, and to listen to a foolish teacher. The benefit of doing so is that as we stand in awe of God’s wisdom – displayed in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection – we are choosing life and goodness and the love of God.

Peter introduces us to a new sermon series in 1 Corinthians. In this letter to a messed up church we are told that God’s grace, while not cheap, is not dependent on our behaviour but on our relationship to Jesus Christ. Through Jesus God’s grace is available to messed up churches and messed up individuals. No matter how we struggle in life God is powerful to work in our lives.

In continuing the sermon series on the kingdom parables Tom French explains how a gift can be free & still have a cost. The Kingdom of Heaven is free for all but this does not mean that gaining the kingdom is without cost to us. In these parables Jesus asks us: do we recognize the value of his kingdom, the cost of following him, and the joy of gaining Christ as our brother?

[Peter Carolane] Kingdom Parables: The Mustard Seed & the Yeast (Matt 13:21-25) 17.01.21 by Merri Creek Anglican

In this sermon, Flyck Clift looks at how the fiery judgment presented in the parable of the Weeds is truly encouraging, both for people inside and outside the church. Absolute judgment at the end of the ages testifies to God’s patience & justice, encourages us to be non-judgmental now, calls people to the anti-evil act of bearing good fruit, and offers assurance that Jesus is the perfectly worthy & loving judge.

Beck Miller kicks off 2021 & a sermon series on the Kingdom parables with the parable of the Sower. The kingdom parables invite us to examine our hearts in order to see how our agenda aligns with God’s agenda. Beck reminds us that God’s way of sowing into the kingdom is to scatter wide, knowing that not all seed will grow to fruit. & Even with apparent good growth, society requires the word and grace of Jesus Christ for true & lasting transformation to occur.