sermons

What should we pray for?

On August 31, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

Interspersed in our upcoming 5:17 church sermon series on the Gospel of Mark, we will be looking at Prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a great memory verse. It simply says: pray without ceasing. That’s easy to remember, and while this is true, it’s a hard thing to do. I find prayer a challenge – it’s really easy to get caught up in lots of other things, and forget that God is there, and that prayer is a sign of our dependency on Him.

In my last post, I wrote on the topic: what is prayer? Following on from that, I think the next obvious question to think through is: what should I pray for?

I just read a really helpful article by Pastor John Piper on this exact topic. He begins the article this way:

One way to answer this question is to look at what the early church prayed for. Here is a list gathered from the New Testament. It can guide you in how you pray. I suggest that periodically you pray through this list just to test whether your prayers are leaving out anything the New Testament included. We don’t have to pray all of these each time we pray. But over time it would be good if our prayers had the breadth and depth of the New Testament prayers.

For the full article, click here.

May God’s Word guide our prayers, and in turn give us confidence that what we are praying for are indeed things that God loves to hear.

Tagged with: prayer • sermons

Encountering God

On August 31, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

But that’s why we want to invite you to come and check out the real Jesus. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or something far from it – the Jesus we will be encountering in the Gospel of Mark can have the profound impact of stretching your mind, enflaming your heart, and switching on your future with a living, vibrant hope.

06/09 Encountering the Eternal God at age 30 (Mark 1:1-20)

13/09 Encountering the God of Great Reversals (Mark 1:21-2:17)

20/09: Encountering the creative God (Mark 4:1-34)

Interlude on prayer #1

27/09 For this reason we pray (Ephesians 1:3-23)

04/10 Encountering the rejected God (Mark 6:1-29)

11/10 Encountering the serlf-revealing God (Mark 8:22-9:13)

18/10 Encountering the ruthless God (Mark 9:33-10:29)

Interlude on prayer #2

25/10 Wielding the Weapon (Ephesians 6:10-20)

01/11 Encountering the Sovereign God (Mark 11:1-12:17)

08/11 Encountering the future-holding God (Mark 13:1-37)

15/11 Encountering the God we condemn (Mark 14:1-72)

Interlude on prayer #3

22/11 The prayer of faith (James 5:13-20)

29/11 Encountering the dead God (Mark 15:1-47)

06/12 Encountering the alive again God (Mark 16:1-8)

Prayer #4

13/12 The cry of the troubled soul (Psalm 88)

Prayer #5

20/12 When words don’t come (Romans 8:26-28)

We at 5:17 church are convinced that what humanity most needs is to have a life-transforming encounter with Jesus. This might sound strange to some. Why Jesus? For many, the name Jesus brings up thoughts of ‘lovey dovey Christians’ or ‘fire and brimstone preachers’. We want to say with you that neither of these images related to Jesus offers us and our lives any meaning, purpose and joy.

But that’s why we want to invite you to come and check out the real Jesus. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or something far from it – the Jesus we will be encountering in the Gospel of Mark can have the profound impact of stretching your mind, enflaming your heart, and switching on your future with a living, vibrant hope.

06/09 Encountering the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:1-20)

13/09 Encountering the God of Great Reversals (Mark 1:21-2:17)

20/09 Encountering the growth of the kingdom of God (Mark 4:1-34)

Interlude on prayer #1

27/09 For this reason we pray (Ephesians 1:3-23)

04/10 Encountering the overly familiar God (Mark 6:1-6)

11/10 Encountering the self-revealing God (Mark 8:22-9:13)

18/10 Encountering the ruthless God (Mark 9:33-10:31)

Interlude on prayer #2

25/10 Wielding the Weapon (Ephesians 6:10-20)

01/11 Encountering God’s coming King who seeks faith and fruit (Mark 11:1-12:17)

08/11 Encountering the future-holding God (Mark 13:1-37)

15/11 Encountering the God we condemn (Mark 14:1-72)

Interlude on prayer #3

22/11 The prayer of faith (James 5:13-20)

29/11 Encountering the dead God (Mark 15:1-47)

06/12 Encountering the alive again God (Mark 16:1-8)

Prayer #4

13/12 The cry of the troubled soul (Psalm 88)

Prayer #5

20/12 When words don’t come (Romans 8:26-28)

Tagged with: sermons

Heaven

On June 29, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

At church last night, I was asked during our Q&A time (after the sermon) if there are any good resources on heaven available. What is heaven? What isn’t heaven? Why is heaven something we should long for?

I just had a little flick through the internet and came across the following resources:

Randy Alcorn has written quite extensively on heaven. Click here and here for a helpful list of online articles.
Here’s a sermon from John Piper on one of the great New Testament passages on heaven (Revelation 21:1-8). You can either read it or listen to it here.

And as I mentioned last night, I’ll also try and put together a Bible reading guide on the topic of heaven for this coming Sunday.

Tagged with: growing • sermons

Our upcoming 5:17 church sermon series

On June 26, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

The Day of the Lion – The Book of Amos

Amos is a powerful Old Testament book – it is full of power and justice, yet tinged with grace. It is a book well worth pondering over. So, following our current sermon series on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (The Rebel’s Guide to Joy), Steve Tran – one of our 5:17 elders – will be bringing us a 3-week series on the book of Amos. The series will be called The Day of the Lion.

July 19: Amos 1:1-3:8 – The Lion is angry
July 26: Amos 3:9-6:14 – Prepare to meet your Maker…
Aug 2: Amos 7:1-9:15 – Visions of the End

We recommend that you have a read of the book of Amos before the sermon series begins – so that you are familiar with the message of the book as Steve preaches.

…

The Time of our Lives: Living Wisely in a Hyperactive World

While Keiyeng and I were at college, we had the privilege of meeting and learning from Kirk Patston. He’s one of the Old Testament lecturers at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. One of the subjects Kirk taught us was Wisdom Literature – and it was an amazing class. We learnt so much about how to live well in God’s world.

We recently heard that Kirk preached a small series on the book of Ecclesiastes at a Sydney conference. Ecclesiastes is one of the most famous books of the Bible. And I reckon there’s no better person to help us understand Ecclesiastes and living well in a hyperactive world than Kirk. So from August 9-30, we at 5:17 church will be watching the following video sermons:

Aug 9: The Cycle of Time – Ecclesiastes 1-2

“Is our world the place for more and more chatter about ‘gain’ and what is new, or is it the place where we receive gifts from God? Do you want mania or peace? Do you want to own the world or enjoy it?”

Aug 16: The Lord of Time – Ecclesiastes 3

“Let us ask God to give us the wisdom to live in this unpredictable world, not counting the minutes and worrying but bringing His grace and beauty to each event, and so find joy.”

Aug 23: It’s Time! – Ecclesiastes 11

“Even though we cannot control our world, we must take responsibility for our lives, be generous, take some risks and entrust ourselves to a wise and generous creator.”

Aug 30: The End of Our Time - Ecclesiastes 12

“When just one person dies it is like the end of the world. Life is short so let us embrace the moment, fear God, keep his commandments and so find life and joy.”

Tagged with: sermons

Making friends for eternity

On May 10, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

re-visiting last Sunday’s sermon…

Jesus said: And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9)

We cannot take our possessions with us when we die. Things do not last, but people do. People go on for eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Hebrews 9:27). And here in Luke 16:9, Jesus tells His followers to be money exchangers, who exchange the capital of the earth (possessions) and change it into the currency of heaven (people).

What does this mean? It means, as stewards of God’s money (Haggai 2:8), we are to be generous in providing funds for ministries that get God’s love and gospel out to the ends of the earth.

Therefore, some prayer points that might be helpful for us are:

Father, could it be that you have raised me up – with the financial assets you have entrusted to me – for such a time as this? Is it more than a coincidence that you, Lord God, have entrusted me with such resources just at the point in history when an unparalleled number of people have such great needs and there are unprecedented means and opportunities to help them?

Jesus, have I over-accumulated? Have I allowed unwise spending and the accumulating of debt to inhibit my giving? Do my spending habits mean that I don’t have enough to give?

Lord, what do I need to let go of in order to be a good manager of your resources?

Father, where in the world do you want me to go, see and participate in meeting physical and spiritual needs through Christ-centred ministries? Is it a soup kitchen? Prison ministry? Is short-term or long-term service overseas part of your exciting plan for me or my family?

(adapted from Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p 97-120)

So, some help with GIVING! Here are some great ministries who constantly need financial support:

Evangelism Ministries:

FEBC
CMS

Compassion Ministries:

Persecuted Church Ministries:

And let’s not make this a taboo subject. Talk about money!! As fellow disciples, we need to ask, and let others ask us about money – how we’re going at giving it away.

From the master financial planner:

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Tagged with: 5:17 life • mission • sermons

Upcoming Sermon Series: The Rebel’s Guide to Joy

On May 7, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

So far this year at 5:17 church, our Sunday sermons have included an overview of the Bible (Genesis 1-Revelation 22), Easter messages and Luke 14-16. Now, starting from this coming Sunday, it’s time for us to have a look at one of the Apostle Paul’s great letters: Philippians.

The series will go for 10 weeks and is called The Rebel’s Guide to Joy. It’ll be a mixture of sermon videos from Pastor Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle) and live messages from me (Steve).

These messages are aimed to challenge and shape our heads (knowledge), our hearts (character) and our hands (skills). They’ll be challenging for 5:17 members, and helpful for visitors. So invite your friends to the following Sundays!

May 10 – Acts 16, Phil 1:1a – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy

May 17 – Phil 1:1b-11 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Loneliness

May 24 – Phil 1:12-18 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Suffering

May 31 – Phil 1:19-30 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Death

June 7 – Phil 2:1-11 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Humility

June 14 – Phil 2:12-30 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Temptation

June 21 – Phil 3:1-11 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Conflict

June 28 – Phil 3:12-4:1 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Exhaustion

July 5 – Phil 4:2-9 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Anxiety

July 12 – Phil 4:10-23 – The Rebel’s Guide to Joy in Poverty

Tagged with: 5:17 life • sermons

Why does God allow recession to occur?

On May 6, 2009, In Uncategorized, By steve.nation

Last Sunday’s 5:17 church sermon was on Luke 16:1-13 (“the parable of the dishonest manager”). At the beginning of the sermon, I asked the following question: why has God allowed this recession to occur? After working through Luke 16:1-13, I quoted John Piper, who gave 5 really helpful reasons. They are:

1.    God intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.

2.    He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.

3.    He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.

4.    He intends to advance his saving mission in the world – the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church – precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.

5.    He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

I really appreciate these 5 reasons because they take us out of our tendency to focus on self and instead they help us to focus on (a) those who desperately need our help (the helpless and the hopeless); and (b) God, who gives us certain hope and joy which even recessions cannot take away.

Tagged with: Christian living • sermons

Introducing God

On February 6, 2009, In Events, By steve.nation

What is it?
Introducing God is a series of talks addressing the key elements of the Christian faith. We do not force you to believe what we believe, but aim to introduce God to you with gentleness and respect.

Who’s it for?
Introducing God is for everyone – it covers the whole of the Bible (from Genesis to Revelation), helping both Christians and non-Christians to grasp the Christian worldview in its entirety. The series of talks is especially helpful for those wanting to investigate Christianity.

Where and when is it?
The talks will be given at the 5:17 church service which meets at 5 for 5:17pm at 83 Ryans Rd, St Lucia. The series goes for 7 consecutive Sundays from Feb 15 to Mar 29 – come for any or all Sundays. Anyone is welcome. We’d love you to join us!