Category: Sermons
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Fit for the Feast – Leviticus 11
How can we be fitfor God? Exercise?Healthy food?That’s part of it.But our bodiesare more than that.They are temples,sanctuaries where the Spirithas taken up residence.They’re not our own—they’re made to honour God. Leviticus—pages of blood and fire,priests anointedlike lanterns for the people.Then, chapter eleven:camel, rabbit, pig—off the menu.Clawed birds and scale-less fish—off the table. Why?Not because…
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Strange Fire – Leviticus 10:1–3
Some jobs are really importantbut not very dangerous—teachers with whiteboard pens.Some are dangerous,but don’t seem to matter much—sword-swallowers in shows no one remembers. But then, some are both:like those who run toward burning buildings,those who take a bulletto protect another’s life. And priests.Ancient priests.Their job:Vital.Holy.Dangerous. Set apart—washed with water,dressed in garments too sacredfor an ordinary…
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Aroma of Obedience – Leviticus 4–7
I’ll confess—I’ve read Leviticusthrough gritted teeth.Ticked the box,moved on.This God?Not the one I’ve loved all these years. But digging inI saw what I’d missed.Not a different God—just a deeper one.Holy.Utterly other.Not tame, not safe.But always making a wayfor us to come close. The Sin Offering Sin doesn’t need intentto be real.The priest sins,leaders sin,any one…
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Joyful Surrender – Leviticus 1–3
This is the part of the Biblewhere people give up—and rightly so.Bulls and birds, blood and fire,a wilderness of rules and ritualfar from the songs we sing. But stop—breathe in the smoke.Smell the grain, the roasted meat.Feel the weight of handson a creature’s head,its life for yours. We surrender things all the time—degrees, careers, our…
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And He Called – Leviticus 1:1-4
Leviticus—the book everyone skips,tripping over rules piled high like stones in a desert. But here—at the edge of Exodus’ long drama—the story is not abandoned,it is gathered,the voice calls,the promise still breathes. And He called. Not because we were ready,not because we were holy,but because He remembered. The Holy One—terrifying and tender—desired to live among…
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Hosanna and Tears – Luke 19:28–44
(A Lament in the Key of Hallel) It moves in slow motion—this final week.Like a breath held in the lungs of heaven.Something vast is about to crack the sky. Jesus rides.Not on a war horse.On a borrowed colt.No sword at his side,just a heart full of sorrowand a soul set like flint. He’s walked every…
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Jesus’ T&Cs – Mark 8:22-9:1
Who is Jesus to you? We ask so many questions—Who will I marry?What job will I take?Where will I live?But only one questionechoes into eternity. Who do you say I am? The crowds had their theories—The Baptist, Elijah, a prophet, a threat.Peter says it plainly:You are the Messiah.God’s King.But his vision is still blurred. Because…
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Do You Still Not See? – Mark 7:24–8:30
It begins like marriage advice:Not with love,but with listening.Not just nodding—but hearing,asking,seeking to understand:“Did you say…?”Because what matters to themshould matter to you.And if we want depth with God—it’s the same. Jesus speaks.But we’re worried about bread.He multiplies loaves— twice.We count crumbs,miss meaning.He sighs,“Do you still not see?Are your hearts hardened?” The Pharisees ask for…
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About to Pass By – Mark 6:45-56
He saw them.Hours into the storm,oars digging into chaos,going nowhere.Obedient,but undone. He could have calmed it from the shore.He could have waited till morning.But he walked—across the deep,across the dark—his tired feeton top of what terrified them. And he was about to pass by them. Strange words.Why not stop?Why not speak first,shout over the wind,“I’m…
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Before & After – Mark 4:35-5:43
Desperation,raw and unfiltered,crashes like waves against the fragile ribs of a boat.Fishermen, seasoned by salt and storm,shake in terror.A storm that silences courage,a darkness that devours hope. And yet—He sleeps.Not indifferent,but unshaken. “Don’t you care if we drown?”They cry out,as I have cried out,when the winds rise and the waters rise and I riseonly to…
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Bearing Fruit – Mark 4:1-34
Mark 4:1-20 Original message by Andrew West, The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW The farmer is not careful with his seed.He flings it wide, casting it over stone and soil,over path and thorn and quiet earth.He does not measure the worth of the ground—he only sows, and sows, and sows. Some seed never settles, never…
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God’s Rescue – Mark 3:7-35
They did not look at the mountains,not at the impossible ridges,not at the distance that swallowed men whole.Just one step, then another— Nando and Roberto,walking for those who could not,for those left behind in the silence of snow.# Rescue is the only questionwhen survival is a choice between two unbearable things:The slow starvation of waitingor…
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The Scandal of Grace – Mark 2:1-3:6
News headlines flash with scandal—stories of self-serving politicians, celebrities, criminals, and shady business people,each demanding our click and our attention. Yet in a modest house in Capernaum, a different scandal unfolds.Jesus forgives sins. He welcomes those society has labelled as outcasts. Friends gather on a flat roof,lowering their paralysed friend through a broken ceiling,driven by…
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Holiness – 1 Kings 17-19
What kind of person am I becoming,as the days come and go,each one unfinished?I thought I’d be more by now—more generous, more faithful, more whole.The year begins, and I make my plans,but still, I falter. I look up to people like Elijah,bold and broken,a man who said there would be no rainand lived with the…
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Hark – Luke 2
Wake up, the angels sing—an ancient hymn unfurls,invitation stitched into every note. Come.The first cry of Christmas,frail and fierce,breaking the slumber of a weary world. What child is this,laid in a manger,when glory could dwell in temples?What holiness stoops lowto a cradle,to be clothed in the fragile fleshof the very ones who wander far? Solomon…
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Preparing for Christmas – Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
Do you feel ready for Christmas?It sneaks up,wrapped in year-end busyness,tangled in parties and plans,always just a step ahead of my heart. But the first Christmas—were they ready?A world forgot its God,hearts veiled in distance.They needed a voice in the wilderness,someone to clear the way,turning heads and hearts,calling for repentance. Repentance—a word we hide from,a…
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A Song of Joy – Luke 1:26-56
Does Christmas make you feel like singing?It begins with a melody, ancient and soft,the first songs rising from hearts in the Bible—a young girl’s voice, trembling but steady,a song of trust, of leaping, of joy. Mary, just a girl from Nazareth,a place small enough to be forgotten.No high standing, nothing remarkable,until heaven spoke her name.“You…
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The Priest We Need – Exodus 39
Inside the tabernacle,a meeting place—God and humanity,a sacred tent where heaven touched earth.We marvel at the golden threads,the purple robes, the gleaming stones,but do we think of the ones who stood within,those set apart to stand before the Lord? The priest, clothed in dignity and honour,bells ringing softly,a living rhythm in a holy place.Their garments…
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God Dwelling Among Us – Exodus 40
Some pitch tents for pleasure,others flinch at the thought.For Israel, a tent was home, canvas stretched thinagainst the desert night, where God said, Build me a tent,a holy space to live among you. Three parts to His house:Courtyard, Tent, Most Holy Place.Like fire in a chamber, light within light,close to the core, only the chosen…
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Radiance of Presence – Exodus 33-34
There are wounds people leaveseams that split in ways we can’t stitch,hurt that hammers us hollow—a weight we shoulder alone,or so it seems, Until God whispers,“I will go with you,”and his voice presses in, soft like breath,but firm like the groundunder our feet.“If I’m not there,” we say, “we can’t move forward,can’t take another step.”…
The Afterword 