In Sermons:

Giving Thanks For Everything (Ephesians 5:20)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 16, 2007

A sermon by Angela Smith ...

"Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5: 20) One of the first life skills I learnt from my parents was to say thank you. I’m sure this was the case for most us. It is an important ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:20

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Spiritual Training (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 16, 2007

’I do not box as though beating the air’ - the little known fight career of St Paul! ...

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. (25) Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. (26) So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Jesus Is The Answer...not Always (Acts 17:22-31)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 16, 2007

Sermons by Father Dave ...

“Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) Ange and I have been to Athens, as I suspect many of you guys have also. We went for less pious reasons than St Paul. We went as the Australian contingent ...read more

Scripture: Acts 17:22-31

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Ephesians 6:10-20 (The Armour Of God)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 16, 2007

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual...

I’m reading from the Amnesty International report on the war on Lebanon, August 2006: "The Israeli Air Force launched more than 7,000 air attacks on about 7,000 targets in Lebanon between 12 July and 14 August, while the Navy conducted an additional 2,500 bombardments. The attacks, though ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20, Ephesians 6:20

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Colossians 1:24 (The Sufferings Of Christ)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 16, 2007

Christ still has more sufferings to complete, says St Paul. Really! I thought He died once for all upon the cross, and that was it? Apparently it’s not that simple!...

“And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him” This is Paul, writing in his one and only letter to the Colossians, and it’s all good ...read more

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Being All Things To All Men (1 Corinthians 9:16-23)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 15, 2007

St Paul speaks about being ’All things to All men’, and at first glance it might just appear that he was undergoing an identity crisis ...

"To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

The Stone That The Builders Rejected (Act 4:11-12)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 15, 2007

The Stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner ...

I must admit that I was drawn to this passage this morning because it had a refreshingly urban feel about it. If you’re familiar with the parables and metaphors used by Jesus, you know that He often spoke using rural images - speaking of shepherds and sheep and fields and harvests. And you could ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:11-12, Acts 4:11-15

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4-7)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 15, 2007

At the time of writing this letter to the Philippians, we know full well that Paul was in prison, awaiting a trial that would determine whether he was to be executed. You...

I’ve chosen as my text this morning the Philippians passage - ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say ‘rejoice’!’ I do this partly to spare you from having to hear my John the Baptist sermon again. I only have the one. More significantly though, I’ve chosen this passage because I’m conscious ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

There's A Place For Everybody (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 15, 2007

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed ...

The words of Paul to the Corinthians, 1st letter, 12th chapter - the 12th of 16 in fact! This is the first time we’ve looked at Paul’s correspondence to the Corinthians for a good while, and you might find it odd that we do so today by jumping such a long way in to such a long letter! I frankly ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

The Greatest Of These Is Love (1 Corinthians 13)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 15, 2007

In spite of everything - in spite of our individual weaknesses, in spite of the dramas and scandals that regularly threaten to up-end us, in spite of our tiredness, and in...

The words of St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, from towards the end (thirteenth chapter, to be exact). It’s one of the most familiar passages in the Bible, I think. Even if you have not studied it personally or heard it read out here on a Sunday morning before, there is almost no ...read more

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

The Hope Of Heaven (Revelation 7:9-17)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 14, 2007

This passage in Revelation 7 came to light at a time when the church was dealing with a lot of pain and death through persecution, and when indeed every victory that they di...

It’s an image of the coming Kingdom - Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem. Call it what you will, it is an image of the final dawning of the new age - the climaxing of human history, and, strangely, it seems quite appropriate to be talking about it today. The end of the world is becoming ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

The Apostolic Invasion Of Europe (A Sermon On Acts 16:9-15)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 14, 2007

Philippi was a tough place to start a mission - wrong type of people, wrong area, wrong timing! But it seems that God doesn’t need straightforward circumstances in or...

We’re reading from the diary of St Paul, as given to us in the book of Acts - a section covering Paul’s second tour of duty in Asia Minor. In Acts Chapter 16, Paul begins what we might call the Apostolic invasion of Europe! In the diary entry that follows this one, Paul and his comrade Silas are ...read more

Scripture: Acts 16:9-15

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

No Yachting In Heaven (Revelation 21:1-6)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 14, 2007

For the believing man or woman, is not just some test, wherein if we pass we get to escape from this life into a better life. Rather it is a war in which we have been ordere...

Heaven: what is it, where is it, and are you in a hurry to get there? These are important questions, I believe, because I sense that there is a fair degree of confusion surrounding the Biblical concept of Heaven. Mind you, my daughter, Imogen, worked it all out some years ago, when my dad died. ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-6

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Many Nations, One Family! (A Sermon On Acts 2:1-14)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 14, 2007

Racial unity within the church is our calling, our mission and in many ways our message, for it is through our multi-coloured yet integrated community of love that the world...

What is it that strikes you when you hear this passage? It was the accusation of drunkenness that first struck me, and indeed I focused on that last time I preached on this passage, noting that drunken and wild behaviour is not the sort of thing that the church is normally accused of nowadays ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-14

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

A City That Has Foundations! (A Sermon On Hebrews 11)

Contributed by David Smith on Nov 14, 2007

Faith is the heartfelt conviction that things are about to get a whole lot better! It is a conviction that there is a new and better world coming! ...

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." As many of you will remember, I have been on an ongoing search for an entirely cheery and positive text to preach on for some time now. It might seem odd to some of you that it should be such a tak to find some ...read more

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican