Sermons on Unseen Struggle:

Your Struggle With God Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

The 10 commandments are an expression of the character of God. Here we find a picture of what it means to be godly people; people who, having been brought into God’s kingdom by grace, are seeking to live in line with the Father’s character and will. Our t

Today we being a series on the 10 commandments: The 10 Greatest Struggle of your Life. Before we begin I want you to notice that these are not 10 suggestions or 10 guidelines. These are not optional extras for the specially pious. They’re not even ten rules for a successful life or 10 ways to ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 3:1-7

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle With Worship Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

The commandment against idolatry is "good news". It was not given because God enjoyed saying, "You can’t do this" and "you can’t do that either". The commandment against idol worship is at the top of the list after worshipping God because idols are counte

By Rev Bill Stewart [Marilyn] "Paula, do you think there’s a God?" [Paula] "Of course, there’s a God. What do you think I’ve been on about all these years? God is in everything and everything is in God. You are God, darling, if only you could see it and understand it." [Marilyn] "No, I’m not ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 44:9-20

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle With Time Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

The Sabbath is not just a day of rest. It is the fulfilment of the whole wek of God’s work and our part in that work

I think you’d have to agree that the fourth commandment has led to more legalism than all the other 9 put together. It’s such a quantifiable thing isn’t it? "Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work." So we make ...read more

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle With Religion Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

God cares about how his name is used, both in words and in what we do and what we fail to do.

By Rev Bill Stewart Back in the late 1990s everyone was talking about Y2K and wondering if their computer would still work on the 01/01/ 2000. The new millennium was all over the media. The Australian magazine even ran an article called "10 Commandments for the next Millennium" (7-8 March 1999). No ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 52:4-10

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle With Authority Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

God puts us in this world with a small subset of the human race to begin relating to. Our parents are the first representatives of fallen humanity that we meet and our first model for authority figures that we’ll meet later in life.

Introduction Jesus said that the commandments are summed up in the dual command, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbour as yourself." Well today we come to the fifth commandment. This seems to be about loving your neighbour, but it’s one of the ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 2:1-11

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle For Peace Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

The commandment not to kill is also a commandment to make peace.

By Rev Bill Stewart 1 Chris said last week that the first five focus on Loving God while the final five Commandments deal with Loving our neighbour. The Sixth Commandment says very simply: "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Our translation "murder" makes it clear that ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:21-26

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle For Purity Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

God calls us to committed faithfulness to one another as part of our commitment to him. He calls us to purity of mind and action, to help us maintain the purity of our relationship with our spouse. He calls us to keep our promises just as he keeps his.

Introduction There’s a phenomenon that I’ve noticed over the past few years. That’s the phenomenon of ’the better offer’. It comes in two forms: the first is where you don’t reply to an invitation until the last minute because you might get a better offer; but the second is worse. That’s where ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:27-30

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle For Integrity Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 7, 2008

the caommandment not to stealis a commandment to maintain one’s integrity in everything we do.

1 What images come to mind when you hear the eighth Commandment "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19)? You shall not take what doesn’t belong to you. If you are like me you might have an image of a masked thief in a stripped shirt climbing over a wall with a bag of loot over his ...read more

Scripture: Amos 8:1-8

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle With Truth Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 8, 2008

How do you decide when is the right time to tell the truth and when is the right time to keep silent?

I sometimes wonder whether God has structured these ten commandments with the most obvious sins first and the least obvious or most subtle at the end. Or is it just that our age has become blind to the last couple of commandments? Truth is a difficult concept in this day and age isn’t it? ...read more

Scripture: John 8:31-47

Denomination: Anglican

Your Struggle For Contentment Series

Contributed by Chris Appleby on Aug 8, 2008

The commandment against coveting is about contentment. God wants us to be godly with contentment

Blind Spots I recently discovered that I have a blind spot. In fact I have two. I had my eyes checked for new glasses a few weeks ago and while I was there they said I should have a field vision test. This is a test that checks whether there are parts of your retina that aren’t functioning ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:2-11

Denomination: Anglican

Not Another Power Struggle?

Contributed by Victor Yap on Jun 28, 2008

Apostles, Pt. 14

NOT ANOTHER POWER STRUGGLE? (LUKE 22:24-27)) A friend told me an interesting but sad conflict in their church. Several years ago an elderly man was counting the church offering by himself, which is not a wise thing to do under any circumstance. When the church changed its policy to protect everyone ...read more

Scripture: Luke 22:24-27

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Handling Life's Struggles Series

Contributed by Kurt Heisey on May 29, 2002

Life has tremendous pressures and trials, yet Peter had learned how to respond to release God’s power in his trials.

1 Peter 1:10-25 VCC August 9, 1998 Handling Life’s Struggles Introduction Peter is written to those who were going through all kinds of trials (1:6) Many go through life’s struggles relying on their own power, their own resources, their own strength, but God has not designed us to go through ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:10-25, John 16:33

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Thomas: Struggling To Believe

Contributed by Jeff Simms on Sep 16, 2003

The importance of trusting in God when we don’t understand His ways

Thomas: Struggling to Believe John 20:24-29 Primary Purpose: The importance of trusting God when we don’t understand his ways We look at the disciple today many call “Doubting Thomas”, but I would say to you that I don’t think that’s the right title for Thomas. We just can’t imagine after all ...read more

Scripture: John 20:24-29

Denomination: Baptist

Life Will Cease To Be A Struggle Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 19, 2004

Second in a series on popular illusions; and for Independence Day. Life will not cease to be a struggle if justice is not fully realized, feelings are not fully expressed, and wrong decisions are not fully reversed.

What kind of a retirement party was this? He had worked so long, he had struggled with so many things, and now, here, at the end, it seemed there was still unfinished business. His worries were not behind him, nor were all the issues settled. And why not? Had he no right to expect that now life ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 2:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Struggling With A Wavering Faith

Contributed by Ken Kersten on Nov 12, 2002

one thing the Bible and history teach us, is that many people, if not all people, have struggled at times in their life with issues of doubt and faith.

Struggling With a Wavering Faith Turn to Mark 9:23-24 Show Video Clip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Leap of Faith - leaping into the unknown. Well, we’re talking this morning about those times when we need to make that leap of faith. Times when doubts arise and it all doesn’t make ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-17, Mark 9:23-24

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ