Thirsty Souls (Steve Ingram) Sunday, 6 July 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Steve Ingram , add a commentToday Steve talked on Thirsty Souls and used John 4:1-42.
John 4:1-42
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ[b]?” 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.42They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Joyfully Alive V: Learning to be content (Peter Birt) Sunday, 29 June 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Peter Birt , add a comment
20To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Source: www.biblegateway.com
Joyfully Alive V: Learning to be content (Peter Birt) [30:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)Joyfully Alive IV: The Role of the Mind (Peter Birt) Sunday, 22 June 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Peter Birt , 1 comment so farIn today’s talk Peter Birt brings the fourth from the Joyfully Alive series, which he titled The role of the mind
Philippians 3:17-4:9
17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 4
1Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Exhortations
2I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow,[a] help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Source: www.biblegateway.com
Joyfully Alive IV: The Role of the Mind (Peter Birt) [33:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (34)Joyfully Alive III: That Burning Passion (Peter Birt) Sunday, 15 June 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Peter Birt , add a commentToday Peter Birt gave the third talk on being Joyfully Alive.
Philippians 3:7-16
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing on Toward the Goal
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Source: www.biblegateway.com
Joyfully Alive III: That Burning Passion (Peter Birt) [30:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (31)Joyfully Alive II: Looking beyond yourself Sunday, 8 June 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Peter Birt , add a commentToday Peter Birt delivered the second talk in the series Joyfully Alive, titled Looking Beyond Yourself
Philippians 2 : 1-11 ( NIV)
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Source: Biblegateway.com
Joyfully Alive: Looking beyond yourself (Peter Birt) [32:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (30)Joyfully Alive I: Working with God Sunday, 1 June 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Peter Birt , add a commentToday Peter commenced a new series titled Joyfully Alive, with the first talk titled Working With God
Philippians 1 : 1 – 11 (NIV)
1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers[a] and deacons:
2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Source: www.biblegateway.com
Joyfully Alive I: Working with God (Peter Birt) [29:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (29)Chasing a better world (Too Much Wind Part IV) | Steve Ingram Sunday, 25 May 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Steve Ingram , add a commentMany people, even some who are following Jesus, seem to be unable to find the satisfaction and contentment that they are striving for. These four messages look at four things that waste our time and rob us of contentment. Solomon says they are like ’chasing the wind’. During this series you will get to ask yourself whether you have too much wind in your life and not enough substance.
Today Steve considered how chasing after a better world can cause us to miss God’s plan for us and his World. Our transformation is the key to God’s plan for the future. If we simply do good things we miss out on the heart of God’s call for our lives.
This morning’s service was a special occasion which included and honoured our community craft groups.
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 (NLT)
1 Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. 2 So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. 3 But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.
Source: www.biblegateway.com
Chasing a better world (Too Much Wind Part IV) | Steve Ingram [21:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (35)Chasing stuff (Too much wind part III) | Steve Ingram Sunday, 18 May 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Steve Ingram , add a commentMany people, even some who are following Jesus, seem to be unable to find the satisfaction and contentment that they are striving for. These four messages look at four things that waste our time and rob us of contentment. Solomon says they are like ’chasing the wind’. During this series you will get to ask yourself whether you have too much wind in your life and not enough substance.
Today Steve Ingram considered the hold that wealth may have in our lives. Although most of us don’t consider ourselves wealthy, the Hebrew concept of wealth was of everything one owned and the lifestyle that accompanied that ownership. With at least 98% of the world having less than we have it is good to consider whether we are chasing stuff or in contrast putting our faith in a relationship with God.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 & 6:9 (NLT)
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.
13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.
16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.
18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
9 Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Chasing stuff (Too much wind part III) | Steve Ingram [38:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (40)Chasing my rights (Too much wind part II) | Steve Ingram Sunday, 11 May 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Steve Ingram , 1 comment so farMany people, even some who are following Jesus, seem to be unable to find the satisfaction and contentment that they are striving for. These four messages look at four things that waste our time and rob us of contentment. Solomon says they are like ’chasing the wind’.
During this series you will get to ask yourself whether you have too much wind in your life and not enough substance.
Today Steve Ingram considered our tendency to insist on our rights, what we think we deserve. We will discover that Ecclesiastes reminds us that God is in control and we are called to find the beauty he creates in every circumstance rather than simply demand what we want.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (New Living Translation)
A Time for Everything
1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.
Source: Biblegateway.com
Chasing my rights (Too much wind part II) | Steve Ingram [33:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (42)Chasing Pleasure (Too Much Wind part 1) | Steve Ingram Sunday, 4 May 2008
Posted by darren in : Sunday Morning, Steve McAlpine , add a commentMany people, even some who are following Jesus, seem to be unable to find the satisfaction and contentment that they are striving for. These four messages look at four things that waste our time and rob us of contentment. Solomon says they are like ’chasing the wind’.
During this series you will get to ask yourself whether you have too much wind in your life and not enough substance.
Today Steve Ingram looked first at the human inclination to ‘chase pleasure’. Although it is a pointless exercise it seems common experience for most.. As we consider what is written in Ecclesiastes we are called to give up the pointless chase and discover the pleasure that God can bring.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Pleasures Are Meaningless
1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem [a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Source: Biblegateway.com
Chasing Pleasure (Too Much Wind part 1) | Steve Ingram [28:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (47)