Lutheran - St. Paul's Sydney Podcast

As we are Adveturing to Christmas, this week we come across the sign post of peace.   In John 14.27 Jesus reminds us that His peace is different to the peace to what the world offers,  it is a peace that exists even when there is chaos in our lives and it is a peace that says between us and God there are no problems or barriers.   This peace is made possible because Jesus came to earth for us.   That is another reason why we need Christmas.
 
 

This Advent our theme is Adveturing to Christmas and we will come across sign posts that lead us to Christ...the first sign post we will encounter is HOPE.
 Many of us have hopes for the future.  Hope usually comes from a place that life is not quite right and we are looking for a better future.   The well known carol 'O little town of Bethlehem' paints the picture well;
 Yet in your dark streets shining
 the everlasting light
 the hopes and fears of all the years
 are met in You tonight.
 This week we...

Sometimes we get frustrated  with leaders, because they don't seem to be acting in our interest, but in their own interest.   This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, where we explore how Jesus is truly the people's king, a king acting to bless and serve all people. 
 

At times listening to the news can give you the impression that the world is crumbling.  And in this week's focus Jesus prepares His disciples including us for a crumbling world.  Little did they know it that shortly afterwards they would face the challenge of Jesus being arrested and crucified.   As we explore Luke 21.5-19, we discover how Jesus gives us hope in a crumbling world.'
 

This week we celebrate All Saints Day.  Whilst traditionally this has been a day for remembering those who have passed from this earth to be with Jesus, in our services we will also have an opportunity to remember and give thanks to God for all who have brought the light of Christ into our lives.   In our services we will be exploring how ordinary people are saints because of their relationship with Jesus, and how God's perspective on life differs in many ways from how many in the world believe life should be.  

This week we celebrate Reformation Sunday, celebrating that the reformation refocussed our understanding of God, from a God we need to perform for, to a God who comes to us an shows us grace.   This year we also celebrate 500 years since Luther and the Reformation team translated the bible into the common German language, that helped many people connect with God.   
 

This week we are celebrating and thanking God for all the people God brings to Australia, and what it means for us to live in a multicultural community. The service was a Multicultural celebration based on Luke 13:22-30.

This week we conclude our Jonah series, where we explore the connection of Jonah and Jesus. 

As we continue our series on Jonah, we look at chapter 4, where we see that despite God giving Jonah a second chance and that the Ninevites all turned to God and stopped evil actions, Jonah is no happy, in fact he is quite angry.   We explore why this maybe the case, and the problems this causes.   
 

Ever resisted doing something, then eventually you do it?   In chapter 3 of Jonah, we see Jonah do exactly what God asked him to do, and when he does it there are some unexpected blessings, not just for Jonah but also for the people he goes to.   This week we will explore how when we repent we get to be part of some unexpected blessings just like Jonah.
 
 

Ever found yourself in a mess?   This week in our worship series we explore chapter 2,  how to pray when we find ourselves in a mess, learning from Jonah who finds himself in the belly of the fish, praying to God.  
 

Over the next 5 weeks we will be diving deep into the book of Jonah.   This week we explore Chapter 1, Jonah's calling and Him escaping from God's calling.
 
 

This week in our worship series - To Belong we explore how God is essential for us so we can belong to God and belong to each other.  Sermon based on  Luke 15:1-10.
 

This week we continue on our worship series, To belong, with a focus on how belonging helps us grow as Christians in this world, with a focus on God's mission.  Sermon is based on John 15:1-8.
 
 

This week we are exploring how everyone is valuable in God's scheme of life.  Now for many this is easy to say, organisations, including churches often promote themselves as everyone is welcome, but then they act and say things which suggest we don't really want everyone to be welcome, or at best they are welcome or be valuable provided you become like us or you do what doesn't inconvenience us. The sermon is based on John 10:11-18
 

Everyone needs to feel they belong, somewhere.   And this Sunday we begin our new worship series TO BELONG, where we will explore what it means to belong to the church, God's family.   Our focus this week is that To belong....God is essential based on John 15:1-17

 

This Sunday our focus is Christian freedom, exploring what does freedom mean for us as Christians based on Matthew 25:31-46

This Sunday is Christian Care Sunday, where we will be exploring how God's care for us, influences how we care for others based on Matthew 25:31-46
 

This Sunday our focus is Empowered by a Godly focus based on Luke 12:13-21.  
 

This Sunday our focus is Empowered by Prayer based on Luke 11:1–13
 
 

This Sunday our focus is Empowered by listening based on Luke 10:38–42.
The sermon was prepared by Pastor Richard Schwedes and read by Virginia Milla.
 
 

This Sunday our focus is Empowered to be neighbours to everyone, with our guest preacher 
 Bishop Rob Bartholomaeus based on Luke 10:25–37

This Sunday our focus is Freed to be God's Missionaries based on Luke 10:1-20. Prepared by Pastor Richard Schwedes and read by Anthony Fawcett.

This Sunday our focus is Freed to live under Christ Jesus and we welcome Pastor Tim Zanker as our guest pastor and preacher 

This Sunday we celebrate the presentation of the Augsburg Confession.  This is an important statement of faith for Protestant Christians as it reveals more clearly where we are on the same page as the Catholic Church of the 1500s and where we have major differences and concerns.  Behind this document was that those who were leading the Protestant Reformation had the minds, hearts and eyes on Jesus, which is the theme for this week's worship. 
 

This Sunday we celebrate Trinity Sunday - with a focus on the fact that God is interested and involved in every situation we face.   
 

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost Sunday - focussing on the gift of God's Spirit for us based on  Acts 2:1-21 

This Sunday we continue living in the Easter season, with a focus on witnessing, based on Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53
 
 

This Sunday we continue living in the Easter season, with a focus on healing....based on John 5:1-9
 
 

This Sunday we continue living in the Easter season, with a focus on loving....loving as Jesus loves us based on John 13:31-35
 
 

This Sunday we continue living in the Easter season, with a focus on listening....Do you find it easy to listen?   Some research suggests that the busier you are or the more convinced you are right...the more intentional you need to be in listening.   And this week we are reminded of the blessings in listening to Jesus, our Good Shepherd.   Also this week in our worship we will be celebrating Mother's Day, praying for all mothers, thanking God for them and asking God to continue blessing them.
 
 

This Sunday we continue living in the Easter season, with a focus on transformation Acts 9:1-20 and John 21:1-19.   Richard Fox from Lutheran Media will also be presenting at both St Pauls and Redeemer to share how Lutheran Media is helping people to connect people in the wider community to the transformation message of Jesus.
 
 

Last Sunday we stepped into the Easter Season remembering and celebrating what Jesus has made possible for us, through His death and resurrection....and over the next 6 weeks we unpack what it means to be living as Easter people, living because of Jesus' resurrection.   This week we look how living as Easter people we live with a belief in Jesus and all His actions....based on John 20:19–31  
 

Our worship services this Easter Weekend cover different and important aspects of Jesus and the Christian life...Maundy Thursday JESUS=SERVICE, Good Friday JESUS=SACRIFICE, and Easter Sunday JESUS=LIFE.   I look forward to worshipping with you in person and online. 

Our worship services this Easter Weekend cover different and important aspects of Jesus and the Christian life...Maundy Thursday JESUS=SERVICE, Good Friday JESUS=SACRIFICE, and Easter Sunday JESUS=LIFE.  

Our worship services this Easter Weekend cover different and important aspects of Jesus and the Christian life...Maundy Thursday JESUS=SERVICE, Good Friday JESUS=SACRIFICE, and Easter Sunday JESUS=LIFE.  

This week we begin Holy Week, with the celebration of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.   And the way Jesus enters is significant, on a donkey, it is a sign of peace....this week based on Ephesians 2:14-18 we explore how Jesus truly brings us peace.   
 

As we continue our Lent focus on God's cleaning hearts, we explore this week that as God cleans our hearts, he is leading us to humility.  Some people struggle with being humble, however Pastor Rick Warren, encourages us to see humility as not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  We will explore humility through the eyes of St Paul drawing upon Philippians 2:5-11.
 
 

This week I was again reminded on at least 3 occasions of why it is important to understand that our focus for living is about building and nurturing relationships....and this week's readings reminds us that this is God's focus.....in 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 we see that God takes the initiative in reconciling himself to us and invites us to continue this ministry of helping others discover His focus of reconciliation.    So this week in worship we explore how God is cleaning our hearts for reconciliation.
 
 

As we continue our Lenten journey, this week we explore how God is cleaning our hearts from idols.   Now the challenge for us in life is that it is not the terrible or bitter looking things that become idols in our lives often, it is the good looking, beautiful tasting and feel good things that often become idols in our lives.   They become idols when we allow them to replace God in our lives.   This week we will explore how God cleanses our hearts from idols.