St Andrews Church Geraldine‘s Podcast

The Golden Rule (“Do to others as you would have them do to you”) can roll off our tongues very easily. We like to obey it (most of the time) and quickly encourage others to do the same in their circumstances. However, this command is sandwiched between a much harder command that Jesus instructs us to obey at the beginning and end of this passage of Scripture: “Love your enemies!” To do this is perhaps the most challenging aspect of imitating God’s love to others. It doesn’t mean that justice is waivered for the offender and the victim remains as t...

The Gospel of Luke recounts the beatitudes and the woes with a reminder that it is not just about being poor or rich – it is about having the right heart attitude towards God and those around us, and what we do with our time, possessions and interactions with others.  How we live now (in the present) affects how we live then (in the future coming Kingdom of God).  The Beatitudes taught by Jesus in his sermon, prepare our hearts to be attentive to Jesus’ words throughout the rest of the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 6:20-26

Luke (Part 25)

Chain Reaction

BUT GOD

Philippians 1:3-11

In Luke 6 Jesus declares himself Lord of the Sabbath and challenges the Pharisees’ understanding of what the day is for. This message asks whether Christians are still commanded to keep the Sabbath as law, argues that the New Testament gives believers freedom from compulsory Sabbath observance, and then considers what we can still learn from God’s gift of rest: stopping work and trusting God, making room for worship and enjoying his gifts, and helping others rest while remaining ready to do good.

Luke 6:1-11

What's in a Creed
John 11:17-27 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 & Colossians 1:.21-23

Jesus uses a wedding, a patched garment and new wine to challenge how we respond to him. We can be busy with religious routines while avoiding the obedience he asks of us. We can also look to him to fix one part of our lives while keeping control of the rest and lastly we need to let Jesus and his Word determine what we hold on to and what we let go.

Luke 5:33-39

Using Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew as a visual thread, this message explores Jesus’ call of Levi in Luke 5:27–32. Jesus calls Levi before he has changed, but his grace leads Levi to repent, leave his old allegiance behind and place his whole life under Jesus’ authority. Yet Levi does not abandon the people and resources from his former life; he uses his home, wealth and relationships to bring others to Jesus. Through Levi’s banquet and the later example of William Wilberforce, the message challenges us to consider what we must leave behind, what we must surrender to Christ...

In Luke 5:17–26, a group of friends carry a paralysed man to Jesus, refusing to let the crowd stop them. Their faith reminds us that faith is personal but never merely private: sometimes we need others to carry us towards Jesus. Yet Jesus gives the man something even greater than physical healing—forgiveness—and then heals him to show that he truly possesses the authority of God. This passage calls us to carry others to Jesus, treasure his forgiveness above every other gift, and trust our lives to his compassionate authority.

The Gospel of Christ creates a Spirit-filled people, whose shared life in community demonstrates most convincingly the reality of Christ to the world.

I urge you to give yourself fully to being a living, breathing, committed, conscientious, everyday working part of this imperfect, but powerful, community known as St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Geraldine.

Please try to live as an integral part of it!

Please don’t try to live apart from it.
Acts 2:42-47

Evangelism (Part 4)
The Challenge of Evangelism

Acts 17:16–34

Romans 3:21-26

Through Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, we will explore how ordinary conversations can become opportunities for God to work. Jesus crosses social barriers, begins with everyday life, listens patiently, speaks with grace and truth, and gently leads the conversation towards faith. We may not have every answer or see an immediate response, but we can sincerely share what Jesus has done, invite people to “come and see,” and leave the results with God.
John 4:4–42

Isaiah 65:17–25 & Revelation 20:1-10

As we read the entirety of God's Word we discover the origins of 'Babylon the Great' beginning in Genesis 11 with the famous Tower of Babel built in this great city.  It continues throughout history, significantly in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, resurfacing recently in the contemporary rebuilding of this ancient city and in Revelation we hear of its corruption and final destruction.  It is defined as a person, a place and a world system.  It infiltrates every part of our lives and stands in defiance against God's heavenly kingdom.  While it may be impossible to be completely free from such...

The Scriptures reveal some specific timelines and dates for events in Israel's history as well as the return of Jesus at the end of the period called the Great Tribulation. Yet God's Word clearly states that no one knows the time of his return to call the Church to join him for the place that he has prepared for them and to take a seat at the banquet table. This suggests that we are looking at two events - Christ's return for his millennial reign on earth, separate from the rapture of the Church, which, since the day is...

The Rapture Part 1
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

In this message we continue looking at the final Antichrist, moving from his rise to his nature, method, and end. From 2 Thessalonians 2 and the wider biblical picture, we see that the Antichrist is not merely a political ruler, but a satanically empowered counterfeit who seeks the worship and allegiance that belong to God alone. His method is deception before coercion: false signs, persuasive words, false peace, economic pressure, and persecution of the saints. Yet his end is certain. The Lord Jesus will destroy him by the splendour of his coming, reminding us to love the truth, hold fast to...

In this fifth message of our End Times series, we begin exploring the Bible’s teaching on the final Antichrist by focusing on his rise. Rather than speculating about names or current events, we carefully examine Daniel 7 and Revelation 17, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. Together these passages reveal a future beastly world order from which the Antichrist emerges, rising through political realignment, persuasion, and the concentration of power before ultimately opposing Christ and His people. Yet his rise is temporary, because the beast is judged and the Son of Man receives an everlasting kingdom.
Daniel 7:7-28

In this message we look at John’s warning that, before the final Antichrist appears, the spirit of antichrist is already at work in the world. Scripture teaches that Christians already face tribulation, deception, and lawlessness, even as it also points forward to a final intensification before Christ returns. We will consider how the spirit of antichrist denies and redefines Jesus, produces many antichrists and counterfeit saviours, and pressures Christians to compromise. Yet John’s central encouragement is not fear, but confidence: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Christians overcome by confessi...

In Matthew 24:9–14, Jesus gives a sober but hopeful picture of the age before his return: his followers will face opposition, deception, betrayal, lawlessness, and the danger of love growing cold, yet the gospel of the kingdom will still be preached to all nations before the end comes. This message explores how God’s apparent delay is not forgetfulness or failure, but patience and mercy for the sake of repentance and mission. The church is therefore called not to speculate about dates, grow cynical, or become cold under pressure, but to stay faithful, proclaim Christ, and burn brighter with holy, cour...

The King Is Coming: End-Times Views Through History
This message gives a clear overview of how Christians have understood the return of Christ throughout church history, especially through the question of the thousand-year reign in Revelation 20. It briefly explains historic premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, and other niche views, while reminding us that faithful Christians have disagreed on the details. The message then explains why Alistair holds a premillennial view: the gospel goes to the nations, Scripture warns of apostasy and deception, Antichrist opposition rises, Jesus returns bodily and visibly, Christ reigns, evil is finally judged, and God makes...

Why Preach the End Times? Why Some Churches Avoid It — and Why We Still Need It
Bible passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11

This opening message begins a winter series on the End Times by asking why many churches avoid teaching on the return of Christ, especially when it can become divisive, speculative, and difficult to teach well. Looking at Scripture through the lens of the early church, the message argues that these dangers are real but do not outweigh the biblical reasons for teaching on Christ’s return. In 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11, Paul shows that end-times teaching is not given to satisfy...

Feed My Sheep
Luke 4 v18-21 & Isaiah 58.v 1-11

George Müller’s Psalm 37 Roadmap for discerning God's will. This message explores how to discern God’s will through the life and practice of George Müller, anchored in Psalm 37. Rather than offering a formula, it presents a pathway: a heart that delights in God and is surrendered to His will, a life shaped by Scripture, sustained in prayer, attentive to providence, guided by sanctified judgment, and willing to move forward in faith with a settled peace. Drawing from Müller’s remarkable life of answered prayer and quiet dependence, the message calls us away from anxious striving for certainty...

In this message on Luke 5:12–16, we see Jesus meet a man with leprosy who was not only physically diseased but also socially excluded, ritually unclean, and burdened with shame. The message explores the compassion and power of Christ, who is willing not only to heal but to make clean, restoring the outcast to community and fellowship. Drawing on the wider biblical theme of the great exchange, it shows how Jesus begins to take the place of the excluded so that the excluded can be brought in, pointing ultimately to the cross where Christ bears our sin, shame, and uncleanness in...

Peter’s journey into discipleship begins with listening to Jesus, grows through trusting him in the face of failure, and ends in surrender before his holiness and call. In Luke 5:1–11, this message explores how Christ meets us through his word, asks us to trust him when life makes no sense, and calls us into a life of grace, mission, and eternal significance.
Luke 5:1-11

A sermon on Luke 4:38–44 exploring Jesus’ early-morning withdrawal after a day of intense ministry, showing how he stepped away from the crowd, sought the face of the Father, and stayed on the path of his calling. Drawing on related texts such as Mark 1:35–39, Luke 5:16, and John 15:4–5, the message reflects on how Jesus’ pattern of solitude, prayer, and focus speaks into our own distracted and pressure-filled lives.
Luke 4:38–44

(We take a break from the Gospel of Luke this week!)

The gospel of Matthew concludes with a final character revealing all the characters at the resurrection of Jesus Christ: there are the two women coming to mourn but leave rejoicing; There's the angel in all magnificence  sitting on the stone that he has rolled away; there are the guards who witness it all but are prepared to let money and deceit rule their lives; the priests and elders who are determined to hide the truth from the people; the disciples who in all their doubt and c...

So far in chapter 4 we have seen Jesus tempted in the wilderness, rejected in his hometown, but now we see Jesus overcome evil by casting out a demon from a man. While we don't understand everything about the spiritual realm, we know that it is real. The incident of Jesus casting out the demon from the man in the synagogue teaches us that: 1 - evil is confrontational to God's plans and His works; 2 - evil attempts to cause as much harm to us as it can; and, 3 - while we should be aware of evil, we do not need to...

This passage is considered one of the most sacred of passages because Jesus had to have shared it himself to his disciples as there were no other observers.  In this passage we see how the Son of God, fully divine, also being fully human faces the battle of temptation.  The temptations are not of the sort that only relate to Jesus, for at the heart of all three recorded temptations is the attempt to disrupt the beautiful relationship between Jesus and God his Father.  So too, every temptation thrown at us by the forces of evil is an attempt to...

In this sermon on Jesus’ genealogy, we see that Christianity dares to be historical: the gospel is not built on myth or moral advice from a legendary teacher, but on the claim that God entered real human history in Jesus Christ. We then see that grace runs through broken bloodlines, as God works through ordinary, obscure, and morally messy people to bring about his purposes. Finally, Luke’s genealogy shows that all history leads to Christ: from Adam, through Abraham and David, across generations of forgotten lives, God was patiently guiding history toward its true climax in his Son. Far from...

The Baptism That Reveals God (Luke 3:21–22) — When Jesus steps into the Jordan “with the crowds,” heaven opens, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father’s voice declares, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” In this moment we see the Triune God at work and the gospel beginning in public: (1) Jesus joins us in our mess (Identification)—the sinless Son stands in the sinners’ line and begins the path that ends at the cross; (2) The Father brings us into His love (Revelation)—the Father’s delight in the Son reveals God as eternal love and invit...

Scripture: Luke 3:1–20
Three points: (1) Repentance comes in the wilderness. (2) Repentance comes with conviction of sin. (3) Repentance comes with changed direction.

In this message from Luke 2:41–52, we explore the often-overlooked “hidden years” of Jesus’ life. Apart from his birth and one childhood scene in the Temple, nearly thirty years of the Son of God’s life are summed up in a single verse: “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and all the people.” Why does Scripture give so little detail about most of his life? Because the silence itself speaks. Before miracles, before crowds, before public ministry, Jesus embraced ordinary obedience in Nazareth. In doing so, he dignified the kind of quiet, repetitive, unseen lives most of...

Waiting, Recognising and Receiving Salvation
Luke 2:21–40

We are to 'exegesis' God's word not 'eisegesis' it, meaning we draw out the original meaning of the text, not read into it through our bias or life experiences. 
My (Bryan Morgan) life's story will feature strongly in the Message.

Psalm 23 & 2 Corinthians 3: 16-18

The story of the birth of John the Baptist ends with a beautiful hymn/prophecy sung by Zechariah - it breaks the silence of unbelief and praises God for what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do. From being mute, Zechariah is finally loud and clear in his praise to God. In the late 1990's Soul Survivor Church in Watford, England found that they needed to relook at how they worshipped God at a church service, so they had a period of silence - rather than simply singing songs as part of a service they...

God has broken the silence of the past 400 years and made his plans known to Zechariah and Elizabeth.  In doing so he has removed the shame that society had placed on them for having no children.  Now at the birth of John the Baptist, society still tries to pressure them to do what society expects of them rather than what God has told them.  Society and the fears, pressures and worries within this world can make us mute to what God calls us to do.  It can be like a tug of war in which we are in the midd...