dave miers dot com » Jesus

Isaiah 58 – Comfort, Care & Compassion

davemiers — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:01:13 +0000

I really enjoyed being part of Northern Beaches Men’s Conference on Tuesday night. I spoke on Isaiah 58 a talk entitled “Holy Eyes”. It was basically about seeing the world the way that God sees the world and responding with comfort, care and compassion. The talk wasn’t as tight as I’d like, but from conversations people found it helpful nonetheless. Intro vid:

HOLY EYES – NBMC – Dave Miers MP3

We also heard from MISFIT AID. Click here to learn about their great work.

Here is the outline from my sermon:

Kony + Slacktivism
1) Fasting that displeases God (Isaiah 58:1-5)
2) Fasting that pleases God (Isaiah 58:6-12)
3) The call for a changed heart, eyes & life (Isaiah 58:13-14)
5 things to know in order to cultivate an attitude of care, comfort & compassion:
i) know what’s going on
ii) know the dangers of wealth
iii) know that it’s more than money
iv) know who you are ignoring
v) know the good news of Jesus

View more of my sermons here…

EQUIP WOMEN 2012 // HEAVEN IS WAITING

davemiers — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:57:37 +0000

EQUIP Women’s Conference is on again this month. It’s a conference for women of all ages held at the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. This year they are finishing off their series in 2 Peter. It’s on Saturday May 19. Check out the website.

Are you a woman? It’s a great conference… register now! Are you a man? Get your wife, girlfriend, sister, daughter, mum, friend etc registered!

THE GREEN DOOR – New Soulies News Vid

davemiers — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:14:12 +0000

SOULIES @ KYCK 2012

davemiers — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:18:59 +0000

Soulies Youth Community had a killer time at KYCK this past weekend! We camped onsite, it didn’t rain! Andy, Nat, Bel, Michelle + Nick from St Faith’s Night Church served us by cooking up some sweeeeet food. St Paul’s Castle Hill band CITY SURRENDER were tight, energetic and encouraging as they lead 2200+ young punks in song. Finally, Malcolm Gill and Sam Chan gave, in my opinion, the best series of talks I’ve heard at KYCK. Solid, intertwined, bold, biblical and engaging.

See below for more pics, and tweet summaries of each talk:

Resurrection: Responding to the Evidence

davemiers — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:45:44 +0000

In John 20 when Jesus appears to his disciples, for some reason, Thomas wasn’t there. When they tell Thomas that they’ve seen Jesus alive, he responds by demanding proof. Jesus gives it to him!

Have a listen to my sermon on John 20:24-31 to find out how Thomas responded. Likewise, consider how you ought to respond 2000 years later.

Dave Miers Sermon – Responding to the Evidence

He Was Crushed

davemiers — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:22:47 +0000

From Christ Church St Ives

The Easter Story: Reasons to Believe

davemiers — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:10:27 +0000

See part 2 below:

SOULIES UNDERGROUND 2

davemiers — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:47:00 +0000

We’re doing it again this year. Read about last year’s one. Watch last year’s one.

Read a bit about this year’s one here or on souliesunderground.com

We will also be attempting to live stream it from 7pm (Sydney time) Thursday 5th April.

TRINITY GRAMMAR EASTER MISSION

davemiers — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:59:31 +0000

Over the past 2 days I preached 7 times at Trinity Grammar (in Sydney’s Inner-West) for their Easter Mission. Tiring but worth it. I spoke on the Rich Ruler from Luke 18:18-30, it was impossible for him to do anything to inherit eternal life. How is it possible for anyone to inherit eternal life? Through trusting in what Jesus has done to make the impossible possible, Luke 18:31-34. Peeps were challenged and heard the truth of Jesus.

I was really impressed with the chaplains at the school and the way in which staff in general supported the mission. It was compulsory for all high school students to attend the program. But we also had a good number of new students come along voluntarily to the lunch time Christian group. I spoke on Luke 18:9-14 and urged people to respond to Jesus by saying “have mercy on me, a sinner”. There are some solid Christian students in the school, and I’m praying that they will keep reaching out to their often hard-hearted peers with the good news of Jesus.

Here is the runsheet:

Student leader welcomes
Chasing Light played 2 songs
Speaker interview
Spoken Word vid: Why I hate religion, but love Jesus
Student bible reader
Talk
Film Clip: ‘My Prayer’ by Chasing Light
Chasing Light played 3 songs
Student leader outro and invitation to lunch group

Chasing Light were loud, energetic, engaging and good at pointing young crew to Jesus. It was great to work with them. Their film clip ‘My Prayer’ (above) tied in really well off the back of the talk.

See below for another song of theirs and the Jeff Bethke ‘Jesus>Religion’ vid.

ONE.LIFE. What’s It All About?

davemiers — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:28:44 +0000

ONE.LIFE. is a new Christianity course that we have just begun at St Faith’s Narrabeen. It is a combination of Christianity Explored (weeks 1, 3, 4, 5) and some of John Dickson’s work on the reliability of the bible (week 2). Mark’s gospel is the main focus.

WEEK 1 // WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
WEEK 2 // CAN WE TRUST THE BIBLE?
WEEK 3 // WHY DID JESUS COME?
WEEK 4 // WHY DID JESUS DIE + RISE?
WEEK 5 // WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?

We’ve just completed the final week of the course. We’ll be running it again in May and October, with the possibility of course during the day in July. The format: arrive, dinner at tables, talk, dessert discussion at tables, Q+A from the front. The content was good, but could be tighter, particularly week 2.

I think that there are too many Bible investigation questions in the official CE material. I’m all for encouraging people to dig into the bible for themselves, but think that lots of the interpretation and bible digging is lead by the speaker. So the discussion question over dinner was fairly open ended and non-threatening. The dessert discussion question was also fairly non-threatening. There were lots of good questions.

If you’re a Christian – can you take 30 seconds to pray and ask that God would use ONE.LIFE. to reach many Northern Beaches peeps with the good news of Jesus? Thanks :)

If you’re not a Christian. I love you. Thanks for reading. Check out this website. Contact me if you want to chat further about Jesus.

Shine Music Conference 2012

davemiers — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:33:54 +0000

St Paul’s Castle Hill are running their annual music conference in June. Involved in music, production or tech in your church? Worth checking out. Deets copied below.

SATURDAY 16 JUNE 2012

DAY (9.30-5.00pm) & NIGHT (7.00-8.30pm)

Guest Speakers –
Robert Fergusson (Hillsong) & John Gray (St Paul’s)

Workshops –
Bands, Singers/Leaders, Songwriters, Production
Yes, we have added a Production workshop to encourage your TECH volunteers as well!!!

Check out the website for more details and to register:
www.shineconference.org.au

SHINE exists to UNITE-EQUIP-INSPIRE Christian creatives. It promises to be an inspiring DAY & NIGHT marked by biblical teaching and corporate worship.

Men Fighting Sin // Sermon MP3

davemiers — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:02:25 +0000

We’ve recently run two men’s conference events at St Faith’s. It was encouraging to gather together with a bunch of men from across our different congregations. Ben Molyneux spoke on Men and Marriage in week 1; I spoke on Men Fighting Sin in week 2.

The basic structure of my talk came from Jonathan Dodson’s forthcoming book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship. As well as reflecting on a number of Bible passages, I used a number of John Owen quotes as a sparring partner in the challenge to fight against sin.

MEN FIGHTING SIN – Dave Miers – Sermon MP3

See below for Structure and John Owen Quotes:

//MEN FIGHTING SIN
The failure of men’s accountability groups
[1] Know your sin
[2] Fight your sin
[3] Trust your Saviour
Join a fight-club!

“Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens men’s hearts, and brings them to ruin.” (JOHN OWEN)

“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (JOHN OWEN)

“Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death.” (JOHN OWEN)

“Let our hearts admit, “I am poor and weak. Satan is too subtle, too cunning, too powerful; he watches constantly for advantages over my soul. The world presses in upon me with all sorts of pressures, pleas, and pretences. My own corruption is violent, tumultuous, enticing, and entangling. As it conceives sin, it wars within me and against me. Occasions and opportunities for temptation are innumerable. No wonder I do not know how deeply involved I have been with sin. Therefore, on God alone will I rely for my keeping. I will continually look to Him.” (JOHN OWEN)

More Friendship // Video Sermon

davemiers — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:19:50 +0000

I just stumbled upon this video of a sermon I gave from More Mission last year at UTS. I haven’t watched it, so can’t verify the quality of the video or the preaching!

See below for 2 & 3:

Here is my speaking page…

5 Ideas for One Verse Evangelistic Preaching

davemiers — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:40:13 +0000

For the final week of Mission Month at SOULIES we have each year group running a BREAK IT DOWN event (your year group, your friends, doing your thing). Here are some ideas I’m passing on to leaders for preaching short evangelistic talks to their crew.

While it’s not the only approach, preaching from one verse can be a memorable way to give a short talk encouraging people to consider Jesus. It’s worth spending time understanding the verse in its context first and then working hard to explain the ideas that the verse presents.

Here is a useful method for preparing Bible talks

See below for 5 verses packed with gospel punch. I’ve got a few ideas under each passage on possible ways you could package a talk. I don’t have any illustration ideas, or intro/hooks. If you’re preparing a talk, let me know if you need any further ideas or feedback. Preach Jesus.

See below for verses and ideas:

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Believe the son > LIFE
Reject the son > DEATH
What does it mean to believe the son?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

WAGES: the payment we deserve for our sin is death
GIFT: life in Jesus is a gift, we don’t earn it

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Great Exchange
Our sin transferred to Jesus the sinless one
His righteousness transferred to us

Hebrews 9:27–28 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Why was Jesus SACRIFICED?
To deal with SIN
To bring SALVATION

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit

“Christ Died” // the event // Jesus was sacrificed
“for sins once for all” // the need // penal sacrifice
“the righteous for the unrighteous” // the process // substitutionary sacrifice
“to bring you to God” // the effect // atonement sacrifice

Ideas for longer than one verse:
Luke 15:11-32 – The Lost Sons
Luke 18:9-14 – The Pharisee and Tax Collector
Luke 18:18-34 – The Rich Ruler
Luke 19:1-10 – Zacchaeus
Luke 23:32-43 – Two Criminals

Here is a useful method for preparing Bible talks

Mission Month: It’s All About Jesus

davemiers — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:02:38 +0000

This year in SOULIES Youth Community we are kicking off term 1 and term 3 with a ‘Mission Month’. My hope is that the young punks in our community are happy to invite friends along any week of Soulies, and they do. But the thinking with the Mission Month is to give some explicit opportunities to bring friends to hear about Jesus. Hopefully that will then create some momentum that will continue on. Here’s the promo postcard:

I think it has been well received. Praise God for those who have responded to the gospel over the first 3 weeks!!

Here’s the promo vid for Feb.

Involved in youth ministry? In what ways are you seeking to encourage young punks to share Jesus this year?

1000 bonus points if you can name the beach in the photo…

Click here for other youth ministry posts.

6 Reasons Jesus Came Down to Earth

davemiers — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:12:56 +0000

Below are the sermon MP3s from our Christmas and January Preaching Series at St Faith’s. (Read a little bit about the rational behind the series here.)

[right-click etc to download]

Dec 24 – To Reveal God – Dave Miers
Jan 1 – To Give Life – Ben Molyneux
Jan 8 – To Defeat Satan – Trent McGrath
Jan 15 – To Bring Justice – Dave Miers
Jan 22 – To Reconcile Enemies – Neil Souter
Jan 29 – To Gather People – Kerry Nagel

Mission Night // Worship // Hip Hop // Jesus

davemiers — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:44:46 +0000

Lots of action in Manly at the moment with the Australian Open of Surfing. Soulies had a sweet night at St Matt’s Manly last night with other youth groups from around the Northern Beaches. Dave Hanbury & band with solid worship set. D-Cype breaking it down with some phat beats and Trinitarian rhymes. Mike Doyle preaching Jesus to over 500+ young punks.

More pics and vids below:

soulies.net

SOULIES Mission Month Bumper Vid

davemiers — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:25:04 +0000

SOULIES Summercamp 2012 Highlights Vid

davemiers — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:23:08 +0000

Interested in youth ministry?

davemiers — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:29:24 +0000

I’m keen to write more frequently on Youth Ministry related topics. Last year I began writing some papers, but couldn’t sustain them. I think I’m ready to share a bit more in the way of strategy and youth ministry thinking. Are you involved in youth ministry? What type of posts would you find helpful? I’ve got some blog drafts ready, but keen for input.

The above pic is from SOULIES Summercamp.