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JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH // MATTHEW 16

Next month we will be beginning a series at St Faith’s Narrabeen in Matthew 23-28. For the next few weeks we are recapping the first two thirds of the book. Today I spoke on Matthew 16. It was good to think through Jesus and the mission of the church. See below for MP3

JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH

Dave Miers Sermon on Matthew 16 JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH (right click etc to download)

Here is the structure:

MISSION CREEP
1) WHO IS JESUS? (Matt 16:13-16)
2) WHAT IS JESUS DOING? (Matt 16:17-20)
3) HOW DOES JESUS DO IT? (Matt 16:21-23)
4) WHAT DO WE DO? (Matt 16:24-28)
KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING

CHECK OUT MORE OF MY PREACHING HERE

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What it says about us when we leave bodies in the sea // Michael Jensen

Michael Jensen has written a moving article on leaving the bodies of asylum seekers in the ocean recently off Christmas Island. It was originally published at Sydney Anglicans and then republished on the ABC Drum website. (I just had a quick read of some of the many negative comments on the ABC version of the article… that just compounds the sadness!!)

pic from: http://blog.parksaustralia.gov.au/2011/12/12/a-christmas-island-experience/

Here is a snippet:

I am simply sad about the loss of this boat. These are people who I don’t know. But there’s something about these unwanted, stateless, desperate unburied people, who died beyond the borders of any state and with no-one to care for them, that moves me.

‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ said Cain, as he fled from Abel and denied responsibility. The corpses floating off Christmas Island cry out from the sea… Surely the answer to the question is ‘yes: I am my brother’s keeper’.

Read the rest here or here.

Christian Service of Commemoration for Those Lost at Sea

Michael has also organised a commemoration service for this Sunday. Here are the details from the Facebook Event:

Christian Service of Commemoration for Those Lost at Sea

Sunday 23 June 2013.

2-3pm at St Barnabas Anglican Church, Broadway

A service to commemorate the asylum seekers lost at sea this week; our brothers, unknown to us, but known to God.

“The gospel of the resurrection tells us […] that their bodies are not beyond the God who made their bodies. They are not beyond the scope of the one who promises that at the final day there will be what theology calls a general resurrection of the dead. All human beings are united at least in this destiny. It tells us that ‘our’ dead are not just those who belong to the community that defines me ethnically. All human beings are ‘our’ dead. They, whoever they are, are ‘our’ people. They are ‘known unto God’; and thus, worthy of our respect as fellow bearers of his image.” – Michael Jensen

Get directions for St Barney’s.