Sermon Transcripts

Sermon 43 Matthew 9.18-38 The Compassionate Shepherd

Matthew 9:18-38

The Reverend Jay Wilbur Chapman once published a devotional book called "The Secret of the Happy Day." At one point, he retells the story of a Christian man travelling through Switzerland who came acr...

Sermon 42 Matthew 9.14-17 New Wine!

Matthew 9:14-17

Well, again, we are in Matthew's gospel, and again we come to another searching question concerning the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples. Last time, the searching question came from...

Easter 2026 Sermon 02 Hebrews 7.23-24 Jesus Christ Our Great High Priest

Hebrews 7:23-24

When we refer to Jesus Christ, so often we speak of his life, his death, and his resurrection. We say his perfect life that he lived for us. We say his atoning death that he died for us. His triumphan...

Easter 2026 Sermon 01 Revelation 1.17-18 Fear Not!

Revelation 1:17-18

"Fear not" are the simple words which have stilled the hearts of God's people throughout ages past. The life of the believer, you see, is often one in which there are more hardships and uncertainties ...

Sermon 41 Matthew 9.9-13 Salvation For Tax Collectors And Sinners

Matthew 9:9-13

This morning we come to a short portion of Matthew's gospel with a peculiar point of difference. That point of difference is that Matthew breaks, and of course with all the license that he needs, what...

Sermon 40 Matthew 9.1-8 Something Only God Can Do

Matthew 9:1-8

We come in our studies in Matthew to perhaps one of the most well-known recorded miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have in the Gospels. I think most Christians will be able to recall various d...

Sermon 39 Matthew 8.28-34 Jesus And The Demons

Matthew 8:28-34

Have you ever witnessed true power? This week, I saw a video of a New Zealand politician commenting on the war in the Middle East. And what caught my attention the most was actually in the comments se...

Sermon 05 Psalm 51.13-19 Desires Of The Forgiven

Psalm 51:13-19

The writer of Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan, once wrote: "No child of God sins to the degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness." In our study of Psalm 51, we have seen this much. We have a...

The Apostles Creed One Holy Catholic Church

We sadly live in a day where many, even Christians, have a low view of the church; the church proper and the church as a local gathering of saints. And what I mean specifically is this: there is now a...

Sermon 04 Psalm 51.11-12 Fearing The Absence Of God

Psalm 51:11-12

Well, again, we come to our study through Psalm 51. And at this point in the fourth message, we should hardly need to introduce these words as a whole. They should be reasonably familiar to you now, i...

Sermon 03 Psalm 51.6-10 Full Restoration

Psalm 51:6-10

Here we come to our third look at this fifty-first Psalm, a truly incredible Psalm, and I hope you have been able to see something of that in the past sessions we have considered so far. It is a Psalm...

Sermon 02 Psalm 51.3-5 True Confession

Psalm 51:3-5

We come to part two now of our study in this precious portion of scripture. This prayer is what we call a lament in the Psalms. It is a window into the soul, revealing grief and deep mourning over sin...

Sermon 01 Psalm 51.1-2 Pleading For Grace

Psalm 51:1-2

The Psalter is a treasure trove for God's church. It is a divinely inspired song book of prayers and poetry that lead us in worship and adoration of God through the full range of human emotion. So the...

Hebrews 12.1-3 Fix Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-3

In the Christian life, we must often ask of God that he would keep our hearts from growing cold towards him. There's an old hymn by the English Baptist of the eighteenth century, Robert Robinson. You'...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 06 Psalm 90.10-12 Number Your Days

Psalm 90:10-12

Well, I want to bring you a message this morning. I have entitled it "Numbering Your Days." There's something of a conclusion to the Christmas theme messages we've had in this past month. Psalm ninety...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 05 John 3.16-18 For God So Loved The World

John 3:16-18

At the start of December this year, a reporter hit the streets of Wellington to find out from locals what they thought of the city's three taxpayer-funded Christmas trees. And people were generally po...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 04 Galatians 4.4-5 God Sent His Son

Galatians 4:4-5

Perhaps you have heard the saying, a watershed moment. The idea of a watershed actually comes from geography. It means the high ground, like a hill or a mountain, that divides rainfall so that the wat...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 03 Luke 2.1-7 The Birth of Jesus Christ

Luke 2:1-7

One of George Eliot’s most famous novels is a book titled The Mill on the Floss. In one particular scene, Mr Riley in the novel notices an unusual book on a shelf. It is unusual because the book belon...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 02 Revelation 12.1-6 Satans Christmas Assault

Revelation 12:1-6

In May 1943, during World War Two, the United States was in a desperate situation. The Japanese were an almost unstoppable force in the Pacific, decimating Allied fleets; they were busy planning a dec...

Christmas 2025 Sermon 01 Zechariah 2.10-13 God Come's To Dwell

Zechariah 2:10-13

Zechariah is, for many Christians, a book with clean, shiny pages that has been seldom read, hurriedly read, or read with some confusion. As with many prophets, Zechariah asks more of the reader and m...

Sermon 38 Matthew 8.18-27 A Test of Discipleship

Matthew 8:18-27

For anyone who watches the America's Cup or follows sailing, Peter Burling will be a household name. Burling spent twelve years with Team New Zealand, but has recently, to the shock of many, parted wa...

Sermon 37 Matthew 8.1-17 He Took Our Infirmities

Matthew 8:1-17

Matthew 8:1-17 He Took Our Infirmities After many weeks working our way through the Sermon on the Mount we now come down off the mountain to follow Christ and continue to observe all that Matthew reco...

Sermon 36 Matthew 7.28-29 Amazed By Jesus

Matthew 7:28-29

Matthew 7:28-29 Amazed By Jesus In stage productions and plays, producers usually use, at some point, focused light to help highlight certain characters on the stage for dramatic effect. Think, for in...

Reformation Sunday 2025 Romans 1.17 The Just Shall Live By Faith

Romans 1:17

Romans 1:17 The Just Shall Live By Faith In life, we all must choose which hills we are prepared to die on, those convictions for which no amount of personal sacrifice could be too high. Sometimes thi...

Sermon 35 Matthew 7.24-27 Build Your House Upon The Rock

Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 7:24-27 Build Your House Upon The Rock Matthew has laboured in his narration of the life and ministry of Jesus to show us that the great expected King has come at last to this world. From the ...

Sermon 34 Matthew 7.21-23 True And False Christians

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21-23 True And False Christians We come now to consider the penultimate message in our journey through Jesus' teaching of what is called the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew records our Lord Jes...

Sermon 33 Matthew 7.15-20 Beware of the Wolves

Matthew 7:15-20

Matthew 7:15-20 Beware of the Wolves We inch nearer again to the conclusion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which formally concluded in verses seven to twelve. In those verses, we learned that for disc...

Sermon 32 Matthew 7.13-14 Enter Through The Narrow Gate

Matthew 7:13-14

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter Through The Narrow Gate The Puritan preacher Giles Firmin once said, "It is the duty of all the sons and daughters of Adam who hear the gospel preached and Christ offered to them...

Sermon 31 Matthew 7.7-12 Who Can Live The Christian Life

Matthew 7:7-12

Matthew 7:7-12 Who Can Live The Christian Life If you enjoy hiking, tramping, exploring in the wilderness, or mountaineering, you might understand the concept of a false summit. A false summit is when...

Sermon 30 Matthew 7.1-6 How And How Not To Judge

Matthew 7:1-6

Matthew 7:1-6 How And How Not To Judge It has been well said that the words of the Bible, when pressed too far, taken out of context, and mishandled, yield not medicine, but poison. Examples abound of...

Sermon 29 Matthew 6.25-34 God's Cure For Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:25-34 God's Cure For Anxiety C.S. Lewis once said, "Put first things first, and we get second things thrown in. Put second things first, and we lose both first and second things." Now, I do ...

Sermon 28 Matthew 6.19-24 Undivided Loyalty For God

Matthew 6:19-24

Matthew 6:19-24 Undivided Loyalty For God Most of the time, it is really important in our lives that we have the right perspective, isn't it? It is really easy for us to get mixed up as well. There is...

Sermon 27 Matthew 6.5-15 How The Christian Ought To Pray

Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 6:5-15 How The Christian Ought To Pray In this sixth chapter, Jesus’ teaching is especially focused on the Christian’s need to live as those aware they are in the presence of God. We find this...

Sermon 26 Matthew 6.1-4, 16-8 What Motivates Your Christian Works

Matthew 6:1-4

Matthew 6:1-4, 16-8 What Motivates Your Christian Works? For the most part, virtue is something that our society celebrates. To have virtue is to possess, as a quality or trait, a kind of character, m...

Sermon 25 Matthew 5.48 Are You Perfect

Matthew 5:48

Matthew 5:48 Are You Perfect? Next time you are in a mall or a public place, somewhere where you can look around and see people go about their day, I'd encourage you to take a moment and observe. Noti...

Sermon 24 Matthew 5.43-48 The Law Explained Part VI Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

Matthew 5:43-48 The Law Explained Part VI Love Your Enemies We now come to the sixth of Jesus’ so-called antithesis statements in the Sermon on the Mount. Over the past weeks, we have seen how Jesus u...

Sermon 23 Matthew 5.38-42 The Law Explained Part V Revenge

Matthew 5:38-42

Matthew 5:38-42 The Law Explained Part V Revenge In our studies in the Sermon on the Mount, I have repeatedly emphasised that this sermon is addressed to the believer and the born-again Christian. We ...

Sermon 22 Matthew 5.33-37 The Law Explained Part IV Vows

Matthew 5:33-37

Matthew 5:33-37 The Law Explained Part IV Vows There was a wealthy oil tycoon on his deathbed, and his pastor sat by his side and reminded him of God’s healing power. The tycoon made a vow: "if God he...

Sermon 21 Matthew 5.31-32 The Law Explained Part III Divorce

Matthew 5:31-32

Matthew 5:31-32 The Law Explained Part III Divorce Well, Jesus continues to explain how we as Christians are to relate to the law and his commandments, and, at risk of oversimplification, we are learn...

Sermon 20 Matthew 5.27–30 The Law Explained Part II Adultery

Matthew 5:27

Matthew 5:27–30 The Law Explained Part II Adultery It would be helpful to be reminded of a little context as we begin. It is important that we read the Sermon on the Mount as a whole and not lose sigh...

Sermon 19 Matthew 5.21-26 The Law Explained Part I Murder

Matthew 5:21-26

Matthew 5:21-26 The Law Explained Part I Murder Well, as a summary of how we came to this portion of scripture, last week, particularly in Matthew 5:20, Jesus made one of the most remarkable statement...

Sermon 18 Matthew 5.19-20 The Christian And The Law

Matthew 5:19-20

Matthew 5:19-20 The Christian And The Law Here in Matthew 5:19-20, as with subsequent messages for a little while in Matthew's Gospel, plain and simple, Jesus will teach us how disciples are to relate...

Sermon 17 Matthew 5.17-18 Jesus Came to Fulfill The Law

Matthew 5:17-18

Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus Came to Fulfill The Law I remember as a youth learning that if you were to lay out the vast network of blood vessels in the average adult, they would stretch out for almost a hun...

Sermon 16 Matthew 5.13-16 People of Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13-16 People of Salt and Light Well, this morning we take yet another step into Jesus' teaching discourse on the Sermon on the Mount. The King is defining life in his kingdom for his discipl...

Sermon 15 Matthew 5.1-12 The Upside-Down Kingdom

Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew 5:1-12 The Upside-Down Kingdom We come now to consider the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. Allow me to remind you of a few important points from last week in our introduction. Matthe...

Sermon 14 Matthew 5.1-7.29 Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:1-7

Matthew 5:1-7.29 Introduction To The Sermon On the Mount Well, a good question to ask at this point, especially with a break of three weeks, would be this: What has been Matthew's purpose in the accou...

Sermon 13 Matthew 4.23-25 Kingdom on the Move

Matthew 4:23-25

Matthew 4:23-25 Kingdom On The Move Well, this morning we land on a penultimate section in a way of speaking before we embark on what is famously known as the Sermon on the Mount. And at this point in...

Sermon 12 Matthew 4.18-22 Followers of the King

Matthew 4:18-22

Matthew 4:18-22 Followers Of The King Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran theologian known for his active resistance to the Nazi regime during World War II. He was executed by hanging in the Flo...

Sermon 11 Matthew 4.12-17 Kingdom Light

Matthew 4:12-17

Matthew 4:12-17 Kingdom Light A little while ago, I think maybe a couple of months now, I took Caitlin through the Clifton Caves. It was the first time I'd been into the cave system since a school tri...

Sermon 10 Matthew 4.1-11 The King_s Probation

Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 The King's Probation Well, in case you live under a rock, you now know that the United States is undergoing a transition of power since Donald Trump's latest presidential campaign succe...

Reformation Sunday 2024 The Five Solas of the Reformation

Well, today, as you know, I've framed our worship service in line with a Christian commemoration of the Protestant Reformation. I can't presume upon anyone's knowledge to be familiar with exactly what...

Sermon 09 Matthew 3.13-17 An Unexpected Baptism

Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 3:13-17 An Unexpected Baptism A little while ago, John, Caleb, and I were seated in a lawyer's office in Invercargill, having one of the final legal documents for the purchase of the church bu...

Sermon 08 Matthew 3.5-12 A Warning in the Wilderness

Matthew 3:5-12

Matthew 3:5-12 A Warning in the Wilderness We tend to minimize things in our lives which are of tremendous importance, but inconvenient facts at the time. You will immediately know what I mean by this...

Sermon 07 Matthew 3.1-4 Prepare the Way of the Lord

Matthew 3:1-4

Matthew 3:1-4 Prepare the Way of the Lord In 1960, archaeologists were excavating sites in Masada, which was the location of Herod the Great's temple. We've learnt about this so far in Matthew's gospe...

Sermon 06 Matthew 2.19-23 Jesus the Nazarene

Matthew 2:19-23

Matthew 2:19-23 Jesus the Nazarene Well, we come this morning to our next passage in Matthew's Gospel in this series through Matthew's Gospel, and I want to bring before you a message I have entitled ...

Sermon 05 Matthew 2.16-18 Weeping in Ramah

Matthew 2:16-18

Matthew 2:16-18 Weeping in Ramah Perhaps you have heard of the infamous eighteenth-century French philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) of the so-called Enlightenment era. Though not exactly an atheist, Vo...

Sermon 04 Matthew 2.13-15 A New Exodus

Matthew 2:13-15

Matthew 2:13-15 A New Exodus Imagine watching the final episode of a TV show where the producers decide to leave the plot on a cliff-hanger right at the end of a long series, maybe a whole series of t...

Sermon 03 Matthew 2.1-12 Worship the King

Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12 Worship the King By way of introduction, entertain a few questions with me. To what end or purpose did God create all things? Why is there something and not nothing? Why such an endless...

Sermon 02 Matthew 1.18-25 The Birth of the King

Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of the King A couple of years ago, a sports reporter asked the coach of the Boston Celtics basketball team, Joe Mazzulla, to comment on what it was like to have the royal fam...

Sermon 01 Matthew 1.1-17 The King is Here

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew 1:1-17 The King Is Here In 2013, the digital currency known as Bitcoin was rarely spoken of outside the private conversations of IT and computer experts. Perhaps some of you still know nothing...