The Centre Dural Podcast

Water & Spirit - Mitch Levingston

John 3:1-8
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
 
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
 

BANTER - Preparing for Pentecost

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch & Murray explore the overarching structure of the book of Ezekiel, the origins of Pentecost and how to best understand the biblical genre of apocalyptic literature
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

Preparing for Pentecost - Mitch Levingston

Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
Let's jump to today's passage in the book of Ezekiel. Anyone actually read is the kill. Hey! Some hands. It's a pretty wild book. It's crazy book. I'll just give a little summary of it before we jump into this passage.
So, Ezekiel is a prophet, funnily enough, a prophet and priest who is living in Babylon. About. The book starts about five years after, the first group of exiles is sent into Babylon. So people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Bendigo, we kind of know those names. Ezekiel's sent off with them. And so, five years after living in Babylon, Ezekiel sees his vision of God's throne chariot coming into Babylon and proclaiming a message of judgment that the Babylonians were going to destroy Jerusalem.
And so as the exile, which means God, may God strengthen, Zeke is told to have a hard head because he's going to give a hard message. And so that's what Zeke processes these weird, bizarre messages about God's judgment. And so that's what a lot of the book is about, is actually quite depressing to read. And so now we sort of in the back half of the book is where things turn around.
And so by the point of Ezekiel 37, the Jerusalem's been destroyed. The exiles well and truly entrenched. And so naturally, the people of God are wondering, well, who, we Yahweh, it seems, has abandoned us. We have sinned. We've lost everything. All hope is gone. And this is where Ezekiel 37 comes in. And we'll look at this a little bit later.
But there's some parallels here between Ezekiel 37 and the Genesis creation narrative. And so you kind of got to have that kind of background in your mind is reading through this just as God bought life out of nothing, out of the oceans of chaos, so God can bring life in exile. Now, now, before we do this, I think we might have a moment of reflection.
Let's have some self honesty here. How many of us have had times in our life where we feel dead? We just feel like dry bones. There's no life. There's no hope. I think at some point, at least, we've probably felt that. I felt I can't go any more. I cannot do this. I just there's just no more hope within me.
And that's what I love about this passage, is that a bone is a bone. Now, I'm no doctor, but I did study anatomy when I did my exercise science degree. And there's 206 bones in the human body. We need bones to move around. But if I'm just a pile of bones, that's no good. That's about worst case of worst case.
As you can get in life as they kill here by walking through this valley of dead bones. Which, if I remember how I mentioned before, secular was a priest. Priests aren't allowed to touch dead things. He sent into this unclean valley to walk among supposed to be touching these dead things. And the valley here is meant to symbolize this is an army that's fallen.
An army that is so cursed. I don't even buried in the ancient world to to leave people out unburied. It's a sign of a curse. So here, in the mind of the Jewish people, you've got this unclean death valley with people who are unburied. This is about the worst of the worst of the worst. You can be. And I love this question.
As they kill is walking through this valley God us for short question, but profound son of man, can these bones live? Son of man, can these bones live? Friends, today I ask you in your situation, can these bones live? Because we do forget this tonight. May I forget it? I think there's no hope. There's no way we going to get out of this.
This is just doom and gloom. How can God pull through? How God does he think it was no accident that this was the passage God kind of put on my heart to start off with, with kind of hearing what John was sharing with Kairos. Imagine those men in prison. They would feel like that now. The stories he was sharing of men who literally probably feel like bones dead.
There is no hope and God brings life. He's breath illuminates. Son of man, can these bones live? Answer is yes, but Ezekiel being as they kill, he says, sovereign Lord, you alone know I think, well, I don't want to say yes. I don't want to say no. God. You, You alone? No. Rather than rebuking Ezekiel telling, hey, you should know what I can do, he tells him something very strange and bizarre.
Prophesy to these bones and say them dry bones. Hear the word of the Lord. Then you went to Sunday school. You know that song? Then bind them bones. If I had that song in my head all week. But. But. Friends. If you are feeling like a dead dry bone with no hope, remember that question. Son of man, can these bones live?
The bones that, actually told. We give you an interpretation of what they represent. You know, the bones, the people who are feeling that their hope is lost, that they're completely and utterly cut off. See, one of the things you might have noticed was, Lou was reading that there's often a lot of talk about, you know, I'm going to bring you back to the land.
You know, you going to come out of the Grays and bring you back. I'm going to settle you back into Atlanta. Kind of comes up a few times. And there's a reason for that because in in the biblical worldview, land equals life. And the reason why land equals life is because in the Promised Land is where Yahweh's presence is, because in the Promised Land is where the temple is.
And so this kind of idea of bringing you back into land is saying, I'm going to bring you back into my presence, may give you your home back. I'm going to restore you, bring you back to the position that you had lost. And if we kind of skip forward to the end of the Bible revelation, what's the what's the city that comes down from heaven?
What's it called? The new what? The New Jerusalem? And we all know Jerusalem is the epicenters capital of the Holy Land. This is God's intention is for us to come out of the Christ, go back into the land, to be in his presence, sin, hopelessness, and exile, and not the final word. The final word is God's breath bringing in new life to us.
I mentioned earlier that there are, some parallels between, as we go up 37 and the creation narrative and so actually we just pop up there on the screen. And a lot of scholars have noticed here that the Hebrew is really, really similar. In fact, the idea of heaven is like here. And God going through a walk through this valley alludes back to that moment in Genesis three, where God's walking through the garden, and that time is God's walking through Paradise.
It's to bring a message of judgment and death. And now, this time, there's an irony that we begin in a valley of death, but this time it's leading out into the land of hope. And just as you can see that in Genesis two seven, human is formed from the dust of the earth, the same way the bones are there, lying exposed and dry out to the elements and just that beautiful image in Genesis of God forming Adam and going.
Breathing life into his nostrils. So we see the breath entering the slain, the four winds of the earth coming together to bring life and hope. And actually, what's really cool here, because I like to teach you guys, you know, the fact that you can come home to a dinner and say, hey, guess what I learned at church on Sunday?
I learned a new word, and the word we gonna learn today is ruach, that's all. So that together ruach. You might have heard that one before. You go do that at the end. We'll do that. I'll see you. I just but just how I see it. Because, you know, I'm not, Israeli, but ruach means spirit, breath and wind.
And you will have noticed that there's a whole bunch of different words that sometimes breath or sometimes wind in the Bible. In Hebrew, there's only one word, ruach. That's it. So when God breathes, when there's a wind, when it's his spirit, it's all the same word. We just differentiate the English. So he sort of know what the author is trying to say.
And we get this picture of all the creation coming together and God's Spirit to restore these people, to make them whole. And they're raised up. God told it then that when all the, you know, the bones come together, a tendons, a skin, and you know, the skins appearing on them, and there's still no breath in them, and the the breath comes in them, they come to life.
This vast army. Well, and let's me. One is like, why an army? It's just a really quite an interesting sort of image. And that's sort of reflecting what. Well, what's the purpose of an army? It's to fight. It's purpose is to defend. And so and, I was reading through a number of commentaries and this idea is the Army hit not so much wanting to fight and kill, but armies have a purpose here.
And so by raising up this army, it's saying, you exiles. You now have a purpose. You have meaning. You have hope. I guess in a similar way, just as John was sharing those men in Kairos, they have not got a purpose. Then I've got meaning, then I've got hope. They are part of. And again, this was a Sunday school song that I learned back in the day.
I am part of the Lord's Army, if you remember that song. Yes. I remember singing that at kids church. I won't sing that because your drums will start to bleed. But we're holding to this idea of an army again. Jumping forward to revelation. We see the language of army of of God raising up people with people for, purpose.
They started here with a valley of bones with no hope to spirit coming in, raising up an army to a great people with, purpose, people with hope, people with meaning.
As we kind of reflect on now. So the New Testament and the time of Pentecost, few people have died. A few scholars have noted this, that in many ways is Nickeil 37. Sort of. It powerfully foreshadows acts chapter two, because we've got, the, the, the valley of Dry Binds. You've got disciples who are waiting, who possibly still might be a bit fearful.
As Ezekiel speaks, the spirit blows wind. So as the apostle spake, the spirit blows in and transforms the crowd. Well, as echo prophesied, that led to the birth of an army. The church is birthed on that day. And so some people notice, I think you'll say some wonderfully foreshadows this moment at Pentecost. But and, I guess to the the biggest one is if you read John chapter 20, verse 22in a piece, disciples, he literally breathes on them and says, hey, here, receive the Holy Spirit.
But there's just two passages I want to look at from the Apostle Paul, which hopefully will bring a sense of encouragement to you if you are feeling a dead dry bone. Romans chapter eight, verse 11. Here's some very, very underrated passages of Scripture which, how many should spend a lot more time reflecting on? All right. This very slowly says you understand the gravity of what Paul is saying.
And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. Easy read that really fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of get that when you stop and pause. Oh my goodness, that is so deeply profound.
Okay, that same spirit that Ezekiel prophesied any and I know it, he breathed life onto those dead dry bones. It is that same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is now in me, is now in you. That's amazing. That is just absolutely mind boggling. And if we truly believe that, imagine the difference would be in our lives and the lives of our community.
Imagine that we woke up every morning, said the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Hey, is living within me. He's gonna rise up my mortal body. He's gonna give life to me. That's the spirit that God wants to share with those around us, those who feel dead and have no life. That spirit wants to breathe when those around us.
One of those passages that I think you get to spend hours and hours reflecting upon because of how powerful it is. And the second passage comes from second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. That's always what Paul was alluding to. They whole my creation is talking about. It's like he's talking about what the spirit has done through Jesus Christ.
The old has gone, the new is here. Powerful, powerful things. Especially as we, preparing for Pentecost, preparing for God's Spirit to transform us, to transform our families, to bring new life into us.
As we finish this morning, close with a prayer from Saint Augustine. A prayer to the Holy Spirit. It says, breathe in me. A Holy Spirit. That my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me a Holy Spirit, that my work, too may be holy. Draw my heart a Holy Spirit that I love only what is holy. Strengthen me, a Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy God, me, then I, Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy man.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

Mother Day - Sue Webb

To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
I'd like to start by saying Happy Mother's Day to all the mums. I hope you have a lovely time and gets a chance to spend time with your family today.
And just have a special day knowing that you are cherished and that you are loved. It's a privilege to speak today, and I'm going to speak about the love of mother. I'm going to speak about God and and response. So being Mothers Day, we're going to start with some qualities of a mum. So when I started thinking about these, some of the things that came to my mind were sacrificial, kind, helpful, warm, encourager, safe, gentle, nurturing, feeder, non-judgmental.
Someone who's got your back, protector and helper. And there's a whole lot more things I could come up with and words to describe in them, but they're the first things that really came to mind. And the very first one which really stood out to me is sacrificial. And I think the role of a mother, being a mum is a very sacrificial role is that by sacrificing your body in your sleep, then your desires, your time, you schedule a whole lot of things, your heart.
And one thing I wasn't prepared for was as your children get older and they fly the nest, that there's a whole grieving process to grieve. Your babies, your little ones, the moments, the times that are gone and to grieve that time of having them living at home with you. So I wonder what your experience all day that can't wait for everyone else that is me.
I wonder what your experience as a mum has been. I wonder if you can relate to the list of words that I have read out, or yours is quite different. Or maybe you have other words that you would like to add to that list. Was your mother loving and nurturing? We all need this special love and nurture as a mum, and that is why God created us the way he did.
We are born vulnerable. We need a very special love, protection and nurture to survive and grow. I remember my father, though always spoke very highly of his mum, and I trust that many of us here today have had that very special experience of a warm and loving mum, just as he did. My mum is very warm, loving, encouraging and sacrificial.
She also likes to have a lot of fun and life. Growing up was not to be taken too seriously for me. Growing up, I knew that I was deeply loved, not because of anything that I did, just because I am me and I am hers.
Growing up, I was very close to my mum also, and even as a teenager I described her as one of my best friends. So I think it's a little bit unusual for that teenage years. Yes, my mum and I are very similar in a lot of ways. One thing about my mum is that when you walk into her house, you smell the aroma of freshly baked cakes or biscuits or dessert or dinner cooking.
The house always smells of something yummy. She likes to cook and she likes to feed her guests. It's a little bit tricky as a daughter trying to get some family recipes from mum, as she often just cooks by sight. She's always in a bit of this bit of that until it looks like this. So it's very hard to get actual measurements from her to be able to have a recipe that I can cook, and if she does have a recipe she doesn't measure and she often substitutes things anyway, so even a recipe can be unhelpful.
But yes, always lovely to walk into her house and smell that beautiful smell. I'm very grateful for my mum and her loving heart she has for my siblings and myself and for other people around her. And I think it's so good to be grateful to God and to express our gratefulness, especially on a day like today for our mums or our mother like figures that we have in our life.
A mum may not be the only one to love like this. Sometimes we are fortunate to experience this kind of love from a grandmother, a sister or some other relative or close friend. I'm wondering if you've ever experienced this kind of loving kindness from a complete stranger, or or even somebody that you may consider an enemy? How awesome would this world be if that was common experience?
I know apart from family I have some very special friends. They are very kind to me, and it was particularly important when cam and I moved our family from Melbourne to Sydney. We knew that we would need some special friends that would help fill the gaps of not having our family close by, and in God's goodness. He has provided a number of very special friends here in Sydney that are like family to us.
We each only have one mum and the experience of her. It shapes us and it stays with us for life. We may not all have experienced the loving, nurturing mother. However, we do all crave this love, acceptance, nurture and care that is received not from our mum. We need to receive it from someone else needs to come from somewhere else in life.
However, we cannot choose and we cannot make others treat us with this kind of love that we all need and desire. However, every single one of us can choose to love others and treat others in this way. We can choose to be that kind, caring, nurturing, encouraging person in someone else's life and the way we treat others can stay with them for life.
Is it your desire to treat others with this special sacrificial love? Is it something you naturally usually do, or does it depend on what made you join? How you've been treated yourself? Does it affect your kindness? If you've been treated poorly or unfairly, or even deliberately mistreated by another? In one way, it's quite simple to act in love towards another, but in other ways it's not always easy.
We can, like, make loving others more of a priority and a natural instinct in this fast paced, hectic world. Can we do that? Especially when we're not feeling it, or when we have 100 things to do? Maybe life is too busy to really take the time to care for others. You may be in a season at the moment when you don't have the space or time to create, to do more of that than you are currently doing, but you may.
And if you do, this is definitely something to consider. Do you have other obstacles that are holding you back, or getting in the way of loving others more completely? We may have the desire, but what can we do to increase this practical love of others? One way is learning from others around us. We can. It can be a good way to improve our love in action for others.
We can look at people around us who have these qualities and learn from them. I would like to call myself a bit of a people watcher. I like to watch people. I find it fascinating, but I also like to learn from others. When I see things in people's life that I would like to have in my life, or that I could follow or copy to improve myself, I watch carefully.
Sometimes I ask questions so that I may improve myself and be better.
We can spend time with people who are loving so that we can learn from them and become more like them. We naturally become more like the people that we surround ourselves with. So choosing our friends and the people that we hang out with carefully. So will you. Encouraged and inspired to become better is another way we can do this.
Prayer is another way we can ask God to show us how to be more loving towards others. We can pray that God will help us and show us areas in our own life where we may be lacking. If you are really game, you could ask your spouse, your parent, brother or sister or close friend for input on areas where you may be lacking.
I'm sure they would love the opportunity to help you grow. I have to admit, I'm not overly keen on doing this myself. I don't think I'd like the response. However, in saying that, I'm also aware of how gentle and kindly God shows me my weaknesses. I would much rather ask God and have him show me the areas that I need to improve, than ask somebody else.
Have you experienced the gentleness of God as he touches the areas in your life that are not what they should be? I certainly have another really handy way to see your own weakness is to take notice of what you find really annoying in other people. This kind of acts like a mirror. The things that we find the most irritating in others are often traits that we have in ourselves, but unaware of them.
I had a little giggle to myself last weekend. Cam and I were walking with our suitcases behind us to the airport terminal. I was completely unaware of a man behind me zigzagging back and forth across the path as he was trying to walk past me. But he was not able to because obviously I didn't leave him enough room.
I know I find it really irritating if I'm trying to get somewhere, and someone has positioned themselves in such a way that I cannot pass if I'm in a hurry. I cannot pass people that are dawdling or taking up most of the pass path, and are unaware of people around them. I find it annoying, which is exactly what I was doing.
Maybe not dawdling, but going slower than this man was wanting to go. Fortunately, cam was with me and he had noticed this man and he gently pulled me aside so the man could pass. Another great way is to read the Bible. God's word is very powerful. Isaiah 5510 tells us, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return without watching the earth and making it bad, and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.
So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Let me just repeat some of that. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me. Empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God's word is powerful. It will accomplish God's desire and his purpose. So reading God's Word, memorizing scripture, immersing ourselves in the Scripture will change our lives. We need the Bible. We need God's Word. And reading and memorizing scriptures is a great way to influence and transform our lives, so that we may be the active, physical hands of God to one another.
As Christians, we are God's children, and therefore, the more time we spend with God, the more time, the more so we will reflect his character. God's word transforms us. I remember years ago, this one time when cam and I were having a disagreement. I had gotten to the point where my emotions were getting the better of me, and I just wanted to let loose and let him have it.
But can anyone relate to that anyway? But I also didn't want to say something hurtful or something that I would regret once my emotions had settled. I can picture standing in the hallway of the house we lived in at the time, and I don't remember what the discussion was about, but I remember feeling really angry, and I remember that I wanted to stop this anger before I exploded, and I decided to speak scriptures in my head to myself.
And the first scripture I ever learned was the only scripture that came to mind. And it wasn't even relevant to this, to the discussion we were having. But it was painful. It was from John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And I just kept repeating this to myself over and over. And with each time that I said it, the anger subsided, and then it completely went away. God's word has power in it. When we read it, memorize it, repeat it. It changes us. It requires us. It renews us. God's word is powerful. It will accomplish God's desire and purpose.
God's desire and purpose for his believers, for us as His church is to love one another. God's word instructs us and gives us wisdom. And here are some scriptures that gives us instruction and how we are to treat others. And there are plenty more. I've just grabbed a few. In first Corinthians chapter 16. It tells us to do everything in love.
First Corinthians chapter 13. We all very should be very familiar with this tells us that love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and perseveres. Ephesians four, chapter two instructs us to be completely humble and gentle, to be patient and bearing with one another in love. In first, Peter tells us to be sympathetic towards each other, and Ephesians tells us to be kind and compassionate and forgiving each other. And Titus chapter three instructs us to slander no one to be peaceable and considerate, and always be gentle towards everyone.
Are you feeling inspired by these scriptures? Maybe this seems all too hard and you don't even want to try this easy or not to. It takes more than human power to be this kind of loving person. And fortunately, we don't have to do it on our own or in our own power. As a believer, we are children of God.
We have the Holy Spirit living within us. The Holy Spirit is the one who leads us and guides us and teaches us. He is the one that prompts us to do things that God would have us to. And second Timothy 127 God tells us the spirit gives us power, love, and self-discipline. Have you experienced this power of love and self-discipline from the Holy Spirit's leading?
In my disagreement that I spoke of earlier, it was the Holy Spirit that prompted me to speak scriptures to myself. And as I've been preparing this, I've been thinking that I need to search out and look for the Holy Spirit's leading more in my life. I need to ask for the Spirit's help more often than I have been.
By not seeking the spirit and his leading. We could all be missing out on the good things that God has for us in this life. Would you like to hear the Spirit's prompting more in your life? I started by talking about the love of the mother, and it's very important that we experience this love. Yet there is a far greater love than the love of a mother.
And this love is the love of our father. God, and the love he has for each of us. God loves us, and our response to him is to love him and to love others. God created us for love. The Bible tells us that God is love. And John four nine says, this is how God showed his love amongst us.
He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we love in him. This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us. He has given us His Spirit. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us, so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment.
In this world, we are like Jesus, so we need to be obeying God's Word so we can be like Jesus to other people around us. God instructs us to love others. It is something we do out of obedience. To make this possible, God fills us with the power of the Holy Spirit so we can learn from him and be more like him.
Galatians 522 tells us, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. When the spirit has freedom in your life and mind, he brings these attributes with him. He transforms those he dwells in to be the same. The Holy Spirit is our encourager, our teacher. He leads us and helps us to be the people God calls us to be, to be humble and loving.
Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Faithfulness. Goodness. Self-control. Sounds like the perfect mother, doesn't it? Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect mother. But God is perfect. He is our perfect heavenly father. God is more loving, kind, compassionate than any earthly mother could be. God is our heavenly parent and perfect parent. He knows more about us than our mother ever could.
He knows what is good for us better than our mom ever could. God knows what we need and when we need it. And God can fulfill all of our needs. He loves us and desires to be in a loving relationship with us. He calls us to be his own. He adopts us into his family by bringing us to himself through Jesus.
This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. It gives God great pleasure to adopt you as his child. You are wanted. You are cherished and you are loved by God. Who wouldn't want this kind of relationship with God to be called a child of God? Just wondering, when was the last time you remember running into God's loving arms?
When was the last time you confessed your love to God or hang out with him? Spend time with your heavenly father. Have you experienced God's gentleness? Have you found rest in him? Do you run to him for a warm embrace or protection when needed? Ask him for all that you need. We don't always have our mom around when we need her.
However, we do all have God around. He never sleeps. He's never on a call or too busy for us. We are his children and he has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is our deposit of what is to come. And the Holy Spirit teaches us and helps us. Sometimes when I'm out alone and feeling vulnerable or in a dangerous situation, I ask God for help.
I imagine he's next to me, and I take his hand in mine and I walk alongside him. He's my protection. He's got my back. And if you were to see me, you would see my hand empty but just clinging. It wouldn't look like I'm actually holding on to anything but spiritually. I'm holding on to God. I am his child.
He has the attributes of a father, which is often mentioned in the Bible. However, God has the attributes of a mother as Genesis 126 says, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. And in verse 27. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female. What attributes of a mother do we see in God the Father?
God is all powerful. He is to be feared. But God is also loving and warm and kind, and he is an ever present help for his children. The same words are used to describe a mother to begin with can also be used to describe God. The Trinity. God is warm, loving. He protects. He is gentle. He provides food for all of our needs.
He is non-judgment to his kind. He is nurturing. Jesus is the sacrificial son. He's got your back. He prays to the father on your behalf. The Holy Spirit is your helper, your encourager, and your teacher. We belong to a kind of church where God is obeyed. And when we actively love one another and strive to live in unity.
Wrap your hand if you would like our church to be even more like that. And yes, you can put your hand up if you would like me to be more like that. Come on, everyone, hands up! We have some very loving people here at church and as a whole congregation. I'm sure we have room for improvement. Well, I know we do, because I'm part of this community, and I know there are times when I can do better.
So let's pray together for God to enable us to love each other as he loves, and to fill us with the Holy Spirit, and to lead and help us into doing this.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. Gerald. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

How Can We Know God? - Murray Lambert

To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
 
Hey, welcome to the Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
we if you receive the church news email on Friday again, do something a little bit different.
We're going to kind of open the floor up a little bit in a couple of minutes. But this is kind of an opportunity to once again just express our Baptist values as a priesthood of all believers that we don't believe that the past is here, myself or Mitchell, Brian Luther, have special fairy dust on us that makes us any more spiritual and any more capable to communicate with God than anyone else.
Here we are, priesthood of believers. As one Peter four says. So what we're going to do today is express that value and share together about ways in which God has revealed himself to us throughout our journeys. But the big question that we're kind of exploring this morning is, how can we know God? Which might seem like a bit of a stupid question, because there's some probably very obvious answers.
You might be thinking off the top of our heads, but I think we don't spend enough time reflecting on God's transcendence. What does transcendence mean? It means that God is, although relational and personal, is the greatest example of that is through Jesus Christ, who took on flesh to be known by us. Although he is personal and intimately relational with us, God is transcendent.
He's completely beyond our frame of reference. He's made of different stuff to us, and even me saying that he's made, he's not made because he is the creator and we are the created. And it starts to become quite difficult to get our heads around how to really understand God fully. It's sort of like the Brazilian pineapple farmer who went on holidays to Antarctica, and when he got there, he met a blind man who lived in Antarctica his whole life.
And the blind man goes to the Brazilian pineapple farmer. So what do you do for a job? He goes, well, I grow pineapples. And the blind man goes, I don't know what that is. And the Brazilian guy is, well, it's a type of fruit. And the guy who's lived in and talk to you his whole life goes, I don't know what a fruit is and is like, hey, well, you see that baby penguin over there?
And the blind man says, no, I don't say it. He goes, well, you know what a baby penguin is? It's about that size is okay. A pineapple is about the size of a baby penguin, and it's soft and it's fuzzy. He's like, well, no, it's not soft and fuzzy. It's about the size of a baby penguin. But all over it.
And these little spikes, sort of like the baby penguin's beak all over it is like, hey, great. And the blind man talks to says, so we eat baby penguins. Do you eat pineapples? And he goes, yeah, actually we do. We do is what do they taste like? Yes. Oh, well, I guess this sweet. He goes, oh sweet.
Like baby penguin mate. He goes, okay, I guess so. And he goes, okay, I think I've got a pineapple is a type of baby penguin. And he goes, no, I think you've completely missed the point. It's really hard. The second we step too far outside our frame of reference to understand something, and it gets really, really tricky. So this is where a very, very smart man who lived some 700 years ago called Thomas Aquinas, started to reflect on how can we best know God and what he sort of came to a conclusion on, and what many theologians after him agreed is ultimately, any time we're thinking about God, it's as an analogy.
It's comparing it to something from our frame of reference, which ultimately God isn't. But he's like that thing. And this is the kind of quote from summary of theology that I put in the pastor's, newsletter on Friday. Now, God is not something existing, but he's rather super existence. He's beyond existence. Therefore God is not intelligible, but above all, intellect.
How do we understand this guy? Well, the only way that we can understand a being that is beyond our existence who is super existence is through analogy. So I put in the pastor's newsletter. What of these three metaphors and analogies is probably a better thing to say. Best reveals God to you in your life. If you had to think is there an element of creation that maybe you've been at in nature at some point in your walk in your faith relationship with God, and you've found a piece of the creator's creation reflecting his truth to you.
Is there maybe a biblical name or title or metaphor for God in scripture that you have really resonated with and has been quite formative for you and your understanding of God, or the sort of greatest revelation of God, Christ? Is there a moment in the gospel that for you, your heart just really latches onto? It's a powerful representation and illuminates of who God is.
So I want to you to turn to the people next to you for a couple of seconds and just share about of those three areas, which one has been most powerful to you? It doesn't have to be the it's the only one, but just pick one of those three and share with someone next to you. So I'll give you a couple minutes.
when we're going to do is actually create some opportunity to explore each of these, in, in process. And the first one that sort of Thomas Aquinas writes about in his own writings is that creation reveals God. And I think it's really important, just quickly, to understand where he's coming from.
He was writing in a time in which the world was moving to a platonic worldview. What does that mean? Well, previously, the philosopher Aristotle had sort of said that, you know, creation material is a revelation of the divine maker. He wasn't Christian and he wasn't even Jewish, but he definitely believed in something bigger than what we experience in Plato.
One of his students sort of twisted that a bit and started to say, well, no, actually there is a good spiritual and there is a bad, evil, dirty material. And what Aquinas was trying to do impart in his work was point people back to the goodness of creation, that although it's fallen and it's an imperfect metaphor for a perfect creator, that there is real meat to be taken from that.
So we say in passages such as Romans 120, this isn't an extra biblical idea. Paul writes, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Yeah. In a different way. Job. In the book of job chapter 12, he, breaks out into a sort of verse and says, but ask the animals and they will teach you all the birds in the sky, and they will tell you will speak to the earth, and it will teach you well.
Let the fish in the sea inform you which of all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. We see here job reflecting that creation echoes its creator. So for anyone who kind of really connected with that first point, the creation reveals God going to open up the mic.
Who wants to maybe come up? I'm and quickly pray for us and then we can get into it. Father God, we thank you that Your Holy Spirit dwells in each of us who call Jesus their Lord and Savior. We thank you that we come here this morning with a wealth of experience and knowledge. But ultimately, God, your good and perfect wisdom and Lord, I just really want to pray again for a spirit of boldness and confidence this morning as people come up and declare the way that you've revealed yourself powerfully in their lives, Jesus name, Amen.
Who wants to be the brave first person?
There's two things that I look at and and it reflects God to me. One is, there's something I read the other day about this. There's hundreds of thousands of species of plants and animals, or even millions that we've not even identified yet on this earth. And you look at the complexity of life, every piece of life, every plant has been designed.
It didn't just happen. And that tells me something about the incredible depths of God. The other thing is this tiny little thing that we're aware of, and it's called the universe. And you look at our planet, you look at the stars, our solar system, and it goes for how many billions of light years away, like the extent of it just blows my mind.
And if you try and look at the infinite list of God to me, the universe reflects that.
Thanks, Brandon. Always scared to be the first one out. Let's give a round of applause, guys. Let's encourage him. That's awesome. Love it. The expansive, almost limitless oneness that creation shows us, yet reveals the limitlessness of God and how he's so much bigger than we can wrap our heads around. See anyone else have any thoughts around how creation reveals God to them?
I think mine's quite simple, but I think just reflecting on maybe some of the hardest and, yeah, hardest times in my life, I feel like creation has been, just a beautiful thing to I always think of the idea of be still and know that I'm God. And on some of the hottest days of my life, I've seen not only a rainbow, but a double rainbow.
Either I've seen or other people have sent photos to me. And I just love that. Yeah. Beautiful imagery. And I think it's just that idea of be still, know that I'm God, your world feels like it's in chaos, but I am God. So that's how he's revealed himself to me.
Thanks, bears. And thanks, dude. Yeah. The rainbow definitely all the way back in Genesis. And. Sorry, Brant, do you want me to pass it down to you coming up? Yeah. Great. Yeah. The double rainbow all the way. Well, the single rainbow all the way back in the Noah story. God's promise and covenant. Just last week, scientists, photographed an electron which has never been seen before.
It's the most beautiful looking thing I've ever seen. It's, Of course it's microscopic. It's nano scorpion. It's, it's very small. But there are particles within that electron which are even smaller. Now, that's in contrast to the universe. So it's it's got to be a God thing. There's no doubt about it.
I just love getting out back and and driving the car and looking at the horizon and seeing this long road. And then the recognition that when you get up the top of that hill and looking further beyond, there is another expanse. And that God is over all that. And this is all part of God's domain. And we can never get to the end of, of God's creation.
And there's there's space all around. And in terms of that metaphor, familiar of where God is, it's a picture of, the space that God wants to, to build around. I mean, so many passages in Scripture say, and he brought me in to a spacious place. He brought me into a place where I could grow. And before I became a Christian, I used to think my life was going to be very closeted if I followed God.
Following God for me as a non-Christian was I was going to live life in a straitjacket and I wasn't going to be free to explore who God made me to be. And yet I discovered completely the opposite that God has brought me into a spacious place, a place to grow, a place to flourish, a place to see beyond what was most apparent, and to recognize whatever that journey might be.
That God was still there in the expanse of wherever he might take me.
Thanks, Brian, I love that. Yeah, all the way from the inner intricacies of an electron to the outer ends of the universe, you know, God can reveal his great infinite power and also his, you know, into into relational deep, even in the smallest detail power. So obviously the flaws of this style of analogy, and this is what some of Aquinas later writers spoke about, was that if creation is by itself going to be our spiritual revelation, then that can somewhat lead to a universalist or pluralist approach where, why don't like me?
Jesus and I don't need the Bible and I don't need the Holy Spirit. I'm just going to look at a rainbow and that's going to speak to me without any other, scriptural or biblical reference. So this is a really helpful analogy. Cool tool to a point, but there's some other really helpful things. And actually, Aquinas himself recognized that this was a bit limited and also came up with a second sort of great analogy that he found in Scripture, which was names revealing God.
So that can be actual titles such as Yahweh, Rapha, the Lord Who Heals Yahweh Shalom, the God of Peace. I really love this one. Just like a little bit of my research for this El Shaddai, the all sufficient one. There's a lot of theories from scholars that Shaddai comes from the Hebrew root word shabd, which is a woman's breast, and the idea that it's a mother who gives all life and sustenance to their children abundantly, that they provide everything that they need to their children, which is pretty cool.
The other sort of idea is similar. Saidu maybe, which is again the peak of a mountain which all the way back in Genesis, we get the river of life running from this peak of the mountain, which waters all the plants, which gives all life and sustains all things. Sort of this idea of the peak, the highest point of the mountain being the place where earth and heaven touch most profoundly so either or some pretty beautiful imagery around El Shaddai, the all sufficient one.
And then obviously as well, Scripture loves to use medicine in the Psalms, but throughout. So in Psalm 18 two, the psalmist writes, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. So just in that single verse, you've got some seven different metaphors for God, which are all individual, really quite powerful.
So the next one would be a question what name or metaphor for God is most significant to you? This one is a bit more of a Bible nerdy one, but would love to hear anybody have anything. It doesn't have to be a yeah, deeply, sort of, theologically deep thing. Just any title or name.
I so, this one for me. My favorite book in the Bible is the book of Hebrews. So I'm going to put my glasses on. I'm old school. I like to use the Bible.
And it's in Hebrews chapter six and moves on to seven as well, where it talks about Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who made Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom and also Abraham gave a 10th part of all, first being translated King of righteousness, and then also King of selling, meaning King of peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither the beginning of days nor the end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a 10th of his spoils, and indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham. But he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham, blessed him who had who had the promises now beyond all contradiction, the lesser is blessed by the better.
He mortal men receive tithes, but they he receives them of him of whom it is witnessed that he lives. So it goes on and talks about Melchizedek. And we know, from that, that Melchizedek represents Christ. And the beauty of Melchizedek is that Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life, the only way to the father that he created, that get, that he bridge, that gap that allowed us direct contact with the father in heaven so that we may have a relationship with him and know him.
But more importantly, does he know you? So I'm going to throw a spanner in the works because Jesus said, you know, talks about in the end times that I never knew you. So my question is not that do you know God? But as Christians, does God know you? So I want you to think about that, because we can say that we know God through creation, we know God through prayer and all that sort of stuff.
But my question to you is, does Christ know you? Because when you stand before him, before the great White judgment throne of God, will your name be written in the Book of life?
Thanks, Dave. Really appreciate it. Yeah, so much there. Because being a king and a priest, this things which ultimately are still earthly representations that are just an analogy of sorts for the ultimate king, the ultimate praise. Thank you friend, thank you. Yes. So in this style of analogy, again, it falls short because if you say God is good, for instance, even just as a really simple sort of title for him, well, first we're using imperfect human language, which is immediately flawed.
You know, if I say what's good for white, what's good for my white, well, am I saying what's good for gaining weight or what's good for losing weight? So you are interpreting things straight away. So it is imperfect sometimes. And also, an imperfect reference of goodness compared to God that we don't actually know complete goodness only in contrast to what is bad.
So there is beauty and power in all of these analogies, but it's just helpful to recognize where they fall short. And this is where Colbert comes in as a Swiss theologian in the 20th century. He was sort of coming from a different era in time, obviously, 700 years after Aquinas, and he was looking at a world that was instead of looking to creation and science as something to prove God.
Instead, at this point in the enlightenment period, moving into modernism, science and rational, rationalization was actually being used to try and disprove God. So he was saying, well, maybe some of these forms of metaphor that people have previously relied on have some issues in my context. So he ultimately pointed towards, maybe in some ways the most obvious revelation of God, who is Christ himself.
In John 14 nine, anyone who has seen me, Jesus has seen the father. So as we sort of come to this final analogy for this morning, I'd love to know, is there a moment in the gospel? Is there a element of Jesus which for you just most powerfully and personally reveals God?
I'm just a little a little snippet here from, Matthew 12, verse 46, while Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, your mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you. He replied to them, who is my mother? And who are my brothers?
Pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. I don't know why. Like all throughout the Bible, You know, God is referred to as the father. But this, I don't know, some, One day when I read this, it just kind of the whole concept of family, just kind of.
And they've got so many broken families. People have so much childhood wounding this being a part of a restored family is just quite amazing. Kind of. And with Jesus and God and, and it's very complicated, but that perfect restoration of family and that, it kind of spoke to me about, an answer to that longing to be a part of something that we all feel sometimes, you know, sometimes you're you're with a lot of people, but you still feel alone or, you know, sometimes you don't feel like you belong or just, you know, those sorts of feelings.
It not it's not quite right. That idea of that restored family that you're part of, that is just such an incredible. It's such an incredible revelation to me. Thank you.
Thanks, Lizzie. Being adopted into the family of Christ, really, really powerful.
So, as Lizzie had herself sort of pointed to not just Jesus as God stand alone without any relationship, that there is Jesus, part of his identity is solely hinging on the Holy Spirit and God the Father. And this is the one thing that we can do if we become almost to Christ centric, that we forget to seek the Holy Spirit who is living and breathing today, that we only look to Scripture and tradition and previous things rather than fresh revelation of God.
So yeah, just wanted to point to one Corinthians two, where Paul himself writes, I'll just wait until we get it up on the screen. Perfect. Thanks, mate. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
This is what we speak not in words taught to us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit. Explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words. The person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit.
So it's sort of the takeaway that I want to leave you with today. That there is actually a final analogy of God that I find really powerful. And that's the work of Meister Eckhart, who was only 100 years after Thomas Aquinas. And he was really big about the silent contemplation and the it's not just through silent contemplation itself, in which we can experience God, but silence as an analogy for God.
When he writes on silence, he's not talking about the cessation of thought that we empty our minds in the way that a Hindu or a Buddhist would, but more in the way that it is the awareness of silence permeating all things our words, our thoughts, all of creation. And it's seen really powerfully in the story of Elijah in the book of one Kings 19.
I'll just wait till it. Yeah. Perfect. Oh, sorry. That's a good quote. Actually, I should read that as this is Mr. Eckhart himself saying no image represents and signifies itself. It always aims and points to that of which it is the image. And since you have no image but of what is outside yourself, which is drawn in through the senses, and continually points to that of which is in the image, therefore, it is impossible for you to be bare, defiled, or blessed by any image whatsoever, and therefore there must be a silence and a stillness, and the father must speak in that, and give birth to his son and perform his works free from
all images. And yeah, if we go to that passage in One Kings, it's really beautiful when Elijah is seeking God, and the Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. And then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah?
Ultimately, the best way to know God is through an amalgamation of all of these things and reflecting on his presence in creation and reflecting on his names and titles and metaphors of Him in Scripture, and reflecting ultimately on the greatest revelation of Him in Christ. And not just having that as head knowledge and walking along on our day, not allowing it to sink into our heart, but having genuine moments of silent reflection to really allow that to permeate into our souls.
So I'd like to encourage you this week to find some time to reflect on one of those things a bit more, just for 10 or 15 minutes in the silence, and find what God's Spirit might have to further reveal to you. So I'm going to call the band up as we pray. Father God, we thank you so much for all of the ways in which you reveal yourself to us through your son, through your Holy Spirit, through your Word, through your creation.
God, you are a good and generous God, and you continue to bless us each and every day. And God, we just pray that, as Steve said, it wouldn't just be that we know you, but we are known by you, Jesus. You yourself say it is not those who prophesy and cast out demons and heal that will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who are known by you, it is not our works, it is our intimate relationship with you.
And I pray this week as we go out and reflect further on all of the ways in which you reveal yourself to us, that it would not be due to good works, that we would think we are coming closer to you, but it would be through seeking a deeper, intimate relationship with you. So we thank you for this.
We thank you for this time, and we pray that as we go out of this service, we can continue to talk about these things, that our conversations would not go to superficial and shallow things, but we would continue to encourage, exhort, and teach one another with words of wisdom and encouragement. In Jesus name, Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. Gerald. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

Easter Sunday - Mitch Levingston

To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to the Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But. But when they entered, they did not find the body of Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that claimed like lightning stood beside them.
In their fright. The woman bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the man said, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen. Remember how I told you while he was still in Galilee, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners, but crucified on the third day, and they rise again.
Then they remembered his words. When they came back on the tomb, they were told. They told all these things. Of the 11. And to the others it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the others with them I told the apostles, but they did not believe the woman, because their words seemed to them like a nonsense.
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw strips of linen lying on them shelves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Oh, he is risen indeed. Indeed he is risen this morning we're going to do with. So on Good Friday we did the stations of the cross. We're going to do a stations of the resurrection through Luke chapter 24. And Luke 24 is, I guess, like all gospel writings, quite remarkable.
And Luke has set this up that they're going to take a look at three different events on the same day the women coming to the tomb and finding an empty Jesus appearing to the two disciples on the impious road. And lastly, he's appearance to disciples in that room, showing them his hands and his feet and the wounds that he bore.
It's really interesting that Luke mentions, first and foremost, that this day is the first day of the week. Weeks disappear like this. It feels like a Monday starts and then suddenly it's Friday. And here that the first day of the week, it's showing that this is something. A new beginning is a new day, a new dawning. That's something remarkable has happened.
And when those women come to that tomb and see it empty there, and just those two angels there gleaming in light, I know this is something remarkable, and I love the question that the angels ask why do you seek the living among the dead? Why do you seek the living among the dead? It's a fantastic question, because how many of us are seeking dead things when the risen Lord Jesus is offering life for us, he's offering wholeness.
He's offering something greater than we could ever imagine. And so this Easter Sunday, friends, ask yourself the question why do you seek the living among the dead?
Obviously, the angel's words, the fact that the tomb is empty head encourages the women to be the first witnesses to the resurrection. If you notice, says John, who brilliantly read that passage to us, you'll notice that Luke mentions all of these different women who got Mary's, you got Joanna's, and you got even other women who would just not name.
They just said with them and you perhaps wondering like, well, why does Luke make so much reference to all of these women? Why are there women? Why are there the first ones to see the empty tomb?
It's because Jesus Christ had come to flip how life operates. I read a passage from a Jewish scripture called Mission Son Hedren. This is written, around the time when Jesus was around, and it says these words women, slaves in mind is that of children. Alas, children are disqualified from giving testimony. Read that again. Women, slaves and minors are disqualified from giving testimony.
That was the prevailing Jewish culture. Women are unreliable. If you're going to put clients on McNew, you don't use women. You use men. But Jesus has come to bring in this shift to deliberately uproot cultural norms. And you see here the apostles, when they hear this testimony, what do they say? Oh, that sounds like fantastic news. We believe you.
In fact, they say, well, I think it's utter nonsense. And because I love to teach you guys little bits of, you know, interesting facts from the Bible, this word nonsense is letters and letter. Ros is only used once in the New Testament, but it's used lots and lots of times in other Greek writings. We have. And all the other times they used that.
With Greek writings, it's often used in the context of a comedy play of someone who doesn't get the joke. It just seems like nonsense to them. That's quite ironic. And hopefully today you'll see this as we explore Luke's Gospel together. A little irony in this. The men had spent so much time with Jesus man, he'd seen him do so many miracles, had heard these teachings, do not believe him.
It's the women, the women, the ones who are considered by that society to be valueless, to have no testimony, to have no say, and how things were. I guess one of the things we can learn from the women today, our culture often thinks that the resurrection is nonsense, that what we believe is nonsense. So, friends, today I encourage you to do what the women did.
Be present now. Present at the cross. Present at the burial. They're present at the tomb. Friends today be present. Don't search for the living among the dead. Search for the nonsense. Search for the nonsense of the gospel. That's the heart of the gospel message that Jesus is risen. So I encourage you today to reflect upon that as the women come to the tomb by the nonsense of the gospel, embrace the fact that Jesus come to shift how we see the world.
And friends, don't search for the living among the dead.
Reading on from Luke 24, verse 13. Now the same day, two of them were going to a village called mace, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, what are you discussing together? As you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas, asked him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? What things? He asked about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, he was a prophet powerful in word and deed before God and all the people, the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but they didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was still alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it, just as the woman had said. But they did not see Jesus. He said to them, how foolish you are, and how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things? And then into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. So he went to stay with them. When he was at the table with them he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them.
The then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us, they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, it is true, the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.
Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them. When he broke the bread.
So in a biblical narrative, is the size of the narrative shows how important it is. In Luke chapter 24, the length of the amazed road shows us that for Luke, this is a really important part of his resurrection narrative, and just as there was irony in the first part, we looked at with the women understanding in the disciples, not in Peter leaving perplexed.
So it is here we have the informed two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, telling the uninformed Jesus all about the events that had happened. And I love how Jesus doesn't mince words here. He has this quite harsh reply to them. How foolish you are, and how slow to believe that Jesus had said those words to me.
I take that as quite a personal affront at how foolish I am and how slow I am to believe. Now, the problem with our two disciples on the Imus Road is that they had these expectations of Jesus that were unrealistic. The expectation was that they were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel, i.e. this would be some sort of political messiah, someone who'd come in on a war horse, who'd get rid of the Romans and redeem Israel that way.
In their mind, dying on a cross was not part of that plan. And, it's so devastating that Luke doesn't give us this Bible study that Jesus unpacks to them on this walk. We can kind of guess maybe he talked about the suffering servant from Isaiah 52. Maybe he used Hosea six two, where the prophet tells us that the on the third day the Lord will restore us.
We don't know. But anyway, Jesus uses the Old Testament to show that, hey, this was the whole point and purpose I'm meant to suffer. And I, the Messiah, was meant to suffer and die and come back to life. Now, if you indulge me for a little bit, when we get to the part where their eyes are opened, there's some really, really cool things in here.
And maybe one day Mary and I can talk about this in our banter podcast, going to a bit more depth. But there's a lot of things happening at this moment. And so then when they're there breaking bread, Luke uses language that he's he's already alluded to two other occasions in his gospel. And can we think of some significant meals have happened in the gospel?
One of them is the feeding of the what, 5000? And the second one is the moment that Jesus institutes Holy Communion. So automatically the regional rate isn't meant to go, oh, okay, I'm meant to think about this, but this is where it gets even cooler that Luke's also riffing off some of the Old Testament. And one of these moments here is when Abraham invites Yahweh himself in human form and two angels in there, Yahweh reveals that Abraham is going to have a child.
Will Sarah going to have a child? And the second one, which is almost like a direct reference to Genesis three seven, their eyes were opened. The very first meal in Scripture wasn't a meal of joy. It's a meal of heartache. It was an illegitimate meal when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat this bread bearing fruit. And Scripture tells us at that moment the eyes were opened.
They recognized that they were naked. And here, on the first day of a new week, of a new creation, when Jesus sits down with these two disciples and this little house in a mass, and he breaks bread, their eyes are also opened. Jesus is beginning to unravel the curse, the bondage that humanity has lived under. This is the first meal in the new creation.
And friends, this is why breaking bread while we celebrate communion is so important, because it's a reminder that Jesus presence, he might not be he physically. He vanishes just like those he did with those two disciples. But he's still present. It's the meal that reminds us the broken body of Jesus and his blood that was shed. Look forward to a future hope and a future promise.
So friends, today, how many of us are foolish and slow to believe? How am I ever said picture to Jesus? That's like what the road disciples had. Someone we thought was going to be different. And then when those expectations aren't met, we're left just completely and utterly disappointed. Perhaps there's times in your life where Christ is actually walking with you.
We haven't recognized him for whatever reason that might be. Perhaps there are moments within you where you feel this burning within your heart. We haven't pause to notice. Perhaps that's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to you. Perhaps, friends, there's a face, a person that you are speaking to that might be hiding Jesus presence. Because as this story teaches us, God turns ordinary spaces and makes them holy.
That's what the resurrection is all about.
Well, I was still talking about Jesus. Jesus is still himself, still among them, and said, peace be with you. I was startled and frightened, thinking I saw a ghost. He said to them, why are you looking troubled? And why do doubts rise in your mind? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself touch my hands.
Oh, God does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he said this, he showed them his hands and feet, and while they still did not believe it because of drawing the wise moment, he asked them, do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of boiled fish, and he took it and died in their presence.
He said to them, this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything you must be fulfilled. That is what an abomination. And what is this? The prophets and the Psalms, that he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them, this is what was written. The Messiah will suffer from the dead.
And on the third day he he'll write, and hook repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Well, we preached in his name to all the nations beginning. I show you some. You are witness of all things. I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from the high.
When he had led them out to the city of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left and was taken up to heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
For so much great work. Hey, on our final reflection through Luke 24, there is this implied question that Luke is asking when are the disciples going to believe? And, in the Old Testament, their, testimony was held valid if you had 2 or 3 witnesses. Now, so far, this is what Luke has been building up.
We've had the two women at the tomb. They have seen it there. Hey, she's not there. Peter himself has seen the the the grave clothes lying there. The disciples on the road have encountered the risen Lord Jesus. Now, will the apostles themselves actually believe? What will it take? Yes, be more irony. Luke is kind of tapping into a takes an encounter by the risen Lord Jesus for them to believe.
And it's quite interesting when they think that Jesus is a ghost. Now, in our mind that seems a bit silly. We don't really believe in things like that. But in the ancient world, if someone died particularly horrific deaths such as crucifixion, there was this sort of underlying belief that the ghost of that person could come back and haunt you.
And so that's probably what's going in their mind right now, like, oh my goodness, it's a ghost set. A Jesus is come back to haunt us. This is why Jesus makes such a concerted effort to go, hey man, look at, look at, look at my hands, look at my feet. I'm a sight I want some food to eat because I'm hungry.
Flesh and blood need food to eat.
Luke caps off this most important day of the week here. Jesus, appearing to his disciples. And if you remember back to Palm Sunday, spoke about how Jerusalem is the center of Luke's gospel. Jerusalem disappears so much. In fact, that's that's what Luke sets up as Jesus traveling to Jerusalem to fulfill his destiny. Now, at this moment of his resurrection, that's where his disciples end up going back to Jerusalem, worshiping and praising God.
As we finish this morning. Well, just focus a bit on cross wounds. The great church, Father August, Saint Augustine of Hippo, he said from the tomb he arose with his wounds healed. He scars kept. For this he judged expedient for his disciples that his scars should be kept, whereby the wounds of their heart might be healed. Well, how about Jesus still bearing those scars?
It's this powerful, tangible reminder. I love it there in the video, these kind of hands I got like, how long? And you can see through them, but how about those scars look like they're there as this powerful reminder that suffering has now been transformed into a symbol of healing and of faith, and a victory, the resurrected Christ with his wounds.
It shows us that the resurrection doesn't bypass the realities of our suffering and evil in this life. Instead, they somehow bring this transformation and those scars that Christ bears for all eternity. They're reminders of what it took to unify God and humans.
In Christ's suffering, that redemption is found, as the prophet Isaiah said so long before Jesus walked on this earth. From Isaiah chapter 53, from verse five he says, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. And friends, today, if you are carrying.
You're carrying scars. You're carrying doubts, whatever it might be. Today is the perfect day to do it. As we remember the resurrection of our Lord, we remember that he still bears the scars for eternity as a reminder of the cost of our sin, but also as a reminder that these wounds bring healing. As the prophet said by his wounds we are healed.
That's the invitation Jesus wants us to have today. That's the invitation he's offering to us. It's not here in Luke's gospel, but we're doubting Thomas. And there he you know, he said, I'm not going to believe unless I see his wounds and his side. And Jesus is happy to show them. Show them to him. And Thomas acknowledges that, my Lord and God, that same Jesus today wants you to reach out with him.
So look at his wounds and find healing. And if you wish to do that today, I give you an opportunity. We have our prayer corner here. We pray for people here who love to pray for you. I would love to pray for you. I'd love to pray with you. Any one of the pastors here love to pray for you and find healings here.
The wounds of Jesus. Friends, he is risen. He is risen indeed. Let me pray for us, Lord and Lord God, we give you thanks for this day, as if just it quickly journeyed through Luke's Gospel. That powerful first day of the week, reminder of the new heavens and the new earth that you're going to bring one day when this earth is restored and made whole.
And Lord, I pray for us, in particular, those of us that are carrying wounds that need to find healing, to find the healing through the wounds of Jesus. For those of us that need our eyes open, I pray that you open our eyes. And for those of us that need to leave behind the dead things, because why we are searching for living things amongst the dead.
So, Lord, I pray your blessing upon us on this Easter Sunday and we thank you for the new life that we have in Jesus. We pray this now in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. Gerald. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.
 

Good Friday - Mitch Levingston

To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
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TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to the Centre podcast. We're a church based in general, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
Well, we gather this morning as Christians united through the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we're going to go on a journey, a journey through each of those final moments of our Lord. We will relive Jesus heartfelt prayer he poured out to his father the betrayal by Judas, the false accusations, the denial by Peter. He's flogging, coronation of a crown of thorns, the journey to Golgotha, the crucifixion and burial.
This morning's reflections are focused on Christ's sufferings as we enter the story of Scripture through words, sounds and pictures, we can relive those awful hours of our Lord's suffering. But this is also an opportunity to remember. Remember the solidarity that Jesus has with us as we face the crosses in our life. All of us will encounter a cross.
There are apparent crosses sickness, death, divorce, or accidents. Maybe our crosses are the burdens of fear, loneliness, the uncertainty about the future. How are we going to put food on the table? Whether it's experiencing a life altering cross or perhaps it's a minor cross, none of us can escape the trials of life. The monotony of work, juggling children, strained relationships, friends, big and small crosses await each of us.
And these crosses are not here to punish us or torture us, but simply because we live in a broken world, in desperate need of redemption.
Jesus willingly accepted the cross he received. Jesus takes it all and the world is redeemed through his cross. The invitation of Jesus is to hand over your crosses and burdens to him. And today, friends, I invite you on this Good Friday to see the presence of our Lord in the burdens you carry today. May we become more aware of the crosses in others and seek to alleviate them before we have our first reading.
Open up in a word of prayer. God of power and mercy in love. You sent your son that we might be cleansed of sin and live with you forever. Bless us as we gather to reflect on your suffering and death. And may we learn from your example the way we should live. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
It's my pleasure to invite Isabel up to give our first reading from Luke 2239 to 46.
Jesus went as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, pray that you will not fall into temptation. He raised you about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours. Be done.
An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him, and being in anguish, he prayed most earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from them from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sir, why are you sleeping? He asked him. Get up and pray so that you and you will not fall into temptation.
Jesus powerful prayer in this anime is a testament to the agony as he wrestles with the will of his father about the horrors that he's about to experience. We just given a glimpse in this moment of the turmoil that the cross brought to Jesus. This moment is a test of submission to his Father's will. And because Jesus succeeded in this test, he's now able to empathize with each of us as we struggle with our weaknesses and as we wrestle with God's will in our life.
We now have our second reading from Mark chapter 14 from 43 to 50.
Just as he was speaking. Judas, one of the 12, appeared with him was the crowd, armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under God. Going at once to Jesus, Judas said Rabbi, and kissed him.
The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Am I leading a rebellion? Said Jesus, that you must come out with swords and clubs to capture me. Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me.
But the scriptures must be fulfilled. Then everyone deserted him and fled.
We are not told what Jesus emotional state. What our state was, or his thoughts as Judas came in to betray him. We can imagine that there was hurt. There's nothing more painful in life than being betrayed by one who claims to love us. And most of us here in this room hopefully would not consider ourselves a Judas. Someone who portrays a loved one.
But think back to the moments when we had professed devotion to Jesus. But our thoughts, actions and our lifestyle reveal a divided heart. A heart that's not devoted to him, a heart that's willing to betray him. We'll now have our third reading, where Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin. From Matthew chapter 26. From 59 to 67.
Thanks for.
The chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for the false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two came forward and declared. This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Then the highest priest stood up and said to Jesus, are you not going to answer?
What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent. The highest priest said to him, I charge you under the earth by my living death. Living God's God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. You have said so, Jesus replied. But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming down in the clouds of heaven.
Then the highest praise to his cousin said, he has spoken blasphemy. Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think he is worthy of? Death fancies and spit on his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him.
Jesus is sentence like a common criminal and accused of crimes that he did not commit. Yet Jesus humbly accepts this injustice. His trial and criminal status are all because of our sins. All the sins of humanity are placed upon his shoulders as our Passover Lamb. The injustice that Jesus experienced is a tangible reminder of the injustice that faces our world, as people are condemned for their race, beliefs, politics.
The list is endless. As people continue to be unjustly condemned in our world, it is a powerful reminder that the one who faced the ultimate injustice will bring justice to this earth. When he comes. We will now have our fourth reading from Luke 2254 to 6062. Peter denies Jesus.
Then, seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the High Priest. Peter followed at a distance, and when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard, and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked at. She looked closely at him and said, this man was with him.
But he denied the woman. I don't know him, he said, a little while, a little while later someone else saw him and said, you are also one of them, man, I am not. Peter replied. About an hour later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with him, for he is Galilean. Peter replied, man, I don't know what you're talking about.
Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly.
It's the second betrayal our Lord faced on that night, and Peter's threefold denial of Jesus is ultimately driven by fear. Fear of man. But before we criticize Peter too harshly, consider the times where you also have feared man more than God and denied Jesus through your words or actions. This moment is pivotal in Peter's life. It's not the walking on water, not the confession of Jesus as Messiah.
It's this moment when Peter recognizes who he is weak and broken. But in this moment that our Lord uses when he's resurrection to restore and Saint Peter out as one of his chief apostles. Lord, grant us the gift of honesty, so that we may not fear to speak the truth even when it is difficult. We'll now have our fifth reading.
Barabbas is released from Mark chapter 15 from verse 6 to 15.
Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?
Asked Parliament, knowing that it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. What shall I do, then, with the one you call the King of the Jews? Pilot asked them. Crucify him! They shouted. Why? What crime has he committed as Pilate?
But they shouted all the louder, crucify him! Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified.
In Aramaic, Barabbas means son of the father, and ironically the true son of the Heavenly Father was condemned and the evil son is free. What do you imagine went through Barabbas mind as he was granted freedom? Do you think his life changed better for that day? Was he grateful for the horrific death that he avoided? Did he use his newfound freedom for God's glory?
Or did he waste that precious gift of mercy? We will never know. His tale is a mystery, but yours is not. Friends. What will you do with the pardon? Jesus has offered you. What will you do with your life? For the great gift that he has given? I now have our six reading. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns.
From Matthew chapter 2727 to 31.
Thanks Ben.
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the pretorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a star in his right hand, then they now in front of him and mocked him. How? King of the Jews, they said they spat on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again, after they had mocked him.
They took off the road and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Imagine for a moment the physical pain that Jesus endured.
Imagine a whip going against the skin of your back. Imagine fist against your face. Or a crown of thorns being placed upon your head. Mocked as King of the Jews. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Stands humiliated in a makeshift purple robe. The cruel crown of thorns on his head. Friends, that image is the cost of sin.
While we can never fully appreciate the extent of Christ's physical pain, all we can do with it is live lives worthy of the calling and the sacrifice he made. Lord, I pray that you grant to us patience in our times of suffering. There are times of suffering. May result in a sacrifice of praise. I come to our seventh reading.
Jesus takes up the cross from Luke chapter 23 from the stats 26 to 31. Right now.
As the soldiers lead him away, they seized Simon from Sarina, who was on his way in from the country and put the cross on him. And made him carry it behind. Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me.
Weep for yourself and for your children. For the time will come when you say, blessed are the childless woman, the wombs that have never bore, and the breasts that have never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills cover us. For if people do these things, when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?
Jesus taught us that to be one of his followers, we must be prepared to deny ourselves and to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. How many of us are willing to pick up the cross? When faced with the challenges of life, no matter how great or small, it provides us an opportunity to do what Jesus did. Accept our suffering gracefully.
We learn in this moment that not every cross is meant to be born alone.
Simon's sacrifice. Simon's willingness to pick up the cross is an example for us on how we can help carry each other's burdens. I pray, Lord Jesus, that each day we faithfully bear our crosses and bear the crosses of each other. We now come to our eighth Bible reading. Jesus is crucified for Matthew chapter 2733 to 43.
They came to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall, but after tasting it he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots and sitting down, and they kept watch over him. They over his head. They placed the written charge against him.
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, you who were going to destroy the temple and building in three days, save yourself. Come down from the cross. If you are the Son of God.
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders mocked him. He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. He is the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trust in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him. For he said, I am the Son of God.
By the time Jesus has reached Golgotha, he suffered many indignities already. Betrayal, denial. False judgment, the beatings, the mockery and the ridicule. And these moments before he is crucified, Jesus is stripped. The mere dignity, the protection, the comfort of his clothing is stolen. And there he is, naked before the crowd hanging upon the cross. Out of love for us, Jesus is made vulnerable.
Jesus is dehumanized. Jesus laid himself down on the cross and willingly stretched his hands and his feet to be crucified.
It's on a it's upon a cross. A person dies with his arms spread out. When our Lord spread his arms out, he did it to draw all people to himself. This great sacrifice has opened the gates of heaven for all who believe in him can share in Etern all life. We will now have our ninth reading. Jesus promises his kingdom to the criminal from Luke chapter 23, verses 39 to 43.
Your. One of the criminals who hung that hill and sold it at him on your Messiah. Save yourself and us. But but the other criminals rebuked him. Don't you feel God? He said, since you are under the same sentence, we are the. We are punished just justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.
Then he says, Jesus, remember me when he comes into your kingdom. Jesus answered, truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.
As Jesus life ebbs away. His words are not of condemnation or pity for himself, but of forgiveness. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Amid his anguish and suffering, Jesus calls upon his father to forgive and not to condemn. This is the real challenge of the cross. We give those who have hurt us most, despite the mocking of the crowds, the curse of the other criminal, immense, excruciating pain.
Jesus offered mercy and salvation to the penitent criminal in his humanity. Jesus suffered, but in his divine nature he loves and pardons sinners, even dying upon a cross. And friend two. Today we can join Jesus and that criminal in Paradise. Our 10th reading is Jesus dies on the cross from Matthew chapter 27. This is 45 to 56.
From noon until three in the afternoon. Darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon. Jesus cried out in a loud voice. Eli, Eli, lema sabbath Danny? Which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said his calling Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge.
He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stove, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The earth shook, the rocks split, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died will rise to us. They came out of the tombs after Jesus resurrection and went into the holy city, and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed, surely he was the Son of God!
Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Majd Dillon, Mary the mother of James, and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee. Sons.
Our Lord Jesus, you offered your life for everyone, even for your enemies, to transform their hearts. Your love should not shy from death as you offered your life for all. May we do the same. Jesus once said, very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds. It's through death that, paradoxically, life is found. And we find life by joining in the death of Jesus. As we join Jesus in his death, will you make the decision each and every day to die to yourself and follow after Jesus? Lord, we thank you. You offered your life for all.
Lord, have mercy upon us. We now come to our 11th and final reading. Jesus is placed in the tomb for Mark chapter 15, verses 42 to 47.
It was. It was preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath. So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died.
When he learned from the centurion that this was that, it was so he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph brought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in the tomb. Cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, saw where he was laid.
That night, as Jesus body was laid in the dark heart of the earth, and they cried, stone rolled in front of it. Be natural for his followers to think. God, why did you permit this? How could a loving God allow this to happen? As Jesus mother Mary gazes upon the lifeless body of her son crucified and broken. Mary is not only the mother of our Lord, but many ways she can come to represent the mother of all who suffer loss.
She stands in silent grief of all who have lost loved ones, whether to the cruel hands of violence, the slow embrace of sickness, or the sudden shock of tragedy. There are times, friends, where it seems the darkness of the tomb will overcome us, that evil is victorious. But the answer to all our grieving and despair lies in this place.
The tomb is transformed into a womb, a place of new birth, a place of hope. And our presence here this morning is witness to that. That Jesus death was not in vain. That his suffering and death are not in vain. May we have eyes to see the promise of new life that darkness cannot contain. And as his body sits there in silence, patiently awaiting resurrection and new life.
Friends, that's the hope. We also carry. Lord Jesus, we thank you. Your death is a sacrifice that unites heaven and earth and reconciles all people to you. May we who have all faithfully reflected on your death and your great sacrifice. Follow in your footsteps so that we too can share in your glory when you live and reign, when the kingdom comes in its fullness.
Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. Gerald. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.
 

BANTER - Palm Sunday

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch & Murray explore who the four gospels work together to reveal the multitude of ways Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem was fulfilling Old Testament prophesies and subverting Jewish expectations. They also reflect over the past 40 days of the Lent Challenge and share what they personally found helpful and challenging.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

Palm Sunday - Mitch Levingston

Luke 19:28-40
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
.....
To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
Hey, welcome to the Centre podcast. We're a church based in general, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the centre of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
It's Palm Sunday. It's a day of excitement where we enter into Holy Week and actually on the screen there, it just has the days and the events of Holy Week. So obviously, being Palm Sunday, Jesus kicks off with his triumphant entrance.
Then on the Monday, Jesus cleanses the temple on Tuesday, this time with Jesus gives more teaching. On the Wednesday he's betrayed by Judas, who just makes a decision that he's going to betray Judas. Thursday institutes communion for us. Friday is obviously his death and Sunday is his resurrection. And if you're doing the lent challenges, the lent fasting, actually, the readings for this week marry up with those days and try to help us reflected.
Focus on this Holy Week about just the the events leading up to Jesus death and his resurrection. But our focus this morning is on the triumphant entrance. And as I like to do, we're going to spend a bit of time explaining the context behind the passage, what Luke is trying to achieve, because we have four different gospels and each gospel author has a different purpose.
Then I'm going to give you guys some tools. So that's sort of our plan for this morning. Firstly, all the things that Luke does is he has this real central focus on the city of Jerusalem, Jerusalem focus from pretty much from chapter one to Luke's gospel. There's this big focus there. And scholars call Luke 951 the beginning, the beginning of what's what's known as the travel narrative that says in Luke 951, as the time approached for G.
For him to be taken to heaven, Jesus resultantly set out for Jerusalem. Now you could translate these words as more literally, Jesus set his face to Jerusalem. This is sort of the whole focus of Jesus mission and Luke's gospel. This Jerusalem is the city of his destiny. It's what he's been called to do is go to Jerusalem to die and to be resurrected.
And so, in many ways, the triumphant entrance is what's known as a literary hinge. So when traveling, traveling, traveling with Jesus throughout the past ten chapters and now we're here. We're here in the city of Jerusalem. And the whole focus that Luke has had on Jerusalem being the city of destiny is now coming to fruition. Now you might be there saying, go, well, okay.
Who cares? Because Luke 951 to 1928 is this travel narrative? Because if Jerusalem is the focus of Luke's gospel. What's so important about that? Good question, my friends. Let me answer that for you. A triumphant entrance is a word that scholars use to describe the entry of a royal figure, or someone who's very, very important. And this was quite customary in the Greek Roman culture around that first century era.
And at the entrance in of itself was quite straightforward. And as you can see there on the screen there, what would happen was the ruler would be met outside the city gate by the city citizens, and often, particularly in like Roman cities, the, the citizens of put on special garments, maybe like a wreath. They'd wear white robes to signify that there was something special about this person, actually.
Next, I should say, at the city gates, the religious and political elite from the city, along with banners welcome us with would be there to welcome this ruler or this king into the city. And then they would begin to escort them back. And then once that ruler was there, the city's elite would give lots of speeches just to say how wonderful it was to have this ruler in the city, with sort of the hope of giving him lots and lots of price.
That ruler, that ruler would bless the city with lots of abundance and lots of blessings. And then lastly, it's particularly put in a, I guess, more of a pagan culture. Was that that king or that ruler would then go to the city's temple and offer a sacrifice on behalf of the gods. That's what a triumphant entrance is. Now, Luke has been focusing all his gospel on the city of Jerusalem.
That's the important city. Now he is structured this narrative and this entrance of Jesus to illustrate one thing Jesus is King. Jesus is King. Now, if you do pick up Luke chapter 19 and decide to read through it, you'll notice right before Jesus enters into Jerusalem, he gives a parable parable of ten minutes. Now the parable the ten minutes is really similar to the parable of the talents.
Essentially the same thing a master goes away. And on that journey he gives three of the servants a bunch of bags. So the similar outcome happens is, you know, the first servant gets ten bags, second seven, five bags, and the last servant one bag. But what's different about Luke's parable is that Jesus describes this man of a noble birth who goes away to a distant land, to be appointed as king and to return, but his subjects hate him and don't want him to be king.
Now, doesn't that sound a little bit familiar? Parable about a man who's appointed to be king. Do citizens hate him and don't want him to be king?
It's what Luke is setting up here is that Jesus is going to enter into Jerusalem as a king, but he's going to be rejected. Now, if you do have Luke's gospel, you have Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke. You notice some differences, some differences here and Luke's gospel compared to others. But first and foremost, and while Luke doesn't mention this, the fact that Jesus gets on a donkey, it's a reference to Zechariah chapter nine verse nine, which said, let's say on the screen, rejoice greatly.
Zion, shout door to Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a cult. The fall of, donkey. The other allusion he's tapping into was when King Solomon became king. King Solomon, two or so we're told that he writes on, mule. So this is this idea here that that Luke is tapping into these Old Testament images of the king of Israel coming on, not a, animal of warfare.
And most of us are probably familiar with this. Guys running a donkey, donkeys, an animal of peace, not of war, showing that that Jesus is a different type of king. Now, what I find really cool here, and perhaps you might not find so cool here, is that as you read through Luke's Gospel, and if you understand the video there, when when the disciples take the donkey, the owner of the donkey said, hey, like, what are you?
What are you doing with that? Says, well, the Lord has made of it, and he will return it. In Luke's gospel, Luke doesn't mention that. You might notice that there just in the past. He just says, they replied, the Lord needs. Why would Luke take out the part which says, hey, he's going to take it, but return it?
Why do you think he might do that? Does this what kings do? Kings take animals when they need them. Kings can take things and not give them back. So Luke is trying to highlight here. Hey, Jesus, King. He has the right to take this coat and do of it what he wants. Now, there's a tremendous irony here because this is Palm Sunday and this stage is covered in palm reading through Luke 19.
But did anyone notice any references to palms? No. In fact, this is the only gospel where the word palm isn't used. For instance, in in Matthew. He makes reference to branches from trees being cut. Mark. He tells us the crowd spread branches that they had cut from the fields. John is the one who makes reference to the palm branches.
But Luke, it's just cloaks. No palms. Why would he do that? Kenny, he's tapping into this Old Testament imagery of a king. And there was a king. King called Jehu. And in two Kings, chapter nine, we're told when J. Who became king, all the people got their cloaks and laid them on the ground, and they said, Jay, who is king?
And sort of the last thing that Luke does, which is very interesting, is when the crowd is shouting, they're shouting out from Psalm 118 26 and Psalm 118 26 says its words, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Oh, wait a minute. What's it say on the screen there from verse at it. Blessed is the King that's not there in the original psalm.
Regional Psalm doesn't say, blessed is the King. It's blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Why do you think liquid do that, guys? What's he trying to highlight? Jesus is King,
Just one more thing. The other thing, too, that Luke does that's very unique. And so make that because I'd. What's that? Stories in the Bible quite a lot with my kids and sort of read the Gospels. They become a bit blurred. Only dawned on me this week. And that's quite horrifying. Horrifying realization. Oh my goodness, I've never noticed this before.
This gospel is the only one to recount the Pharisees rebuke Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John done. And I was like, oh wow, okay, I can't never picked up on that before. And Jesus response to this rebuke for them to be quiet. Jesus, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Now that statement is obvious. It's like, well, this event is so significant.
They even the you, the creation will cry out if the crowds refuse to celebrate. Now, going back to that slide, before we had kind of the four steps of a triumphant entrance. Remember it was firstly the crowds might wear special clothes and meet the royal outside the city. They late from the city will come out and sort of welcome them.
There will be this big parade back into the city. There's lots of speeches, and there's a sacrifice in the temple that is offered. As a reason why citizens did this in the ancient world. Because there were dire consequences if you failed to welcome a ruler properly. I came across some writings from, dear Cassius. He was a second century Roman historian, and he recounts a moment when Rufus, who was the governor of Germany at the time he set out to make war, and he reached the city.
Oh, this this Leto. And he proceeded to besiege the city of this city. This city. And can you guess the reason why he might have besieged the city of the CTO? Reason was I didn't welcome him well enough. He was offended at the poor welcome they gave him. Now look here is writing to a predominantly gentile audience who would be familiar with this stuff, who'd be familiar that when a city welcomes a king, you pull out the red carpet.
Best of the best. They knew that like a cave, if you don't welcome a king, a ruler, your city might be besieged, might be attacked. That's the warning that is happening there. That when Jesus making reference to the. The stones are crying out. Yeah, there's a reference to, I guess the idea of know co-creation is worshiping, but there's something a little bit deeper happening.
In the video there and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we know there are lots of crowds there, but Luke does something different. Now, as you read through there, you'll notice here it says the whole host or many of the disciples who were there. The the implication here is that Luke is saying there wasn't a whole city here.
And he structured his narrative in this way. Wasn't the whole city who was here, it was just Jesus's band of disciples, which we know there are 12 apostles, 72 he sent out. There are a bunch of women. Luke is trying to emphasize here that Jesus been traveling to Jerusalem. This has been his whole mission that he is King.
But only those that follow him, only those that lay their cloaks down, are receiving him as king. The Pharisees, the elite, have rejected Jesus. And so because of that, the stones will cry out. Perhaps Jesus had this prophecy in mind when he said that Habakkuk 211 the stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
But Habakkuk said this the idea that the stones are crying out because of the wickedness that they're saying. Now, while we won't read it today, the final part of a triumphant entrance is he would offer a sacrifice. And at the very next scene, and after verse 44, Jesus goes into the temple and does what he cleanses it. He's furious at the practices that are happening there.
Luke is setting up this wonderfully crafted narrative to illustrate the importance of Jerusalem, the fact that Jesus is King, the fact that the whole city has rejected him, the fact that he has it all for a sacrifice in the temple, he's cleansed it, essentially placing a curse upon it. And Luke is unique too. He places this element of Jesus.
And if you read through the lament, look, it's awful, awful stuff. He talks about dashing you on the ground and the armies encircling the cities is horrible, horrific stuff. This isn't stuff that's very nice. But if you read the end of it, this is verse 44, which is up there on the screen. You'll say, there they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to hear.
And if you know your ancient history, the year 70 A.D. is really important in the life of Jerusalem and 70 A.D. that's when the Roman Empire did come and wipe out Jerusalem.
I'll just finish up here with the quote, and then we'll we'll kind of end with some more practical stuff. And so there's a scholar by the name of Brant Kinsman. And so he spent his life researching this stuff, and this is the stuff that I got from his thesis. And he says here, Jerusalem's hardened spiritual condition is epitomized by its failure to recognize its king.
He's not met by city officials nor honored by the leading citizens, nor escorted back to the city. The encounter with the Pharisees is a rejection, and the nonappearance of high priest, other officials and the citizens of Jerusalem is an affront. This rejection is made even clearer by the fact that Luke has gone to some lengths to stress that Jesus is King.
Okay, all the explanation that how Luke structured his gospel boils down to this Jesus is King. Friends. And so now let's give you some tools that I love filling our heads with knowledge. It's great to understand this biblical stuff. We are to become better readers of the Bible. Well, let's take some tools to help us live out our weeks.
And this week's wisdom comes from the seventh century church father sent Andrew of Crete, and in his lent, homilies he writes here on Palm Sunday. I says beautiful words. He says, so let us spread before his state, not garments or soul of all soulless olive branches, which delight the eyes for a few hours, and then wither.
But ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather clothed completely in him. Let our humble souls take the place of palm branches. Will you have been baptized into Christ? Must l cells be the garments that we spread before him? Let's not pop off stage for a just to get a prop.
This is my favorite jacket. You've probably have seen me wear this in winter. It's pretty much just becomes a staple of mine, and my darling wife picked this up from the back there. I think she got it from Vinnies or the salvos here in general a few years back, so even better. I love getting things recycled. This garment speaks a lot about my I like it.
It's functional but sort of stylish in many ways. Are clothes are reflection of who we are. And so there's something incredibly humbling. Friends, let's let's take this image of our favorite garment as representing a personality. Are you prepared to take that garment down, lay it on the ground and let Jesus walk over it? And since that's what Luke's been pointing to, all that kind of stuff, I was talking about the literary context that Jerusalem boils down to these friends, are you prepared to take off your garments and lay them down?
As Saint Andrew of Crete says, let our humble souls take the place of palm branches. And on this Palm Sunday, it's such an important reminder. Yeah, the crowds are there celebrating. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We know from the other gospels that all Jerusalem was there. The city is celebrating now. On the Friday that same crowd is saying crucify, crucify, crucify what Luke is pointing to and he's Gospels and and just really making the crowd just the many of his disciples that are following Jesus as only a few who are faithful, there are only a few there who are prepared to lay their garments, to humble themselves, and to
let Jesus be king. So here's my tool for the toolbox this week. Go into your cupboards. Find your favorite garment, look at it and say, how does this garment speak about my personality and go, what parts of my personality am I prepared to lay down on the ground and let Jesus walk over them? Let Jesus be king over them?
Or perhaps there are some parts I would kind of prefer. No, I don't want to put that on the ground. No, I'm not prepared for Jesus to be king over that. So as we enter into this Holy Week, as we prepare, prepare to reflect upon Jesus death and his eventual resurrection, I invite my friends just to take up that little spiritual challenge.
Find that favorite garment, lay it on the ground and say, Jesus, you are my king. I lay myself down before you. I offer my life to you as a living sacrifice because I recognize that you are the one. You are King, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
That's my invitation to all of us today, friends, what do you need to lay down? What do you need to take off and lay at the feet of King Jesus? Let's pray now.
Jesus, you are King. We say that you are King. That works in such a different way. Riding on the donkey and not a war horse king who comes in peace. A king who came not to be served, but to serve and to give up his life as a ransom for many, each of us today, Lord, there will be something that our life we're willing to lay down some of our clothes.
Oh, that garments we're going to put before your feet. But there are other things that we're not prepared to do for us today. This morning, Lord, as we enter into this Holy Week that you challenge us, Lord, I, what needs to be laid at the foot of King Jesus and submit our lives to you. So, Jesus, I pray this now.
Ask for your help in this. We pray for your spirit to give us the strength and the empowerment. We ask this now. Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

BANTER - The Hour has now Begun

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

The Hour has now Begun - Mitch Levingston

John 12:20-41
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
“He has blinded their eyes    and hardened their hearts,so they can neither see with their eyes,    nor understand with their hearts,    nor turn—and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
..........
To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
..........
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to the Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
Here we are, back again in our Lent series. And if you kind of can't remember or it's your first time here, the last few weeks we've been looking at just different moments leading up to Jesus death. And so the last time I was up here on stage, we looked at John 11, which was when Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, which was actually a way of beginning, I guess, triggering the events that led to his death.
And last week Mary looked up, which is also in John 12. But he looked at the moment that Jesus is anointed from by Mary in Mark chapter 14. And so today we have sort of skipped ahead to the entrance of Jesus. We'll look at that next week and looking at quite a profound moment, profound moment where Jesus tells his followers, unless a kernel of wheat can die, I unless you're prepared to give up something, give up your own life, you cannot produce fruits.
You cannot produce eternal life. It's a profound, paradoxical statement. In order to find life in Jesus, you have to die. And if you're not prepared to die, then you can't have life. And so I guess the the morning's plan is I'm going to teach you some facts around John's gospel, and particularly his use of the prophet Isaiah. You might have noticed Sarah as Maurice was reading, John makes reference to a couple of passages from Isaiah, Isaiah 53 one and Isaiah 610.
But he basically this, this passage is just riffing off a desire so much. So we going to be looking at that and then going give us some practical tools, tools that you can walk away with this to hopefully help you in your Christian walk. Now I don't have it here on the screen, but John chapter 12, verse 19 says these words.
So after Lazarus resurrection and the news of this has spread, the Pharisees and the religious leaders are seeking to kill both Lazarus and Jesus. And it's quite interesting here. They say this, this is the Pharisees say, see, this is getting us nowhere that's trying to kill Jesus. Look how the whole world has gone after him. Just keep that in the back of your mind for a second.
Look how the whole world has gone after him. Now in John chapter 12 and verse 20, who are the group of people that come to Jesus? Kind of remember the nationality that was there? Greeks. Okay, now this is right. Quite bizarre. If you're not used to understanding John's gospel and how he's using Isaiah, is that Jesus response to this group of Greeks coming along and wanting to have an audience with Jesus is, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
They might be wondering how is a group of Greek, I guess, followers? God fears wanting to see Jesus. The moment of the hour to begin. Now, if you do go home and decide, I want to read through John's Gospel, which I highly, highly recommend. It's probably one of the easiest to read, but one of the tenses? There's so much to unpack in there.
But if you pick up John's Gospel and read along, you start to notice this theme of our Jesus will often say, hey, my hour has not yet come. In fact, he said it to his, his mother Mary at that wedding in canon when she goes, hey, you know, the winds, there's no more wine. Jesus responds, woman, my hour has not yet come.
This thing comes up a lot. The hour, the hour, the hour. So why now, when this group of Greeks come to Jesus, has the hour began? And this is where you need to know the prophet Isaiah. So hopefully I'll explain this in a way that you can understand, and it won't go over your head too much if it does, you can listen to banter or really listen to this message.
But now I'll put up a couple of passages there on the screen. There we go. Here's two passages from Isaiah. Is this what's John is using? John Jesus is using it to build up. I guess he's teaching to the disciples. So read the first one there. Isaiah 42 3 to 4 in faithfulness he will bring forth justice.
He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teachings. The islands will put their hope. Okay, well, we'll come back to that in a minute. And the second passage she says here, 52, 13 to 15. See, my servant will act wisely. He'll be faced and lifted up and highly exalted, just as there were many who were appalled at him.
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being, and his form marred beyond human likeness. So he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him for what they were not told. They will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. Okay, you might be thinking, how on earth is any of that have to do with John?
Chapter 12? So let's look here at the first passage there. It's a little bit random, but see how it says there at the end. In his teachings, the islands were put there. Hope. Now a prophet, Isaiah, he's here in Israel. Where do you think the islands from his perspective would be? What do you think other the regions. Yeah.
So the islands in Scripture came to represent the other nations? Yeah. The nations that aren't in Israel. And so here it says that he's going to establish justice on all the earth. And his teachings, the islands, that is the other nations will put their hope. Okay. So what's happening here is that the Messiah and Jesus will talk about this and you can see it there.
Now, a passage from Isaiah about being lifted up. He's going to draw all people. Now, the Pharisees have just complained bitterly that all the world is coming to see him. Now, this is happening, this moment when the Greeks are coming to see Jesus. This is the moment. This is the moment when the snow has come, when the Son of Man will be lifted up and gather all the nations to him.
Maybe Isaiah 52. It's probably a bit easier to understand. See, it says talks about him being raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Probably the part for us as Christians around the crucifixion. Verse 14. It's quite like it's quite scary just how much it predicts Jesus death, just as there were many who opposed him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being, and his form marred beyond human likeness.
There is a sire, as I uses this expression of lifting up to describe Yahweh's glory. It is Yahweh who is high and lifted up. He is the exalted one. And every time you read it in Isaiah, you meant to think that when the prophet sees Yahweh glory, and coming in in this vision, it means like, wow, Yahweh is highly exalted.
He's high and lifted up. That's how it's used most of the time in Isaiah, except for this one moment. It's one moment here in chapter 52. Yeah, he he's going to be high and lifted up. He's gonna be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. But people are going to be appalled at him. He's going to have this appearance.
It's it's going to be so disfigured. He's going to look inhuman. He's not gonna even look like a human being anymore. And so this is what Jesus is using. He's using these passages, and I guess the apostle John, to help us understand his mission and his purpose. And in John's gospel, John. And he uses this idea of being lifted up, this idea of being crucified.
So hopefully you can understand all that. Hopefully that makes sense to you, how these Greeks coming to see Jesus triggers the events for the hour to come, for the islands to put their hope for? It's I didn't go into it, but for he will sprinkle many nations, i.e. he will cleanse people. It's through him being lifted up. All the world is saved.
All right. These words again. Consider the frightening, the frightening. What is what Jesus said? He says, very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of weight falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it. Well, anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me. I love that image. I love it, and we can just have it there on the screen. Thanks, Jeremy. Should be there somewhere. I just want you to look at that and reflect on that. Is that in, I guess, to look like ancient first century Jewish people didn't know how seeds work, but but I guess the idea is that love that unless the kernel of wheat dies.
Unless it's buried in the ground. The singles say it looks like it's no longer alive. That's how harvest is produced. And, friends, that's what Jesus is calling us to do. Are you a kernel of wheat has prepared to fall to the ground and die? Do you love your life? Are you prepared to lose it because you love it so much?
Or do you hate your life? Are you willing to keep it for eternity? That's what Jesus is describing. He's describing what's going to happen to him, but ultimately to all of us. We. In order to experience true life that Jesus offers, needs to become like that kernel of wheat that dies in order to bring an abundant harvest. And what Jesus is going to go through, it's not easy.
In verse 27, Jesus says, these words, now my soul is troubled. What shall I say, father, save me from this hour. Now it was for this very reason that I came to this hour now in banter whenever mine, I decide to call it out. We're going to talk about some of the other nerdy Greek things about this passage.
So if you're into learning more about how how Greek is structured because it could be a question or could be a statement, but we'll look at that later. That's for a banter conversation. But I'll say this, that in that sentence there it says, now my soul is troubled. What shall I say, father, save me from this hour. Now, in the Greek it uses this word.
It says in our translation, no, it says Allah. But. And that's a strong adversity. There you go. There's a bit of Greek for you there, a strong adverb. This is a strong contrast. No, my soul is troubled. I don't want to go through with this. I'm terrified of what's about to happen. Am I going to pray?
Father, save me from this hour? No. This is the very reason that I came, was to experience this hour. Jose experiences turmoil. This is what he's about to endure. The hour he's about to experience leaves him emotionally distressed. Remember when he looked at Lazarus resurrection? Jesus also had his soul feel troubled when he was standing outside the tomb of Lazarus.
John paints in us in his gospel. It's very, very human Jesus that feels these very, very strong emotions chasing just some robot that's just traveling through life. Oh, I'm going to die. And this isn't this great. He feels this immense pain, this kind of lay. It gets to that the toolbox for us to draw from the Jesus response.
To this pain to his soul. Being troubled is to pray a four letter prayer. It's just four letters. Father, glorify your name. That's it. Glorify your name. Father, glorify your name. It's not about Jesus. Well, it's not about his will being done. It's about his Heavenly Father's. And he submits to that even though he knows the hour. It's going to be so traumatic, even though the hour leaves him distressed and troubled.
He prays those four words like God's will be done, father, glorify your name. And in a very profound moment, I mean, any couple of times that God the Father's voice speaks in the Gospels, Jesus baptism, it's the Transfiguration. And here, this moment in John's account, a voice from heaven answers the prayer. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
And I guess what's quite distressing about this passage is the crowds just don't understand it. There's just this misunderstanding. Either way, they are unable to accept Jesus identity. And, they just don't. They just can't comprehend it. But whatever reason it is, they think, oh, maybe, you know, it was thunder, maybe an angel. Whatever it is, I still don't understand fully what is happening.
And Jesus ends here with these words. You guys. The voice was not was was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven up. And when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Then John makes this comment for us to understand.
He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. If you remember way back when we started this series, in the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness. In Luke's gospel, at least, the the second temptation that the Satan brings, Jesus that tempts Jesus with is he takes him to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says, hey, I'll give you all this if you bow down and worship me and Jesus.
Responses I began, Satan, but you shall worship the Lord your God only. It's really interesting here that at this moment in time when the Greeks are calm, Jesus is recognizing this is triggering the hour of his death when he would draw all people to himself. This is the hour when the Prince of the world is kicked out on the demonic strongholds and forces that hold this planet enslaved a broken, Jesus by being lifted up, draws all people to himself.
Now, as I've been doing of late, I've been loving kind of looking at early church fathers and sharing their knowledge with us. And so has some wisdom here from the great church, Father Athanasius, and I love this image in quite there on the screen, which hopefully there is just hopefully. And so actually, a side note, if you're looking for a great book to look at for free Athanasius on the incarnation, just brilliant stuff.
Say Lewis recommended it as the book that all Christians should read, but I digress, as Athanasius says here, for it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. So it was fitting for the law to bear this also, and to spread out his hands that with the one he might draw the ancient people, and with the other from the from the other those from the Gentiles, and unite both in himself.
What a wonderful description of that as Jesus hanging on the cross. It's like in one hand he's bringing the Jews in, with the other hand bringing the nations together. When I read that, I imagine, like, strangely like the crosses being like this hug, this hug, drawing people in. It's a profound image. It's a paradox. The whole in order for us to have life, there needs to be death.
Now, I promised before that I teach you a bit about John's gospel that links him with his higher. But let's let's go a bit practical now. Let's let's give you some tools to walk away with to help you in, in your journey with Jesus. And so I have just I have a couple more quotes there on the screen.
So here we go. Perfect friends. In those moments of hardships when we do have moments of hardships, let's look to Jesus. And that four letter prayer. Might not just be a template for how you approach things. It's a simple prayer. It takes about 10s to pray, but to do that requires an enormous amount of faith and humility. You have to have the faith to say, father, glorify your name.
Essentially no way of saying, I want your will to be done in this situation. It's a prayer of humility, because perhaps, father, glorify your name means that your name isn't glorified. Perhaps the outcome that you silently desire isn't what will glorify the father's name. And, quite a Saint Ambrose of Milan, he says, when Christ asks, father, glorify your name, he's demonstrating his humility, for he does not seek his own glory, but that of his father.
Very wise, profound things that we can take away mirror Jesus humility with this prayer. Sincere. All of Alexander said the grain of wheat. Though it seems to be destroyed in death, he's not truly lost, but is transformed into something greater, bringing forth many saints. So to Christ's death on the cross brings forth an abundance of life for all of us.
In this strange way, friends, when suffering is part of life. But. But now, if Jesus, suffering isn't just for for randomness. Because life is just full of meaningless pain in this strange world, we're united to Jesus. Our pain and our suffering takes on a deeper theological significance. Because. Because we're walking with the one who was prepared to have his body lifted up in order to draw all people to himself.
So therefore, every time you're insulted at work, you have an injury, this sickness, you have pain from a broken relationship instead of complaining, which is, you know, quite natural and something that I have a tendency to do or getting angry. What this passage reminds us is to we can unite ourselves with Jesus and His suffering. Unless a kernel of wheat dies, I can't can't produce any fruit.
So we unite our souls in that suffering with Christ and a way to. We can produce fruit for others. And going forward, you might be thinking, okay, that's that's cool. I kind of get that, but but how can I do that? And here's the second toolbox tool I've got from our toolbox for today. So the first one is pray that for let a prayer father, glorify your name.
Second is it comes from a book, called Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adel. Our book call him. And so this exercise here is what she has called solidarity in Jesus suffering. And actually I've got it in the small group studies for this week if you're interested in going forward. So I've sort of modified it a bit. And the purpose of this exercise is to connect you with the trials and temptations and hardships of Jesus.
And so what you're supposed to do is take a passage of Scripture where you see Jesus suffering, or Jesus being mocked or betrayed. Where is something that resonates with you in this season of life? And imagine yourself, along with Jesus suffering in that. Then look at how Jesus responded to that conflict, to that suffering, and then trust him with the pain.
And then as you do that, you can pray. Pray for some things that the Lord can help you just hey, for some fellowship which is in the midst of trials, be compassion for those who suffer. See the ability to hold pain without bitterness. The ability to forgive, the ability to be patient in difficulties and trust that somehow Jesus will redeem all things.
Now these are just tools, and they're there to help and to guide you in that. So if you find yourself resonating with, oh, I'd love to do that practice of just stepping into Scripture, stepping in with Jesus into that moment and kind of draw out how I can respond like Christ did. I encourage you do it. If that's doesn't float your boat, that's cool.
That's why I love that four letter prayer. Father, glorify your name takes 10s to pray. And who knows what the Lord will do with that? I'm gonna pray over us friends, would you join me as we pray together? Now, father, just as Jesus prayed, glorify your name. We want to bring glory to you in our lives. Lord, show us this morning where we need to die to ourselves so that we can bear much fruit.
And Lord, we pray boldly that we offer our lives to you and ask for your strength to follow you wherever you lead us. And we pray this now in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at the center. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

BANTER - The Extravagance of Worship

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Murray and Mitch chat about all four gospel accounts of Jesus being anointed with perfume and whether or not they are the same event and the repeated archetype of wise women in the gospels. They also dive a little deeper into the historical figures of Emperor Constantine and Martin Luther, exploring the important roles they both played in Church History.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural