The Centre Dural Podcast

The King of Christmas - Murray Lambert

The Gospel of Matthew tells the weird story of mysterious magicians who follow a prophetic star to place extravagant gifts at the feet of an infant - what in the world is going on here? The irony is, this story would have sounded even weirder to it's first readers... Let's try to unpack it.  To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

A Bold Father - Mitch Levingston

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream...(Matthew 1:18-20a) We meet Joseph in chapter 1 of Matthew at a crossroads. What we begin to see, even before Jesus is born, is a beam of hope shining through the cracks of a broken world, a world set to condemn an innocent woman. But God has another plan. To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

A Chequered Past: Jesus‘ Geneaology - Mitch Levingston

When you get to long list of names in the Bible, you usually skip past it or at the very least skim read. But what if there's more to learn from Jesus' geneaology than just a bunch of weird names that are hard to pronounce? Mitch reveals how Jesus' family tree at the start of Matthew has more to tell us than we might first realise. To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

What is a ”Discipleship Community”? - Brian Codrington

A healthy community is one which invests in one another. What does wholistic discipleship look like in practice? How can we do it better? Brian opens up a wellknown passage of scripture to shed some new light on the concept of discipleship. 
 
To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

What is ”Social Justice”? - Murray Lambert

"But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:24) 
There is a river of righteousness that flows from the opening pages of the Bible all the way to the very last chapter. So what does it look like for us to bring righteousness and social justice into our world? Is there a wrong way to bring justice? What are the pitfalls to watch out for? 
To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog

Future Proofing - Mitch Levingston

Why is youth ministry so important? What did Jesus say around the role of kids in his kingdom? How do we emulate this in our own community? To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog

Subverted Expectations - Mitch Levingston

"And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise." (Ezra 3:11b-13a) As we return to worshipping in person, we may come burdened with expectations or comparisons of "what was". But when we release ourselves from unhelpful expectations, it allows us to step into a new season of what God is doing.
 
To find out more about The Centre visit;http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog

Get in the Game - Mitch Levingston

What's the theology of sport? Mitch explores the power that sport has to change lives, build relationships and ultimately reveal Jesus to those who don't know him. To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog

What is a ”Baptist” Church? - Mitch Levingston

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
Mitch continues our series "What is The Centre?" Baptism represents the death of our old selves beneath the water and rebirth as we emerge as followers of Jesus. How does this inform what a community of Baptists looks like?
To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person (current COVID regulations permitting) and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

What is a ”Church”? - Mitch Levingston

Who is "The Centre"?
Mitch opens up our new series by asking (and answering) some fundamental questions; Why do we meet on Sunday? Why do we meet at all? And does our "mode" of worship effect the "meaning"? 
 
To find out more about The Centre visit;http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person (current COVID regulations permitting) and online at;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

A New Earth - Mitch Levingston

Where better to finish up our "Mitch's Favourite Verses" Series than at the end of Revelation? Mitch chats with Murray about Jerusalem & Babylon, why Revelation says there'll be "no more sea", and what A New Heaven & New Earth looks like. It's a wild ride though the last two chapters of the Bible.*Appologies for the audio quality this week* To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person (current COVID regulations permitting) and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog 

The Meaning of ”Meaningless” - Mitch Levingston

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. (Ecclesiastes 1:14-15) 
 
 
Mitch shares openly about how the wisdom from Ecclesiastes led him through the toughest season of his life. We chat about the meaning of the word "meaningless", the power of prayer and the mystery of God's sovereignty.
 
To find out more about The Centre visit; http://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person (current COVID regulations permitting) and online at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfgVAeXtBlq6BsELAIBEog