We are all just trying to make sense of our uncertain times. What if there were timeless wisdom we can draw from?
Narellan Community Congregational Church is a faith community in the southwest of Sydney, Australia, seeking the free, full, and forever life Jesus promised. In his teaching and example we have found timeless wisdom for uncertain times.
The episodes of this podcast provide recordings of our weekly sermons or a deep dive into a topic arising out of those sermons. If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, you can contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/) via our website at www.narellancong.org.au (https://narellancong.org.au/). We would love to hear from you!
On our website you will find show notes for each episode, videos, links, and other resources to help you on your journey.
With this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, continues the sermon series on The First Letter of John. This series reminds us God is light, life and love. Fellowship with God is not a vague, nebulous experience. It can be an objective daily reality. In this sermon is described the final two of five characteristics of fellowship with God: testing the spirits and to love as Christ loved.
This sermon is based on 1 John 4:1-21 and was delivered on Sunday, 28 April 2024.
21 Apr 2024
Love in Action and Truth
With this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, continues the sermon series on The First Letter of John. This series reminds us God is light, life and love. Fellowship with God is not a vague, nebulous experience. It can be an objective daily reality. In this sermon is described the third of five characteristics of fellowship with God: love in action and truth.
This sermon is based on 1 John 3:11-24 and was delivered on Sunday, 21 April 2024.
14 Apr 2024
Purity of Life and the Practice of Righteousness
With this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, continues the sermon series on The First Letter of John. This series reminds us God is light, life and love. Fellowship with God is not a vague, nebulous experience. It can be an objective daily reality. In this sermon is described the first of five characteristics of fellowship with God: purity of life and the practice of righteousness.
This sermon is based on 1 John 2:28-3:12 and was delivered on Sunday, 14 April 2024.
7 Apr 2024
The Conditions for Fellowship with God
In this sermon, an Elder of our church, Kym Steele, begins a new sermon series on The First Letter of John. This series reminds us God is light, life and love. Fellowship with God is not a vague, nebulous experience. It can be an objective daily reality. In this sermon, Kym describes how the conditions for fellowship with God are to walk in the Light, the confession of sin, obedience to his commandments, and love for one another.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 7 April 2024.
31 Mar 2024
He Is Risen! Are you listening? (an Easter sermon)
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, reminded us our Creator has shown us a better way of life than the way of fallenness and sin our world is falling for and blindly following. Jesus the Christ, an innocent, willing accepted the most disastrous consequences of our sin and did so he would conquer sin and death and thus provide us a rescue. Are you listening?
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 31 March 2024.
29 Mar 2024
Perfect Love Hung on A Cross (a Good Friday sermon)
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, asks the question, "If Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father, what does Good Friday say about God?"
This sermon was delivered on Friday, 29 March 2024.
24 Mar 2024
We Want To See Jesus: A Palm Sunday sermon
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, described how in the midst of the story of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry is a moment easy to miss, where some Greeks desire to see Jesus. This story implores us to take seriously two questions: would you see Jesus and would souls seeking Jesus come to you?
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 24 March 2024.
17 Mar 2024
The Sacramental Life: Encountering the invisible God in the visible world
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, concludes the sermon series, The Balanced Christian Life, by describing how the Incarnational Tradition focuses on the relationship between the invisible spirit and physical reality, helping us to see God’s divine presence in the material world in which we live. God manifests himself in his creation, even in the midst of mundane activities, whenever and wherever we acknowledge God.
This sermon was delivered on 17 March 2024.
10 Mar 2024
The Word-Centred Life: Living the life-giving message
In this sermon our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, describes how the Evangelical Tradition encompasses much more than simply converting people. The “good news” is God’s great message to humanity: that all can be rescued, redeemed and restored to our intended design. This is the message embodied in Jesus himself, rooted in the Bible, and ultimately expressed through the lives of those who follow Christ. It is a living tale of grace spoken in and through word and action.
The sermon begins with a Bible reading exercise called Lectio Divina.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 10 March 2024.
3 Mar 2024
The Compassion-Directed Life: Extending compassion in every sphere of life
In this sermon our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, described how the Social Justice Tradition expresses the themes of justice, compassion, and peace. It emphasises wisdom and loving-kindness to bring relationships into harmony, unity, and balance, even within our relationship to nature. The compassion-direct life engages all arenas of life, from personal to social to institutional. As with the other traditions, the actions we take are not the end goal. True compassion is motivated by a genuine heart, is empowered by the love of God, and embraces the possibility of positive change.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 25 February 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/the-compassion-directed-life/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
25 Feb 2024
The Spirit-Empowered Life: Fueling our lives from the presence and power of God
In this sermon our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, describes how the Charismatic Tradition focuses on the power of God’s Spirit moving in and through us. Just as a car requires fuel to run, and our bodies require food for survival, so our souls rely upon the Spirit of God for spiritual energy. Through the Spirit, we are able to do more than we could on our own steam, and these abilities not only remind us of God’s presence, but equip us to build up our communities in love.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 25 February 2024
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/the-spirit-empowered-life/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
18 Feb 2024
The Virtuous Life: Responding with integrity
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones describes how the Holiness Tradition emphasises the re-formation of our hearts so that we are able to respond appropriately to the challenges of life. The word “holiness” has some negative connotations today, but the original Greek meaning of the word virtue is simply “to function well.” Virtuous Life is not about rules or judgement, perfectionism, or some kind of merit gained by good deeds. It encourages us to the ultimate goal: not to “get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us.” It is attentiveness to the source of our actions, to the condition and motives of the heart, and taking on new patterns of life that flow naturally from within.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 18 February 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/the-virtuous-life/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
11 Feb 2024
The Prayer-Filled Life: Our heart’s steady attention on God
In this sermon, our pastor, Ian Forest-Jones, describes how the Contemplative Tradition continually draws us into love for God, reminding us that the Christian life is less like a rule book and more like falling in love. It stresses the value of silence, solitude, and prayer as ways we engage with God’s presence, whether we take a silent walk in the early morning, ride the bus to work, wash dishes while the kids nap, or even take a nap ourselves.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 11 February 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/the-prayer-filled-life/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
4 Feb 2024
The Blessings of Community
In this sermon, based on 1 Corinthians 9:16–23 and Mark 1:29–39, our pastor, Rev. Ian Forest-Jones, reminds us there are rewards and blessings for the friends of Jesus. What must we do, and who must we do it with, if we want to enjoy them?
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 4 February 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/the-blessings-of-community/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
28 Jan 2024
Truth Is Not Ice Cream
In this sermon, based on 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 and Mark 1:21–28, our pastor, Rev. Ian Forest-Jones, reminded us local churches are not clubs where everyone has ‘it all together’. We are sinners saved by grace who build each other up to maturity. Sometimes we succeed, but mostly we learn together by processing together God’s story and our own stories, learning how to make sense of them that we might find meaning and purpose, make sense of our experiences, and together find guidance for our actions and our beliefs.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 28 January 2024.
21 Jan 2024
Discipleship For Everyone
In this sermon, based on 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 and Mark 1:14–20, our pastor, Rev. Ian Forest-Jones, reminds us that to be a vibrant and valid Christian church we need to have a clear and accessible pathway for helping everyone within our spheres of influence to move from knowing little or nothing about our Creator to then maturing in faith and lifestyle. We need discipleship for everyone!
The Bible was read by Ian Hudson.
Show notes can be found on the episode's page on our website (https://narellancong.org.au/discipleship-for-everyone/).
14 Jan 2024
Are You An Influencer?
In this sermon, one of our elders, Kym Steele, reminds us Jesus wants us to be more influential by faithfully being who we are and by faithfully doing what we are called to do: follow Jesus, show love to our neighbour as we would to ourselves, and serve others out of the grace and mercy we have been shown by God.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 14 January 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/are-you-an-influencer/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
7 Jan 2024
Know Your Birthright
In this sermon, one of our elders, Kym Steele, asked are we missing the value of our inheritance and birthright given to us by God? We are reminded in the New Testament that we are children of God so that we can be glorified the same way Jesus was. We have the ability to become co-heirs with Christ.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 7 January 2024.
For show notes, visit the episode's webpage (https://narellancong.org.au/know-your-birthright/).
If you have any questions, comments, or kudos, then please do not hesitate to contact us (https://narellancong.org.au/contact-us/).
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