Christian Reformed Churches of Australia

BEING PREPARED FOR BATTLE – PART 2, Peter Smit, 11-01-1(Sermon 14 (final) of a series on Ephesians, Series Title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living church)Text – Ephesians 6:13-17Spiritual warfare is real. Jesus faced it, the disciples faced it, and if you’re a Christian you’ll face it. We saw last week that our struggle; our up close and personal wrestle, is not against human forces but rather against spiritual rulers, authorities, and powers in this dark world; Satan and his rebellious demonic angels. You ignore this at your own peril. If you desire to grow as a Christian you will come...

BEING PREPARED FOR BATTLE – PART 1, Peter Smit, 10-12-1(Sermon 13 of a series on Ephesians, Series Title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living churchText – Ephesians 6:10-12It is a great day when people give themselves to God and profess their faith in Jesus Christ. It is a great day because God has been at work changing people’s lives. God is faithful to his promises. It can be a mountain-top experience when people profess faith in Christ.But next to every mountain top you find a valley. Sometimes they’re deep and dark. And even mountain tops can get covered with cloud. The...

CHRIST-HONOURING WORK, Peter Smit, 10-11-1(Sermon 12 of a series on Ephesians, Series Title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living churchText – Ephesians 6:5-9Industrial relations is a big issue in society today. The Howard government lost the election a few years ago because of their policy on it. People are concerned today about their rights at work. Relationships between employers and employees can be strained. Workers want better conditions and employers want better returns. Today we’re going to think about what God says about Christ-honouring work. How should a Christian view work and what attitude does God want you to have for...

CHRIST-HONOURING RELATIONSHIPS AT HOME, Peter Smit, 10-10-1(Sermon 11 of a series on Ephesians, Series Title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living churchText – Ephesians 6:1-4Probably the most important relationships in life are your home relationships. How parents relate to children and how children relate to parents. If relationships at home work in the way God intends, that impacts children for the rest of their lives. But the flip side is that if home relationships are destructive, or if parents are too authoritarian or permissive, or if children don’t learn to honour and respect their parents, children can be impacted for life...

A PORTRAIT OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE, Peter Smit, 10-09-1(Sermon 10 of a series on Ephesians, Series Title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living church)Text – Ephesians 5:21-33I found some quotes on marriage that convey some very different views of marriage. Successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. German Greer You should "keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards" Benjamin Franklin Socrates mused, "If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher." The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret....

MOTIVATIONS FOR HOLY LIVING, Peter Smit, 10-08-1(Sermon 9 of a series on Ephesians, Series title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living church)Text – Ephesians 5:1-21Motivation is the key to change. Without good motivation, change seems just too hard.Last time (Ephesians 4:17-32) God spoke to us about a new way of living. He called us to put off old ways and put on new ways. Now as we look at Chapter Five God gives you the reason why you should change. He gives you important truths to motivate you to stay on track for him. So if you feel you’ve plateaued in...

A NEW WAY OF LIVING, Peter Smit, 10-7-1(Sermon 8 of a series on Ephesians, Series title – Ephesians: Portraits of a living church)(Show a bunch of old clothes that you need to throw out.) Do you enjoy cleaning out of your cupboard from time to time all those old clothes? Problem is you don’t normally like to throw old clothes out until you’ve got new ones. Today our portrait in Ephesians is about new clothes and a new way of living. As we go through this passage, take note of which old clothes and old ways you need to throw out....

MARKS OF MATURITY, Peter Smit, 10-06-1(Sermon 7 of a series in Ephesians, Series title – Ephesians: Portraits of the living church)Text – Ephesians 4:1-16There is a film called “Indescribable” that looks at space. Some of you may have seen it. One amazing constellation it looks at is called Pleiades . It is roughly 440 light years distance away… Remember light can travel around the earth 7 times in one second. A light year is the distance light travels over one year; it’s about 9.5 trillion kilometers.The radius of this constellation is about 8 light years. God said to Job,31 “Can you...

PRAYERS FOR A POWERFUL CHRISTIAN LIFE, Peter Smit, 10-05-2(Sermon 6 of a series on Ephesians, Series title – Ephesians: Portraits of the living church)Ephesians 3 How’s your prayer life? Are you too busy to pray? Do you prefer action rather than talking to God?Is prayer a routine ritual that does little to fan your spirit into flame? Do you wonder what to pray? Do you feel your prayers lack vitality? Martyn Lloyd-Jones once wrote: “Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face...

BECOMING A SERVANT OF THE GOSPEL, Peter Smit, 10-04-1(Sermon 5 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church)Text – Ephesians 3:1-13Murray Capill, the principal of the RTC wrote an article recently about the changes in the last fifty years that have impacted every part of life. He said, “People think differently from 50 years ago: modernist to a postmodernist mindset. Now a person under the age of 40 is not that committed to institutions, is suspicious of authority figures, likes to experiment but questions everything and doubts there is ever one right answer. People do...

JESUS, THE BUILDER AND DESTROYER, Peter Smit, 10-03-2Sermon 4 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church”)(Could also be used on Easter Sunday)Text – Ephesians 2:11-22After the Second World War, defeated Germany was divided up into 4 parts: an American, British, French and Soviet occupation zone. Berlin was also divided into 4 sectors. In 1948, the Soviet authorities tried to annex the whole city but failed. That same year, the Soviet part of Germany became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with East Berlin as its capital.Until 1961, East Germans could move freely between the Western...

SAVED BY GRACE, Peter Smit, 10-02-2Sermon 3 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church”)Text – Ephesians 2:1-10Reality shows: Biggest Loser, Survivor, Australian Idol, Big Brother, so you think you can dance, Dancing with the stars, the amazing race, America’s next top model, and on and on they go. The one factor that turns them from loser to winner = what you do. Work a bit harder, strive a bit longer, work, negotiate, do what you need to do. Many people approach faith in God like that too. You’ve just got to work a bit...

KNOWING GOD BETTER, Peter Smit, 10-01-3Sermon 2 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church”)Text – Ephesians 1:15-23The title of this series on Ephesians is “Portraits of the living church.” The first portrait we looked at from the first half of Chapter 1 was of God’s amazing blessings poured out on us.Today’s portrait is a picture on prayer.When you pray for friends, family, parents, children, your church family what do you pray?Common prayers that we often pray are for protection, guidance in decision making, blessing and provision of needs. We have a lot to learn...

BLESSED BEYOND REASON Peter Smit, 09-11-4Sermon 1 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church”Text – Ephesians 1:1-14Reading – Acts 19Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a portrait of the living church.It captures the church in all its differing aspects of beauty and power. More importantly it helps us see the head of the church, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this letter to Christians. He addresses them as, “The saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.”These were people who had turned to Christ in an idolatrous city. Idol worship...