Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 08 – February 1998   Blessed are the poor in spirit   Sermon by Rev. J. Westendorp on Matthew 5:3 Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61; Matthew 19:16-30 & 5:1-12 Suggested Hymns: BoW 195; 119c; 89a; 515   Introd: Some have called the beatitudes the “be-happy-attitudes”. Some modern translations read: Happy are those who mourn... happy are the meek...! That raises the question: what is it that really makes us happy? What really makes us happy? I guess everyone here would answer that question differently. For the unemployed... happiness is finding work. For the sick and...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 04 – January 1998   The Most Radical Sermon Ever Preached   Sermon by Rev. J. Westendorp on Matthew 5:1-2 Scripture Readings: Leviticus 18:1-4, 24-30; Psalm 1; Matthew 5:1-12 Suggested Hymns: BoW 171; 496; 404; 148   Theme: Introducing the Sermon on the Mount             as the Kingdom manifesto for a people set apart in Christ.   Introd:            It would be interesting to do a survey to find out what the values of our society are. I mean ultimate values.... bottom line issues. I suspect that for most the bottom line is pragmatism:  what...

When someone speaks of their suffering as a cross to bear, I always feel a little uncomfortable.  Is that really what Jesus had in mind when He told us to take up our cross and follow Him?  I think for example, of an acquaintance who was married to a woman who was a particularly difficult person to get on with.  He once candidly remarked that his wife was a cross God had given him to bear.  I was tempted to ask him why he had married her but wisdom dictated that I let that go through to the keeper. An elderly...

He came out of the shop and stood there... too long... scanning the car park.  He caught my eye, and with a shrug took off for a small sedan in the second row of cars. So?  Big deal!  We all forget at times where we parked our car.  That’s happened to me more than once... usually because I’m preoccupied with my mental shopping list.  Okay, but sometimes it’s a little more serious. A parishioner once phoned the police from the shops to report his car stolen.  He gave them his rego details and took a taxi home.  The next morning a...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.12 – March 1995   How Not To Heal The Wounded   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Jeremiah 8:4-12 Scripture Readings: Hebrews 3:12 - 4:2; 1Corinthians 10:1-13 Suggested Hymns: BoW 359; 497; 443; 358   Theme: Superficial healers miss God's diagnosis of the fatal disease.   Introd:            It’s easy to be a superficial healer... to patch over serious diseases. We see it all the time in government and in politics. Our society has heaps of serious social problems.  It's a sick society.             Alcohol and drug abuse continue to increase.             AIDS continues to...

I recall once asking my Scripture Class students: “How does someone become a Christian?”  Several young people responded: “By going to church!” “Well, that’s not a bad answer in as far as it goes.  It’s certainly a much better answer than that of many people today who say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian!”  And of course there are many other people who would never go so far as to actually say that, but they do live that out in their weekly routine – they believe in Jesus but church rarely comes onto their radar. So...

Recently I had cause to return to where I spent my teenage years and early adulthood.  I came home a week later with two lasting impressions. The first thing that blew me away was Melbourne’s suburban sprawl.  The country roads with their dairy farms, where my friends and I rode our bicycles as 14-year olds, are now densely packed suburban streets.  It was somewhat disorienting.  My recognisable landmarks had virtually all disappeared.  I took the train from the city out to where I used to live.  It was trip that for some 12-months I did back and forth five times a...

He was a good-natured bloke who got on well with all and sundry.  He lightened up the room during coffee breaks with his jovial sense of good humour.  If something needed doing around the place he was quick to volunteer.  I would say that he was a good role-model.  However, I often found myself wondering: Where is this guy at when it comes to God? The other morning I decided there was something to be said for tackling him head-on.  So I asked him point-blank, “So Fred, why aren’t you a Christian?”  I figured one possibility would be that he’d protest...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 44 No.12 – March 1999   Blessed Are The Chosen   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Psalm 65:4 Scripture Readings: Matthew 11:20-30; Psalm 65 Suggested Hymns: BoW 65; 135b; 376; 364 Theme: Election from the perspective of prayer and praise.   Introd:  My night-school Matric classes in European history             consisted of Protestants, Catholics, Agnostics and Atheists. When we came to study John Calvin there were two things we all knew. First he was the straight-laced reformer from Geneva.             A rather sombre man who was against a lot of things. Second he believed everything...

One of the blokes at the Men’s Shed had some time out, after being taken by ambulance to hospital.  He returned this week, minus part of his large intestine, but not minus his usual sense of good humour. I asked him what would have happened if the medical team had not been able to bring him safely through his health crisis.  Would he have been prepared to face his maker?  He assured me that this wasn’t a problem for him.  He then proceeded to tell me that we’re really no different to a worm – when it dies it just ceases...

My recent Blogs have been about emotions and feelings – and how to put those sentiments into perspective so they don’t dominate our lives.  There’s one special feeling I still want to touch on: the feeling of the presence of God, or, if you like, emotions that come from special spiritual experiences.  Jonathan Edwards wrote a whole book on this subject: Religious Affections. As a pastor I’ve met folk who, for better or worse, had intense feelings on this subject.  At one end of the spectrum are those who have had some euphoric experience of God’s presence, at the other end...

Word of Salvation – Vol.39 No.40 - October 1994   Cinderella With Amnesia   Sermon: by Revd. J. W. Westendorp Text: Jeremiah 2:1-13 Reading: Ephesians 4:21-33; Jeremiah 2:1-13 Singing: BoW 65, 167, 489, 121a   Theme: God, as spurned Bridegroom, concerned about Israel's apostasy.   Introd:            I have a book on my shelf that has the title: "Cinderella with Amnesia". But it's not a fairy tale book... it's a book about the church. The church forgetting who she is. That figure of Cinderella is a good realistic image of the church. We know only too well what the church of Jesus...

Emotions are wonderful.  They lift us up to dizzying heights of ecstasy and delight.  Think of the newlywed bride.  She’s just over the moon about this knight in shining armour who has just become her husband.  Or the father in the maternity hospital holding his newborn son while tears of wonder and joy trickle down his cheeks. Emotions are painful.  They plunge us down into the depths of grief and despair.  Think of the parents with aching hearts.  They’ve just left the hospital where the life-support system of their daughter was turned off.  Or the devastated young couple who, after many...

Question: what’s the relationship between the head and the heart?  We humans have emotions... but we also have the ability to reason.  The Lord made us with a head to think but also with a heart to love.  So how do we put those two things together? I ask that question because lately the subject of emotions has been on my mind somewhat.  Maybe that seems an odd thing to say – because I am doing some reasoning about my emotions; I’m using my head to think about my heart. You may wonder what brought this on.  Well, within the space...

The young couple were planning to marry but they were going through a rough patch.  I wasn’t the only one in our church who noticed the change in body language.  My wife commented on it too.  On Sunday after church I asked the bloke about it.  Frank admitted things were not going well.  A week later at church I took them both aside and said, “You guys have been making some tentative wedding plans, how about we begin some pre-marriage counselling.”  After some hesitation they both agreed so we set a date for our first meeting. It’s not often that my...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.43 – November 2000   Christian Discipline that Seeks to Restore the Sinner to God   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on 2Thessalonians 3:14-15 Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 31 Scripture Readings: 1Corinthians 5 & 2Thesalonians 3:1-15 Suggested Hymns: BoW 72; 354; 237; 159   Theme:  The third mark of the Church – Christian discipline that seeks to restore the sinner to God.   Introduction:   Church shopping has become an important issue among Christians. Christians moving to a new area look for a new doctor, a new mechanic and a new church too. The big...

At the last federal election I put up my hand to help out at a local polling booth.  That experience gave me a new appreciation for the integrity of Australia’s electoral process.  It also made me aware that to do the job that I did it helps to have a liking for names.  I sat behind a table with a huge book containing the names of every voter in the electorate.  The list not only included people names but also place names.  Every voter had their street address and suburb listed. At times it was rather challenging.  Occasionally I had to...

I’m taking a guess that you know what guilt is.  I’ll also take guess that you know about guilt from personal experience.  No one has to describe guilt for us.  You don’t need to be told what guilt feels like.  We experience guilt already as three-year olds after raiding Mum’s bikie barrel; and as teenagers after stealing $5 from her purse.  And there’s little in life that is more wretched than guilt. Let me tell you of a time when I was wracked by guilt.  In the 1970s, as young adults, my brothers and I had obtained permission from a land-owner...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.31 – August 2000   Balanced Buckets!   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on 1Corinthians 10:11-13 Scripture Readings: Hebrews 3:12 - 4:2; 1Corinthians 10:1-13 Suggested Hymns: BoW 359; 497; 443; 358 Theme: Those who think they stand must learn from history and trust God’s faithfulness lest they fall.   Introd:            Most of us, at some time or other have carried a heavy load. Maybe a fully packed suitcase from the airport terminal to the car in the car park. Or perhaps a bucket full of water around the garden. It is very difficult to carry...

Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.23 – June 2002   The Shrewd Manager   Sermon by Rev J.W. Westendorp on Luke 16:1-12 Scripture Readings: James 4:1-10, Luke 19:11-27; 16:1-12 Suggested Hymns: BoW 111; 470; 218; 485   Theme: The parable of the shrewd manager to teach us faithfulness with a view to eternal rewards.   Introd:  Jesus told some parables – teaching stories – that really clash with our common expectations. They were radical stories – already for those who first heard them. Imagine that story about the Jew travelling a lonely road... ambushed by terrorists. Left for dead... two of...