In our home we subscribe to Australian Geographic (AG) magazine.  AG was founded by iconic Aussie, Dick Smith.  It generally has some very informative articles on Australian wildlife.  I’m currently reading issue number 172, which has an article entitled, The Million Dollar Reptile, highlighting the commercial value of crocodiles.  AG also regularly features articles on popular regional tourist destinations.  The current issue has one on ecotourism in WA’s Margaret River region. AG magazine takes a deliberate activist position in fighting 'climate change'.  Fair enough – who of us is not concerned about the way we treat or mistreat planet earth?  This...

My parents came here as migrants early in the 1950’s – before I had ever set foot inside a classroom.  So for my siblings and me, education was not only learning the three ‘R’s but also learning to adapt to a whole new culture and lifestyle. In our little country school in Bonnie Doon, in central Victoria, we were something of a novelty.  Post war migrants were a new phenomenon and in this rural setting we were unique.  In our small, two-classroom school there was only one other person without an Anglo-Saxon name – a lad of Italian descent whose family...

Travelling on a train through India a woman aged 38 – a nun – had a vision.  She claims she heard God’s call for her to leave the religious order to which she belonged and to set out and work alone among the poorest of the poor.  Today we know that woman as the late ‘Mother Teresa’, who worked among the beggars and the destitute in the slums of Calcutta in India until her death in 1997. Today she is still highly regarded by all who have heard of her.  The world applauded when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 38 – October 1988   God’s Solution To The Problem Of Our Death   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Lord’s Day 22 Scripture Readings: John 11:1-27; 1Corinthians15:35-58 Singing:        BoW.315       Alleluia, Alleluia!  Give thanks                         BoW.455       Abide with us our Saviour                         BoW.447       Lead on O King eternal                         BoW.117a     From all who live beneath the skies   Introd:  Someone once said that we live our lives in the shadow of death. And that's true isn't it?  Death is all around us every day. The road toll!  Death notices in the paper!  Victims...

When it comes to doubt I’ve always considered myself extremely blessed.  There are many key aspects of the Christian faith about which I have never had the slightest doubt. I cannot ever recall seriously doubting God’s existence.  I have no recollection of ever doubting that Jesus died for me on the cross, that I am a child of God and that all my sins have been forgiven.  The closest I have ever come to genuine doubt about any of those things is in those fleeting moments when the thought passed through my head, “What if someone just made it all up?” ...

Someone’s last words are often considered important.  Just Google ‘Famous Last Words’ and you’ll find hundreds of them – everything from Winston Churchill’s, “I’m bored!” to Frank Sinatra’s, “I’m losing it!”  Quite frankly I find most of them rather trite and some of them objectionable.  There’s actress Joan Crawford’s rebuke of her housekeeper who was praying: “Don’t you dare ask God to help me!” In the Bible the Gospel writers considered the last words of Jesus before His death on the cross important too... important enough to record them for us.  In all there are seven sayings from the cross.  They...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 02 – January 1990   Responsibility, Sovereignty And An Invitation   Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Matthew 11:20-30 Scripture Readings: Isaiah 23; Matthew 11:20-30 Singing:  BoW 118 Give thanks to God for all His goodness                    BoW 372  I know not why God’s wondrous grace                    BoW 380  My Lord, I did not choose You                    BoW 415  Abide with me   Introd:  What would you consider the most difficult Christian doctrine? Which teaching of the Bible do you find it hardest to get a handle on?...

The scientist, Albert Einstein, was once asked to explain his famous theory of relativity to a scientific novice.  He is said to have replied: “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.  Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.  THAT'S relativity.” Relativity is an issue that works itself out in all kinds of areas of daily life. One of my memories of living out west, in Narrabri, during some drought years, was the dust storms.  They presented an eerie scenario – with visibility down to a...

Over Christmas visitors from Brisbane told us how they had inspected a majestic Queenslander home – the kind you still frequently see in older suburbs around Brisbane.  What put them off buying the house was the terrible slope in the floor of the main living area.  While it might have been great for their boys for racing toy cars downhill they knew that some speedy renovations would need to be done.  The problem lay in the foundations – some of the stumps under the house had settled considerably more than others. Of course a slightly sloping floor in an older house...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 2 – January 1991   Snobbery In The Church   Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on James 2:1-7 Scripture Readings: 1Corinthians 1:10-31; James 1:19 - 2:7   Introd:  Discrimination is a deep-seated problem in the human heart. I grew up at a time when Australia still held to the “White Australia Policy”... despite the fact that our original inhabitants were very obviously non-white. Some of us in church have experienced South Africa’s Apartheid Policy... and more recently they have now witnessed a kind of apartheid in reverse. Discrimination was most shockingly seen in...

Recently someone questioned Christmas celebrations.  He asked, “Why should we bother with Christmas?  Isn’t it just totally irrelevant for our day an age – after all it is 2022?!”  One of the chaps in the group responded, “So, it’s two-thousand and twenty-two years, since when...?”  There was a very telling silence in the group as they pondered the question.  Since no one answered, the second chap said, “Have a joyful Christmas!” as he walked away. There’s no doubt that there are moves to sideline Christmas celebrations in our Western culture – particularly with regard to its religious connections.  Do we still...

Children often struggle to sort out fact from fantasy when it comes to Christmas.  I recall the growing scepticism of one of my own children and how that increased after she noticed that two different retail stores had two quite different looking Santas.  On the other hand there’s the story of the lad who became even more convinced that Santa was real after his parents took him to a social event where Santa made an appearance.  The parents had been asked to bring presents for their own kids.  This lad’s mother had bought each of her three children a beach towel...

An elderly saint once made a comment that has always stuck with me.  She said, “A Bible that’s tattered and falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn’t.”  Good one!  I’ve since traced that comment back to Charles Spurgeon. I thought about this recently while speaking to a Primary School teacher.  Apparently her school has just extended the working hours of the school psychologist so that it’s now a full time position.  That suggests something about the number of troubled children in our schools.  In fact the rise in mental health problems among our school children has escalated in the...

The author of the book of Hebrews in the Bible urges his readers to be hospitable – or in his words – to entertain strangers.  And he’s not the only writer in the Bible to urge us to be welcoming of others.  The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans to “practice hospitality”.  The apostle Peter tells us to “offer hospitality to one another.” Of course it’s not always easy in all circumstances to be hospitable.  It takes time and effort.  I guess that’s why the apostle Peter adds the rider that we should do it “...without grumbling!” ...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 34 – September 1998   Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted...!   Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Matthew 5:10-12 Scripture Readings: Hebrews 10:32-39; John 15:18-25; Matthew 5:1-12 Suggested Hymns: BoW 313; 139a; 394; 374   Introd:            This morning we are dealing with the eighth and the last of the beatitudes. It’s the only one to which Jesus added some special words of explanation. Perhaps that’s because this is such a solemn and serious beatitude. Our Lord wants to make sure that we don't misunderstand His words. This last beatitude deals with the...

I once remarked to a colleague how unfair it was of the devil to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden while Adam was away counting his sheep.  His reply...?  John, you’d better read that story in Genesis 3 again.  I did!  Stone the crows!  How can you read a Bible story so often and yet miss a crucial point? During my years of full-time pastoral ministry my goal was to read the Bible from cover to cover, annually.  Yet it seems I’d always read, without really noticing, that when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, she then gave some to...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 26 – July 1998   Blessed are then pure in heart...!   Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Matthew 5:8 Scripture Readings: Exodus 33:12-23; 34:29-35; Mark 7:1-5, 14-23 Suggested Hymns: BoW 337; 300; 453; 388   Introduction   Congregation, When we reflect on the Beatitudes we notice an interesting thing. That if you turn these sayings of Jesus around to mean the exact opposite… then you end up with a fairly accurate description of the human race at its worst.             Or probably more accurately – you get a picture of us humans...

Word of Salvation – Vol.43 No.24 - June 1998   Blessed Are The Merciful...!   Sermon by Rev J.W.Westendorp on Matthew 5:7 Scripture Readings: Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 25:31-46 & 5:1-12 Suggested Songs: BoW 505; 210; 15 ; 218   Introduction: Often we read of callous acts of neglect of the suffering of others. An act of violence occurs in inner suburbs of a large city. Shouts and screams... the sound of a gunshot.             People peer through their blinds but no one comes to help.             No one wants to get involved. A motor cyclist is knocked off his bike and...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 16 – April 1998   Blessed Are The Meek...!   Sermon by Rev. J. Westendorp on Matthew 5:5 Scripture Readings: Psalm 37:1-11; 1Peter 2:18-25; Matthew 5:1-12 Suggested Hymns: BoW 22a; 398; 37; 511   Introd: In these beatitudes we see repeatedly that the standards of the Christian faith are different. In fact, not just different... radically different. So different that they are often exactly opposite to the world’s standards.   -         The world pronounces its blessing on the rich... those who have made it.             Jesus says: Blessed are the poor for theirs is...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 12 – March 1998   Blessed Are Those Who Mourn...!   Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Matthew 5:4 Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1-7; Romans 8:12-28; Matthew 5:1-12 Suggested hymns: BoW 302; 159;42; 426   Introd:            At first glance the BEATITUDES seem like sheer nonsense. That’s especially true for the second beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn...” That comes across as a real contradiction: Happy are the unhappy...! No wonder someone once said:  “The beatitudes are about people who don’t exist”. There aren’t any happy, mourning people. We could even ask:  Doesn’t this contradict...