Word of Salvation - August 2018   B.C.17 - Religion: God’s Sarch For Man Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Scripture Reading: Genesis 3 & Ephesians 2:1-10 Belgic Confession: Art. 17 Text: Genesis 3:9   Introd:  Some people say that religion is the story of MAN’S SEARCH FOR GOD. Many anthropologists and psychologists see religion in those terms. Human beings, they say, have always been and always will be religious. That’s why religion is found among people from every tribe and nation. That’s why there has always been religion throughout the ages.             Mankind always looks for higher ideals... and for better...

Word of Salvation - August 2018   B.C.16 – Election: No Strings Attached Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Scripture Readings: Isaiah 6:1-10 & Romans 9:6-26 Belgic Confession - Article 16 Text: Ephesians 1:4,5   Introd:  Why is it that some people... as soon as they hear the gospel... believe it almost immediately. Why is it that other people... who have heard the gospel for years... continue to reject it? It’s a tantalising question that people answer in different ways. Some suggest that it’s purely an accident of birth. We were born into a Christian family.... and into a Christian community. If...

Word of Salvation - August 2018   B.C.15 – What’s so original about sin? Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings:  Psalm 51 & Romans 7:7-25. Text: Psalm 51:5 Belgic Confession: Article 15   Introd:  I think most of us find it hard to take when someone tells us some “home truths” about ourselves. We don’t find criticism easy to handle.Compliments are not too hard to put up with. But when something even slightly negative is said about us...     we tend to either let it to go in one ear and out the other ear...             or else we react angrily...

Word of Salvation - August 2018   B.C.14 – The Teaching that Needs no Proof Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings:  Jeremiah 17:1-10; Ephesians 2:1-10. Text: Ephesians 2:1 Belgic Confession: Article 14   Introd: Total Depravity... that’s a teaching from the Bible that is most uncool today. An elderly lady from the deep south of the US was once asked once about this teaching. She replied: The teaching of Totally Depravity is a great doctrine if only people would live by it. The reality is that today your average evangelical Christian does not live by it. And I don’t mean...

Word of Salvation - July 2018   B.C.13 – God or Chance? Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Psalm 104:24-35 & Luke 12:1-12 Belgic Confession: Article 13   Introd: Anyone who does some serious thinking about the inequalities of life sooner or later faces the question: Why do certain things happen to some people and not to others? We all know some people for whom everything always goes well.             All they touch seems to turn to gold. But there are others who have always been battlers and probably always will be.             They seem to lurch from one crisis...

Word of Salvation - July 2018   B.C.12 – God’s Guardian Angels Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Psalm 91 (esp.vs.11) Belgic Confession: Article 12   Introd: It’s an indisputable fact that ours is a very materialistic age. Most people have little time for anything they can’t touch or see... or prove in a test tube. So most people today don’t really take the existence of angels seriously. People generally put them in the same category as elves and fairies. They look cute... chubby little cherubs in medieval paintings. And on Christmas cards... and in nativity plays for Sunday School...

Word of Salvation - July 2018   B.C.11 – The Holy Spirit: God Within Us Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: John 14:15-31 & 16:1-14 Belgic Confession: Article 11   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is...

Word of Salvation - July 2018   B.C.10 – What do you think of the Christ? Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Matthew 16:13-20; Isaiah9:2-7; John 1:1-18 Belgic Confession: Article 10   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the...

Word of Salvation - July 2018   B.C.8/9 – Faith in a Tri-une God Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Isaiah 63:7-16 & Luke 1:26-38 Belgic Confession: Article 8 & 9   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the...

Word of Salvation - June 2018   B.C.3 – God's Spoken and Written Word Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Read: Exodus 34:1-8, 27-35 Text: 2Peter 1:12-21 Belgic Confession: Article 3   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the...

Word of Salvation - June 2018   B.C.4/5 - Authority in the Church Sermon by John Westendorp Bible reading: 2Timothy 3 Text: 2Timothy 3 (vs.16) Belgic Confession: Article 4&5   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly...

Word of Salvation - June 2018   B.C.6&7 – The Sufficiency Of Scripture Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Galatians 1:1-12; 2John; Revelation 22:18,19 Belgic Confession: Article 6 & 7   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith...

Word of Salvation - June 2018   B.C.2 – How We Know God Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Psalm 19, Romans 1:16-25 Belgic Confession: Article 2   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly under...

Word of Salvation - May 2018   B.C.1 – I believe in God Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp Bible readings: Psalm 14, John 10:22-39 Belgic Confession: Article 1   BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith? BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes. When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly under...

I had an hour and a half to wait before the bus left Brisbane for Coffs Harbour.  Since the Roma Street Coach Terminal isn’t far from the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane I figured it was a good opportunity to stretch my legs before the long coach trip home.  A coffee from one of the numerous coffee outlets was an added bonus.  It had been a very long time since I was last there.  Much had changed.  There was one rather unobtrusive change that caught my eye while sipping my coffee.  Back in the mid-1980s CCTV was only just being introduced...

"The precious blood of Christ" - by John Zuidema Scripture Reading: Mat 10:17-31;1 Pet 1:13-25; (Heidelberg Catechism - LD 1 Q&A1)   Singing: "By His Grace" BOW 136a; "How deep the Father's Love for us" REJ: 440; BOW: 535; BOW: 533 Beloved people of God, The longer I live and the more pain I see in this world around me, the more I am convinced that there is only one thing that matters in this life. And the thing that matters is not whether you have the ideal family, or ideal career, or the nicest home or grandest car, but whether...

Delighting in Belonging to Christ - by John Zuidema Text: Eph 2:1-10; (Heidelberg Catechism - LD 1 Q&A2)   Singing: BOW 435; BOW: 188; BOW: 345; BOW: 416; BOW: 443   Beloved people of the Lord Jesus Christ; Last week Sunday morning I spoke about the privilege of knowing that we belong to Jesus Christ. From God's word we were reminded that we were not bought by silver or gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, God's very own Son. Now that gives us great comfort. To know that every moment of every day, we belong to Christ and should...

"The Positive of knowing about sin" BoW: 389; BoW: 187; BoW 330; BoW 398; BoW: 416; Scripture Readings: Eph 2:11-20; Rom 7:7-25; LD 2: q&a3-5; Beloved people of God. Have you ever wondered why Scripture continually highlights the law of God? Why do the elders and minister and other leaders of worship, regularly, if not every Sunday, have a time when they read the law, either the Ten Commandments, or some other section that highlights how God would want us to live our lives? Is it because they sense some sort of power over reminding us about our sin and failures...

BoW: 8a; Rej2: 357; BoW: 361; BoW: 511; BoW 534; Scripture Reading: Gen 1:24-31; Eph 4:17-5:2; LD 3 Q&A6; Sermon: "Our GPS to eternal life" Beloved people of God, Today I wish to speak to you about a GPS. Now some of you may be thinking of an electronic GPS that are basically a Sydway or UBD or Gregorys in an electronic gadget. It has a suction cap attached to it so that sticks to your windshield. Now the advantage of a car GPS is that it can tell exactly where you are and you can enter in a destination and...

Text: Luke 14:16-24 (esp.vs.23) – Compel them to come in - John Westendorp P/H 62 BoW 500, 23a240 Theme: The parable of the 'party-excusers' ends with a compulsion to bring in those on the fringes. Introd: Does it strike you as just a little odd that at the end of this story people are pushed to come to a party? Doesn't everyone like parties?And here, what a party. A prominent man who is obviously well off is putting it on.Just imagine: A spit roast and some wonderful side salads... there's even prawns and caviar.And afterwards for desert, some famous Aussie pavlova...