Sermons from Pastor Nathan Hedt

Redefie ning Success - Philippians 2 and self-giving love

'Success' can be deadly...either if we achieve it or if we don't. If we put our identity, security and sense of worth in achieving success it can crush us under the weight of its inability to provide ultimate fulfilment.

In our competitive world, the way up is up.
Jesus redefines success by showing that the way up is down - into servanthood, self-giving love and even death for our sake.
The wonderful 'Christ-hymn' in Philippians 2 redefines success for us and shows us that the one who lost everything for our sake is now the one who is Lord over the whole universe.

This sermon was preached on Sunday April 13 (Palm Sunday) 2014 at St John's Southgate Lutheran Church.
It can be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!

What shall we do with death? John 11 and the raising of Lazarus

What do we do with death?
In my household, murder mysteries make popular tv viewing. What the murder mysteries do is fictionalise death - and by the reactions of the other characters, they imply that death doesn't matter.
On the other extreme, our culture sanitises death, pretties it up, and pushes it so far from our awareness that we can pretend that death doesn't happen.
We will do almost anything so that we don't have to deal with death.
When Jesus encounters death, in the person of his friend Lazarus, he doesn't pretend it doesn't matter, and he doesn't pretend it doesn't happen. He deals with it. He faces it head on and overcomes it.
And so the raising of Lazarus points to exactly what Jesus came to do: he came to deal with death. His own death and his resurrection proclaim the truth that for all who believe in him, death is not the worst thing that can happen. It's just a sleep. Not the end of existence. It has no ultimate power.

What shall we do with death? Put our trust in the one who has overcome it.

This sermon was preached on the fifth Sunday in Lent, April 6, 2014, at St John's Southgate.
It can be listened to in conjunction with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!

Encounters with Jesus - The woman at the well and the water of life (John 4)

I went to the well furtively, filled with shame, with an arid heart...
I came back unashamed, courageous, overflowing with the water of life...

The difference was meeting Jesus. Thirsty man, prophet, priest, Messiah, and God in the flesh - the 'I AM'.
This is the story of the woman at the well in John 4.

This sermon is a meditative dramatic monologue from the point of view of the woman in John 4.
It was preached on 23rd March (Lent 3) at Sunday Night at St John's.

Enjoy!

The Great Story Begins (Genesis 2 and 3)

Every story, so they say, has a beginning, a middle and an end...
We find ourselves in the middle of the Great Story. This sermon explores the beginning of the Great Story - a garden, a tree, a choice...and the resolution of the crisis in paradise, with a garden, a choice, and a tree.
This sermon was preached on the first Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2014, at Sunday Night at St John's.

Enjoy!

Salt and Light - Matthew 5

Something nutritionists won't tell you: you need salt in your diet. People and animals cannot live without a minimal amount of salt. Unfortunately, when we get too much salt in one place (eg in our body, or in the soil, or a lake or river) it has a toxic effect.
Jesus says to his disciples, 'you are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.' It is his word that makes us what we are as his people. How could we fail to be what we are? Salt is meant to be spread, not concentrated. Light is meant to shine, not be hidden.
This sermon explores Matthew 5:12-20.
It was preached on February 9 at Sunday Night at St John's.
It can be used in conjunction with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!

Salvos Guest Preacher December 2013

In December 2013, Sunday Night at St John's had a guest preacher from the Salvation Army, talking about his work with homeless and vulnerable people in the city of Melbourne.

This is an audio recording of that event (the guest preacher has asked not to have his name published)

Enjoy!

Life in the Kingdom of God part 1 - the Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-11

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with the apparently upside-down kingdom values of the Beatitudes: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...'
These famous sayings called the Beatitudes may be well known to some of us but they still hold some surprises. The Beatitudes are not conditional blessings, 'If you do this, God will bless you,' but rather a state of already being blessed by God and living in the joy of his kingdom...

This sermon explores the Beatitudes. It's the beginning of a sermon series on 'Life in the Kingdom of God' which will follow through the Sermon on the Mount.
It was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on the 2nd of February 2014.

It can be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World (John 1:29-42)

In his book Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas, the author says 'Jesus has his rank among the world's great thinkers, there is no doubt. But Son of God? Isn't that a bit farfetched?'  Bono responds with a ringing endorsement that indeed, Jesus is not just a great thinker - if he is not the Son of God then he is a lunatic.
Who is Jesus? This is a key question. In this passage from the gospel of John, there are no less than four titles given to Jesus: Rabbi, Son of God, Lamb of God, and Christ/Messiah.
This sermon explores each of those titles and what Jesus' identity means for us.
It was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on 19th January 2014.
It can be used in conjunction with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.
Enjoy!

A bruised reed he will not break - Isaiah 42

God is sometimes - perhaps far too often - portrayed as a harsh judge, watching our every move and waiting to punish our mistakes. God IS holy - but he is also gracious and compassionate. God IS transcendent and mighty - but he is also immanent, with us, intimate. When we place too much emphasis on one of these paradoxical axes of God's character at the expense of its contrast, we get a distorted picture of God.
The first servant song, found in Isaiah 42, gives us a picture of the 'Servant of God' who is tender, and gentle. 'A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.' Jesus is that servant - the one who looks beyond the damage to the infinite worth of a human being, the one who brings God's compassion and mercy, his holiness and judgment, his power and his intimacy, together in human flesh.
We are all bruised. This world knocks us around. Jesus looks past the pain to the preciousness - and brings healing and forgiveness.
This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on Sunday January 12, 2014.

It can be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!

The shoot of Jesse - Isaiah 11

If you look very closely, with the eyes of your heart, you can see that this scarred and broken world was once a garden.
But the Gardener cares for his garden, even when it looks wrecked and ruined, and he wants to restore and transform it once again...through a shoot growing from the roots of an old stump. The Shoot of Jesse will bring transformation and healing to ecology, relationships, and even bring an end to the power of death itself...
This sermon is a meditation on the vision of Isaiah 11, a wondrous vision of the transformation brought about by the messianic King, whom we know as Jesus.
It was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on Advent 2, December 8, 2014.
Enjoy!