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Podcast of sermons by Pastor Nathan Hedt
Episodes
Monday Mar 04, 2013
Monday Mar 04, 2013
The worldview based on karma is pervasive - you get what's coming to you, you get what you deserve, bad things happen to bad people. This worldview is particularly prevalent when disaster strikes. It's so easy to 'blame the victim' or to be glad that 'it wasn't us'. In Luke 13:1-9, Some people come to Jesus to tell him about a sensational disaster. But he repudiates the worldview of karma, and brings the pointy discussion about disaster and death closer to home. Then he goes on to tell a parable fo grace vs karma. Ultimately, by his substitionary death, Jesus brings about the victory of grace over karma. This sermon was preached on Sunday 3rd March (Lent 3), 2013, at St John's Southgate Lutheran Church. It can be used with
Enjoy!Monday Feb 25, 2013
Monday Feb 25, 2013
What do you really want? This question (beyond basic human needs) is much more complex than it first appears. Often, what we think we want may end up killing us. In Luke 13:31-35, three very different people or groups of people want something - and their desires are very diverse. Herod wants to kill Jesus. Jesus wants to gather together the people of Jerusalem and embrace them with grace. But the people of Jerusalem want to go their own way and refuse God's loving action. What do you really want? In the end, there are only two directions in which our desires can take us: into the welcoming arms of God, or away. This sermon was preached on Sunday February 24th (Lent 2) at Sunday Night at St John's service. It can be used with:
Enjoy!Tuesday Feb 19, 2013
Tuesday Feb 19, 2013
The book of Hebrews says 'Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.' The First Temptation of Christ parallels our own temptation, as our adversary attempts to get us to believe basic lies related to the problem of provision, the problem of power, and the problem of pain. The problem of provision: How will I survive? The problem of power: What do I have control over? The problem of pain: Why do I have to suffer? Jesus resists each of these temptations, not with power, but with truth; and his life, death and resurrection deal with these problems at their very foundation. This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on the first Sunday in Lent, 17th February 2013. It is designed to be used with
Enjoy!Tuesday Feb 12, 2013
Tuesday Feb 12, 2013
Sometimes, it seems, life sucks. Actually it's not life that sucks, but the pervading power of evil and death that sucks the joy and hope out of life. The Transfiguration was a mountaintop experience for Jesus and the three disciples. But most of the time, we live down in the valley, struggling with the pervading presence of evil. Like the man who meets Jesus coming down the mountain - the man whose only son is enslaved by an unclean spirit - it seems that God has abandoned us. But Jesus does not stay up the mountain, basking in heavenly glory. He comes down into the valley, to confront and defeat the power of evil, by climbing another mountain - the mountain of Golgotha, the place of the skull, willingly giving himself to be crushed by evil so that we would be free. This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on Transfiguration Sunday, February 10th, 2013. It can be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link. Enjoy!
Monday Jan 28, 2013
Monday Jan 28, 2013
Psalm 19 is a wonderful meditation on God's revelation - his revelation through the creation of the cosmos, and his self-revelation through his Word. It leads the Psalmist to meditate on his own shortcomings and sin, and pray for God's forgiveness. It leads Christians into meditation on God's final and ultimate self-revelation in the incarnation of Jesus. This sermon was preached at the Sunday Night at St John's service in Melbourne on January 27, 2013. It is designed to be used with
Enjoy!
Monday Nov 26, 2012
Monday Nov 26, 2012
Imagine, if you will, being a Christian in the Roman empire in the late first century AD. Emperor Domitian is persecuting Christians. People you know have been imprisoned or killed for their refusal to offer incense to the Emperor as a god and to say the words 'Ceasar is Lord.' Into your church community comes a scroll, a letter from John the Elder in Ephesus. You listen with eager expectation to the subversive message of hope, which encourages you to stay faithful to Jesus, and overturns the way the world seems to be...for Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth... This sermon explores Revelation 1:4-9 and its message for the early church and for us.
This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John’s, Southgate, on November 25, 2012.
It is designed to be used with:
- the bible study found at this link
- the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.
Enjoy!
Saturday Nov 24, 2012
Saturday Nov 24, 2012
Humans have always been fascinated by the end of the world - witness the spate of recent disaster movies including '2012'. Jesus' disciples were also intrigued about it in Mark 13 - but it's so easy to get it wrong! The good news for us is that Jesus has 'ascended to the right hand of the Father' - and the Saviour is the one who will return to judge. Not as an intrusion into the human realm, but as the consummation of his work as the 'lamb who was slain since the beginning of the world.' This sermon delves into the end of the world, the return of Jesus for judgment, and why that is good news for us - based on Mark 13 and the Apostles' Creed. It was preached at the Sunday Night at St John's service on 18th November, 2012. It's designed to be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link. Enjoy!
Tuesday Nov 13, 2012
Tuesday Nov 13, 2012
In Mark 12, Jesus commands a widow for giving all she has to the Temple treasury...or does he? We have often heard this verse used as an exhortation to 'generous or sacrificial giving' - either willfully or unknowingly ignoring the context in which Jesus is critiquing a corrupt religious system which can leave a widow in such a position! This sermon re-examines the well known story in Mark 12:38-44, looking at Jesus' own self-sacrificial giving and God's generosity, and asks what our communities might look like if they took Jesus' critique of exploitative religion seriously.
This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John’s, Southgate, on 11th November 2012.
It is designed to be used with:
- the bible study found at this link
- the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.
Enjoy!
Monday Nov 05, 2012
Monday Nov 05, 2012
Shema Yisrael... The great confession of faith in one God found in Deuteronomy 6 is not a philosophical statement about the nature of God, but a call to covenant loyalty - to bring ALL aspects of life to integration under the one true God. This covenant relationship with the one true God is life-shaping, integrating and liberating for the people of God. As Christians, we stand in continuity with this confession, seen through the lens of Jesus as God's self-revelation. Our covenant relationship with the one true God as shown in Jesus is life-shaping, integrating and liberating, uniting all of life under the one confession, 'Jesus is Lord.'
This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John’s, Southgate, on Sunday 4th November 2012.
It is designed to be used with:
- the bible study found at this link (coming soon)
- the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.
Enjoy!
Monday Oct 29, 2012
Monday Oct 29, 2012
Freedom...it's a wonderful gift. Jesus comes to bring spiritual freedom - freedom from the slavery to sin, of which we are all victims, like it or not. In John 8:31-36, Jesus says 'If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' Our human nature rails against the thought that we might be slaves! But Jesus says 'anyone who sins is a slave to sin.' He also says 'If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.' What glorious good news his liberation is!
This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John’s, Southgate, on Sunday 28th October 2012 (celebration of the Reformation).
It is designed to be used with:
- the bible study found at this link
- the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.
Enjoy!