Here is our Sunday Gathering sermon archive, perfect for if you have missed a Sunday, want to hear something again or want to share with a friend.
Stories - pt 5 (Improvising in the family story)
Cameron Thorp shares the final part of our "Stories" series, looking at the meta-narrative of the Bible and the identity-forming family story we have today.
Bible Project video:
Stories - pt 4 (Telling some redemptive stories)
As part of our "Stories" series this week Dan interviews Clark and Julie about their own redemptive stories of journeying through addiction, separation and shame.
Stories - pt 3 (How to tell a hopeful story)
Dan Sheed shares on 1 Peter 3:15 as part of our "Stories" series, looking at how to tell a hopeful story with both our lives and our words.
“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.”
Stories - pt 2 (How to live in a sanctifying story)
Strahan Coleman shares part two of our series "Stories", looking at how we can live in a sanctifying story by choosing God's truth to re-story us, even in the midst of tough circumstances.
“Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.”
Stories - pt 1 (The stories we tell become our reality)
Due to the sensitive nature of some of the stories in Jehan's talk, this week our podcast is only available by request. Please email web@centralvineyard.org if you would like a link to the audio and slides.
Making Room - pt 3 (What's happening in my circles?)
Dan wraps up our Making Room series by taking a look at our friendship groups and how they can either be closed groups or loving groups where we make room for others.
“To Paul, we are to fulfill God’s mission together. Love for others is the unifying way of diversely doing this task.”
Making Room - pt 2 (What's happening at my table?)
Dan Sheed takes us through the second part of our Making Room series, looking at how central meals were for Jesus and what we can replicate in our quest to make spaces that welcome strangers to become friends.
“When Jesus himself wanted to explain to his disciples what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t give them a theory, he gave them a meal.”
Making Room - pt 1 (Who is my stranger?)
Dan Sheed kicks off our series called Making Room, looking at Biblical hospitality. We begin by framing up what hospitality is and asking who our strangers are.
“We are given a task of moving people from stranger to friend. The first step of hospitality is to locate the stranger by asking, “Who are we disconnected from?””
Faithful Presence - pt 12 (1 John 5:13-21 / The last song)
Dan Sheed finishes our Faithful Presence series by wrapping it up simply with an analogy on how John wrote 1 John and a few key reflections. (Note, it's Mother's Day today so our gathering had another element that shortened our message time down significantly.)
“John’s letter has been like a set of music, and here the final chord of the song rings out: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.””
Faithful Presence - pt 11 (1 John 5:1-12 / The Absurd Victory)
Cameron Thorp shares a powerful talk from 1 John 5:1-12 on the absurd victory at work in the world and what that means for us today.
“The Christian story of the cross is the ultimate punk that disrupts our idealogies and answers, and frees us to move towards true connection with others. Faithful presence is empathy in the absurd.”
Faithful Presence - pt 10 (1 John 4:7-21)
Strahan Coleman continues our Faithful Presence series, looking at God's radically faithful love and what that means for us.
“Holy Spirit, help me let you love others through me today.”
Faithful Presence - pt 9 (1 John 3:11-18 / Love each other)
Guest speaker Mathew Newton shares in our Faithful Presence series, exploring how we are to live life right now as people with one arm out to the broken world and one arm out to God's love.
“We can be Christ only this way: holding onto the brokenness of the world with one hand and the love of God with the other. In this cruciform-shaped tension is how the love of God is going to be able to bring healing from here to there.”
Faithful Presence - pt 8 (1 John 3:1-10)
Dan Sheed continues our Faithful Presence series, looking at 1 John 3:1-10 where John is making a bold call: we are children of God and have a new way of being in God as a result.
“For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Faithful Presence - pt 7 (1 John 2:15-17 / Be earthy, not worldly)
Strahan Coleman takes us further in our Faithful Presence series, speaking on what it is to be earthy, not worldly, and to take our vocations seriously as people of the Kingdom.
“To be a witness is to be a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”
Faithful Presence - pt 6 (1 John 2:4-14)
Amanda Pilbrow shares the next part of our journey through 1 John, drawing us to see that John is going after a big problem in this section: to believe anything less than seeing ourselves in the way God sees, we have reverted to the old problem again.
“The work has already been done, the homerun has already been struck outside of the stadium, but we keep getting stuck on first base ... Seeing ourselves through our own eyes, our own works, our own actions, our own perceptions, we miss the homerun that Christ has already achieved.”
Faithful Presence - pt 5 (1 John 1:5-2:2 / His light and the shadows)
Dan Sheed continues our series through 1 John, looking at verses 1:5-2:2, a section that shows the contrast between a God who is light, and the shadows we find in our lives and the world as a result of sin.
“Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror.”
Faithful Presence - pt 4 (1 John 1:1-4)
Dan Sheed shares some helpful advice on reading the Bible and then we start our journey through 1 John, looking at the first four verses as an intro.
“What are we talking about when we talk about God?
John immediately gets our attention with his opening words: no doubt about it, we are talking about Christ.”
Faithful Presence - pt 3 (A presence that is placed)
Cameron Thorp shares the third part of our Faithful Presence series, looking at how faithful presence means being placed right where you are right now, and noticing the compassionate actions to take as a result.
Faithful Presence - pt 2 (A presence that is unrestricted, responds and precious)
Dan Sheed shares the second part of our new series, "Faithful Presence" and looks at Matthew 5 where Jesus says that we are the light of the world - but there are some things to consider around that.
Memorisation/Prayer Card
Ideal for a phone wallpaper
Faithful Presence - pt 1 (A presence that is within, lived-out and faithful)
Dan Sheed kicks off our brand new series with this opener from Psalm 107:43. (Note, due to an extreme technical difficulty this is a re-recorded version of this talk)
MEMORISATION/PRAYER CARD:
Ideal for phone wallpaper
