Sermons From Pakenham Lakeside Church

Our first sermon from 'online church' in the Covid-19 pandemic. A very short bit was cut off the start of the sermon. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He's not just a wonder worker, but the one who brings life out of death, light out of darkness and hope out of despair. His raising of Lazarus points to his identity and the presence of God with us through the darkest of times. This sermon was preached with Pakenham Lakeside Church's online church on Sunday 29th March, 2020.

In John 4, Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. She had been practicing social distancing and self isolation - not because of disease but because of shame. But Jesus broke through all the barriers. She came thirsty for physical water - and drank from the source of living water, Jesus himself. Through this she overflowed with living water for others too. This sermon was preached at the baptism service of two adults, Barry and Charlotte. Through their baptism - and we through ours - they are now filled to overflowing with the living water, the Holy Spirit, flowing from them (and from us) to give life to a thirsty world. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 22nd March, 2020, during the first weeks of the global Covid-19 pandemic.  

This is a time of great anxiety and chaos as our world is currently experiencing the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus. In such a time of chaos and anxiety, which voices do you listen to? When tempted to listen to the voices of panic, fear, and anxiety, Jesus speaks words which bring peace and calm. He says that all who come to him will find safety (or be saved). Jesus does not save us from trouble but through trouble, for he has overcome even the power of death, and offers us abundant life. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 15th March 2020.

The difference between light and darkness is the difference between Blindness and sight Despair and hope Confusion/disorientation and clarity Death and life (ultimately, all life on earth depends on the light of the sun) When Jesus says 'I am the light of the world,' in John chapter 8 and again in John 9, he is bringing people from death to life, from darkness to light, from blindness to sight. This sermon explores Jesus' saying through an imaginative meditation on the story of the blind man in John chapter 9. It is part 2 of a Lenten sermon series on the 'I Am' sayings of Jesus as found in the Gospel of John. It was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 8th March 2020. Enjoy!

What truly satisfies you? What food can you really not do without? When Jesus says 'I am the bread of life,' he is saying that he is the only one who can ultimately satisfy the hungers of the human heart, mind and spirit. He is the one who nourishes and gives life to body, mind and spirit. Jesus engaged in holistic ministry - he fed and healed people's bodies, nourished their minds through his teaching, and gave life to their spirit by bringing them back into relationship with God. And he does the same for us now! This sermon is part 1 of a Lenten sermon series on the "I am" sayings of Jesus found in the Gospel of John. You can find some more reflections on these "I am" sayings at Common Grace - a network of Christians passionate about Jesus and about justice. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 1st March 2020. Enjoy!  

'Turn the other cheek' is probably one of Jesus' most quoted sayings. And I would argue it is probably one of the least understood. Did Jesus really counsel cowardice and non resistance to evil? Or have we misunderstood his words in their cultural context? The teaching of Matthew 5, while far from easy, is a clear call to creative nonviolent resistance to the powers of evil. Not becoming like them through violence, and not letting them get away with it through passive acquiescence. This exemplifies the life of Jesus! This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 23rd February 2020. Enjoy!  

Jesus radically interprets the law of God to 'get to the heart.' In Matthew 5, Jesus gives signposts on the road to life and warnings about the road to death and Gehenna (the rubbish dump of the world). This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 16th February 2020.  

Many modern stories feature superheroes with a hidden identity. We both long for - and dread - someone to truly see us and know us. Long for, because we are created for relationship and intimacy. And dread - because if others know who we truly are, we are ashamed or fearful that they may not love us as we truly are. In John 1 we see unfolded the true identity of Jesus - and also how Jesus himself sees us, knows us, and restores our true identity.  This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 19th January 2020. Enjoy!  

Mary is the Advent Person par excellence. The young woman through whom God's promises and plans to send a messiah are being fulfilled, through the miracle and mystery of the incarnation. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 22nd December 2019. Enjoy!

The second sermon in a series on Advent People. Advent People are ordinary people receiving extraordinaray promises.  Elizabeth is an ordinary woman who receives the promise to become the mother of John the Baptist, and who was honoured to b visited by Mary, the mother of our Lord. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 8th December 2019.  Enjoy!

The first sermon in a series on Advent People. Advent People are ordinary people receiving extraordinaray promises.  For Zechariah, he had waited so long for God to fulfil his promises that he had almost lost hope. But then he received a visit and announcement from an angel, Gabriel, that brought hope back to life. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 1st December 2019. 

Luke 19:11-27 ends with a saying of Jesus that seems at least 'a bit tough' if not downright horrifying! When we understand this tough parable as literature, and get more of the cultural background of Jesus' story, we can appreciate what Jesus is saying and what he is not saying.  This parable includes 'the tragedy of the rejected king,' 'the tragedy of the fearful servant' and 'the joy of faithful service.'  It was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 24th November, the last Sunday of the church year. Enjoy!

In Isaiah 65 we find one of God's great promises, of new heavens and a new earth. The poetic vision of Isaiah 65 is similar to some of the visions of God's restoration in Revelation and elsewhere.  How will this new heavens and new earth come about? Through the Suffering Servant prophesied in Isaiah. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday November 17th, 2019.  

Is there life after death? And if there is, what will it be like? People and cultures have wrestled with this question for thousands of years, and come up with many different possible answers. In Luke 20, a Jewish group called the Sadducees challenges Jesus with a scenario that seems to make resurrection an absurdity. Jesus responds that 'God is the God of the living, not the dead, for to him all are alive.' As Christians, our hope and belief is that Jesus has already been resurrected - and we will therefore take part in the resurrection because of him. There is a future for both our body, as well as our soul or spirit. God has a plan and purpose for us beyond death. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 10th November 2019. Enjoy!  

We have so much to give thanks for. It is good for us to give thanks to God and recognise that he is the giver of all good gifts. In Deuteronomy, as the people of Israel are about to enter the Promised Land, they are urged to remember God, to give thanks to him for his deliverance from slavery and for their inheritance, and to actively engage in thanksgiving. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 3rd November 2019. Enjoy!

We are in a season of prayer and fasting for church planting and evangelism in the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.  This sermon is an introduction to the Christian discipline of fasting. Fasting is giving up something good in order to pursue something better. Fasting is a way to focus our prayers, learn to depend more fully on God, reveal and repent of our idolatries, and have our spiritual ears open to hearing the voice of the Spirit. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 27th October 2019. Enjoy!

'Always pray and never give up.' This is Jesus' encouragement to his disciples in Luke 18. Many things can cause us to 'give up' or 'lose heart' in prayer - great anguish, simple distraction, the lie that God is uncaring. Jesus tells his followers a story to contrast a false view of God with the true view and to encourage us in prayer. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 20th October 2019. Enjoy!  

This is the story of Naaman's healing. It is told as a dramatic monologue from the point of view of Naaman, the outsider and enemy of God's people who receives God's grace from a surprising source - a courageous young girl and a foreign prophet. It was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday October 13th, 2019. Enjoy!

'Join with me in suffering for the Gospel.' So writes Paul, in prison, near the end of his life, to his protege Timothy. Not a really good marketing pitch, hey? It's true that following Jesus is not easy. It takes everything we have - because Jesus gave everything he has. But it is joyful, full of hope, and a life with a glorious future.  It would be easy to be ashamed or timid of the Christian gospel these days. Yet in the first chapter of his second letter to Timothy, Paul gives so many good news reasons why we need not be ashamed of the gospel or timid as followers of Jesus. This sermon was preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Sunday 6th October 2019.

To join God's mission we should stop going to church. Because 'church' is not a building or an hour's service on a Sunday morning. This sermon talks about how to BE the church, the body of Christ in mission - the physical thing that Jesus uses to get stuff done on earth. God has no plan B. His plan is that through the church, the good news of restoration and forgiveness in Jesus should be shared with the world. This sermon concludes the Mission Life series preached at Pakenham Lakeside Church by Pastor Nathan Hedt.