Sermon – Calamity upon the House of David – Part 1 (2 Samuel 13-14)

2 Samuel Artwork

Ever witnessed a bad situation seemingly spiral out of control?

Welcome to 2 Samuel 13-14. The failure of King David which was so dramatic recounted in 2 Samuel 11-12, now gets played out by his sons as they put on an even more inglorious display of lust, rape, hate, murder and treason – and all while David sits on the bench sidelined and unwilling to step up as a father, judge or king should.

What can Christians learn from this sad tale, when we too are plagued with sin, burdened by the consequence of judgement, yet covered by the grace of the gospel?

Read the Bible Text – 2 Samuel 13-14

– Ken Noakes

– Josh Ord

Obedience (Part 5 of 6)

What is love that is pleasing first to God? It has something to do with obedience in the context of truth. We have considered ‘Love’ (Part 3 of this series) and ‘Truth’ (Part 4 of this series), so this time let’s focus on ‘Obedience’.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them (1 John 3:21-24)

A love that is pleasing to God is a love that obediently follows his commands.

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Sermon – Betrayal and murder – the dishonourable king (2 Sam 11-12)

2 Samuel Artwork

In this sermon you will hear about how King David, high on worldly success and power and secure in his earthly position, demonstrates the all-pervading reaches of human depravity as he defies God’s law, defiles his marriage bed, deceives and destroys others. Yet in awesome contrast, God prefigures and demonstrates his judgement, grace and everlasting love, even through the death of a son.

Read the Bible Text – 2 Samuel 11-12

– Ken Noakes

Truth (Part 4 of 6)

What does it look like for Christians to love the other? It has something to do with that which is true and something to do with obedience. We considered ‘Love’ last time (Part 3 of this series), so this time let’s focus on ‘Truth’.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:16-20)

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Love (Part 3 of 6)

Without love, truth will not be valued. Without truth, it is difficult to know how to obey. Without obedience, it is impossible to demonstrate true love.

To understand Love, it will help to understand how it is integrally connected to Truth and to Obedience, such that you cannot separate the three. These three ideas intersect with one another at almost every point.

Taking our lead from the letter of 1 John, we have looked at Perfect Love (Part 2 of this series). We turn our attention now to the relationships between Love, Truth and Obedience.

Let’s consider ‘Love’.

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Perfect Love (Part 2 of 6)

Love is a many splendored thing,

Love lifts us up where we belong,

All you need is love!

Love is just a game.

I was made for loving you baby,

You were made for loving me.

You’d think that people would’ve had enough of silly love songs…

So goes the lyrics of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (2001). It is a mash-up of love songs that highlight how confusing ‘love’ can be and captures many of the different ideas that exist about that wonderful little thing called ‘Love’.

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Uncomfortable Love (Part 1 of 6)

I remember the call. Nothing seemed right about what I was being asked to do!

I was in Damascus. The gospel work there had been growing as more and more became followers of Jesus. The rumour was that Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus. This was unsettling.

Saul had led the charge against many followers of the Way. He had issued murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples and had arranged permission from the High Priest to travel around the synagogues seeking out Christians to imprison for their faith. He was a piece of work. We all knew the threat he posed.

And then the Lord called out to me in a vision:

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Sermon – Great Treasure

Ken Noakes’ farewell sermon at Trinity Church Adelaide considers the Great Treasure (the Gospel – the Good News about Jesus) which is given to those who follow Jesus. Ken points out from 2 Corinthians 4 the Great Responsibility that this brings as well as the Great Opportunity.

Preacher: Ken Noakes

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Read the Bible text – 2 Corinthians 4

English Support Handout – 2 Corinthians 4

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

By Ken Noakes

I have been reflecting on 2 Corinthians 4 and particularly on what the Apostle Paul with Timothy say to their friends in the church of Corinth.

‘We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ (2 Cor 4:16-18)

We all live with burdens – day by day or week by week troubles stemming from life, health, work or family matters. Yet those are not primarily the burdens that Paul refers to here.

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