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Heaven is Not for Sale
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 28 Oct, 2018
You can’t buy your way into heaven, no matter how much wealth you amass. That won’t come as a surprise to most of you. Yet somehow, subconsciously, we end up trying. Every time we feel entitled to reward because of our good deeds, we have diminished good deeds to a mere currency with which we can buy a slice of heaven. Every time we feel slighted for the ill fortune that befalls us in spite of our goodness, we have reduced God’s living Providence into a mere balance sheet of good countered by evil. It is only when we realize that goodness is its own reward that we can be free from the allure of heaven as a reward. Heaven is not a reward; heaven is the natural result of a life of goodness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Una Elphick Memorial Service
Memorial Service - 26 Oct, 2018
Celebrating the Life of Una Elphick | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Repenting from Coveting
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 21 Oct, 2018
What does it mean to covet? Do you know how to recognise when you’re coveting? More importantly, do you know how to repent from coveting? The teachings of the New Church say that the two commandments about coveting cover some pretty important things for us to work on. We can learn to notice when we’re coveting and, with the Lord’s help, we can repent from coveting. Come find out how. The video mentioned in the recording is "How Not Coveting Could Change the World" by offthelefteye on YouTube. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Repenting from False Witness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 14 Oct, 2018
The Ten Commandments forbid saying things that are not true; or do they? The 8th commandment is often summarized as "you shall not lie," but it actually reads, "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour." This wording is significant. It implies something broader then just telling facts or lies. Even the "truth" can be used to bear false witness against someone. We are called to heed our thoughts and our words, making sure that they are not only factually correct, but that they bear witness to the true goodness of character of the people around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Repenting from Stealing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 7 Oct, 2018
The teachings are clear: we have to repent. We have to identify and acknowledge the ways in which we are breaking the Lord’s Commandments and we then have to ask the Lord for help and actually begin to live in a new way. Our spiritual lives depend on our willingness to do this work. For the next three Sundays we will be looking at some of the 10 Commandments and how a person could repent from breaking those commandments. This Sunday evening we will talk about stealing. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Seeing the Light
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 30 Sep, 2018
The past two Sundays Malcolm talked about reading the Bible, sharing techniques for how to do it and how to know if you're doing it right. This week we carry on with the same theme but with a slightly different perspective: not so much how to read the Bible but what happens when we do. Or to put it another way, moving from what we need to actively do to what the Lord does to us in response. If we prepare well, then reading the Bible becomes a source of light and guidance in our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Reading the Bible - How Do You Know If You Are Doing It Right
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 23 Sep, 2018
If you try to read the Bible and get some idea of what it means, how do you know if it's right or not? This Sunday we'll talk about what's most important for us to do to understand the Bible in the right way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Why and How to Read the Bible
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 16 Sep, 2018
We all know that we should probably read the Bible more than we currently do. This Sunday will be a reminder of the value of spending time reading the Lord’s Word, including some thoughts about how much to read and what to do if you don't understand what you read. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Our Spiritual Journeys - Looking Forward
Worship Service: Sermon only - 2 Sep, 2018
Last week Malcolm talked about what we can gain from looking back into our pasts. This week we will talk about going the other way, looking forward into our futures. The challenge with the future is the unknowns. It is easy to see how the Lord led us even in hard times when we look back. It is more of a challenge to look forward and trust that the Lord will continue to lead us. And this is as it should be: the Lord asks us to plan for an uncertain future, and work towards it, so that He can direct us down the right path. When we find the right balance of planning and trust we can face what is to come with confidence. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Our Spiritual Journeys - Looking Back
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 26 Aug, 2018
Last week Joel spoke about the importance and value of telling the stories of what the Lord has done for us on our spiritual Journeys. When we do look back on what happened in the past, however there are also dangers. Our memories of the past have a powerful effect on our present experience. When should we try to leave behind what has happened in the past and not dwell on it and when is there value in reflecting on the past? This Sunday we will try to understand how the Lord would like us to hold our memories of the past. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Our Spiritual Journeys
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 19 Aug, 2018
We all have a story. It is a story of our life, the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, the winding ways that we have come from where we were to where we are now. These stories are not just a dry account of our past. The story of our life is the story of the Lord's power and guidance, if we are willing to see it that way, and through retelling our stories we share that power with others. This Sunday we will look at the command given to the Children of Israel to constantly retell the story of how the Lord had saved them from slavery, so that generations to come would know the Lord's power and love. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Ideals - Sorting Out What Matters and What Does Not
Worship Service: Sermon only - 12 Aug, 2018
We can't live up to all ideals. We have to choose between them and then prioritise which of our ideals or values matter more or less in different situations. And what if we get it wrong? What if we reject a true ideal? What if we buy into a false ideal? What if we give something too much weight or too little? These are the questions we're going to wrestle with this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Singleness and Marriage
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 5 Aug, 2018
Last week Malcolm talked about how we can hold ideals, especially around marriage. Next week he'll carry on with that theme. But this week, we are going to take a break from talking about marriage and put the focus on the other side: on singleness. Some of you are single yourselves; some of you are recently married; and some of you probably can barely remember what it was like to be single. In any case we will look at what the Lord has to say about this state of life and what even the long-time couples can learn from it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Ideals
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 29 Jul, 2018
Ideals are great when we feel like we’re living up to them. But what about when we don’t? What about when we fall short? What about when it’s impossible for us to live up to certain ideals, through no fault of our own? Do we abandon our ideals? Do we change our ideals to fit our circumstances? How does the Lord want us to hold our ideals? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Good Humour
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 22 Jul, 2018
Humour is all around us - we tease people, they tease us, we make jokes, we laugh at jokes that other people make, we watch funny shows, we read funny things. Humour is great and life would be rather bleak without laughter. But humour can also be really painful and destructive. What does the Lord say in His Word about humour and what guidelines can we get from him about what sorts of jokes and humour to engage in and what stuff to steer clear of? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Spirit of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 15 Jul, 2018
We all break rules from time to time. We speed. We tell a little lie. We browse Instagram at work when no one is around. We always tell ourselves that it is justified. But then someone else does the same, and our righteous indignation bristles: well if they speed, I can cut them off! They lied, so I can bad mouth them to others! They slack off at work, so I can too! What we fail to see is that we are using the technicality of breaking a rule to justify us harming someone else. The Lord calls us to something greater: to look beyond just the letter of the law and focus on the spirit, and from there to have compassion on those who perhaps don't stay within bounds as much as we might hope. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Eternal Waters
Worship Service: Sermon only - 8 Jul, 2018
We all have times when we thirst. We thirst for understanding, for insight, for justice, for knowing how to get through. We thirst for a better life or a better job or a better family. The kind of thirst we're going to look at this Sunday is the thirst for truth. Now you might not feel like you have a strong thirst for truth. But we all have a thirst for the truth that teaches us how to navigate the challenges of life and that leaves us feeling satisfied; the kind of truth that when it hits you suddenly know everything is going to be OK. If we are willing, this is the truth that the Lord will feed us with and satisfy our longing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
The Blessedness of Forgetting
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 Jul, 2018
This Sunday evening will be a lay service, led by Warwick Schuurman. the sermon that I've picked for him to read is really good. It's a sermon by the Rev. Frank Rose about how the Lord carefully looks after our memories and sometimes helps us forget. We tend to think of forgetting things as a bad thing but really it's such a blessing that the Lord lets us forget things. A better understanding of how the Lord works with our memories gives us another window into seeing just how much and how well He cares for us. | By Rev. Frank S. Rose , Westville, RSA
Face to Face with God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 24 Jun, 2018
If we were to fully comprehend the love of God in a moment, it would be like standing in the sun itself. Its immensity and power would blow us away and consume us. Yet just as the light and warmth of the sun finds its way to our little earth and gives us life, the Lord finds a way to bring His immense love down into our lives. He did, and continues to do this, by showing us His humanity. When we look to God and think of Him as a person, we have an opportunity to connect with that endless, boundless love that is His heart. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Unveiling Our Hearts
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Jun, 2018
When we are proud of ourselves there is nothing that we want more than for other people to know it. When we are ashamed we hide and hope no one notices. But when we hide our evils even from ourselves and the Lord there is no way to be healed of them. The Book of Revelation invites us to go through the painful process of exposing our own faults, so that with the Lord we can overcome them. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
How Long, O Lord?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 10 Jun, 2018
There are times when the state of things in this world can seem pretty bleak - when things at a national, international and even local and personal level seem pretty bad. Too often it seems like evil and selfishness are winning, despite genuinely good people doing all that they can to try to do what's right. This Sunday we will reflect on a vision from the book of Revelation that captures this feeling - the vision of souls under the altar crying out to the Lord, "How long, O Lord?" - and we will see what the Lord has to tell us about what to do when it seems like things are really bad and will never get better. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Where Did We Go Wrong?!
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 3 Jun, 2018
Have you ever found yourself in a bad place and wondered how on earth you got into this mess? Things were once so great! Life was sailing along smoothly and you were proud of how much growth you'd seen in yourself. Yet here you are, back to your crabby, unhappy, selfish self. What went wrong? This pattern is common not just in individuals but in communities and even across history. Luckily, it does not happen by chance. This Sunday we'll look what Revelation can tell us about this cycle and how we can avoid it. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
A Friend in Need
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 27 May, 2018
How do you love someone who is committing evil? What about when that person is your best friend? Is it our place to correct him? Do we distance ourselves from him? Jesus, through His teaching and His example, calls us to remain close with those who do evil (which is frankly all of us), and also to have the courage to stand up for them by opposing what they are doing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 3 - The Conquest
Worship Service: Sermon only - 20 May, 2018
In this series so far we have looked at what the early years of the life of Joshua can show us about the early years of Jesus' life and we have looked at what the turning point in Joshua's life when he took over command of the Children of Israel can show us about a similar turning point in Jesus' life. This Sunday, in the final part of the series, we will look at what Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan can show us about what Jesus was fighting against and fighting for during His three years of active ministry. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith , Westville, RSA
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 2 - The Turning Point
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 13 May, 2018
Joshua was the military commander of the people of Israel, who led them across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, where he violently claimed the land in the name of Jehovah his God. Jesus was a spiritual leader, who came to the Jordan River to be baptised and begin His ministry of love and repentance. Yet these two stories, so different on the surface, are the same story. This Sunday we will explore what Joshua crossing the Jordan can tell us about Jesus and His ministry. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA