Dale Appleby

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Living according to the Spirit of the Son  Romans 8.12-17

Sermon preached at Christ the King Willetton on Mothers' Day 13 May 2012

The big idea is that what counts in living a holy life, is not the rules you are keeping but the company you are keeping.

Sermon Outline

LIVING BY THE SPIRIT = LIVING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT OF THE SON

Rom  8.12-17

Intro

What was your mum like when you were growing up?

Questions about Multiplying Congregations

What would multiplied morning congregations look like? They might look exactly the same as now. Probably at first they would be smaller.  That would feel a bit strange. Some familiar faces will be in the other congregation. Ditto.  New people will join. And maybe the two congregations won’t be the same.

One possibility is that one will be much the same as now and the other  will adapt differently to a different membership. What we don’t want to see is either of them turn into a “rump” service. Both need to be at times that allow them to grow, that is, at times that people would want to come. To this end we will start to survey everyone next Sunday. Our aim will be to see at what times everyone would be willing to attend one of the congregations and also to see what time they prefer. Also for people to be able to say they don’t want to change the present arrangement.

If we proceeded, both congregations would have Morning Tea! One advantage of having two morning congregations is the shared morning tea after the first service where some mingling and catching up between the two services can happen. Both might use the same liturgy or maybe they will use different liturgies.

Not Tom Sawyer’s Fence

Parents remember the birth of their first child, especially mum.  It was an exciting time. Scary too. What kind of parents will we be? Will we know what to do with this new baby? Will it survive us?

The first child fixed any delusions we had about being super parents. And the second one? Well maybe we could get it right this time. But children are different and the next one just introduced us to more things we didn’t know much about.

But births and beginnings are exciting things. Starting new congregations is exciting – and scary. But there are some things that sound exciting but we doubt will be. Are we just listening to hype? Is the idea of growing a church a kind of con job?

Is it like Tom Sawyer’s fence painting? Are we being offered something that is just boring hard work with no real benefit in the end? Just something that interrupts our peaceful lives? Possibly.

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Set free by the Spirit  Romans 8.1-4

Bible readings: Ezekiel 34.7-16; Psalm 100; John 10.1-10

No condemnation because God has condemned sin by sending Jesus in the flesh as a sin offering, and the Spirit has set those who are in Christ free from the sin/death operation.