Red Door Church

Preacher: Jonathan Smith While away on the parish camp, Jonathan took this opportunity to use Psalm 19 to teach us how we do not listen well to God through His creation. Maybe it's because of the way our education system works, where we tend to read and listen, but it means that we're not very good at "listening" to what God is saying to us through our environment. God reveals Himself to us not just through his written word, but also through His creation. We need to spend more time to stop and smell the roses. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathon Smith Reader: Anne Miller With this passage, we reach the conclusion of our journey through the Sermon on the Mount. It’s fitting, then, that Jesus finishes his sermon by driving home some of its key themes. Using three metaphors, the Preacher reminds us of the fundamental different between external appearance and internal reality. He puts before us the stark choice between two ways to live: one that leads to flourishing, the other that leads to destruction. And he reminds us that doing the will of God (living righteously) is key to entering the Kingdom. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Jesus’ confident invitation to ask, seek, and knock flows form the same spring of teaching in Mat 6:25-34 - namely that God is a good Father who loves us and delights to provide good things for us. The whole section of Mat 6:19-7:11, which has focussed on living righteously in relation to the world, reaches its climax in v12. The so-called Golden Rule is known around the world and rightly serves as the quintessential example of Jesus’ teaching on interpersonal relationships. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: John Hargrave In today's message, Jesus teaches that we should not judge, but what we mostly miss from this teaching is that we need to exercise discernment. We can be very quick to judge, but do not like being judged ourselves. It is okay to show constructive criticism, but it is hypocritical when we do not allow others to apply that same constructive criticism to ourselves. When we present the gospel to people who have never heard it, we need to point out what sin is, but not present ourselves as "holier than thou" lest we be deemed judgemental and hypocritical. We need to be the first to recognise our sin, the first to allow our brothers and sisters to show us what we cannot see and the first to repent. Then we can help others accordingly. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Joanna Justus In today's message, Jesus teaches that worrying will not help us. Society sells us the premise that if we have many things, we will not have to worry as all our desires will be met. We know this is false, and Jesus tells us the same. In Pastor Jonathan's message, we hear that the three best antidotes to anxiety and worry are: 1. Generosity, 2. Devotion and 3. Dependence - all contrary to what the world teaches, yet, as per all of Jesus' teaching, this message turns this world view on its head. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Today's message is from Matthew 6:16-21 where Jesus teaches on fasting. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: David Veale Today Pastor Jonathan moves on to Jesus teaching about prayer. The focus is on the Lord's Prayer and the 3 'P's it encompasses - Provision, Pardon and Protection. We need to be concerned with Mat 6:14-15, where Jesus emphasises that if we cannot forgive others, then God cannot forgive us. This is not God behaving in a tit-for-tat manner, but rather, if we cannot forgive others, then we truly have not received or understood the incredible mercy God has shown us, so we have to ask, "Have I been really saved?" Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Suzanne Hargrave Today Pastor Jonathan moves on to Jesus teaching about prayer. Again, the emphasis is on the reason we pray - to glorify God and to do His will, rather than seeking praise from people, or "bargaining" with God for something. If all of our prayers start with the intent of the first part of the Lord's Prayer, we will well on the way to be praying for the right reasons. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Graeme Miller Today Pastor Jonathan moves on to the start of Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus teaches that when we give to the poor (not IF, but WHEN), we should do so for the right reasons - not to gain acknowledgement and praise from those around us, but to gain rewards stored up for us in heaven. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: SJ Beasy Reader: Doug Carr Today SJ shows us the biblical mandate for having small groups in the modern day church. We always want our churches to be like 'The Early Church". He explores what that means and then demonstrates to us that the modern church cannot be like the early church WITHOUT small groups. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Peter Adam Reader : Kana Koo Today, guest preacher Dr Peter Adam teaches from Rev 5 where John has a vision into the throne room of God and worships. This chapter asks who is worthy to open the scroll - answer, no-one, except the Lamb who was slaughtered. From this, Peter asks who will take this message of the gospel to the world so that people can come to worship the one true God? Answer - everyday people in our churches, who are raised up to take this message to the world. This raises the question, what am I doing to help facilitate this, and am I being called to this mission? Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Akhil Gardner Reader : Marios Kyriakou Today, guest preacher Ps Akhil Gardner teaches from 1 Cor 1:18-25 where Paul tells that the cross, and its message of hope and redemption is folly to those who do not believe the message, but the Power Of God to those who do. Akhil challenges us to not only decide whether we believe or not, but then continues to challenge us on how we then present the gospel message to others. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Thanh Nguyen Today is the half-way point in The Sermon On The Mount Series, so this is a great opportunity to recap what we've learnt over the past 10 weeks. All of Jesus' teaching in chapter 5 of Matthew's gospel is summarised in in verse 48 - "Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" - but is this the best translation of this verse into English? Pastor Jonathan doesn't think so, and gives insight into what he thinks is a better interpretation of this verse in context with everything we've gone over in this chapter. There is also a time of Q&A at the end of the sermon. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Chad Loftis Reader: Suzanne Hargrave Chad looks at Matthew 5:43-48, where Jesus tells us to love our enemies. This is something that we all struggle with. Our natural tendency is to what revenge on our enemies - but what we fail to see is that we too are the enemy! If we choose to love our enemy we can stop the hatred and cause real change to happen. We need to realise that while we were still enemies, God chose to be reconciled with us - and look at the change in ourselves and our hearts as a result. Jesus is calling us to choose reconcilation, just like our heavenly father chose to do. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: John Hargrave In Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus about retaliation where he uses the "you heard it said, but I say" teaching style again. We need to be careful with this passage, because if we do not read it in the context of the whole Sermon On The Mount, it appears that Jesus is asking us NOT to resist evil. In reality, He is testing us to examine our hearts when we consider retaliating to insults and unfair behaviour. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Joanna Justus In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus teaches that adultery is sinful, but as usual, after explaining God's purpose for this commandment, then explaining to us that lusting, not simply admiring a beautiful person, but LUSTING after them is sinful. Using hyperbole, He then says that if our right eye causes us to sin, we should gouge it out - in other words, if something tempts us to be lustful to another person we must radically remove that temptation from our life. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Joanna Justus In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus teaches that adultery is sinful, but as usual, after explaining God's purpose for this commandment, then explaining to us that lusting, not simply admiring a beautiful person, but LUSTING after them is sinful. Using hyperbole, He then says that if our right eye causes us to sin, we should gouge it out - in other words, if something tempts us to be lustful to another person we must radically remove that temptation from our life. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: David Veale Pastor Jonathan's message is from Matt 5:21-26, where Jesus starts with many of the "you heard it said, but I say" statements. Behind each of these statements Jesus tells us what the Old Testament says, but then adds the context around what the biblical text actually means, and then how to put it into practical application in our lives. The verses today cover the "You've heard it said Do not murder ... but whoever is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgement". Anger can be very dangerous and today's message explores the implications for us if we do not control our anger the way it was intended to be used. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: Jonathan Smith Reader: Levi Dacion Pastor Jonathan's message is from Matt 5:17-20, where Jesus says that he has come to fulfil the law - and not a single letter of it will abolished. This flies in the face of what some churches teach, stating the old testament does not apply to us today. It absolutely does, and in verse 20 Jesus tells his listeners that unless their righteousness surpasses that of the religious elites then they won't get into heaven. Wait? What? Fortunately, because we have the righteousness of Jesus, we are saved. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.

Preacher: SJ Beasy Reader: Gehan Pereira Simon is today's guest preacher and speaks to us about suffering. We usually ask "Why?" - and though that is a good question, we don't always get an answer. Simon suggests that if we first ask "Who?", then from that, we can come to a more complete understanding of why. Red Door is an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia. We exist to be a community of people helping people make all of life all about Jesus.