St John’s Diamond Creek Talks

Psalm 97 has a lot to say about joy. But what is joy? How is it different to pleasure? Kirk wraps up our series Songs of Joy, looking at the differences between joy and pleasure.

Praising God is something that can feel easy when everything is going our way - but what happens when life throws challenges in our path? Julie gives us four reasons to praise God in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in.

We had to learn heaps in 2020. From coughing into your elbow to scanning QR codes, there was lots of change. As we get back to some level of normality and we get to do things again (outbreaks notwithstanding), there's a sense of joy. 
This new series looks at three Psalms - songs from the Old Testament - featuring Joy. 
Tim looks at worshipping God, through song - praising him, through bowing and submitting to God, and through sitting - listening to God.

2020 brought challenges and plenty of lessons. Will we learn from those lessons, or just snap back to our lives from 2019?

Julie leads us through a story about Jesus - a story of Jesus appearing to his followers after his death and resurrection and helping them find a haul of fish. 
What stands out to you in this story from John 21?
What do you like about this story?
What does this story show us about Jesus?
What does this story show us about people?
 

On New Years Eve, Tim and his family where holidaying. Spending time at the beach, shopping and hanging out. Then they got a call that the border between NSW and Victoria was closing. They needed to travel hundreds of kilometres on a moments' notice. They then needed to spend nearly two weeks in quarantine. 
Life throws curveballs in our direction all the time - even beyond living through a global pandemic.
How does Jesus suggest we live with challenges and disappointments? He certainly doesn't say that by following him life will be all rosey. 

Spitting isn't great, socially. It's pretty gross, especially in a pandemic. But when Jesus spits in his hands and rubs it into a blind man's eyes, the blind man is healed - but only after a second attempt by Jesus. Initially, the man has blurry vision. What a weird story! Kirk explores how we also have a blurry view of Jesus.

Through 2020, we saw scenes that we may never have expected - supermarket shelves empty of food and toilet paper. In 2021, Tim encourages us to trust that Jesus will provide all our needs, just as he did for the 4000 people (and the 5000 in a previous chapter), with enough food for leftovers. 

With a New Year upon us, you might've been asked: "Have you made any New Year's Resolutions?". Julie challenges us - if your resolution is something that could be achieved in your own strength and effort, think bigger! Rely on God for your New Year's Resolution, and trust in his strength to get it done!

The finale of our Faith in the Dark series looks at the high point of the book of Hebrews - a challenge to fix our eyes on Jesus. After spending 10 chapters pumping up Jesus ("How Good is Jesus??") the author now encourages us to focus on Jesus, and run the race set out before us. Kirk explores how following Jesus is more of a marathon than a sprint.