St John’s Diamond Creek Talks

The Full Story of Christmas

At our 11pm Candlelit Christmas Eve service, Kirk shares a reflection of zooming out from the Christmas story, to remember to look at the full life of Jesus, and to remember that the baby in a manger lived, died and was brought back to life, all for us. Kirk refers to the bible passage John 1:1-14.

How Do You React To Christmas?

Tim Johnson shared a brief message at our 5pm Family Service on Christmas Eve; looking at the reactions to news in 2017, and how we might react to the Christmas story.

Overcome the World

Sam concludes our Walk in the Light series, a week before Christmas. At the end of the letter of 1 John, John writes encouragements to the Christians who will receive this letter. Sam pulls out some hashtags that John might have used in his letter, if it were written in 2017. 
#Love #ChildrenOfGod #Truth #LifeAndDeath

Sunday@6 Baptism and Confirmation

In this episode, Bishop Philip Huggins joins us for a special service of baptism and confirmation. We heard from a number of people publicly declaring their faith in Jesus, and the Bishop reflects on that truth.

Love One Another

Delle Matthews, self-proclaimed grumpy old woman, tears apart the commercialisation of Christmas, and looks deeper into the meaning of Christmas. Our society is trying to reclaim the "true meaning of Christmas" to be to love one another, to be kind, and to give some meaningful presents. A season of love sure sounds great doesn't it? But what is love? Where does it come from? The message of Christmas being a season of love is close to the truth, but misses a critical element, twisting the truth in subtle ways.

Jesus and the Spirit #3

The finale of our series, Jesus and the Spirit. Kirk looks at truth, fake news, and how we can be guided by the Spirit into all truth.

Children of God

Tim continues our Walk in the Light series. Advent is a time of remembering the first coming of Jesus, and looking forward to the second coming, still to come. You can tell a lot from a snapshot of a single point in time, like an old family photograph. Who we are is shaped by whose we are; our identity is closely tied to our parents. John speaks of Christians as being children of God, and so as Christians, we should find our identity in that relationship.

Jesus and the Spirit - The Truth

The truth is sometimes hard to hear. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as an advocate, which Kirk spoke about last week, and the Spirit of Truth. What does that mean for us? Sam explores this idea in the second of our Jesus and the Spirit series.

Walk in the Light - Holding to Truth

Continuing our Walk in the Light series, Tim looks at the three tests and measures John gives us to gauge how we're going with walking in the light of Jesus. 1: Follow the commands of God, in the context of a relationship with him. We don't follow God's commands to earn his love; rather God loves us regardless, and to honour him, we strive to follow his commands. 2: How do we treat each other? With love, or with hate? Finally, 3: Do you continue to believe the truth about Jesus, that he his the son of God.
If you're wrestling with these tests and questions, keep asking questions about them. They are of vital importance, and fundamental to the Christian faith.

Jesus and the Spirit - The Advocate

As Christians, we believe in one God, with three distinct identities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The first two of these, are pretty easy to understand, at a basic level. God the Father is the big guy in the sky, God the Son is Jesus, God in human form, but the Holy Spirit? That's tougher to wrap our tiny human brains around. This series looks at what Jesus said about the one who would come after him, the holy spirit.