I will provide: “Jesus’ promise to take care of us, as we decline to worry about taking care of ourselves, but instead strive after the kingdom of God, is so challenging. How can he mean that?”

I will answer: “Jesus’ promise that God hears us as we pray, listens to us in our need, and will answer our prayers is such deep comfort in times of deep anxiety. Learn from Jesus what it means for God to be our heavenly Father”.

We all want life: not just longer life, but quality of life. In John 5, Jesus tells us that he’s the source of all life. If you want deeper, richer, fuller life, you can only find it in him.

There’s a smoky haze around Sydney at the moment — interfering with the light, making it hard to breathe. It’s not a bad metaphor for how our lives can often feel: our circumstances and experiences make it hard to see a way forward; they threaten to overcome us. In the midst of a dark world, where can we find light for our hearts and our lives?

This has been a great year at CCIW and St John’s, and we celebrate what God is doing in us and through us, listening to the Apostle Paul as he describes the work of God in the Thessalonians, who turned from idols to serve a living and true God.

• Isaiah 49:1-7

• John 17:1-26

How does a follower of Jesus go about the business of gracious witness in a context where it feels like Christianity and mainstream culture are speaking different languages? Perhaps surprisingly, the first century was not so different from our world in this regard. This week, we look at the content of gracious witness, following Paul’s advice to Christians living in the ancient city of Colossae.

One thing that both non-believers and many believers agree on is this - it’s just too awkward to talk about Jesus! But Christians on mission for Jesus can’t cave into that pressure. So where do we find the courage for that? Learn from Peter how to overcome fear and be ready to speak of Jesus.

The massive question hanging in the air after the resurrection of Jesus is: now what? Jesus has won, grace has won, now what? And Jesus answers the question with crystal clarity - mission! This is the first sermon in our series on what it is to be a ’Sent’ people, a people on mission, and explores the call to mission in the Great Commission.