Every church should come back to these foundational chapters every couple of years. A highlight of going to Bible college was working through these chapters very carefully in Hebrew with a great teacher guiding me.

What I also particularly enjoyed was seeing God as Trinity and the expected incarnation/exaltation of the Son of God in these chapters. Happy to have read Calvin as my main commentary (Wenham secondarily).

2009 – 06 – 28-06-09 AM – The God Who Creates by His Word – Wayne Schuller – Genesis 1 v1-31.mp3

2009 – 07 – 05-07-09 AM – The God Who Creates Work and Marriage – Wayne Schuller – Genesis 2 v1-24.mp3

2009 – 07 – 12-07-09 AM – The God Who Punishes Sin – Wayne Schuller – Genesis 3 v1-24.mp3

via Sermons – holytrinitydoncaster.org.au.

via Sermons – holytrinitydoncaster.org.au.

2009 – 04 – 19-04-09 AM – Challenging the Church – Wayne Schuller – Acts 15 v1-35.mp3

2009 – 04 – 26-04-09 AM – Challenging the Persecutors – Wayne Schuller – Acts 16 v16-40.mp3

2009 – 05 – 03-05-09 AM – Challenging the Philosophers – Wayne Schuller – Acts 17 v16-34.mp3

2009 – 05 – 10-05-09 AM – Challenging the Religious – Wayne Schuller – Acts 18 v1-28.mp3

2009 – 05 – 17-05-09 AM – Challenging the Idol Makers – Wayne Schuller – Acts 19 v21-41.mp3

via Sermons – holytrinitydoncaster.org.au.

2009 – 03 – 22-03-09 PM – The Power of Darkness – Wayne Schuller – Luke 22 v47-65.mp3

2009 – 03 – 29-03-09 PM – Before the Judge – Wayne Schuller – Luke 22 v66 – 23 v25.mp3

2009 – 04 – 05-04-09 PM – An Innocent Dies – Wayne Schuller – Luke 23 v26-66.mp3

Also forgot to post some Bible talks on Psalms earlier in the year:

2009 – 01 – 18-01-09 AM – The Art of Happiness – Wayne Schuller – Psalm 32.mp3

2009 – 01 – 25-01-09 AM – Productivity and Futility – Wayne Schuller – Psalm 90.mp3

HTD sermons can all be found online…

2008 – 12 – 21-12-08 PM – Christmas Child – Search and Destroy – Wayne Schuller – Matthew 2 v13-23.mp3

Sermons – holytrinitydoncaster.org.au

It was helpful having been to the MTS preaching conference last year with David Jackman on “preaching Exodus”. I referred to my notes from that conference several times (and stole many sermon titles from there).

It was only in the last week or so that someone showed me the new IVP Moore College lectures book on “Exploring Exodus”, edited by Rosner and Williamson. I read the final three essays and found them excellent. I’m sure the rest of the book is good quality.

Commentary wise I didn’t use many – I would often refer to Durham to help me with Hebrew but found the comments lacking theological insight. I should have bought Enns on Exodus, which I might do at Ridley tomorrow.

It is a wonderful book of Scripture – God is glorious, jealous, holy, consuming, on-the-front-foot, loving, and terrifying all in one. Salvation is clearly a work of sovereign grace from beginning to end.

2008 – 09 – 21-09-08 AM – What’s in a Name (Qtn) – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 2 v23 – 3 v22.mp3

2008 – 09 – 28-09-08 AM – Clash of the God-Kings – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 10 v1-20.mp3

2008 – 10 – 05-10-08 AM – Protected by Blood – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 12 v1-13.mp3

2008 – 10 – 12-10-08 AM – Keep Still, the Lord Fights for You – Stephen Hale – Exodus 14 v1-25.mp3

2008 – 10 – 19-10-08 AM – Complaining about God – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 16 v1-20.mp3

2008 – 10 – 26-10-08 AM – Meeting God – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 19 v1-25.mp3

2008 – 11 – 02-11-08 AM – The Golden Calf – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 32 v1-35.mp3

2008 – 11 – 09-11-08 AM – The Portable Temple of God – Wayne Schuller – Exodus 40 v1-38.mp3

Sermons – holytrinitydoncaster.org.au

2008 – 06L – 29-06-08 PM – Love is…… – Jordan Hitchcock – 1 Corinthians 13 v1-13.mp3

2008 – 07 – 06-07-08 PM – The Single Issue – Denise Nicholls – 1 Corinthians 7 v25-40.mp3

2008 – 07 – 13-07-08 PM – Pornography and Purity – Wayne Schuller – Philippians 3 v17 – 4 v9.mp3

2008 – 07 – 20-07-08 PM – Pure Sex – Jonathan Smith – Song of Songs 3 v6 – 5 v1.mp3

2008 – 07 – 27-07-08 PM – Just Going Out (Qtn) – Issues of Dating – Chris Bowditch – 1 Corinthians 7 v25-40.mp3

2008 – 07 – 06-07-08 AM – Something Fishy in the State of Nineveh – Wayne Schuller – Jonah 1 v1-17.mp3

2008 – 07 – 13-07-08 AM – Underbelly – Wayne Schuller – Jonah 2 v1-10.mp3

2008 – 07 – 20-07-08 AM – A God Who Changes His Mind (Qtn) – Wayne Schuller – Jonah 3 v1-10.mp3

2008 – 07 – 27-07-08 AM – Fury over Bush (Qtn) – Wayne Schuller – Jonah 4 v1-11.mp3

Coming up next: A rest… then Exodus.

2008 – 07 – 13-07-08 PM – Pornography and Purity – Wayne Schuller – Philippians 3 v17 – 4 v9.mp3

Jono weighs in with a 54 minute ripper on sex and marriage. This one should have had an explicit content warning label on it:

2008 – 07 – 20-07-08 PM – Pure Sex – Jonathan Smith – Song of Songs 3 v6 – 5 v1.mp3

This is all Holy Trinity Doncaster, 106 Church Rd, Melbourne – 6pm Sundays.

2008 – 06A – 01-06-08 AM – The Servant Under Attack – Wayne Schuller – Matthew 12 v1-21.mp3

2008 – 06E – 08-06-08 PM – A Head on a Platter – Wayne Schuller – Matthew 13 v54 – 14 v12.mp3

Coming up next: Jonah

General podcast clients: http://www.holytrinitydoncaster.org.au/audio/2008/dircaster.php

Web: http://www.holytrinitydoncaster.org.au/content/view/39/53/

2008 – 04 – 06-04-08 PM – Jesus in Hell – Wayne Schuller – Matthew 26 v26-46; 27 v45-50.mp3

2008 – 04 – 13-04-08 PM – Jesus – Gatekeeper of Heaven and Hell – Wayne Schuller – Matthew 25 v31-46.mp3

2008 – 04 – 20-04-08 PM – Jesus Over Hell – Wayne Schuller – Revelation 20 v1-15.mp3

Coming up next: Jonah

2008 – 02 – 03-02-08 AM – For God So Loved – Wayne Schuller – John 3 v11-21.mp3 (all age talk)

2008 – 02 – 10-02-08 AM – To Reveal God’s Love – Wayne Schuller – 1 John 4 v7-21.mp3

2008 – 02 – 17-02-08 AM – To Enable Us to Belong to Him – Wayne Schuller – 1 Corinthians 6 v9-20.mp3

2008 – 02 – 24-02-08 AM – To Be Worthy to Judge the World – Wayne Shuller – Revelation 5 v1-14.mp3

2008 – 03 – 23-03-08 AM – EASTER DAY – To Be Crowned with Glory and Honour – Wayne Schuller – Philippians 2 v5-13.mp3

Coming up next: hell

The idea was to lift up peoples estimate of what it means to be a human – as an image bearer, and the significance of God’s Son taking on our humanity forever.

The series is probably less about what it means to be a human (all applied preaching and Bible teaching is about this!) and more asking the question: “What is the worth of a human being?” or “Where does my worth come from?”.

I was inspired by this quote from Calvin:
“It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself”
(Institutes I.I.2)

As I read this quote I think I failed to come close to achieving what I set out to do: help people see who they are by looking their maker and looking at Jesus Christ as the perfect human and by seeing we are God’s property by virtue of creation and salvation (especially). It was worth the attempt!

If I had more talks to add, I would add one on “The Future of Humanity”. And possibly one on the entry and effects of sin in the world.

You Are Made In The Image of God Wayne Schuller Cranbourne Anglican 1030 20051016.mp3
You Were Bought At A Great Price Wayne Schuller Cranbourne Anglican 1030 20051023.mp3
Your Body is A Temple of the Holy Spirit Wayne Schuller Cranbourne Anglican 830 20051030.mp3

The talks were produced under heavy time pressure, and preaching topical is not my main style of preaching, but it still worth putting them online for feedback. hint hint!

“Wayne Schuller – ‘Turning to the Goodness of the Living God’ Acts 14-8-20 11-11-2005 10 30am”

I now have a cheapo ebay Asian mp3 player and recorder so it’s easier to make recordings.

Note to friends #1: I’m thankful for any feedback you could give – I want to be more faithful in this important part of my job. (email is probably better than blog comments)

Note to friends #2: Some of you have signed up for “notifications” of updates to this site. This doesn’t really work well from my end of things. So you won’t get emails reminders of updates on this site anymore. If you want to get automatically reminded of updates, you can subscribe to my RSS feed – there are special programs that do this, but I think Firefox can do it with it’s live bookmarks feature.

“Ephesians 6:10-20 Power in Prayer”

The audio quality is not great. I hope to get an mp3 player/recorder soon so I would like to post more sermons.

I would appreciate feedback and thoughts. I have some way to go both in terms of clarity and courage.

(Credits: There are a few Stott phrases and quotes from his BST commentary and some influence from a John Piper sermon on the same text)

We had a great time catching up with CU’ers old and new, and hearing about how the gospel is being proclaimed on campus.

The kids had fun playing with Lucy, Chloe and Samuel as well as the other big “kids”.

Thanks Glen and all the CU staff and leaders for your great work you did on the weekend and continue to do at Melbourne Uni. We were certainly refreshed and encouraged by spending the weekend with you all.

There are many exciting elements to Acts 2. It is both the culmination of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension, and also the beginning of Jesus continuing work through his apostles (and disciples) via the Holy Spirit.

It is a meaty passage, and a long passage (worth having read out in full). I’ve noticed that many people preach on Acts 2 without actually preaching Peter’s sermon, which I believe to be the heart of the event (Luke gives it LOTS of space). It is a wonderful surprise that Peter’s sermon itself is a model of good preaching – with a reading, observation, interpretation, application and exhortation. The sermon is quite complex, though it is easier to understand if you have in mind the great themes and tensions of Salvation History. The hope of the promise of the Spirit dwelling with and in all God’s people has arrived; the promised eternal Davidic kingdom has been vindicated and arrived in the ascension of Jesus; the victory of God’s purposes and plans has been achieved via the cross. It is impossible to read it well without using Biblical Theology.

I enjoy tinkering with flow charts, so while preparing my sermon I tried to make a diagram of the logic of Acts 2:

(the original file made with dia: Acts_pentecost_summary.dia (5k))

There are so many surprises in Acts 2: the sermon is not focussed on the Spirit primarily but on the ascended Jesus, Peter explains the Bible rather than give a merely extempore revelation, he offers forgiveness first to those who murdered Jesus, the people present are amazed by the languages not the wind and fire (2:6-8), the amazing tongues are understood praises of God (NOT angelic tongues of 1 Cor 14), and it is so clearly a reversal of Babel (Genesis 11) even though the New Testament doesn’t make this link. The level of “Jesus-intoxication” is astounding: Could “the Lord our God” of v39 refer to Jesus who is called Lord 3 verses earlier? Similarly, calling on the name of the Lord Yahweh in (2:21) has now became the name of Jesus, and God promised he would pour out the Spirit in 2:17 but Peter says Jesus pours it out (2:33). It is hard to exalt Jesus higher than he is exalted in this sermon!

Another surprise is that Peter claims David looked forward to the resurrection of the Christ (2:31). The commentaries really try and fudge around this claim! (This passage informs our biblical theology and the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament). Peter doesn’t just read the Psalm in light of Christ, but he makes explicit claims about the authorial intent of King David. Many scholars are only comfortable saying that David had only the vaguest hope of how the promised eternal Davidic kingdom would be fulfilled – but Peter claims that David was a prophet and knew that it would involved the resurrection of a Davidic descendent. It is true that we have much more clarity since the resurrection of Jesus, but sometimes we tend to put the Old Testament characters in a darker fog than is deserved.

I believe the key to the passage is 2:36. Pentecost is about Jesus’ ascension to become Lord and Christ. There is a sense in which he has always been the Messiah and Lord, but there is a more powerful way in which Jesus has taken on his kingdom in his resurrection and exaltation to God’s right hand – only then can he be the Davidic king who has not seen decay (Psalm 16) and who has responded to the invitation to sit at God’s right hand and rule the universe (Psalm 110). The Spirit has come because Jesus has become King at God’s right hand, and his first act as King is to send the Spirit to empower his followers to witness to him.

Given Jesus’ lordship is the key, my main applications revolved around Jesus’ lordship – with the assurance that the Spirit is given to us today. It is important to see that the promise of the Spirit is for anyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus (2:38-39). I worked hard to celebrate and affirm the gift of the Spirit in our churches. I want to model that the Spirit is working powerfully whenever Jesus is exalted, and rebuke the idea that to be really into the Holy Spirit you need to talk about the Spirit all the time.

Please have a listen to my sermon, and email me some feedback. The quality of the recording is a bit sloppy in places. If you prefer, I could email you the text of the sermon.

Acts 2 – The Pentecostal Experience, May 2004. (5mb mp3)