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Why and How to Pray for Other People
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 31, 2016
When someone we know goes through something difficult or tragic we often say that we will hold them in our thoughts and prayers. Why? What is the value in our prayers? Are we hoping to change the Lord's mind on what should happen? Don't get me wrong: there is real power in prayer for others but when we don't have clarity about what we should pray for and why we're praying it can be hard to do it. Let's talk about why prayer for others matters and how to build the habit of praying for others into our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 26s)
Guilt and Remorse
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 24, 2016
All of us have done things that are wrong, sometimes painfully wrong. How do we move on? What's the one essential thing we need to make sure we do, even as we find ourselves keeping on doing harmful things? We'll explore this and more, and then have a chance to come before the Lord for Holy Supper to ask His help in moving forward. | By Rev. Erik J. Buss | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 39s)
The Breath of Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 10, 2016
Are you inspired, or are you just plodding along? Are you relaxed or are you tight and pushing hard to get through the day? We will explore the Lord's presence in our lives, how we open ourselves to what is good, and reject what is harmful. And, perhaps surprisingly, we will look at how the Lord links a lot of different spiritual ideas to breathing. | By Rev. Erik J. Buss | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 49s)
Living in Community
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 03, 2016
Everyone looks for a community of like-minded people, and mourns at the loss of those people when the communities dissolve. We'll look at some teachings about community, it's value, and consider what we can do to deepen the connection with others in the various communities in our lives. | By Rev. Erik J. Buss | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 57s)
The Lord on a White Horse
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 26, 2016
An explanation of one of those "difficult" stories in the Old Testament, showing how even when the story involves punishment for evildoers, the essential message is a positive one about how the Lord is constantly watching over us and protecting us from spiritual harm. | By Rev. James P. Cooper | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 55s)
The Holy City New Jerusalem
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 19, 2016
The Holy City New Jerusalem is one way to picture heaven. In this sermon we will look at some of the main features of the city as it is described in the book of Revelation and use those keys to unlock a clearer picture of the spiritual home that the Lord has built for us. | By Rev. James P. Cooper | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 02s)
The Child Who Ruled With a Rod of Iron
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 12, 2016
The Hebrew word for "dragon" is translated in different ways when it is used in different parts of the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes its a "serpent" and in the story of Jonah its a "great fish." In this sermon we'll be looking at some of these stories to see the different way the "dragon" tries to interfere with our spiritual growth and the health of the church. | By Rev. James P. Cooper | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 04s)
As We Also Forgive Our Debtors
Worship Service: Sermon only - June 05, 2016
Have you ever wondered why people in the New Church say the Lord's prayer a bit differently from a lot of other churches? One of the differences is that we say, "and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." Do you know what that means? How are debts different from trespasses? This sermon puts them in context. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 47s)
Holy Supper and Repentance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 29, 2016
This Sunday we will have Holy Supper or Communion at the end of the service and we will be talking about the meaning of this sacred practice. We have just finished a sermon series on repentance and so we will be talking particularly about the power that taking the Holy Supper can have in the process of repenting. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 51s)
The Steps of Repentance 4 - Begin a New Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 22, 2016
For the past 3 weeks we've been looking at the steps of repentance, the spiritual process the Lord calls us to go through to reject what is evil and harmful in our lives and begin a new life. This week we come to the final step: actually beginning a new life. Scared? Does it even seem possible to make a real and lasting change in your life? Join us this Sunday to take an honest look at the challenges of beginning a new life and to learn how the Lord makes it possible for us to do this. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 14s)
The Steps of Repentance 3 - Pray to the Lord
Worship Service: Sermon only - May 15, 2016
The teachings of the New Church outline 4 steps of repentance. This Sunday we're digging into the 3rd step: praying to the Lord. Prayer can sometimes feel pointless and ineffectual but that's why I love the chance to get to think about it and talk about it in the context of repentance because then we can really see its importance and power. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 22s)
The Steps of Repentance 2 - Recognise and Acknowledge Sin
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 08, 2016
(By Coleman Glenn read by Malcolm Smith)The teachings of the New Church outline 4 steps of repentance. This Sunday we're digging into the 2nd step--a step that is easy to overlook but essential to real repentance: recognising and acknowledging our sin. Sin is a scary word but learning how to recognise and acknowledge it in ourselves in a healthy way is a key step in moving beyond it. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 37s)
Steps of Repentance 1-Examine Yourself
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 01, 2016
The first thing Jesus said when He began public preaching was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). But how do we repent? The teachings of the New Church outline 4 steps of repentance. Can you guess (or remember) what they are? And, more importantly, do you know how to use them to repent? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 01s)
God Meant it for Good
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 24, 2016
Why do bad things happen? Is God really in control? The teachings of the New Church spell out the answers to these questions clearly. The sermon this week delves into these questions and looks at how Divine Providence works for the better even when things look bad. | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 49s)
Worshipping the Lord in Spirit and Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 17, 2016
What is worship? What makes worship genuine or fake? What's the purpose of worship? These are some of the questions we’re going to be exploring this Sunday. We’re going to try to get to the heart of internal side of worship. (This was actually recorded in Stanford, Western Cape for the New Church Cape Town Circle.) | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 08s)
Waiting on the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 10, 2016
Many of us understand that spiritual growth is a long, slow process, and that change doesn't happen overnight. But sometimes it seems like we're not moving at all, and sometimes it even seems like we are moving backwards. How can we find the trust and strength to continue waiting for the Lord when it seems like we have already been waiting for so long? | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 42s)
Evaluating and Improving Your Spiritual Health
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 03, 2016
How are you doing? How's your life going? How's your spiritual life going? These can be hard questions to know how to answer and hard questions to want to answer. Especially if things aren't going well we can feel a lot of shame and resistance around directly thinking about how we're doing. But, the first step in getting healthier is to take an honest look at how we're doing right now. That's what we're going to do this Sunday. This Sunday, during the adult sermon, I will give a short talk and then give people about 10 minutes to privately fill out a series of pages called the "Spiritual Health Snapshot" and "Spiritual Health Plan." It's a tool for evaluating how you're doing spiritually, picking an area to focus on, and then making a plan to work on it. These will be available on www.newchurchwestville.co.za/snapshot . You can download and print from there. If you've done it before, it can be useful to do it again and see how things have changed since the last time. If you haven't done it before, I hope you'll give it a try. Let's each do our individual work so that we can become more healthy as individuals and as a church. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 55s)
Who Does Not Believe Will Be Condemned
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 27, 2016
This year, as we celebrate Easter, we are focusing on the Gospel Mark. One of the features of the account from Mark is a strong emphasis on belief—people who believe that Jesus has risen, people who do not, what will happen to those that do and do not believe. This Sunday will be an opportunity for each person to reflect on what they believe about Jesus and the Easter story and how the Lord can strengthen each person’s belief. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 11s)
Palm Sunday Service
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - March 20, 2016
Why did the Lord decide to enter Jerusalem in the way he did? What was the background to Him coming to earth and the history of the kings of Israel? | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (13m 55s)
Living Gratefully 6: The Gift of Uncertainty
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 13, 2016
Most of us like to know what is happening and why. We like certainty. But this week, we are talking about the gift of uncertainty. Why does God sometimes seem to be hiding? Why doesn't He clearly show us the path He is leading us on? And how can uncertainty be seen as a gift? His sermon will address those issues. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr. | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 58s)
Living Gratefully 5 The Gift of Inspiration
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 06, 2016
We've talked in previous weeks about how the Lord leaves us in freedom and how He doesn’t force us to do anything. If that's the case, what does He do for us? How does He lead us and guide us and what can we do to recognise His guidance in our lives? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 32s)
Living Gratefully 4 The Gift of Love
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 28, 2016
God's goal for each one of us is that we experience genuine love: love for Him and for other people. We know from experience that love that is forced is not really love at all; and so God never compels us to love or believe against our will. Instead, He calls us to follow Him freely, and to compel ourselves. This week, we will talk about how we can follow His example in our interactions with others – how we can resist the urge to control and dominate others, and instead appeal to what they love. | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 45s)
Living Gratefully 3 - “The Gift of Change"
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 21, 2016
This week we're going to be reflecting on what is involved in the process of changing. Do we change ourselves? Does the Lord change us? Understanding how this dynamic works can help us to focus our attention appropriately and change for the better with the Lord's help. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 31s)
Memorial Service For Caroline Royale Lester
Memorial Service - February 17, 2016
Memorial Service for Caroline Royale Lester written by Rt. Rev. Peter Buss Sr., originally delivered on 13 February in Canada, and delivered by Rev Malcolm Smith at New Church Westville. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 46s)
Living Gratefully Part 2: The Gift of Freedom
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 14, 2016
From the time that Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, God has offered us choices. Sometimes it seems like life would be easier if we didn't have to work so hard to choose to do good. Other times we don't feel very free at all. But still, most of recognise that freedom is an incredible gift from God. Why is freedom so important? And how can we experience genuine freedom - freedom from our own selfish impulses and habits? Join us for this second week in our "Living Gratefully" series as we talk about the first gift of Divine Providence: freedom. | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 45s)