Advanced search
Search results clear search
"When You Have Eaten and are Full"
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 05, 2014
When things are going well and we are 'full' it is easy to forget the Lord. Moses had some warnings about this when speaking to the Israelites before they entered the promised land which we would do well to take heed of. This is a slightly adapted version of a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Reuben P. Bell. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 05s)
Where is He Who is Born King of the Jews
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 15, 2013
The wise men followed a star that eventually led them to where the Lord was. And the way we picture them is either purposefully travelling across the desert, following the star, or having arrived at their destination, kneeling before Jesus. Before they made it to the Lord, however, they got a bit lost. When we're trying to follow the star in our lives we also will probably end up not in the right place at first. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 28s)
Jesus' Dodgy Family History
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 01, 2013
This Sunday we're going to be looking at the genealogy - the long list of names - at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew. Before you decide that you've definitely got something more important to do on Sunday evening, let me explain why I chose this. I've wanted to preach about the genealogy for some time precisely because it seems boring at first. Why is it there? Why does the whole New Testament start this way? What I found is that, if you look at the list of names more closely, you see that there are actually some quite juicy details contained in it and some important information about what family Jesus was born into. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 26s)
What We Can Learn from Mindfulness and Meditation about Spiritual Practices
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 17, 2013
As human beings we have a lot to deal with - stress, grief, ambition, conflict, joy, confusion, pride, exhaustion, excitement, frustration, guilt, etc. - and rarely does it feel like we have the time and space to deal with what comes up properly. It's a hectic time of year, with lots of work and social commitments, and at times like this life can feel particularly overwhelming. This Sunday we're going to talk about simple but profound truths about how we can learn to respond to life differently. To gain the benefit of these truths will absolutely require that we change our behaviour but it will also change our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 07s)
Path of Integrity 6 - Have Compassion
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 01, 2013
One of the hardest things to do is to let go of hurt or shame we've carried. In time, however, we may learn to see blessings that have come from our struggles and we can forgive others as well as ourselves. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 13s)
Path of Integrity 5 - Take Responsibility
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 25, 2013
Integrity is taking responsibility for our choices and their consequences. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 46s)
Path of Integrity 2 - Drop the Distractions
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 04, 2013
Soon after you gain clarity about your dream, you will see more clearly the addictions, temptations, and other distractions that threaten to sabotage your efforts. We call these "distractions" because they take you off the track of your true path. This is your chance to break old habits and build new ones that support your goals. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 30s)
Understanding Marriage 3 - The Wisdom of Women
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 14, 2013
This Sunday I'll be reading a sermon by Rev. John Odhner, a minister who has done a lot of marriage work. In this thought-provoking sermon he talks about when men should listen to their wives and about one of the main things that destroys marriages. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 59s)
Understanding Marriage 2 - Getting Married and Staying Married
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 07, 2013
Why get married? Why stay married? A lot of people are asking these questions and don't have good answers to them. Last Sunday we talked about what's most important in the first stages of getting married, in dating, proposing, and getting betrothed (if you don't know what betrothal is then read or listen to last week's sermon). This week we're talking about what's most important in the wedding service and being married. If we understand that then maybe we'll be able to answer those questions. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 07s)
Understanding Marriage 1 - Dating, Proposing, Betrothal
Worship Service: Sermon only - June 30, 2013
Have you been to a wedding recently? Have you thought about why we have weddings or marriages for that matter? Are they important or are they just legal paperwork? You can probably guess what the answer is but can you explain why? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (41m 10s)
The New Jerusalem - Why Jerusalem
Worship Service: Sermon only - June 26, 2013
This Sunday we are celebrating New Church Day by talking about the Holy City New Jerusalem, as we often do. This time we are focusing on why it's the New Jerusalem. Why not New Bethlehem or New Durban? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 33s)
Captivity, Part 1 - The Value of Captivity
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 19, 2013
In the story of the Bible God allows His chosen people to be taken away into captivity. Enemies come and destroy the temple and all of Jerusalem and take the people far away from the Promised Land. What was the value of this experience for the people and what is the value in our lives of times when we are taken far away from where we want to be? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 55s)
Begin a New Life, Part 3 - Why Prayer is Essential in Changing Our Lives
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 28, 2013
This Sunday we're continuing our series on beginning a new life. In the past 2 weeks we talked about seeing a problem in ourselves and owning it. Then what? Do you need help dealing with your issues? The Lord can help us in huge ways if we know how to get His help. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 14s)
The Problems with Loosening the 10 Commandments
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 07, 2013
There are times in life when doing a "good enough" job just won't cut it. When is that the case in our spiritual lives? Are you doing a good enough job of keeping the 10 Commandments? Will that cut it? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 14s)
Good News From Mark, Part 10 - Going Into Enemy Territory With Love
Worship Service: Sermon only - March 17, 2013
This week we're reading about how Jesus went to Jerusalem, knowing that people were going to do all they could to take Him down. How did He respond to their challenges and what can we learn from it? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (43m 26s)
Good News From Mark, Part 6 - Be Opened!
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 17, 2013
Did you grow up in a church environment? How has that affected your spiritual life today positively or negatively? There are significant advantages to growing up in a church environment and there also problems that 'church people' often have that other people don't. The stories we're going to read from Mark this week will help us identify some of those problems so that we can deal with them and gain the full benefit of being part of a religious community. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (36m 58s)
Good News From Mark, Part 4 - Don't Tell Anyone
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 03, 2013
There's this confusing thing that happens a number of times in the Gospel of Mark. The Lord heals someone in an amazing way but then tells them not to tell anyone. Why not? Other times He specifically tells people to go and tell people what has happened. What's the difference? This Sunday we're going to see if we can figure out what's going on here and also what we can learn about when we need to keep quiet and when we need to spread the good news. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 58s)
Good News From Mark, Part 1 - Repent and Believe in the Gospel
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 13, 2013
This Sunday we begin a new sermon series, "Good News from Mark." From now until Easter we will reading through the Gospel of Mark and exploring what good news it has for our lives. In this sermon we focus on the first words of Jesus Christ, "Repent and believe in the gospel." Find more resources at www.newchurchwestville.co.za/mark | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 10s)
How to Be as Happy as the Angels
Worship Service: Children & Adult - December 25, 2012
The angels were so happy to get to tell the good news to the shepherds that the Lord had been born. What can we learn from the angels about how to be happy? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (11m 08s)
Waiting For the Lord, Part 1 - What Happens When We Don't Wait
Worship Service: Sermon only - November 25, 2012
As it gets closer to Christmastime we're going to be spending a couple of weeks thinking about what it's like to wait for the Lord to come. There are things that we want the Lord to do and sometimes we wait and wait and wait and nothing seems to change. This Sunday we're going to look at what happens when we get fed up with waiting on the Lord and make another plan instead. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 00s)
Spiritual Warfare, Part 2 - The Battle is the Lord's
Worship Service: Sermon only - October 14, 2012
Are you willing to fight? That was the question that we focused on last week in our series on spiritual warfare. (If you missed that sermon and would like to read it, you can find it on the homepage at www.newchurchwestville.co.za and if you would like to listen to it you can find it at www.newchurchwestville.co.za/sermons. ) If you're willing to fight, the next question is how do you fight? There's a lot that we could talk about but we're going to focus primarily on one crucial factor in fighting spiritual battles. If we don't do this one thing in our spiritual battles we will always ultimately lose. Can you guess what it is? If you know what it is, do you know how to do it effectively? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (36m 44s)
Spiritual Warfare 1 - Are You Willing to Fight
Worship Service: Sermon only - October 07, 2012
For the next two Sundays we're going to be exploring the topic of spiritual war. The Bible is full of stories about war and the New Church teaches that all of that imagery is symbolic of the spiritual war that is going on all the time. Here are a couple of questions to get you thinking about the topic. Have you ever experienced this spiritual war? Who is the war against? What are we fighting for? What is the value of thinking about our spiritual lives in warlike terms? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (39m 54s)
Understanding Our God, Part 3 - The Holy Spirit
Worship Service: Sermon only - September 09, 2012
Is God doing things in your life? (Maybe you can figure out that the answer I'm looking for is yes. But I've got a harder question for you.) Which things that happen in your life are God's work and which things aren't? How do you tell the difference? This Sunday is the last one in the Understanding Our God series. We're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit, which, in the New Church, we understand to mean God's activity. And we're not going to be leaving things in the comfortable realm of God doing stuff generally for people; I want to really wrestle with how to see His presence in the details of each of our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (31m 14s)
Understanding Our God, Part 2 - Father & Son
Worship Service: Sermon only - September 02, 2012
This Sunday is part 2 of a series on the Trinity. Last week we focused on the importance of believing that there is only one God. This week we're going to move on to the questions that inevitably come up. What about when Jesus prays to His Father? Why did Jesus talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit if there's only one God? The Trinity stuff can seem pretty confusing but when we understand it properly, a lot of other pieces also fit into place. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (10m 15s)
Understanding Our God, Part 1 - Jesus Christ is the One God
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 26, 2012
I'm going to be talking about the Trinity this Sunday. For a long time it felt to me like a confusing, abstract and mostly irrelevant topic. But understanding the Trinity is an important part of understanding who our God is. And, in any relationship, it makes a big difference to understand the other person better. And so my hope is that you'll end up feeling glad that you put the effort into understanding this challenging topic because you feel less confused and more connected to your God. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 00s)