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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)
How the Lord Uses the Different States We Go Through
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 19, 2012
We go through different states all the time in our lives and these are illustrated by many stories in the Word in parables. We will be looking at three stories of different people to illustrate these states and how the Lord can use these to teach us how we can improve our spiritual state. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 45s)
Lies About Love, Part 2 - Unconditional and Conditional Love
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 15, 2012
Unconditional love is a beautiful ideal: who doesn't want to be loved, no matter what they do? But then there are questions that come up when we try to put it into practise. How do you love someone unconditionally? Are we meant to love all people unconditionally or just certain people? Are there ever times when we need to put conditions on our love? This Sunday we're continuing our series on Lies about Love and we'll be trying to sort out the important truths from the harmful lies that can all be part of our ideas around unconditional love. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 41s)
Lies About Love, Part 1 - The Confusion about Love and Feelings
Worship Service: Sermon only - July 08, 2012
It's hard to think of anything more important than love. What we love affects everything about our lives. And yet, it's also really easy to get confused about love--what is it? What does it mean to love somebody? How do we show our love in this or that situation? Part of what makes it difficult is that there are a lot of misconceptions or lies about love out there. This Sunday we're going to start talking about some of the common wrong ideas about love and what the Lord teaches us instead. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 54s)
"As We Forgive Our Debtors"
Worship Service: Sermon only - May 20, 2012
Have you ever done something nice for someone else and not got the response that you expected or wanted? They're not grateful; they're not impressed; they don't even notice. What do you do with the feelings that come up inside you? What does the Lord say that we should do with those feelings? We say it every time we say the Lord's Prayer. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 24s)
Reading the Word under the Supervision of Jesus Christ
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 15, 2012
The story for this Sunday is about two disciples (on the road to Emmaus) who got to walk along with the Lord and have Him explain the Bible to them. What an amazing experience! How can we have that same experience? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 40s)
Weeping in Jerusalem
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 01, 2012
When we think of Palm Sunday we think of the big celebration of the Lord coming into Jerusalem as a King but it also was a very poignant moment because, when the Lord came to the city, He wept over it. Understanding why the Lord wept can give us insight into what He was experiencing as He rode into Jerusalem that day. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (14m 00s)
Shift 5 - Shift of Motivation
Worship Service: Sermon only - March 04, 2012
In the story for this week Jacob leaves his uncle Laban after working for him for 20 years. When he leaves he has a large family and large flocks and herds; none of which he had before he worked for Laban. But he had to leave; he couldn't stay with Laban any longer, even though Laban desperately wanted him to. This week we're talking about things in our lives that we get something out of but ultimately have to leave behind. Addictions, unhealthy relationships, self-serving motivations; these are not easy to leave behind but the story for this week can help us to understand what's involved in successfully moving on from this sort of thing. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 42s)
Shift 3 - A Shift of Focus
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 19, 2012
How do we get motivated to actually change our lives for the better? There are a lot of different elements that go into it. One of the key elements of it, though, is something that I really hadn't thought of before I studied the story for this Sunday. So I'm pretty excited to talk to you about it. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 23s)
The Sacraments
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 29, 2012
Why are the sacraments of baptism and Holy Supper not just empty rituals? What is the real meaning behind these sacraments and how do they impact on our lives? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 53s)
The Promise of New Life
Worship Service: Sermon only - December 04, 2011
The Christmas story in Luke begins with an elderly priest named Zacharias performing his customary rituals in the temple. Why does it begin this way? In the overall story this scene sets the stage for the Lord being born because an angel comes to Zacharias and tells him that he will have a son who will prepare people to receive the Lord. But, on a deeper level, this first scene provides a picture of our state before the Lord is born into our lives. Has your faith or religion ever felt old, tired, ritualistic, and childless? An angel is about to come with some unbelievable news. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 30s)
What's the Alternative to a Selfish Love of Control
Worship Service: Sermon only - November 13, 2011
What do you do when somebody does something that drives you crazy or doesn't do something you really think they should? Do you struggle with wanting to control other people? If you do you're not alone! The teachings of the New Church say "The most difficult battle of all...is with the love of ruling from a love of self. One who overcomes this love, easily overcomes all other evil loves, because it is their head." (Divine Providence #146) Hear how we can fight this difficult battle. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 02s)
Remembering the Sabbath Day
Worship Service: Sermon only - October 30, 2011
One of the 10 Commandments is "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." How do you keep that commandment? How do you break it? Is it just about whether you go to church or not on a given Sunday? To be honest, before I worked on a sermon about this in theological school I didn't really know the answer to these questions. Remembering the Sabbath is not just about going to church but, if you listen to this sermon, you will find out what it's really about. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 01s)
Teamwork
Worship Service: Sermon only - October 23, 2011
This is the second talk about a sports-related theme. This time we'll be talking about teamwork. Here's a question to think about: is life more of an individual sport or a team sport? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 15s)