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Ears to Hear
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 15, 2016
The parable of the sower ends with the challenge to hear. We hear with our hearts, and we have to be willing to love what the Lord says is good. We learn to love what the Lord says by living out His Word. | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Sarver, PA
See Event (33m 16s)
Baptism: The Spiritual Within the Natural
Worship Service: Sermon only - May 08, 2016
This message looks at the power that lies within the sacrament of baptism, and consider the spiritual motivation that is reflection in the natural ritual. This motivation is to more fully understand the Lord of God and to progressively become more the person that he would like each of us to be. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (19m 33s)
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)
Honoring Mothers
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 08, 2016
The Lord teaches us to honor our mothers. Honor means to add weight to. The opposite would be to detract from. We should honor our mothers, but we should also honor our spiritual mother in the church. Video testimonial available at https://vimeo.com/165714114 | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Sarver, PA
See Event (20m 33s)
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)
Out of Negative Influences, Into Freedom
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 24, 2016
This message looks at both the positive and the negative spiritual influences that affect our lives. We only experience true spiritual freedom when we allow the Lord to shut off the negative influences and we start to be influenced by Him alone via heaven and His angels. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (25m 09s)
Why Does God Allow It?
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 17, 2016
Because the Lord is all-loving and ultimately wise, He can see exactly how to intervene in every human situation both for the sake of the present and the future. He allows bad things to happen at times times, not because He wills those things, but because He knows what is best. A challenge for us is to trust that He always knows what He is doing and that He always cares. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (25m 27s)
Love is Not a Feeling
Worship Service: Sermon only - April 17, 2016
"A person is not able to perceive the lust of his own evil. He does indeed perceive their delights, but he reflects little upon them; for delights captivate the thoughts and banish reflection. Therefore, unless he know from some other source that they are evil, he would call them good, and from freedom according to the reasoning of his thought, he would commit them; and when he does this he makes them his own." (Divine Providence 113) | By Rev. Erik J. Buss | Bryn Athyn Cathedral
See Event (25m 40s)
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)
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)
Who Can Celebrate The Passover?
Worship Service: Sermon only - March 06, 2016
As the Children of Israel were led out of Egypt, the Lord specifically told them who WAS and who WAS NOT allowed to celebrate the Passover. Each of these groups represents a spiritual state in us. Some of these spiritual states allow the Lord to lead us away from hell (Egypt) and towards heaven (Canaan); others prevent this. | By Rev. Matthew L. Genzlinger | Boston, MA
See Event (31m 42s)
Coming to Appreciate Remorse
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 21, 2016
Almost everyone has experienced remorse. This message looks at how the remorse we might feel is likely to be a sign of the Lord's love working within us. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (19m 24s)
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)
Fixing Fragile Hearts
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 07, 2016
This week we think about how challenging elements in our own imperfect natures can cause us to feel weak or fragile. The way the Lord deals with this is captured, in part, in the story of His turning out of the temple those who bought and sold, the money changers and those who sold doves. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (23m 01s)
Swedenborg Made Simple - Regeneration (Spiritual Growth)
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 07, 2016
The Lord gives us the Good News that we can be a new person. First we must learn about and desire heavenly life, then we have to do the work to let go of our previous life to receive a new life from Him. | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Sarver, PA
See Event (36m 08s)
Crying Hosanna! or Lord, Save Me From Myself!
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 31, 2016
This message reflects on the Matthew version of the Palm Sunday story. The focus is on the cry, "Hosanna!" This is a word that literally means, "O Save!" The question is: Save from what? The "saving" that we think about here, is saving from the negative voices that want to discourage us. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (20m 20s)
Being Content With Our Daily Bread
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 31, 2016
This morning we have a guest preacher: The Reverend Grant Odhner. Grant was once the Pastor of this congregation. He is currently teaching at the Theological School in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Grant will be preaching on the subject of being content with our daily bread. He will be reading the story of Jehovah proving the Children of Israel with manna from heaven. | By Rev. Grant H. Odhner | West Concord, MA
See Event (38m 48s)
You Must be Born Anew
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 17, 2016
Is it possible to really change? At the beginning of the year, it's a question we may find ourselves asking. The startling answer from the Lord's Word: both yes and no. According to the Word, we have two "selves" or "wills" at the same time: a fleshly one, and a spiritual one. The fleshly will doesn't change and will always be fleshly, but the good news is that we can choose to act from the spiritual one instead - if we put the fleshly one to death. How do we do that? Listen on! | By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (32m 07s)
Our Whole Life is in Each Single Affection
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 10, 2016
This message considers the Parable of the Wedding Feast. In the internal or spiritual sense it is a story of how parts of us might currently want to reject the Lord's invitation while other parts of us readily accept it and want to be joined with Him in His kingdom. These different aspects of the person we are inside are found in every affection that we feel. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (23m 48s)
Seeing Patterns by Eric Carswell
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 10, 2016
This Sunday we will be hearing a sermon by Eric Carswell called “Seeing Patterns.” It takes a funny and not very well-known story from the Old Testament and uses it to explore how we can come to see negative patterns in our lives, even when we don’t particularly want to. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 01s)
Four Reasons New Year's Resolutions Fail
Worship Service: Childrens Talk only - January 03, 2016
Four Reasons we fail to live out our New Year's Resolutions and other life changes are: making resolutions we don't want to keep, not being willing to suffer self compulsion, not bringing the Lord into the process, failing to fail successfully. If we want to stick to a life change we have to work through these challenges: know that part of us doesn't want to change and that we are going to have to do it anyway, ask the Lord for help, and don't let failure discourage us. | By Rev. Derrick Lumsden | Sarver, PA
See Event (20m 49s)
The Paths of Life
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 03, 2016
"You will show me the path of life." (Psalm 16:11) | By Rev. Eric H. Carswell | Bryn Athyn Cathedral
See Event (23m 53s)
Human Blind Spots
Worship Service: Sermon only - November 29, 2015
This message looks at how we might have "blind spots" when it comes to our attitudes and the things that do, that might interfere with our relationships with others and perhaps even with our spiritual progress. | By Rev. Garry B. Walsh | Phoenix, AZ
See Event (18m 35s)
Contempt or Rebellion on the way to Maturity
Worship Service: Sermon only - November 22, 2015
"And Hagar saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes." (Genesis 16:4) When young people begin to develop the power of reason it is often used to find fault with others. Why do our rational powers develop at first in a rather negative way? It is part of God's plan to lead to true intelligence. Closing prayer by Rev. EH Carswell. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Sr. | Bryn Athyn Cathedral
See Event (32m 29s)