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Ideals - Sorting Out What Matters and What Does Not
Worship Service: Sermon only - August 12, 2018
We can't live up to all ideals. We have to choose between them and then prioritise which of our ideals or values matter more or less in different situations. And what if we get it wrong? What if we reject a true ideal? What if we buy into a false ideal? What if we give something too much weight or too little? These are the questions we're going to wrestle with this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 46s)
Ideals
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 29, 2018
Ideals are great when we feel like we’re living up to them. But what about when we don’t? What about when we fall short? What about when it’s impossible for us to live up to certain ideals, through no fault of our own? Do we abandon our ideals? Do we change our ideals to fit our circumstances? How does the Lord want us to hold our ideals? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (29m 40s)
Good Humour
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 22, 2018
Humour is all around us - we tease people, they tease us, we make jokes, we laugh at jokes that other people make, we watch funny shows, we read funny things. Humour is great and life would be rather bleak without laughter. But humour can also be really painful and destructive. What does the Lord say in His Word about humour and what guidelines can we get from him about what sorts of jokes and humour to engage in and what stuff to steer clear of? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (36m 08s)
How Long, O Lord?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - June 10, 2018
There are times when the state of things in this world can seem pretty bleak - when things at a national, international and even local and personal level seem pretty bad. Too often it seems like evil and selfishness are winning, despite genuinely good people doing all that they can to try to do what's right. This Sunday we will reflect on a vision from the book of Revelation that captures this feeling - the vision of souls under the altar crying out to the Lord, "How long, O Lord?" - and we will see what the Lord has to tell us about what to do when it seems like things are really bad and will never get better. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 38s)
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 3 - The Conquest
Worship Service: Sermon only - May 20, 2018
In this series so far we have looked at what the early years of the life of Joshua can show us about the early years of Jesus' life and we have looked at what the turning point in Joshua's life when he took over command of the Children of Israel can show us about a similar turning point in Jesus' life. This Sunday, in the final part of the series, we will look at what Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan can show us about what Jesus was fighting against and fighting for during His three years of active ministry. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 22s)
Finding Jesus in the Life of Joshua - Part 1 - The Early Years
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - May 06, 2018
People have been drawing parallels between the stories of Joshua and Jesus for a long time (which makes sense considering that Jesus is the Greek version of the name Joshua). But the teachings of the New Church indicate that the connections between the stories go much deeper than a shared name and some intriguing similarities. Every detail of the story can be read as a way for us to get a deeper understanding of the Lord's experience while He was on earth. This Sunday we will explore the early stories of Joshua, before he became the leader of the Children of Israel, and what those stories can show us about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (30m 49s)
Correspondence - The Relationship Between Physical and Spiritual Things
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 29, 2018
How do physical things relate to spiritual things? What is the connection between our body and our spirit? How do we make sense of the confusing imagery in the Bible, a book that is supposed to be about spiritual things? New Church teachings explain these things using a fascinating concept called correspondence. This Sunday we will explore this concept and how it can change how we look at everything in the Bible and the world around us. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 48s)
Failure, Frustration and Transformation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 08, 2018
In the Gospel of John, after the Lord rises from the dead, He interacts with Peter a few more times and gives him some important final directions. This Sunday we will reflect on what this story can show us about the failure, frustration and transformation that we're likely to go through as we try to follow the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 40s)
Practicing Forgiveness - Transformation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 25, 2018
This Sunday is Palm Sunday and the last Sunday of our Practicing Forgiveness programme. Throughout these past few weeks we've talked about the difference that forgiveness can make - in an individual's life and in society in general. We understand the before picture and we like the after picture but how do we get from one to the other? This Sunday we'll try to understand more of what comes in between in the process of being transformed by forgiveness. The sermon was written by John L. Odhner, read by Malcolm Smith. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (27m 14s)
Practicing Forgiveness - Forgiveness within Ourselves
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 18, 2018
We have talked about how we are called to forgive those who have hurt us, and to seek forgiveness from other people and from the Lord for the things we have done. This Sunday we will consider another important aspect of forgiveness: forgiveness within ourselves. There are times when other people may have forgiven us and the Lord certainly has but we still beat up on ourselves and we can't seem to let it go. The Lord can help us to understand why this happens and help us to get free. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 47s)
Practicing Forgiveness - Why Forgive?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 25, 2018
This Sunday we begin the Practicing Forgiveness programme with a question: "Why Forgive?" Why should we forgive people who have hurt us? What is it about forgiveness that is so essential to spiritual life that all the major world religions teach about how important it is? And - most importantly - how do we do it? How do we grant and seek forgiveness in a genuine way? Come on Sunday as we begin to try to find answers to these important questions. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 51s)
Collected, One by One
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 11, 2018
There's a verse somewhere in the middle of Isaiah that says, ...."you shall be collected, one by one...." Someone recently showed me this verse and pointed out that it has important implications for how we approach our relationships with other people and the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (33m 52s)
Rebuilding the House of the Lord - Part 2 - How to Keep Working
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 21, 2018
When the people obey the Lord and rebuild the house of the Lord it doesn't meet their expectations of what it should be. The Lord's response to them, through the prophet Haggai, can be very useful for us when the results of our spiritual efforts aren't quite what we think they should be. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 56s)
Rebuilding the House of the Lord - Part i - Is it Time?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 14, 2018
At this time of year we're often taking stock of who we are and where we are in our lives and thinking about what we might need to do to improve our lives. This Sunday and next we will be exploring the somewhat obscure but very relevant story in the book of Haggai of the Children of Israel being called to rebuild the house of the Lord and what it can teach us about the process of trying to do better about prioritising the Lord in our lives. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 19s)
And His Name Will Be Called
Worship Service: Family (may include music) - December 25, 2017
This Christmas Day, as we celebrate the Lord being born into this world, we will be reflecting on the significance of some of the many different names that that little baby was called. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (11m 00s)
How to Receive the Lord's Light in Our Lives
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 17, 2017
This Sunday we'll be talking more about the Christmas story according to the Gospel of John, with a focus on theme of darkness and light. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 37s)
Facing Floods, Part 4 - Rebuild
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 19, 2017
What do we do after a crisis? How do you go back to normal? This Sunday we're going to talk about what happens after Noah and his family can finally leave the ark after the flood and what we can learn from the story about how to rebuild our lives once a crisis has passed. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (26m 20s)
Facing Floods, Part 2 - Get Ready
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 05, 2017
Noah has been told by God that a flood is coming that will destroy everything and everyone, except for those people and animals that God saves on the ark that He tells Noah to build. There are times when we know something big is coming. The Lord can help us to get ready and help us to keep safe what is most important. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 37s)
Get More Out of Reading the Bible: Part 3: New Testament
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 22, 2017
The New Testament is the last section of the Bible that we haven't talked about yet in our series about getting more out of the Bible. On Sunday we'll talk about things like how the New Testament differs from the Old Testament, whether all the books in the New Testament are equally authoritative, why there are four Gospels, etc. It will be fun and I hope it will help you to get more out of reading the New Testament. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 35s)
Get More Out of Reading the Bible
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 08, 2017
A lot of people when they open the Bible find it hard to get much out of it, particularly the Old Testament. There are hard to pronounce names and strange and sometimes disturbing stories. What are we supposed to do with it? How do we make sense of it? The goal of this 3 part sermon series is to help you have a better understanding of what you're looking at and how it can have relevance to you today. This Sunday we're going to be focusing on the first big chunk of the Bible, the Old Testament stories in Genesis through 2 Kings. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (43m 50s)
Healing Spiritual Blindness
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 24, 2017
This Sunday we're going to be looking closely at an amazing story of the Lord healing a man who was blind from birth. It's an amazing story because the Lord did an amazing miracle but also because it's clearly also about people who are spiritually unable or unwilling to see. With the help of this story we're going to try to understand how we might be spiritually blind and how the Lord can heal us and help us to see in a new way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (28m 36s)
Helping Each Other: Part 3 - Offering Spiritual Support
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 03, 2017
In this sermon we are concluding the Helping Each Other series by talking about how to offer spiritual support. It sounds so good–offering spiritual support. And it is so good and can make such a difference when it’s done well. But offering spiritual support can also be done badly–people can be arrogant, controlling, clueless, etc. in the ways they approach "trying to help" and they can end up actually making things worse. But the answer isn’t that we should stop trying. Let’s learn what the Lord teaches about how to avoid common pitfalls and how we can best approach offering spiritual support to others. Download the workbook and other resources for doing this program at http://newchurchwestville.co.za/helping/ | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (24m 45s)
Helping Each Other: Part 1 - Challenges and Opportunities
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 20, 2017
This Sunday we begin the sermons that go along with the Helping Each Other: How to Serve Spiritual Needs programme. Helping each other sounds great in theory but it can also be really challenging. We're going to start this series by looking at the challenges involved and how the Lord's teachings can help us to overcome them. For Part 2 by Rev. Joel Glenn search by date: August 27, 2017. For Part 3 by Rev. Malcolm Smith search by date: September 3, 2017. Download the workbook and other resources for doing this program at http://newchurchwestville.co.za/helping/ | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 28s)
Why Heaven and Hell are Relevant Today - Part 2 Hell
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 23, 2017
Hell is something a lot of people would rather not think about and not talk about. And it makes sense: who would want to contemplate the idea that they or people they love might end up in a place of suffering for eternity? That's terrifying. But ignoring hell or pretending like it doesn't exist also doesn't work. Just like we talked about last week with heaven, hell is a reality that we can experience on a daily basis and so we need to look at it squarely and try to understand how best to deal with it. That's what we're going to try to do on Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 18s)
Why Heaven and Hell are Relevant Today - Part 1 Heaven
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 16, 2017
Heaven and hell can seem like fuzzy, distant, old-fashioned ideas - something from a different era, like fairytales with heroes and monsters. A lot of people today aren't sure that heaven and hell even exist and those that do think they exist often think of them as something that will only be relevant later in life, when they're getting ready to die. The New Church perspective is that heaven and hell are realities that we deal with every day and that what we believe about them can have a profound impact on our lives. Come and hear the New Church perspective on heaven this Sunday. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (27m 04s)