Rethinking Sunday’s Sermon

Posted: 21 May 2013 / Genesis 24

Yesterday morning I sat down for a coffee with my sister Hayley, and she grilled me on my sermon from Sunday night. While she found much of it helpful, she found a couple of things insensitive and unhelpful. Watch this video to hear our conversation.

Rethinking Sunday's Sermon from Vine Church on Vimeo.

Resources for “Understanding God’s Story”

Posted: 08 May 2013

As Community Groups seek together to Understand God's Story, Vine Church will be providing some helpful resources for you to go deeper, or catch-up on what you may have missed. There will be helpful books to read, video resources to check out, and weekly summaries of where we are up to in God's Story. So keep refreshing this blog post over the weeks to see more resources added.

Recommended Readings

• Tim Chester, Creation to New Creation, The Good Book Company (2010)
• Graham Goldsworthy, Accorinding to Plan, IVP (1991)
• Vaughan Roberts, God's Big Picture, IVP (2009)
• William Dumbrell, The Faith of Israel, Baker Academic (2002)
• T. Desmond Alexander, From Eden to...

Understanding God’s Story

Posted: 01 May 2013

There are many ways one can approach the bible. Some choose to see it only as a rule book, with God calling down commands from above for his creatures to adhere to. Some choose to see it only as a good 'life-guide', providing different segments of wisdom for many circumstances in our lives. But what about seeing it as a story. I dont mean as a myth or fiction, but a narrative held together with a single thread of promise, to which we see God act and ourselves featured.

Yes, the bible does contain rules for God's creatures, and yes, the bible is a place for us to find wisdom that speaks into our daily lives. But understanding the bible as a grand narrative of God, helps us gain...

Strange Turns (Genesis 12-50)

Posted: 26 April 2013

Life is a winding and troubled road and in Genesis 12-50 we meet characters such as Abraham and Joseph, Hagar and Leah whose stories help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns.

This Sunday we are starting a new series on this wonderful part of the Bible called Strange Turns: How God is with us in the strange turns of life.

Below is the breakdown of the series. We hope you can join us.

28 April  Abraham and being Called by God
                betting everything on a promise

5 May     Hagar and being Seen by God
                the God who notices forgotten people

12 May   Abraham and being Tested by God
...

Resources for Studying Genesis

Posted: 24 April 2013

Here are three books to help you study Genesis:

Iain Duguid, Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham

Derek Kidner, Genesis

Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1-15 and Genesis 16-50 (for advanced study)

Faith & Theology

Posted: 23 April 2013

This Sunday we are starting a new series on Genesis 12-50 — a part of the Bible that teaches us that life is a winding and troubled road. Here we meet characters such as Abraham, Jacob, Leah and Joseph whose stories help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns.

To introduce this wonderful part of scripture we have invited Dr. John Woodhouse to come and speak to us tonight on Genesis 12-50 to acquaint us to story and to answer our questions on those tricky parts of Genesis.

    7–9:15pm, Tuesday 23 April
    Surry Hills Library
    Level 1, 405 Crown Street, Surry Hills...Continue Reading

Counseling Those Who Are Depressed

Posted: 16 April 2013

On Sunday Ps. James Stinson gave the second sermon in our series, When the Darkness Will Not Lift, on the topic of depression. To help us think through how to love those who are depressed see this article by Ed Welch.

Topics include:

— Listening to Depression
— Loving Those Who Are Depressed
— Understanding Depression
— Helping Those Who Are Depressed

Download the article below:

Undying Love - Easter Services

Posted: 19 March 2013

Join us this Easter to hear the message about Jesus' Undying Love.

Good Friday Service
Friday 29 March, 10am

Easter Sunday Service
Sunday 31 March, 4pm

We meet on Sundays at Crown Street Public School
356 Crown Street Surry Hills

Gospel Farmers: ‘Scandalous’ by D.A. Carson

Posted: 19 March 2013

There are not many books by ‘the Don’ that one would not place as MUST READING for all, and his book ‘Scandelous: the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus’ is no exception. Taken from a sermon series he delievered at Mars Hills Church, Seattle in 2009 (click here for audio/video of series), Don Carson looks at two events that happened on one weekend, a little less than 2000yrs ago – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What makes this book so unique, is the way Carson expresses the powerful events of death and resurrection of Jesus, with the different perspectives/angles that the bible provides. Take for instance the cross…Carson presents the cross of Christ through the...

onehundred×onehundred

Posted: 18 March 2013

Over the past year and a half, we have seen God work powerfully in bringing new people into His family, and growing His children in maturity.

We are seeing new Community Groups planted, new areas our our city reached, and new lives come to find life in the Gospel of Jesus.

We are also really excited about our new Discipleship Pastor, James Stinson. James' role is to help us strengthen discipleship within our church: helping believers engage with God in his word, mentoring and training new leaders, and seeing the people of our city come to find joy in the Gospel. This new initative will, by God's grace, improve our effectiveness in reaching the city for Jesus.

We would...