Naracoorte Presbyterian Church

Grace trampled, grace offered, grace received

Saved, yet as through fire 1Corinthians 3:9-15, 2Chronicles 33:1-20 Last time I preached the Word of God to you we heard about the grace of God as we looked at God’s dealings with Ahab: how many times God offered him grace to worship Him and to repent from worshipping the despicable idol, Baal. There was…
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Grace received, but grace despised

In the early church history a man named Marcion made an attempt to canonise the Bible – this means he tried to work out which books should be seen as authoritative and which not. Marcion was a man who measured everything by love and grace – which led him to believe that all of the…
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God’s call for covenant renewal in times of unbridled rebellion

Introduction When Martin Luther was called to appear before those who charged him, he stood alone. All the clergy of the time, and all politicians stood against him. It was the same in the time of Wycliffe and John Huss some years earlier. Truth cannot be judged by the numbers of those who confess…
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God’s call to be trouble in times of unbridled sin

Those of you who come from an agricultural background will understand that some animals are just stubborn. We had a good friend in the town where we lived back in country Western Transvaal. This man contracted meningitis as a nine year old and had to make a living by chopping wood. He became very strong. …
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God’s call to step up in times of unbridled sin and rebellion

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, Today the Lord calls us to be faithful witnesses; He puts before us the tests to remain faithful, more so when circumstances change. The way, the time and places we served in the past might call us to step up as the battle becomes more fierce. Looking at…
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A memorial of God’s powerful redemption

Communion Service Introduction My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, In Rio de Janeiro 11,178 athletes of 215 countries are competing in 306 events of the Olympic Games. Billions of people will watch the even over the next two weeks on every conceivable device. Advertisers will rake in big amounts of mon ey; and…
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God’s providence and care in times of unbridled sin

Well-known theologian Dr R.C. Sproul records this anecdote in one of his books: There was a mountain climber who slipped on a ledge and was about to plummet thousands of feet to his death, but as he started to fall, he grabbed a branch of a tiny, scraggly tree that was growing out of a…
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God’s Word and witness in times of unbridled sin

Morally and spiritually we live in what might be a very low watermark. However, there most probably were times when things looked somewhat worse. What we might think is that the scale of moral decline is perhaps more widespread now that in most recent times. The churches of the West have been in decline to…
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Completing the work in the face of persecution

My dear friends in the Lord, Over the last two months we heard the Word of God concerning the work of the Holy Spirit. Over the last few Sundays we specifically looked at how the Holy Spirit builds the church. We made the following observations: It is the Holy Spirit who does gives birth to…
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Restoring the walls together

There once was a denomination with hundreds of congregations, ministers, and elders. More than five million Christians called this denomination “my church”. Generation of generation was born, baptised and married there and once again had their children baptised. For more than 300 years this strong Reformed church was a beacon for other denominations holding to…
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