Sermons by Rev Phil Swain
Advent 2 – Prince of Peace
Theme: Prince of PeaceSeries: Advent – The Greatest StoryBook: The Cat in the Hat Comes BackBible Reading: Isaiah 1:10-20 (and other readings from Isaiah)Preacher: Rev Phil Swain How many of us grew up with Dr Seuss? Sorry … I should have said … “I grew up with Dr Seuss too, did you?” I have to be slightly honest … I am not completely sure what makes him so popular. Sure, he has a great sense of rhyme and rhythm but Read more
Advent 1 – A Seed of Hope
Theme: A Seed of HopeSeries: Advent – The Greatest StoryBook: The Faraway SeedBible Reading: Luke 1:26-38 (Mary and the Angel)Preacher: Rev Phil Swain Did you like the story of the Faraway Seed? It had a real theme of disrupting the ordinary … The forest was very comfortable with things the way that it was. Everything was normal, predictable, ordinary when the bird flew overhead and drop the seed and in the words of the book, “everything was not the same Read more
The Live Christmas Story
Title: The Live Christmas StoryPreacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Juke 2:1-7Preached at Turramurra Uniting Church in Sunday 24th November, 2019 Today’s service was to celebrate the message of Christmas with all our young friends and their families from the youth communities connected to the life of Turramurra Uniting Church – Turratots Occasional Childcare centre, Bugz kids youth group, TurraTurtles playgroup, Kids Church and others – along with a lively group of live farm animals. Today’s recording reflects the “organised chaos” Read more
Bible 3 16
Title: 316Preacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Daniel 3:13-18Preached at Turramurra Uniting Church in Sunday 17th November, 2019 DOWNLOAD HANDOUT HERE We all know John 3:16 … but did you know that there are some other 3:16’s in the bible which can also speak of God’s love & grace? Today I want to show you something which I found really amazing that when I was exploring my bible a few months ago. It started with a prayer a number of years Read more
Questions about the Resurrection
Preached Sunday 10th November, 2019 at Turramurra Uniting Church Series:Real People, Real QuestionsGuest Speaker: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Luke 20:27-38 How does it feel to be excluded? Have you ever had the experience of being left out? How did it feel? This series was designed to explore some of the real questions that real people ask. This week I had a reminder of just how real this is. I have been involved in helping plan and officiating at for three Read more
The fear of inclusiveness
Preached Sunday 3rd November, 2019 at Turramurra Uniting Church Series:Real People, Real QuestionsGuest Speaker: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Luke 19:1-10 How does it feel to be excluded? Have you ever had the experience of being left out? How did it feel? As you would know, I am somewhat of a confident person and self-esteem has never really been an issue for me. However, I have felt the pain of exclusion. One memory is of my first Boys Brigade overnight camp. Read more
Whats the deal with Prayer?
Preached Sunday 20 October, 2019 at Turramurra Uniting Church Series:Real People, Real QuestionsPreacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Luke 18:1-8 Sermon We live in an age of google when you think that people should not have any questions anymore (just google it) but people do. Actually, I think that people have more questions than ever. What I want to explore today is what we do with those questions… When I was at theological college, we had small groups of students and Read more
Thanksgiving Sunday
Preached Sunday 22nd September, 2019 at Turramurra Uniting Church Preacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 Our bible reading, we are encouraged to “give thanks in all circumstances” or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “always give thanks.” But if Thanksgiving is something we should do all the time, why are we setting aside one Sunday to be Thanksgiving Sunday? Good question. Part of the answer is that we are honouring the history of the harvest festival when rural Read more
“How Long” – A Cry for Justice
Preached Sunday 15th September, 2019 at Turramurra Uniting Church Preacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Psalm 79:1-9 When I was in third grade, I was confronted with an issue and I still remember vividly. Our class were having the dreaded “nit check” where the teacher checked all the kids heads on the way into class and for those who had already been checked we were supposed to sit quietly at our desk. As we sat there, one boy started teasing this Read more
Philemon
Sunday 8th September, 2019Theme: PhilemonPreacher: Rev Phil SwainBible Reading: Philemon 1-21 Last Week in the Father’s Day classic I shared a story about me mucking up the washing and tied it into the idea of forgiveness. The reading last week was that amazing promise from 1 John that when we confess our sins God is faithful and just and WILL forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Today, our reading is looking at the same issue by from a Read more