Village Church Annandale (Sydney) sermons

As we come Face to Face with Jesus today, we see him meet two people - one who is excluded and the other who is completely helpless. And yet we will not see those two as people unlike us, the encouragement will be to identify with them and see how Jesus meets their deepest need.

Today we meet Jesus in his first season of public ministry. Simon Peter sees Jesus miraculous catch of a huge number of fish and then is challenged by Jesus to leave his nets and join in the fishing for people. We feel the same challenge from Jesus echoing down through the ages to us today.

Today we are focused on Jesus’ first words as a teacher. And his profound statement that he comes in fulfilment of the great promise in Isaiah 61. Plus the implications of that for not just first century potential followers, but for our lives today.

In one of the bible’s climactic moments, Jesus goes three rounds with the devil. Right at the start of the bible, there’s a prediction that the woman’s son would crush the devil’s head, but be struck in the process. As we read this passage for a moment we think it might be now, but the final showdown doesn’t happen till later in Luke. In the meantime there’s lots to learn about our own struggles with temptation - how to approach this and how not to.