Canterbury Baptist Sermons

We start a new series about Jesus: who He is and why He is the Saviour of the world. But, to begin, we start back in eternity with the topic: Jesus is God our Creator. We consider what it means that God is a Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and so God is eternally in relationship. And we wonder at the God who created the world and created us all as an act of love and from a desire to increase the circle of his eternal lovin...

How do we pray when our life falls apart? We all have seasons where our life becomes a ruin: our hopes and dreams crumble, our health gives way, relationships fall apart. Our life that was once so orderly and felt so secure has now become disheveled, uncertain, ruinous. Where is God in this season of life? Psalm 74 takes us into this experience and points us to where God connects with us in these dark and confusing experiences of l...

Rev. Natalie Dixon-Monu from Boroondara Community Outreach (BCO) joins us today. Using the story of the four men who carried their paralysed friend to Jesus, even having to dig a hole through the roof to get him to Jesus, Natalie leads us to consider how we can be such a friend to those who have needs around us. She particularly draws our attention to the needs in our own community—both from those who appear affluent and those whos...

Many of us have an equation in our mind: the more God is “good” to me, the better my life will be! God’s goodness = my well-being. Psalm 73 takes us to the sick-bed of a faithful, God honouring, man as he wrestles with why he is sick while unfaithful, even evil, people are enjoying health and success. How is this right? How is this just? If you've ever wondered why God doesn't simply make your life better, then join us we...

2024 will be Canterbury Baptist’s last year in our current premises. 2025–26 will be a building program that will require us to vacate our building. Our conviction, though, is that this is God calling us out into our community. We anticipate new opportunities to be the light and life of Jesus through this time of change and disruption. This “Vision 2024” presentation outlines the key decisions and reflections this move requires of ...

Psalm 72 describes what a perfect king brings to the people. What would it be like to live under the leadership of someone who lived out these values? And who is the perfect ruler this Psalm is pointing us to? Join the Canterbury Baptist Congregation as we reflect together on the vision of this Psalm, on how Jesus is the perfect king, and what that means when we live the values of this king in our own lives.

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Psalm 71 is the song of an older person, grey-haired and feeling their vulnerability and growing weakness. How do we face seasons of life when our life is diminished and no amount of prayer and effort can give us back what we have lost? What does faith in God look like in these seasons? The Psalmist takes us into this pain while showing how God meets us in this place.

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybapt...

Jesus finishes his teaching in Matthew 6 with the powerful and challenges instruction, "Do not worry." How quickly and easily worry about our physical needs can squeeze down our faith and trust in how God is calling us to live. We think God's call can be a 'zero-sum' equation—the more we give to God, the less our own needs will be met. Jesus, instead, reminds us that God cares for His creation, and even mor...

Jesus warns us that nobody can live a life that serves two masters. But we try to please God and live for our desires and ambitions at the same time. One of those masters will have our true devotion, and the other we will end up despising as we feel they keep getting in our way. Who is your true master? Who or what are you truly trying to please?

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org

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You travel in the direction you are looking at. Jesus draws an image for us of light coming through our eyes and bring purpose and direction to our soul. But Jesus challenges us to consider whether we are looking into the light, or whether we are looking into darkness and calling it light. We reflect on the light that floods our soul and guides our steps.

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org
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All of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount so far has been leading up to this challenge: what do you truly treasure? Today Jesus calls us to discern what our highest treasure is and to consider the true value of that treasure in the light of eternity. 

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org
 
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Jesus has been teaching us about three acts that show our faith in action: giving, prayer, and fasting. Today we look at fasting. Fasting is the act of voluntarily denying yourself something that gives you pleasure for a set period of time. Its main purpose is to confront ourselves with the force of our desires within us and to use this need as motivation to seek God more. But Jesus also reminds us that fasting by itself is of no s...

The Lord’s Prayer describes three requests that we are called to make of God. Each of these requests frames the way we live in the world and be the people God has created us to be. In this sermon, we look at each of those three requests, consider how they can be applied into our lives, and then reflect on the overall shape and purpose of the Lord’s Prayer for us today. 

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org<...

Jesus teaches us how to pray by giving us an example we can follow: the Lord's Prayer. This prayer starts with three insights about God that help to get our heart and our eyes in the right place before continuing on to make the three requests. In this sermon, we reflect on those three insights: what they tell us about the God we prayer to, and how the position us to connect with God and all God is doing around us. 

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Jesus continues to teach on ways our faith is seen in our actions. Today He introduces the second theme: prayer. Jesus reminds us that prayer is not about performance, nor is it about repeatedly telling God information He already knows, thinking that saying lots of words will bring out the result we want. Instead, prayer is about connecting to the reality that God is with us. Today we consider what it means that we pray to the God ...

Today we start a new series in Matthew 6. The big idea is that our faith is seen in our actions. But not just any actions. Jesus describes faith through the actions of giving, praying, and fasting. The first focus is on giving. Jesus challenges us to think about our true motivations when we give and to consider the place of giving in our spiritual lives.

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org
 
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We finished this series on SHAPE by asking the question, “What is my calling?” Most of us think the answer to this question must be a great revelation and changes the course of our life. But, in truth, God is calling each of us to be faithful to the relationships and the opportunities He has already given to us. What difference does it make if we consider our lives as God’s call on our lives?

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc...

We each have our own experiences, pressures, and fears that cause us to hesitate when we have the chance to live out the call of God in our lives. In today’s sermon, we reflect on a number of famous people in the Bible who also hesitated in the face of God’s call, but also notice how God had prepared them for all He was calling them to do.

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburybaptist.org
 
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In this Service, we take our reflections about our SHAPE and we apply them to three Church Agencies represented in the Congregation: the local Church, the Baptist Union representatives, and the Whitley College representatives. Applying the lessons of our series so far, how can we acknowledge the gifts each agency brings and how can we come together so we are truly Better Together?

To contact Rev. Stephen Field, email cbc@canterburyb...