Bethlehem Lutheran Church Bendigo in Bendigo, Victoria | Church

Bethlehem Lutheran Church Bendigo

Locality: Bendigo, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 5441 5021

Address: 94 Spring Gully Road 3550 Bendigo, VIC, Australia

Website: http://bendigo.lutheran.org.au/

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25.01.2022 This week Sunday the 25th of October we will remember the Reformation. We are now permitted to have 20 people come together in an open air service which will be held at 10:00am on Sunday the 25th, in our Church grounds. Our focus for that service will be the Reading from Romans chapter 3.... Romans 3:19-28: God's people had lived under God's law since the time of Moses, drawing no closer to God's required standards of righteousness than to remain the judged under the judge. Yet there had been a system always in place by which forgiveness was assured through the priestly atoning sacrifices of animals. St Paul points out how these sacrifices foretold the all-sufficient sacrifice God made in the sacrifice of his Son. Through this all human sin is passed over. Whoever trusts Christ Jesus' purchase price receives God's own righteousness as a free gift. Here is where the previously distraught Martin Luther at last found perfect peace in realising that he was put completely right with God through simply trusting what God offered in Christ's perfect life and payment price to set us free. LWR. Our Zoom service will commence at 11:00am. And our Zoom Bible Study will commence at 7:15 pm on Tuesday the 20th of October. If you would like the links to either of the Zoom events let me know and I’ll give you the link.

25.01.2022 10th Sunday after Pentecost 9th of August 2020 This week, the 9th of August, in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word, because of the stage 3 restrictions, through Zoom Meeting only.... We will commence our Zoom worship at 11:00am and our focus will be upon Matthew 14:22-33: We are shown that as the God of Israel showed his almighty power by dividing the Red Sea to save his people, so the man Jesus in this miracle shows his power as God over the elements of nature. No less today he looks for the implicit trust of his people as they are beset by the storms of life's events. While our faith might often waver, yet his hand will raise us up. We therefore trustingly await his reassuring, 'Peace, be still!' Once again our Zoom Bible Study will be held on Tuesday evening the 4th of August from 7:15 pm. Our text this week will be Matthew 14:22-33 If you would like to join in then please let me know and I will give you the link. Zoom worship will be held again at 11:00am. Again if you would like the link let me know and I will give it to you.

24.01.2022 9th Sunday after Pentecost 2nd of August 2020 This week in the Bendigo Parish we will gather around God’s Word and celebrate with Holy communion, in restricted numbers at both our worship centres.... At 9:00am at Spring Gully and at 11:00am in Castlemaine. Our focus this week will be upon, Isaiah 55:1-5: Where we are told that God invites the hungry and the thirsty to come to him for spiritual food and drink. This truly satisfying nourishment comes from God's free loving grace, without cost to us. Our Zoom Bible study will be held at 7:15pm on Tuesday the 28th of July. If you would like to join us let me know and I will give you the link. Zoom church continues, this week it will be held at approximately 1:00pm after I have been to Castlemaine. If you would like that link then please contact me.

23.01.2022 6th Sunday after Pentecost 12th of July 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word in restricted numbers in our Spring Gully building at 10:00am for a service of the Word.... Our focus will be upon Romans 8:1-11: In chapter 7 of Romans we are told that the indwelling sin of a believer creates many a crisis of conscience. Now in chapter 8 however we are told that the believing Christian now lives in the Spirit who brings one to faith. God took the condemnatory law and placed its burden on his own Son. Christ himself met the complete requirements of God's law which God rightly demanded of all people. Believers have in this way been set free from the law of sin and death. Therefore no believing Christian can set his/her mind on the things of the 'flesh', ie sinful pleasures which militate against the Spirit's indwelling. Even though a Christian is still afflicted by sin, yet the Spirit imparts life just as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. LWR. Zoom Church will be held at 11:15 am. Please contact me and I’ll give you the link. Zoom Bible study will also be held on Tuesday evenings at 7:15pm please contact me if you would like the link.

22.01.2022 15th Sunday after Pentecost 13th of September 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will once again gather around God’s Word via Zoom. ... The text for our sermon and zoom Bible study will be Mtt 18:21-35. In which we are told that, Jesus' story about the two debts emphasises that it isn't the number of time one forgives, but the extent to which one forgives which is critical. As we pray in the Lord's Prayer, so this story teaches that we are to forgive those who sin against us in the same measure as the heavenly Father has forgiven us. Jesus' strong warning at the conclusion of the story surely teaches how refusal to forgive cuts one off from God. LWR. If you would like to join in our Tuesday evening Zoom Bible Study at 7:15pm on the 8th of September or our Zoom Sunday service on the 13th of September at 11:00am please contact me and I’ll share the link.

21.01.2022 8th Sunday after Pentecost 26th of July 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word and Holy Communion in restricted numbers at our worship centre in Spring Gully at 10:00am.... Our focus will be upon Romans 8:26-39: Where we are told that the Spirit helps with our prayers when we do not know how or what to pray. If God's predestination has worked out in our being called to faith, then God will always be working for his loved ones' good. If God paid such a price in giving his Son into death, and then raising him from the dead to avert eternal condemnation, can any evil which befalls Christians take us out of his hand? The infinite love of God runs deeper than any power of life or death which may work against us. There is no power of evil in the universe which can break the inviolable love and eternal protection God bestows through Jesus Christ. LWR. Zoom Bible Study will be held at 7:15pm on Tuesday evening the 21st of July. Our text will be Romans 8:26-39. Contact me and I’ll give you the link Zoom Church. Will be held at 11:15 am on Sunday the 26th of July. Contact me and I’ll give you the link.

20.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish the 7th of March we will meet at both Spring Gully and Castlemaine. Spring Gully 9:00am Castlemaine 11:00am... Our Zoom Bible Study will be held on Tuesday the 2nd of March at 7:15pm.

19.01.2022 12th Sunday after Pentecost 23rd of August 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will again be worshipping via Zoom Church.... The service will commence at 11:00am. Our text for the sermon will be Matthew 16:13-20. Where we are told that the people of Jesus' day were willing to identify him with Old Testament prophets whom they believed would return to earth before the day of the Lord. It was only the disciples who believed him to be the promised Messiah (the Christ) and the Son of the living God, as expressed by Peter. It was the Father who revealed this. Today it is only by the power of the Spirit that Christians confess Jesus as the Christ. With his declared forgiveness the church is given power (the keys) to open heaven by forgiving sins or close it by retaining them. LWR. Matthew 16:13-20 will also be the text for our Zoom Bible study which will be held on Tuesday evening the 18th of August at 7:15pm. If you would like to join in with either the Zoom Church or Study, please contact me and I will give you the link.

19.01.2022 20th Sunday After Pentecost 18th of October 2020. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word on Sunday the 18th of October.... Ten of us are permitted to meet in the open air at 10:00am. If you would like to join in please contact me. If there are more than 10 people wanting to attend then we can organize another service At 11:00am on the 18th of October our Zoom Church will commence. On Tuesday evening the 13th of October at 7:15pm our Zoom Bible study will be held. The focus for our study and worship will be Matthew 22:15-22 where we are told that This attempt to entrap Jesus with a barbed question was aimed at either discrediting him in the general community or creating a reason to report him to the Roman authorities. The poll tax coin bore Caesar's inscription and was a hated reminder to people of their subservience. Jesus' brilliant answer recognized the reality of the governmental right to impose outward control over the population. However, the whole person belongs to God and therefore believers owe their first obedience to him in everything in which he calls for it. Only in that framework could obedience be given to government. LWR. If you would like the links to either of our Zoom activities please contact me

19.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather together both in person, with up to 20 people being able to gather in our buildings at Spring Gully at 9:00am and Castlemaine at 11:00am and we will also meet for Zoom Church at approximately 1:00pm after I return from Castlemaine. If you would like to be among the number who attend please let me know. Of course strict Covid-19 safe guards are in place to help keep our members safe. There will not be a Zoom Bible study this week.

18.01.2022 13th Sunday After Pentecost 30th of August 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will again be gathering around God’s Word via Zoom, at 11:00am. Our meditation will be upon Matthew 16:21-28: Where we are told that after the high point of Peter - confessing Jesus to be 'the Christ, the Son of the living God' - this week's selection shows Jesus saying he 'must’ go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. The disciples are bewildered. Their Messiah of God must fail? However, t...he Lord knows that the only way to glory for him and for us is through death. Both it and Satan must be conquered. So he went. If we then need to pick up our cross to follow him, let it so be. That which may stand in the way of salvation needs to be sacrificed. This text will also be the foundation of our Bible study on Tuesday evening the 25th of August at 7:15pm. For both our Zoom Bible Study and Church please contact me and I will give you the link.

17.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word. Some of us, 20 in number, will meet in our building at 10:00am for a service of the Word. Our focus will be upon Matthew 9:35-10:23: The Lord saw the confused condition of people who were neglected by their religious leaders and felt compassion for them. His first emphasis to alleviate this distress was to teach and preach the message of salvation, backed up by comprehensive physical healing. When he e...nlisted the twelve disciples and sent them out on a special mission he also gave them special apostolic authority. They were given authority to preach the same message of the kingdom as he, and also the authority to heal and cast out demon spirits. The meticulous instructions which follow are in the form of principles to be applied so as to facilitate the urgent need to get the message out quickly. For those who are unable to attend this week Zoom Church will once again be made available. Please contact me and I will give you the link.

17.01.2022 18th Sunday after Pentecost 4th of October 2020. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word via zoom only at 11:00am on Sunday the 4th of October.... The text for our sermon and for the zoom Bible Study will be Matthew 21:33-46: In this parable, the tenants controlling the Lord's vineyard represent religious leaders of the day. This includes also those of the past who rejected, stoned, and even killed God's messengers, the prophets. Now that God's Son is finally sent, he too will meet with the same hardhearted rejection. However, those who stumble against this cornerstone do so to their own judgment. God would have a church of faithful believers. He will accordingly take the gospel from a 'national' church to a 'spiritual' body of believers. Hasn't the same pattern showed itself in the history of the church and in our own time? LWR. If you would like the link to the Bible Study or the Worship time, please let me know and I will supply the link. Tuesday Evening Bible Study, 29th of September 2020. 7:15pm

17.01.2022 11th Sunday after Pentecost 16th of August 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word, due to the Corona restrictions, via Zoom Church. This will commence at 11:00am on Sunday the 16th of August. If you would like to join in please contact me.... Our focus this week will be upon Matthew 15:10-28 where we are told that the Canaanite woman's initial piteous cry for help was met by silence from the Lord. Her faith was further put to the test by his seeming heavy rebuff. A Gentile, she yet continued to call on him as 'Messiah' (Son of David) to help. Jesus honoured that persistent expression of faith. Faith is the key to receiving the blessings of Christ, regardless of race, sex, colour or ability. Our Zoom Bible Study will once again be held on Tuesday evening the 11th of August at 7:15pm. Our text for study will be Matthew 15:10-28. Contact me and I’ll give you the link.

17.01.2022 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. 21st of June 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will, in restricted numbers, gather around God’s Word at both our places of Worship.... At 9:00am in Spring Gully and at 11:00am in Castlemaine. Our focus this week will be upon Matthew 10:24-39: this reading belongs to a lengthy discourse of instruction by Jesus about what his disciples should expect and do when taking the gospel out into the world. if the master is maligned and rejected, the disciples should expect the same experience. Yet they will not need to be afraid even of those who have the power of physical death. That which Jesus was teaching them in private, god's word, would fearlessly be made known by them under the father's gracious keeping. Acknowledgment, or on the other hand denial, of Jesus would bring on them either eternal continuation of the loving relationship in glory or eternal rejection and punishment. Christ’s message divides people, and will therefore result in hostility and rejection at even the closest family levels. Discipleship means first loyalty and total attachment to Christ himself over against all people and things. To love Jesus means to follow him regardless of the pain, rejection or persecution which may result. LWR. For those who can’t be present then Zoom Church is also available. This will be at 1:00pm after I have been to Castlemaine. We are also holding Zoom Bible Studies on Tuesday evenings from 7:15pm. If you wish to take part in either of these then please contact me and I will give you the links.

16.01.2022 5th Sunday after Pentecost. 5th of July 2020. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will, in restricted numbers, gather around God’s Word in both our Worship places. At 9:00am in Bendigo and 11:00am in Castlemaine. Zoom Church will be held at approximately 1:00pm. Our focus will be upon Romans 7:15-25: The fact that Paul doesn't want to do the things which are wrong shows that he agrees that God's law is right, even though he fails to obey it. This demonstrates that in ...his innermost soul he is still motivated and controlled by his own inborn sinfulness. Even his honest desire to do what he knows to be right is thwarted because of this. On the one hand he delights in God's law, but at the same time this propensity to evil leads him into wretched misery. Rescue from this contradictory spiritual upheaval can only come from Christ. For this he gives thanks. LWR. Zoom Church this week will be at approximately 1:00pm after I have returned from Castlemaine. Please contact me and I will give you the link. Also our Zoom Bible studies will continue on Tuesday evenings at 7:15pm. Please contact me and I will provide the study guide and the zoom link.

16.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran parish we will once again meet around God’s Word Via Zoom. Sunday Zoom Worship will be a t 11:00am Sunday the 27th, our text will be Matthew 21:23-32: Where we are told that; the religious leaders from their stand-point of confirmed rejection here query Jesus' authority to teach and work miracles. He answers their query and points to their hardheartedness through the story of the two sons. God will always turn from those who stubbornly shut h...im out of their lives, and will find others who can be constituted on a spiritual basis to produce fruits from their new life created in and through the Saviour. LWR. Our Tuesday evening Zoom Bible study will be on the Matthew text and the study will commence at 7:15 pm Tuesday the 22nd of September. If you would like the links to either of these Zoom meeting then please let me know.

16.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish the 14th of March we will gather around God’s Word ion Spring Gully at 10:00am. Our focus will be upon, John 3:14-21: You would think that if salvation is free simply through looking up to Jesus who was 'lifted up' for our sin that many more would be saved. Sadly that is not the case. John tells us that the last thing the Father wants is to condemn the world. Otherwise he would not have sent his Son. However, the personal love of sin ...and darkness, together with pride in not wanting it to be exposed, prevents all too many from receiving his light for their salvation. It then tragically becomes judgment instead. Our prime aim then is to bring our sin into the light of the Father to permit his salvation through his Son (which has removed our condemnation) to transform our deeds also into light. LWR. Our Zoom Bible Study will be held tonight from 7:30 pm upon the text John 3:14-21. If you would like the link please contact me.

15.01.2022 FOR FACEBOOK This week in the Bendigo Lutheran parish we will gather around God’s Word and celebrate with Holy Communion in Spring Gully at 10:00am. Our Focus will be upon the Transfiguration of our Lord.... Zoom Bible Study will be held Tuesday evening at 7:15pm And this week Zoom worship will not take place due to our Parish AGM. If you would like a link for the Bible Study please let me know.

14.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish on Sunday the 28th of February we will gather around God’s Word in Spring Gully at 10:00am. Zoom Church will be held at 11:30am. Our Zoom Bible Study will be held at 7:15pm on Tuesday the 23rd of February.... If you would like the links to either of these please just let me know. Our focus for Sunday and the Bible study will be Mark 8:31-38 The cost of discipleship. To the Jews of Jesus' day there was a popular saying, 'There will be no more misery when Messiah comes'. Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Christ (that is, the Messiah!), and now Jesus tells the disciples that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem to be rejected by the religious leaders, and to suffer and to die. Peter's well-meant discouragement of this idea is treated by Jesus as nothing less than Satan's work. Because the cross and all it means is central to receiving eternal life, we need to embrace it as God's plan for our life with him and be ready to put it before all else, even if it means suffering and even death. LWR.

13.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word and celebrate with Holy Communion at both our places of worship. Spring Gully at 9:00am Castlemaine at 11:00am... Our focus will be upon Isaiah 40:21-31: Where we are told that all human beings, including their princes, have only a transitory nature and insignificant power compared to the Lord, who has ordered all things. The Lord himself is above comparison, being both the architect and creator of the universe. God's people are therefore wrong to question his significant involvement and influence over events which affect their wellbeing. Those who will but trust him and turn to him are strengthened and sustained. LWR. There will be no Zoom Church this week. Zoom Bible Study will be held commencing at 7:15pm. If anyone would like a link let me know.

13.01.2022 4th Sunday after Pentecost 28th June 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s Word, in restricted numbers, at our Spring Gully centre at 10:00am.... Zoom Church will be held at 11:15am. Please contact me for the link Our focus this week will be upon Romans 6:12-23: which is the second part of St Paul’s answer to his enemies’ criticism that salvation through faith in Christ’s work of redemption encourages more and more sin in order to receive more of God’s grace. He answers here that not only did Christ die to set us free from sin and its terrible consequences, but the purpose of this freedom is to enable believers to cease allowing sin its power in their bodies, yielding them rather to be ‘instruments of righteousness’. Being under the freedom of grace, opposed to slavery under strict and harsh law, means placing oneself under willing service to God with growth in personal holiness. The so-called freedom of sin brings death. The freedom of service in righteousness brings eternal life. LWR Our Tuesday Evening Zoom Bible study, which will commence at 7:15pm, will be studying Romans 6:12-23 Please contact me for the link.

12.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Church, Sunday the 15th of November, we will gather around God’s Word and celebrate also with Holy Communion, in restricted numbers at both our places of Worship. At 9:00am in Spring Gully At 11:00 am in Castlemaine.... This week we will see and hear a sermon which has been prepared by our District Bishop. The text that He has chosen is the text from 1st Thessalonians. Where we are told: Human nature has always blurred the edges between God's will for properly fulfilled human living under his love and wilful human love for living against his will. The second coming of our Lord Jesus points up the urgency of keenly observing this distinction. If one wishes to live in the enjoyment of darkness (sin), there can be no justified surprise when caught as by a thief in the night. Christians are therefore called on to strengthen and encourage one another to live in the light. God's essential will is that we should be saved! Our Zoom Church will be held at Approximately 1:00pm after I have returned from Castlemaine. Our Zoom Bible Study will be held Tuesday the 10th of November at 7:15pm. We will study Matthew 25:14-30. If you would like the link to either the Sunday or Tuesday Zoom gatherings please just let me know.

12.01.2022 Notices. This week Sunday the 7th of June in Castlemaine at 11:00am we will gather together at the Seventh Day Adventist Church for worship. We will be following the Government instructions and our LCA’s guidelines concerning social distancing and cleanliness.... Again we need to acknowledge that the Covid-19 virus is still very much a major concern and we need to remind everyone of the government’s advice for those people who are over 65/70 years of age and older who need to be more cautious in their decision to meet with other people. Please, if you feel ill at all, please do not come to church but seek medical care. Our focus this week will be upon Trinity Sunday and Jesus Great Commission of His disciples. As told in Matthew 28:16-20: The Lord's meeting with the disciples in Galilee was as previously directed (Matthew 28: 10). Having fulfilled his own mission he has now received full authority from the Father. He is therefore able to direct and commission not only his immediate followers, but the church after that to go out into all the world in his authority. He accompanies it when his command to baptise and to teach all of his commands are observed. The promise of his abiding and empowering presence gives the church its full credentials to act in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. LWR. Zoom Church this week will be held from 1:00pm to give me time to return from Castlemaine. Contact me and I will let you know the link. It will also be emailed out with the other worship material.

12.01.2022 For Facebook. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish, if the shutdown allows we will gather around God’s Word and celebrate with Holy Communion at both Spring Gully and Castlemaine. Spring Gully from 9:00am ... Castlemaine from 11:00am. Our focus for this week will be Mark 1: 9-15: The baptism of Jesus (who needed neither confession nor forgiveness) marks the beginning of his ministry as the Messiah. The voice of the Father and the visible imbuing of the Spirit attest his divine mission and authorise him as the Son of God the Father. Satan recognises the implications against his power and immediately sets out to wreck the divine plan, unsuccessfully. Note the prime aspect of Christ's ministry and the essence of the Kingdom's objective, namely, repentance and faith in the good news of God's gracious forgiveness. LWR. Our Zoom Bible study will be held tonight the 16th of February from 7:15pm we will look at all the texts for this coming Sunday. If you would like to attend just contact me and I will give you the link.

10.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish the 21st of March we will gather around God’s Word at both our worship centres and celebrate with Holy Communion. Spring Gully. 9:00am Castlemaine. 11:00am... Our focus for the day will be John 12:20-33: When some Greeks wished to see Jesus, the answer of Jesus to their request (conveyed by Andrew and Philip) was an announcement of his coming passion. Jesus' real glorification was to be in fulfilling the will of the Father that his single death would bring eternal life for all. Any who would see this 'glorification' could do so only through faith which loses the worldly life but gains the heavenly and transforms the believer to the joy of loving service to the Father. The voice of God (as at Sinai) affirms Jesus' announcement and determination. Through his death and resurrection Satan is driven out and Jesus draws all to himself. LWR.

09.01.2022 16th Sunday after Pentecost 20th of September 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will once again, unless changes are made, gather around God’s Word via Zoom.... The text for our sermon and our zoom Bible study will be Matthew 20:1-16: Sometimes the Scriptures talk about heaven as a final 'reward'. Other times salvation is taught to be strictly undeserved and solely received as a gift of God. In this parable Jesus shows that God owes no individual person anything. No matter what the extent of personal service, it is God who determines 'rewards' essentially according to his own grace and all-knowing counsel. He gives only in grace, otherwise nobody would receive eternal salvation in the Kingdom. LWR. Our Zoom Bible Study will be held on Tuesday the 15th of September at 7:15pm. Our Zoom church will be held on Sunday the 20th September at 11:00am If you would like the link for our Zoom Church or Bible study please let me know and I will supply you with the link.

08.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will, electronically once again, gather around God’s word. Our readings are Psalm 66:8-20... FIRST READING Acts 17:22-31 Paul in Athens SECOND READING 1 Peter 3:13-22 Suffering for doing right GOSPEL John 14:15-21 The promise of the Holy Spirit And our sermon will be upon the Gospel reading. When Jesus said, 'Keep my commandments' he was not referring just to a new set of rules, but saying that the disciples were to observe the love that permeates all the doing which flows from salvation. Both of these are a witness on his behalf to the world. The disciples will not be left on their own. The Holy Spirit will replace on a permanent basis the physical guiding presence of their beloved master. Not only will the Spirit bestow the sense of certainty that Christ is with the Father, binding them to both, but also will move the disciples to express their love for the Lord in keeping his commandments. LWR. I would like to remind you all of the many resources that our Church, the LCA, is providing for worship in this time of isolation. Go to the LCA Home Page and then follow links to Church@home , there you will find several Churches who are either live streaming or recording services. Also we will once again Zoom Church from 11:00am Sunday morning. Contact me and I will give you the link information, or you can see it on our weekly mail outs.

08.01.2022 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish the 31st of May we will be celebrating Pentecost. Once more we will be meeting through the Zoom Church. I am hoping that we will be able to gather together in person, though it will be in fewer numbers at the one time, very soon. Our text for this Sunday is 1 Corinthians 12:3-13: The background to this reading needs to be born in mind. The Corinth congregation was beset by rivalry, division, envy and dissension despite its prominent gi...fts. A veiled reference in the previous verses to Father, Son and Spirit implies the purpose of unity behind these gifts. The primary and essential gift, of course, is common to all Christians, that is, personal saving faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. This attestation or manifestation of the Son's headship in the body of believers is accompanied by God's production of differing and divergent spiritual abilities in individual believers. These, though, are not for personal aggrandisement, but to achieve a shared benefit and blessing one to the other, according to the Spirit's plan and purpose, apportioned as he wills. Christ's body is to be built up with a unity of purpose which serves his headship. LWR. See more

07.01.2022 7th Sunday after Pentecost 19th of July 2020 This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will gather around God’s word in restricted numbers due to Covid-19, at both places where we worship. At 9:00am in Spring Gully and at 11:00am in Castlemaine.... We will continue in our study of Romans Chapter 8. Romans 8:12-25: This section emphasises the very centre of God's gracious entry into human lives. Sin is the barrier which has shut us off from God. That state becomes a harsh slavery. Sin is a hard taskmaster. Fear results from this slavery, whether now or in the hereafter. It is the Spirit who brings Christ's redeeming light and cleansing into the soul of a believer through the life-giving word of promise. This release into a loving and confident relationship with the Father is natural when one has been made a son or daughter and an official heir of God himself. Although living in this high standing, Christians still experience suffering. However, just as the fallen and decaying creation points in expectation to a day of restored glory, so the believer in a far higher sense lives in the sure hope through salvation of a final perfected freedom of total redemption. LWR. Our Zoom Bible study will continue on Tuesday evening at 7:15pm and Romans 8:12-25 will be text studied. Please contact me if you would like the link. Also Zoom Church will also be happening at approximately 1:00pm. Please contact me and I will give you the link

07.01.2022 14th Sunday after Pentecost 6th of September 2020. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish the 6th of September 2020 we will once again be gathering via Zoom at 11:00am.... Our Bible Study will be help on Tuesday evening at 7:15pm also via Zoom. If you would like to join in on either of these things please contact me and I will give you the link. The text of our sermon and Bible study will be Matthew 18:15-20: where we are told that the church is a saved band of believers who support and help each other also to reach eternal life. Therefore sin in a fellow believer becomes a deep concern within the body. Our Lord puts forward the strategy we are to use to build each other up when sin threatens an individual. Christ says to speak with your brother/sister alone in order to gain him/her. If that fails, others are to help. If that in turn fails, the congregation is to act. The three steps described are meant to promote, express and achieve the unity of the body of believers. Forgiveness declared by the church or by a believer is the power of opening heaven's door (vv 18,19). Rejection of such spiritual approach and care closes it. LWR.

06.01.2022 It was so wonderful to be able to meet together inside our buildings again. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish, on Sunday the 8th of November, we will gather around God’s word and Sacrament both in Person in restricted numbers at 10:00am and Via Zoom at approximately 11:30 am. Our text for the day will be Matthew 25:1-13: In this parable the 'bridegroom' represents the Messiah and the 'maidens' represent professing Christians. That they all slumbered indicates the unexp...ectedness of the Lord's coming. That the five who had no oil were shut out from the feast teaches that there is a proper time for spiritual preparedness which cannot be put off. The 'wise' were unable to share their oil not because they were selfish, but because it is an unalterable reality that each believer can only believe and act for him- or herself. Our Zoom Bible Study will be held on Tuesday evening the 3rd of November at 7:15pm. If you would like the link for either of the Zoom meetings please contact me.

05.01.2022 19th Sunday after Pentecost 11th of October 2020. This week in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we will again gather around God’s Word via Zoom. ... The text for the day, Sunday the 11th of October at 11:00am and for our Zoom Bible on Tuesday the 6th of October at 7:15 pm, will be Matthew 22:1-14: Where we are told that God never forces people into his kingdom. He graciously invites. When people like the Jewish nation as such, characterised as those first invited to the wedding banquet, refuse and reject God's call to come into his spiritual kingdom, he turns to others. However, because salvation, like the wedding banquet, is an accomplished fact, absolutely free, available simply for the taking, God expects all who have come always to be 'clothed' with the wedding garment of faith. Not thus to be prepared means rejection of God's loving offer, and therefore in turn invites ultimate rejection by him. We therefore need always to live in and by his word of life. LWR. If you would like the links for the Zoom meetings please let me know and I will make them available to you.

01.01.2022 This Sunday the 27th of May in the Bendigo Lutheran Parish we remember our Lord’s Ascension. Once again we will meet in Zoom Church from 11:00am on Sunday morning. Contact me and I’ll give you the link. Our sermon will be upon, Luke 24:44-53: In this last teaching session with his disciples, Jesus alludes to the importance of all his redeeming activity in God's sweeping plan carried out over thousands of years. The revelation of law through Moses and prophecy through espec...ially inspired men all had fulfilment in Jesus' redemption. Therefore his work needs proclamation in terms of repentance and forgiveness of sin. The church will continue this work. The disciples returned with joy after their Lord's separation, for they knew that what was taken from them was merely his visible presence. He was, in reality, with them always. LWR. We are becoming a little excited by the fact that it seems that we are getting closer and closer to be being able to meet together in person.