A talk by Andrew Barry at The Big Weekend 2012 on the topic of 'Resurrection Power in the Life of the Believer'. This talk is entitled 'Is There a Christian Spirituality?' (Philippians 3:4-16, Ephesians 5:8-21) and is the third in the three-talk series.

Talk outline:

1. What are the spiritualities "out there"?
2. Which ones affect the church?
3. What activities would be called "Christian spirituality"?
4. What is Christian "spirituality"?
5. Is there a difference between Christian "spirituality" and Old Testament spirituality?
6. Is there a right and wrong approach to spirituality?
7. How would you respond to this? "I'm not a Christian, but I'm a spiritual person!"
8. How are you going to live differently in light of what we have discussed?

A talk by Andrew Barry at The Big Weekend 2012 on the topic of 'Resurrection Power in the Life of the Believer'. This talk is entitled 'Resurrection Power in the Life of the Believer' (Ephesians 1:15-23) and is the second in the three-talk series.

Talk outline:

1. The resurrection of Christ and the power of God
2. An ordinary foundation for living for Christ
3. The extra-ordinary foundation for life with Christ
   1. Our salvation includes our new life
   2. Let gratitude increase
   3. We live in light of reality
   4. We live by faith
   5. It's the basis of Christian ministry
   6. We're not alone

A talk by Andrew Barry at The Big Weekend 2012 on the topic of 'Resurrection Power in the Life of the Believer'. This talk is entitled 'Exploding our Understanding of the Resurrection' (Acts 2:22-41) and is the first in the three-talk series.

Talk outline:

1. The weekend talks I need to give, and perhaps you need to hear
2. The resurrection
   1. A grave-side truth, not an everyday truth?
   2. A proof in argument?
   3. Finishing off the loose ends?
3. The resurrection: the gospel (Romans 1:1-4, 2 Timothy 2:8, Acts)
4. What does the resurrection of Jesus accomplish?
5. Jesus' resurrection and other raisings (easier or harder?)
6. The power of God
   1. Compared to His raw power
   2. The power of God in the resurrection: why so powerful?
7. Let God explode our understanding and experience of the power of God in the resurrection of Jesus Christ

A talk by Joe Wiltshire at St Tom’s Big Weekend 2011 on the topic of 'Perfection: The Goal of God's Plan'. This talk is entitled 'Presenting Perfect' (Colossians 1:15-29) and is the last in the four-talk series.

Talk outline:

• Where have we come so far?
• The 'M' word
• Counting the cost
• God's plan is our work
• Implications
  1. Always be looking outside the present group
  2. Ministry requires both personal and corporate sacrifice
  3. There is no magic bullet
  4. False teachers are the ones who look for ease and popularity
  5. Not all of us are teachers
  6. For those that are teachers, teach the negative as well as the positive
  7. For anyone to be saved and grow as a Christian, they have to hear the word of the Gospel
  8. We've got to have the right expectations:
     • The world to be against you
     • That God will work
  9. Give up your life for the sake of the glory of God, for the sake of Jesus, for the sake of others and for your own sake

A talk by Joe Wiltshire at St Tom’s Big Weekend 2011 on the topic of 'Perfection: The Goal of God's Plan'. This talk is entitled 'Being Perfect' (Matthew 5) and is the third in the four-talk series.

Talk outline:

• The impossible expectations
• The kingdom of heaven
• Why is it that we can't just darn well obey?
• Jesus' sermon and the Law
  • It shows us how sinful we really are
  • It points us to the need for a Saviour
  • It shows us the right way to live as people who are on the side of righteousness
• Sinless perfectionism?
• Implications
  1. Keep reading the Bible with a self-critical eye, not a Bible-critical eye
  2. Keep putting sin to death
  3. Confession is important
  4. There's a danger of moralising
  5. We need to have very realistic expectations of others
  6. We need to set an example in both righteousness and confession for others
  7. The danger of pride
  8. We need to devote our whole life to the service of Christ and work on being perfect

A talk by Joe Wiltshire at St Tom’s Big Weekend 2011 on the topic of 'Perfection: The Goal of God's Plan'. This talk is entitled 'The Perfect Son' (Hebrews 4:14-5:10) and is the second in the four-talk series.

Talk outline:

• The central event in God's perfect plan: The perfecting of his Son
• How can God be made perfect? Some observations...
  • Without this...
  • What perfection doesn't mean
  • What perfection does mean
  • How Jesus was made perfect
• How can Jesus 'learn obedience'?
  1. He learned the cost of obedience
  2. He learned what it was to be tempted
  3. He learned that obedience to his Father's will and perfect plan would mean the ultimate price
  4. He desired his Father's will more than his own life
  5. Jesus' prayer is heard because of his reverence
  6. Jesus' death is how he achieved salvation for mankind
• Implications:
  1. The only proper response is awe and thanksgiving
  2. It ought to lead us to repentance and trust
  3. We must not harden our hearts and become disobedient
  4. Know that Jesus can help you in your temptations and sympathises with you
  5. There is no other way of salvation
  6. We need to be aware of the danger of 'works'