Corowa Presbyterian Church

19/05/2026

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at essential doctrines: the truths about God that are vital for Christians to believe. Two weeks ago we saw that only God is God. There is no one like him. Nothing we fear, nothing we love can be compared to him. Last week we saw that Jesus is truly God and truly human. He is Lord. He makes God known to us. And he gives us the right to become God’s children.

Today we come to the Spirit. And here the crucial question is slightly different. If you read through the Old Testament, one thing becomes clear very quickly. The Spirit is divine. The Spirit is God at work in the world he has made. He is God with his sleeves rolled up, doing things, changing things, making them different, making them better. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit was already there, hovering over the ancient seas. Elsewhere we see that he is the giver of life, renewing the hope and strength of the weary. He is also the giver of wisdom, helping God’s people know right from wrong, to see what is good and better and best. And he is the giver of prophecy, carrying God’s word to the prophet, and then carrying it from the prophet’s lips into the hearts of those who hear. Wherever God touches his world, the Spirit is there at the point of contact. If you have ever had a genuine experience of God, if you have heard his voice, or known his strength when your own ran out, you’ve had a close encounter with the Spirit of God, whether you knew it or not.

So the Spirit is God. It is the consistent message of the Old Testament. It was never seriously in doubt. But here is the question the New Testament forces us to answer. Is the Spirit a force or a person?

If you'd like to read more of this message on the Holy Spirit, click the link below.
https://corowapc.org/the-holy-spirit/

13/05/2026

Our Op Shop's new sign

Our new sign. Thanks to Corowa Signs.

05/05/2026

Who can you turn to in a crisis? Who do you pray to when life takes a turn for the worse? Footballers and cricketers might turn to the gods of sport. Gamblers might invoke the help of Lady Luck. And atheists and agnostics might pray to a God they say they don't believe in. But Stephen prayed to Jesus.

In our second reading from Acts chapter 7, we see Stephen on trial for his life on the charge of blasphemy. At the end of his long speech he accused his accusers of hypocrisy — it is they, not he, who have resisted the will of God. In response, they picked up stones and hurled them at Stephen. And as he died, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this against them." Stephen shows us that in our moments of crisis we too can pray to Jesus. As everyone's favourite hymn says, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear." Our message today from John chapter 1 will show that we can pray to Jesus because of who he is.

For more of this message on John 1:1-18, click the link below:
https://corowapc.org/god-the-son/

28/04/2026

Isaiah chapter 40 is a wonderful passage, full of picture perfect quotes. None are better than its closing words:

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

From beginning to end, the passage shows not only how powerful God is, but the power he gives to his weary, faithful people.

On the surface, it all looks lovely. But at the heart of Isaiah chapter 40 there lies a wound, a wound in the soul of the people of Israel that the prophet’s words try to heal. And that wound is laid bare by the Lord’s question to his people in verse 27:

Why, O Israel, do you complain, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?

They feel invisible. They feel that their way is hidden, like the Lord can’t see what they’re going through. They feel abandoned, disregarded, like their God has left them and moved on.

And they have good reasons for feeling that way.

For more of this message on Isaiah 40:12-31 click on the link below:
https://corowapc.org/god-is-god/

08/04/2026

A friend of mine once shared a story about a man he knew who was dying. His friend was not a Christian, and my friend felt a burden on his heart to go and tell him about Jesus. Time was running out, but he never went.

At his friend’s funeral, he discovered that a mutual friend had shared the gospel with the dying man, and on his deathbed he had made a commitment to Christ. My friend shared both joy at his friend’s conversion and grief that, through his own disobedience, he had missed the moment. God’s purposes were not frustrated. The man came to faith. But my friend missed the moment that had been prepared for him.

This was the faith that Mordecai confessed to Esther: “Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” This is a message about that question, and about the woman who answered it.

For more of this message on Esther 4-5 click the link below.
https://corowapc.org/esther-for-such-a-time-as-this/