All Saints Anglican Church Christchurch

All Saints Anglican Church Christchurch All Saints Church - Faithful - Traditional - Evangelical - Anglican

04/06/2026

60 Second Sermon…
Have you ever considered how food can become a cultural marker? The Babylonian’s knew this; it’s why they insisted that anyone who worked in the Royal court ate from the king’s table. The royal diet was both luxurious and symbolic, consisting of rich meats, fine wines, and other delicacies. This wasn’t ordinary fare, but elite provisions all designed to nourish and assimilate young trainees physically, mentally and culturally, creating loyalty and dependence on the king. Sharing the king’s food carried covenant-like significance. It implying allegiance, friendship, and acceptance of the host’s way of life.

The book of Daniel deals with this very subject, causing no small amount of angst for the young Daniel as he and his friends entered the king’s service. For them, accepting the king’s provisions could signal reliance on Babylonian power rather than on God. Daniel chose dependence on God for sustenance and success. It was a quiet, but profound act of resistance to full cultural assimilation. You see, obedience, even in seemingly insignificant things like the food they chose to eat, built character and prepared them for the greater trials ahead that they were going to face.

We may not be in a physical Babylonian exile, but we can still feel culturally and spiritually exiled in our own lands. The values of our society… materialism, sexual immorality, self-worship, all in themselves a rejection of biblical truth… often feel as foreign to the kingdom of God as Babylonian idolatry felt to Daniel. We too are surrounded by systems that want to rename us, to re-educate us, and reshape our appetites. Daniel’s example encourages us to resolve in our own hearts not to defile ourselves with today’s equivalent of food from the king’s table. Rev Andy Carley

28/05/2026

60 Second Sermon…
The doctrine of the Trinity is probably one of the most difficult to explain to a non-Christian, it’s confusing enough for us who believe! But it’s not a theological puzzle to be solved, it’s an invitation to live in the radiant light of God’s own life. As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our God exists eternally in perfect love and unity. This divine communion is not distant or abstract; it is the very pattern into which we are invited.

To live in the light of the Trinity means first embracing the Father’s loving provision and care. Just as Jesus trusted his Father completely, we are called to rest in God’s faithfulness, bringing every need and worry to him in prayer.

It also means walking in the footsteps of the Son, who is “the light of the world.” Jesus’ life of humble service, costly love, and obedience becomes our model. In our homes, workplaces, and church community, we reflect his light when we forgive, serve, and speak truth with grace.

Finally, it means being continually filled and led by the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Guide. The Spirit illumines Scripture, empowers witness, and cultivates love, joy, and peace within us.

When we live in that light, our relationships begin to echo the harmony of heaven. We move from isolation to community, from selfishness to self-giving love, and from darkness to glorious light. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all as we shine brightly for him. Rev Andy Carley

21/05/2026

60 Second Sermon…
There’s a piece of good news in the book of Acts, it’s in chapter 2: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Acts 2:21) It’s at the heart of the gospel, it’s not just the clever, the outwardly religious, the ones who’ve got their lives sorted who are saved… it’s everyone who calls on Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. So it includes the struggling addict, the busy professional, the anxious parent, the lonely pensioner, or the immigrant trying to make a new life. Everyone who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

For many, New Zealand feels a bit spiritually lost at the moment, some churches are getting smaller or closing altogether, and people are drifting. But the Holy Spirit, who’s the one that enables us to call on the name of the Lord, is like oxygen to the suffocating. You see, God is still in the habit of saving people. The Holy Spirit is still drawing hearts towards Jesus. And in congregations up and down the country quiet transformations are taking place, and people are finding peace they never thought possible. Remember, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to raise marriages, heal broken relationships, give purpose to work, bring joy to parenting, and strengthen the broken hearted. So keep on telling others about Jesus, it might just lead them to call on his name. Rev Andy Carley

14/05/2026

60 Second Sermon…
There are many people who like the idea of there being a god, but have great difficulty in accepting Jesus as God’s revelation of himself to the world. This is usually because they really only want God on their own terms. In so doing they choose not to know about the God who made them and will one day judge them. So, if or when you get the opportunity to talk to your friends and family about your faith, it’s important that you talk about what Jesus has done for them. Don’t just talk about God in general terms, it’s easy to do that, ‘god’ is such a fuzzy ill-defined sort of word that people fill it with whatever their minds can imagine, and many do just that. So instead, tell them about God the Son, Jesus Christ, and what he’s done for them, because he is knowable.

You can try all you like, but you can’t hide from Jesus; his name is writ large all over the history of the world, and he confronts us with the truth. His sprit is the Spirit of Truth, so when we reject the son, we reject the truth, and we cannot know God as our heavenly Father.

It’s a challenge, isn’t it. Do you truly love Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Or are you still part of the world? Are you quite happy to talk about God, but really only want God on your own terms? Well, it doesn’t work like that. If you want to know God you’ve got to get to know his Son, Jesus Christ, and when you do that, you will receive the most wonderful gift that anyone could wish for, the gift of his own Holy Spirit. Rev Andy Carley

07/05/2026

60 Second Sermon…
If we were to have a poll on what the most well-known verse of the bible is, I think we’d have two strong contenders: It’d either be John 3:16 - 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' Or perhaps this one from John 14:6 – 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'

There might be other contenders, but those are pretty in-your-face ones, aren’t they? Especially John 14:6, because it’s one of the most magnificent, and most controversial statements ever uttered, because these days many people find that a deeply offensive claim to make. Our culture celebrates tolerance and likes to insist that it doesn’t matter what you believe, because all roads lead to God. The very idea that Jesus is the only way strikes them as narrow-minded, arrogant, and extremely intolerant. But this isn’t just some wild claim made-up by Jesus’ followers… it is the clear declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Jesus doesn’t present himself as one option among many, he presents himself as the only, exclusive way to the Father. And that’s the claim everyone must face today. Will we accept what Jesus says about himself, or will we stumble over its apparent offensiveness? Rev Andy Carley

30/04/2026

60 Second Sermon…
You know, the apostle Paul pulls no punches when he writes to the Corinthians. In chapter 1 of his first letter, to them he lays out one of the great paradoxes of our faith: the message of the cross. To those who are perishing, it sounds like utter foolishness. The wise Greeks with all their philosophy, the religious Jews demanding signs and wonders - they both look at a crucified Messiah and say, “This can’t be right. This is weakness. This is failure.”

And yet, Paul insists, to us who are being saved, this same message is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Isn’t that remarkable? God has chosen what the world calls foolish to shame the wise. He has taken the apparent weakness of the cross - the blood, the nails, the shame - and made it the very means by which He rescues sinners like you and me.

We must never forget this. In our clever age, with all its technology and self-help and endless opinions, the temptation is always to dress up the gospel, to make it more palatable, more impressive. But Paul will have none of it. He preaches Christ crucified - plainly, without apology. Because the cross is not a stumbling block to be removed; it is the power that saves.

So if you’re wondering where real wisdom and real strength are to be found, look no further than the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on that cross for you. God’s foolishness is wiser than men, and his weakness is stronger than men. Come to him. Trust in him. For in the cross alone we find salvation, and in Christ alone we boast. May God grant us grace to glory in nothing else. Rev Andy Carley

24/04/2026

On this ANZAC Day, we pause once more to remember the courage, sacrifice, and service of New Zealanders who have served in times of war, conflict and peacekeeping missions overseas. Where once this day passed without much fuss, in more recent times it seems to have taken on an almost religious observance, replete with well attended dawn services with wreaths laid, bugles sounded, and silence held as a sign of respect. Parades honour the fallen, while communities large and small gather to reflect on the cost of freedom.

In the midst of recent challenges — from wild weather and flooding in Wellington to the wider conflict in the middle east and the resultant economic pressures we’re all facing — ANZAC Day reminds us of enduring values: resilience, mateship, and selflessness. As followers of Christ, we see in these stories echoes of the greatest sacrifice — Jesus laying down his life for us — and the call to live with humility, compassion, and hope. Let us pray for peace in our world, comfort for veterans and their families, and strength to serve one another in our own communities. Lest we forget. Rev Andy Carley

23/04/2026

60 Second Sermon…
Today, it’s not uncommon to find a sheep station with several thousand sheep being mustered by numerous shepherds replete with dogs, horses, motorcycles and quad bikes, and radios for communication. Shepherding has changed dramatically from the scene described by Jesus in chapter 10 of John's gospel. In the hills of 1st century Judea, shepherds would often use distinctive calls and whistles to get their sheep to follow them, they even had names for the individual sheep under their care and protection. When the shepherd called, the sheep would lift their heads at the sound of his voice and follow. They would not follow a stranger’s voice, in fact, they would run away from him, because they don’t recognise him.

In John 10, Jesus uses this illustration draw attention to the Pharisees hypocrisy, and even today I think it’s one of the more practical tests of genuine faith. You see, the sheep of Christ are not led by the loudest voice, or the most polished communicator, or the one who promises the easiest path. They are led by the voice they know: the voice of the one who laid down his life for them. While that voice is heard supremely in the bible, it’s also heard in the preaching of the gospel, and in the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit applying the Word to the heart. So, if you are a true sheep, a true follower of Jesus the Good Shepherd you will instinctively recoil from voices that contradict his voice, and you won’t need a theology degree to spot a fake, God’s sheep simply know. Rev Andy Carley

16/04/2026

60 Second Sermon…
In those first few days after the crucifixion, the disciples were pretty devastated. All their hopes and dreams that Jesus was the promised Messiah who would crush the Romans and restore the kingdom of David were seemingly dashed. Many today live with that same sense of profound disillusionment. The promises of our political leaders’ have soured, and economic anxiety affects the lives of many. The technological advances we were promised just a few decades ago haven’t delivered the utopia they said. Instead of plenty, many are struggling to survive, instead of community, families are fractured, and to cap if off there seems to be a pervasive spiritual fatigue that has settled over believers and unbelievers alike.

We hear reports of revival in distant places, but much like the women’s testimony that reached the disciples on that first Easter morning, our hearts can be slow to believe. So you see, like the two believers who walked away from Jerusalem in Luke 24, we too walk our own Emmaus roads… perhaps by scrolling through the news on social media in quiet despair, or sitting in church with a smile to mask our inner emptiness, or retreating from fellowship altogether because hope feels too risky. The good news is that the risen Jesus still joins us on the road, even if we fail to recognise him. He doesn’t wait for us to have polished faith or resolved doubts. He meets us in our honest lament, and invites us to unload our burdens.

In our moments of cultural upheaval and personal weariness, he calls us back to the bible… not as a self-help manual, but as the place where he reveals himself as the suffering and glorified Messiah. Every headline of conflict, every personal loss, every moment of cultural decay, finds its meaning in light of the cross and resurrection. The path to glory still runs through suffering, but the empty tomb declares that suffering does not have the last word. Amen to that! Rev Andy Carley

09/04/2026

60 Second Sermon…
Doubting Thomas! It’s become something of a pejorative statement these days, but it’s a bit unfair on Thomas really. In case you don’t know, Thomas was the disciple of Jesus who wasn’t present when the risen Jesus revealed himself to the disciples just after his resurrection, and who then declared that he wouldn’t believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw and touched Jesus himself. Fair enough, we’d likely have said the same thing too. What’s interesting is what happened when Thomas encountered Jesus himself a week later.

John’s gospel tells us that Jesus appeared and came and stood among the disciples, and turning to Thomas said: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27). But notice what Jesus didn’t do. He didn’t shame Thomas for his lack of faith, he just met Thomas exactly where he was, and invited him to touch his wounds. Jesus’ invitation to see and touch him was enough to take away Thomas’ unbelief. He simply declared, “My Lord and my God!” (20:28).

This is one of the greatest confessions of faith in all of Scripture. Thomas was declaring not just that Jesus was risen, not that he is just ‘the Messiah, the Son of God’, like Peter had done, but that Jesus was his ‘Lord and his God’. In that moment, Thomas became the first person to acknowledged the full deity of Jesus Christ, that the one who had been crucified was indeed the eternal God in flesh.

This is where the story turns to us, the readers of these gospels across the centuries. We haven’t seen the risen Jesus with physical eyes as the disciples did. We haven’t touched his wounds. Yet we are called blessed when we believe on the basis of the disciples’ testimony preserved in Scripture. And now the same Holy Spirit who was breathed out upon those first disciples works through the Word to create faith in us today. Isn’t that amazing grace. Rev Andy Carley

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