All Saints Anglican Church Christchurch

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30/07/2026

60 Second Sermon…
When you hear the words ‘prophet’ or ‘prophecy’, what springs to mind? Someone who can predict the future perhaps? Or oracles written long ago telling us what’s going to happen leading up to the end times? There’s a lot of it out there in internet land that’s for sure! (I’m think about this from a Christian perspective). But here’s the thing about prophetic visions… They can be difficult to understand and interpret. And for the ‘modern day’ prophet, it’s not always about standing up and saying what you think you saw: “Thus says the Lord, I see a kangaroo up a pole waving a scarf and holding a bucket of coal.” Ok, bizarre example, but my point is what’s anyone going to do with a statement like that! Prophecy has to mean something, but that something isn’t always obvious at first.

Most of what we think of as prophecy seems to fall into predictions about the future, but the sort of prophecy we’re more likely to encounter in our daily lives, and for that matter words of knowledge (I think we often confuse the two), are dreams and visions whereby God give us information… about people or places… that the Lord wants us to pray for or about. It’s usually not for blurting out in public, which may actually do more harm than good! For example; God might show you something about someone you know, it could be a family member, a friend, or someone at church. But rather than wanting you to go tell that person what you saw, God wants you to pray about it, to intercede for that person or situation, so that they may come to a place of peace and reconciliation with God. So, prophecy is mostly for information, not impartation.

For the most part, we’d be sensible to leave predictions about the future in God’s hands, and rather than looking for signs of ‘the end’ in every news headline, turn our hearts and hands to living a godly life in the here and now! Rev. Andy Carley

23/07/2026

60 Second Sermon…
The Old Testament book of Daniel is one of those books that Christians often find hard to understand, not the first few chapters and Daniel and his friends’ lives living in exile in Babylon, but the chapters about visions of mystical beasts, goats, rams, angels, fiery thrones, and end times. Some treat them as merely poetic illustrations, important for their time, but not so much now. Others see in them prophetic visions of a future yet to come. But, as much as some would like them to be, the purpose of these visions isn’t to primarily help us work out when the end times will be or who the antichrist is. Their purpose is to reassure God’s people that, in spite of any persecution or trials they may be facing, the whole of history is under God’s control, and his purposes are assured.

These Old Testament prophecies, and others like them in other books of the bible, aren’t relics of the past, but living words from the living God, given to steady his people through their trials. They weren’t recoded for us so that we can speculate about our future, they’re they to foster faithfulness in God’s people, both then and now. Throughout Daniel, they point us unerringly to Christ and call us to faithful, hopeful living in the here and now. So when you come across prophetic visions like those in Daniel, rather than just resting on your preconceptions, allow the text to speak in a way that encourages you about God’s faithfulness to his church today as he preserves us through every and any trial. Rev Andy Carley

16/07/2026

60 Second Sermon…
One of the first bible stories that I heard as a child was the one about Daniel in the lion’s den. It’s a great story, not just for the bit about the lions which I loved as a child, but about how God doesn’t abandon his people in times of trouble. Through the story we learn that Daniel’s protection didn’t come by avoiding the den, it came when he was in the den. God didn’t prevent the conspiracy of the officials, he did not stop king Darius from signing the decree, he even let Daniel be thrown to the lions. But it was in that Lion’s den that God showed himself as the Almighty God.

This seems to be something of a pattern throughout the book of Daniel. Daniel’s three friends; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, weren’t kept from the furnace; they instead walked in it with the Son of God at their side. And in the rest of the bible, the Hebrew midwives in Egypt, Moses’ parents, Esther, and the apostles… they all faced real life-threatening danger. But time and again we see God’s deliverance coming, not by removing the trial, but by meeting us within it. We might wish it weren’t so, but that’s often where God meets us; at our point of greatest need.

One day you might find yourself in the midst of a trial. Maybe you’re already under pressure at work to compromise your integrity, or perhaps your non-Christian family or friends mock your commitment to prayer and biblical truth. In some countries there’s also the danger of cultural decrees from those who govern us… whether through legal, social, or professional avenues… as they seek to silence gospel witness. Even so… Take heart, the God of Daniel is no less powerful today than he was that time in Babylon. He still shuts the mouths of lions. And he still honours those who honour Him. Rev Andy Carley

02/07/2026

60 Second Sermon…
You might not want to hear this, but here’s the truth: God is loving, yes… infinitely so… but he is also holy and just, and he will not be mocked. Here’s what that means: Every idle word, every secret thought, every act of defiance will be accounted for. For the unbeliever, that’s terrifying news, because the reality of the hell they say they don’t believe in is waiting for them. But for the Christian, it is a call to holy living and joyful assurance, because our sins have already been weighed and judged at the cross of Jesus Christ, who took the verdict in our place. He was numbered with the transgressors so that we might be numbered with the redeemed.

It’s a sobering thought, isn’t it, to know that God has numbered our days… not to strike fear into our hearts, but to call us to repentance. Maybe let that fuel your evangelism. You see, people around you are feasting on ignorance while the hand of God writes on the wall of time. So tell your friends, neighbours and families about the Saviour who writes their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If they walk in obedience to God’s will, when the time comes and their number is up, they will not hear words of doom, but the welcoming words of our Saviour: Well done, good and faithful servant… come and share in your master’s happiness (Matthew 25:23). Rev Andy Carley

25/06/2026

60 Second Sermon…
What is pride, what does it look like? Someone once said that pride is when you’re too smart to see how stupid you are, too righteous to see how sinful you are, or too big to see how small you are. The thing with pride though is that it’s a liar. We often dress it up as self-esteem, confidence, or ambition, but the bible has a different diagnosis. Pride is the refusal to acknowledge our dependence on God, it’s when the creature declares independence from their Creator, and the belief that what we’ve accomplished has been though our own unaided strength.

But there’s no excuse for such pride in ourselves because God has provided the laws of nature as a warning against self-sufficiency; The fine-tuning of the universe, the intricate order of mathematics that undergirds reality; these aren’t accidents of blind chance, they’re signatures of a sovereign mind. Yet how easily we fall into the trap of pride as we survey our careers, our ministries, our technologies, our nations, and say to ourselves, “Look what I have built.”

The thing with Pride is that it isolates us and blinds us to our own frailty. Medical science, however, reminds us constantly how fragile human life is: one blood clot, one genetic misfire and the whole edifice crumbles. The story of king Nebuchadnezzar’s descent into madness in Daniel chapter 4 is a dramatic picture of what happens when God withdraws the common grace that sustains even the proudest mind. It leads us to conclude that reason itself is a gift, sanity is a gift, even the breath we use to boast is a gift from God.

C.S. Lewis wrote that pride leads to every other vice, because it’s a spiritual cancer… It’s always seeking to compare and to elevate self above others and above God. Daniel 4 shows us the cure for our pride: it’s found in the God who is willing to humble us… not to destroy us, but to restore us to a right relationship with him. Rev Andy Carley

18/06/2026

60 Second Sermon…
Imagine being in Germany in 1930’s, the N**i regime has organised massive rallies, 70,000+ people filled the stadiums, and the pressure to conform to their ideology was everywhere… flags waving, crowds chanting, arms raised in the mandatory one-armed salute. To refuse wasn’t just socially awkward; it marked you as disloyal, dangerous, and worthy of suspicion. Many people raised their arms not out of conviction, but out of fear… fear of losing their job, their safety, or their life.

But here and there, a few brave souls stood firm. A man in a crowd was seen to keep his arm at his side, and a woman quietly moved away from the crowd. In that moment, the pressure shifted onto them. Whispers turned to accusations: ‘Why are you causing trouble? Just go along like everyone else.’ But they chose to stand alone. That moment, when the whole world seems to be moving one way, and something inside you call you to hold your ground is exactly where the Jewish exiles in Babylon felt in Daniel Ch. 3 as they on the plain of Dura before a towering golden image, gleaming under the sun. The music thundered, and every leader and official in the Babylonian empire bowed low in homage. Conformity wasn’t optional; refusal meant death in a blazing furnace. Yet three young men refused to bow. They wouldn’t trade the worship of the living God for the approval of a king or the comfort and anonymity of the crowd.

We face our own plains of Dura today, situations where the music of culture plays loudly, and the pressure to bow to success, fear, pleasure, ideology, or popularity feels overwhelming. The furnace may be different, but it’s just as real. The story from Daniel 3 shows how we too can stand when everything in us, and everyone around us, wants us to bow in submission to the idols of our world. Rev Andy Carley

11/06/2026

60 Second Sermon…
The news… I’m one of those people who likes to know what’s going on in the word. I want to feel connected and, given the issues we hear about, I want to feel like I have some control over where our lives might be going too. After all, knowledge is useful, and forewarned is forearmed and all that, right? But in a world filled with uncertainty and competing perspectives… well… it’s not that easy. When I hear the news on TV or the radio, I know that at least some of it isn’t true at all. Newspaper headlines are often misleading, and the articles themselves are more about the journalist’s opinion rather than the facts. And I’ve also noticed that, increasingly, anyone who’s not left leaning is branded as ‘far-right’. If it wasn’t so dishonest and manipulative it’d be laughable. So have you considered the reliability of where you get your news from? And, more importantly, how do you know you can trust it?

As a Christian, my ultimate trust is in Jesus Christ. I know that, no matter what else happens in this world or in my own life, he holds me in the palm of his hand. He may not preserve me from suffering, but I trust that whatever happens, he will see me through it. Because that’s the issue, isn’t it? When we find ourselves grappling with a crisis, knowing who or what we can trust is important. So, in who, or what, are you placing your trust today? Rev Andy Carley

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

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