Spirited Word

Adrian Kitson

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By God's Word proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in God's grace in Jesus, when and where he pleases. Sermons by Pastor Adrian Kitson, Lutheran Church of Australia. St Petri Lutheran Church, Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia. www.stpetri.org.au

6 days ago

The Gift Of Fathers

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 06 September 2026 Being a father is a vocation – a calling – where God calls a man to fatherhood through the gift of a child. The Bible has a lot to say about fathers. Throughout the Bible, we discover that God has given a special focus to fathers. We learn that God wants to be known as our Heavenly Father. Our Lord Jesus not only spoke to his Father but also taught us to pray, ‘Our Father in heaven…’ Even the story of the birth of Jesus is about a father named Joseph. Joseph had tried to figure out how to deal with his fiancée Mary, who was found to be pregnant – but God had other plans and set Joseph the task of providing fatherly care to the child Jesus, who was to be the Saviour of the World. Did you realise that Joseph was the first human to speak the name ‘Jesus’? In the Ten Commandments, we are told how to respond to fathers. The fourth commandment says, ‘Honour your father and your mother.’ How do we do that? For some people, that is a hard thing. But God will provide – this was God’s command after all. One way that everyone can do that is to pray for their father and to ask God to guide and bless their father. And if our father has died, we can commend our fathers to the mercy of God. If your father is still alive and you are able to, you might take the opportunity to express thanksgiving to God for your father and perhaps say ‘thank you’ to him for serving in this God-given vocation in the midst of all his human frailties. Let me guide you in praying: Eternal Father, thank you for the gift of our fathers. You have worked through fathers from the time of creation, and you have commanded us to honour our fathers and mothers. Give to all fathers what they need to serve according to your good and gracious will. Teach us how to honour our fathers. Forgive us where we have failed them – help us to forgive our fathers for their failings. And finally, where children have lost their fathers: give to those children the consolation of your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen. In Christ, Paul Pastor Paul Smith Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (This article by Bishop Paul, but Pastor Adrian lead worship on Sunday)
2 Sept

What Road Are You On?

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 30 August 2026 Humped Zebra Crossing. Cats Eyes Removed. Tanks ahead. You see some pretty strange signs when you get off the motorways of the UK, and instead take the narrow winding countryside ‘roads’. When Jesus challenges / invites / commands us to take the narrow road, what comes to your mind? “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13,14 Sounds tough, doesn’t it? Especially when you look at today’s Bible readings: Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Jeremiah 15:18 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Romans 12:14 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 Meanwhile, Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, states that 2025 was the deadliest year in modern history for Christians. It identifies 4,849 people killed for their faith and millions more facing violence, abuse, displacement, or discrimination. Yet, this narrow winding road can bring you and I unexpected blessings Blessings I discovered on those narrow winding UK roads. Seeing life we would otherwise miss. Experiencing it deeply. Meeting people we can bless. Working together to achieve what we can’t do alone. Being touched by joy that can light our lives. So, what road are you on? Jonathan Krause
26 Aug

Grace

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 23 August 2026 The sermon this week reflects on the remarkable faithfulness of God, who calls, seeks, saves and guides his people even when we cannot see where He is leading us. Isaiah calls us to “look to the rock from which you were hewn” and to lift our eyes towards the Lord, whose salvation and righteousness endure forever. In the Gospel, Peter confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” — a confession that does not begin with human wisdom, but with God revealing Christ to us. For me, this will also be a deeply personal Sunday as I look back over my own journey — from childhood faith, through years of turning away from God, to being called back to Christ and eventually through my time here with you, into the pastoral ministry — I can see more clearly how God’s hand has guided every step. I never knew where he was taking me, but He did! As we all look ahead, the encouragement is simple: keep looking to Christ, keep confessing Christ, and keep giving thanks for his grace. Blessings always, Paul Ridley
20 Aug

Going Home

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 16 August 2026 As long as my wife and I have been married we have been away from home – i.e. from the places where our parents lived. So we always talked of “going home” for holidays. We always looked forward to this time, even though travelling home sometimes involved vast distances, and the travel, at least in our early days, was sometimes dangerous and not enjoyable. But then we also talked of “going home” when it was time to go back to where we lived. “Home is where the heart is” has become a popular saying. And it’s true. But Jesus added another thought to that: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Matthew 6:21. Today we will have another look at our theme for this year from Isaiah – “See, I am doing a new thing”. Many of the Jews from Jerusalem and Judah had been taken off into exile in Babylon. Isaiah, from Chapter 40 in his book, began to offer these people hope. Their time of exile was coming to an end. They would soon be going home. And this would be such a joy to them that the 1,143km journey (on foot) will seem like a ‘walk in the park’. Even though they had a huge, difficult and dangerous road ahead of them, the fact that they were heading home would give them strength, encouragement and joy to last the journey. Our lives are also described in the Bible as a journey and we are called foreigners (strangers) in this world because we are really “citizens of heaven” (Ephesians 2). And our lives are far from easy. We have struggles of all kinds – physical and spiritual – before we get home. But our journey takes on new meaning and purpose, and provides us with comfort, strength and courage when we know where “home” is. And when we trust in Jesus as our Saviour, we begin to understand that the “new thing” is what God does in us daily. By his grace he calls us to live an authentic, genuine life of discipleship as we keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus. Pastor Robert Voigt
18 Aug

Long Faith

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 9 August 2026 Yes, we are back in that famous scene of wind, water, storm, gale and a ghost’ walking across it all. It is the ‘walking on water’ gospel account today. We know it well. We love it a lot. I think it is because the account of Jesus grabbing Peter and pulling him up out of the stormy sea when Peter seems to ‘fail’ the test of faith that dark night, says that when we are drowning in our own stormy time, Jesus is right there ready and able to save us from it all. But did Peter actually fail the test of faith? Is this account a warning to followers of Jesus to not get too carried away with themselves? Is it a tale that is told to direct us to not be impetuous or risky as Peter seemed to be as he hears that familiar voice and asks to head toward it, even over churning waves and gale-force wind resistance? I am not sure this is a main point for the gospel writers who tell this story. I wonder whether this is a story of faith in Jesus for sure, but a call to real faith; real trust; to not play it safe or ever take a risk, but to do so more often with faith in Jesus. We Lutherans might not like that word ‘risk’. We might find ourselves having a dig at Peter’s apparent ‘failure’ from our comfortable church chairs. That seems all well and good until the storm clouds of life gather over us and we know we are in danger. Is it then that Peter may not seem so impetuous or arrogant or silly? I wonder... Pastor Adrian
6 Aug

Fine-Dining Gift Voucher

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 02 August 2026 We are back in that magnificent poem of poems as spoken by the prophet Isaiah. In one of the many pictures he paints of both God’s judgement of our sin and God’s beautiful resurrection of whole life, Isaiah issues a call to a free banquet that God has paid for in full for everyone. All we have to do is come, get up, receive the fully satisfying gifts of The Suffering Servant, whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus now simply ‘des Iasiah’. That day by the sea on the grassy slopes with thousands looking for food that satisfies, they get it. It is that famous ‘Feeding of the Five Thousand’. Sounds simple and actually is. Just reach out and take the bread and fish. Just receive… It would be very simple if it were not for this heart of ours that simply wants to pay our own way. Isaiah is clear. We are not very smart shoppers in the world of a million delights. We work very hard for things that can’t fully satisfy and we pay a lot of hard-earned cash and a great deal of time we think is ours dreaming of what we want next. Not only do we stay away from receiving God’s gifts but we tend to believe he has no good gifts, or not enough anyway. But Jesus just does Isaiah today. He gives you a meal voucher at the fanciest restaurant in town and there is no bill to pay now or later when he returns to settle accounts. All you need to do is get up, seek, listen and receive. Praying you do that and get more than a trolley of things today. Pastor Adrian
1 Aug

Yes, We Understand?

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 26 July 2026 It is with pleasure that we prepare to receive the Word via Dr Tim Stringer, Principal of Australian Lutheran Collage. May the Word call you, challenge you and comfort you for the journey we share together today. Dr Tim says… Last Sunday, we were deep in the territory of weeds and wheat. This week, we hear and read a series of rapid-fire parables that describe what the kingdom of heaven is like. We might think we can recognise the kingdom, yet it is described in several different, surprising and hidden ways in quick succession across five short parables. These are laid out before the disciples, and when asked if they understand all these things, they reply, “Yes”, but we don’t hear their tone of voice in the scriptures. There is a trend on social media at the moment in which an individual is asked to say a phrase in four or five different tones of voice. In the case of the disciples, would the meaning be altered if they used a surprised, tentative, certain, or assertive tone? Any of those might work in this case. We hope, of course, that they are certain! Do YOU understand all of these parables? How might you answer Jesus’ question if he directed it to you today? Hopefully, as we rummage through the storehouse of treasures hidden in these parables today, we might discover something new or something old that we might feel impelled to bring out and share with others. Blessings, Tim
21 July

The Weeds

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 19 July 2026 Sometimes I wish God would deal with all the injustice of the world. Sometimes I wish the Church could be so much better, especially when Christian people do some really silly and bad things. What do we do with the frustration we feel about all the suffering and trouble in the world? What does the Lord do for us when the church gets it wrong and we get it wrong? We are in rapid-fire parable territory this morning. In this little section of Matthew’s gospel there are seven parables in a row. Jesus says every one of them speak of what living with faith in his presence and promises are like for us. The focus today is number 2 of the seven – this picture of a paddock with both wheat and weeds being planted and growing together. The picture comes with a prohibition for us: “Don't try and pull up the weeds!”. In fact, “Let the weeds grow". Why on earth would we do that? We don't do that with real weeds. We get rid of them with hard work or hard chemicals! Apparently, this is not the way in Jesus' way. In pulling up the weeds we may disrupt the wheat. This is not our job. But it is someone's job. All very mysterious. I wonder how you are navigating growing in Jesus among those who aren't? Pastor Adrian

By God's Word proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in God's grace in Jesus, when and where he pleases. Sermons by Pastor Adrian Kitson, Lutheran Church of Australia. St Petri Lutheran Church, Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia. www.stpetri.org.au

Creator

Adrian Kitson
Years Active

2020 - 2026
Episodes

217
Rating

Clean
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© 2026 Spirited Word
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Spirited Word