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

1 HR AGO

Everybody Needs Somebody

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 10 May 2026 As this 50 days of Easter celebration winds to its conclusion, it might be easy to think that the best part of the church year and our life together is over and things will become a bit ‘ho-hum’. How would it have been for those close to Jesus when he started talking very directly and pointedly about his imminent departure via suffering, cross and death! Surely a bit more serious than just worrying about things becoming ‘ho-hum! How on earth would they cope? How on earth would they know what to do? Who would stick up for them, guide them, show them what to say and do, teach them so much more than they already knew? In these questions and in this fear, Jesus does two things. He says that life will not go ‘down-hill’ after he goes and that if they just do what they saw him do, they will get through. Jesus sems to know that everybody needs somebody sometimes and says we have that Someone all the time. In all we face, we have this Advocate, this assistant, this Spirit of Jesus guiding, empowering, teaching, leading, protecting. We also have clear direction on how to go about it: Love as we have been loved and leave the rest to the Spirit! Praying that you don’t live like an orphan, thinking you have got to make all this work out and make sense of everything. Praying that you find great encouragement and strength for all you are facing in this ‘Paraclete’; this Advocate whom you have received in your baptism already. Pastor Adrian

22 min
6 DAYS AGO

Stop Running

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 03 May 2026 Stop Running - Coming to God, not running away. There is so much that we don’t understand about our relationship with God. For example, I will never fully comprehend the extent of God’s grace. And I’m sure it’s the same with you. We know the Bible tells us that Jesus has paid the full price for our sin (rebellion). We know that since we believe in Jesus as our Saviour we are now in a new relationship with God. In fact we are new creations! But we’re still sinful. We still disobey God. And when we become aware of our sin, we feel guilt and sorrow - which are not bad things. But then we are tempted to wonder if God will go on forgiving us. After all, we find it really hard to go on forgiving others for the same thing every time. And the moment we doubt God’s mercy and grace is the moment that we turn away from the cross and rely on our good works instead. We think, ‘If we read the Bible more, spend more time praying, get more involved in the work of our congregation, be more loving, be nicer, go to church, we will be more worthy of God’s love and forgiveness.’ But that’s our sinful nature and the Tempter talking. That is not how God’s plan of salvation works. Even if we have only a mustard-seed size faith, we are safe and secure in the grace of God. We don’t have to run away from God in fear. God calls us his children and that is what we are!! He says we are chosen, holy, authorised to come before his throne of grace every day (priests of the King) - and he calls us his special possession. So we can come to him without fear, knowing that Jesus paid the sacrifice for sin once for all – for all past, present and future sins! And that’s not meant to encourage us to take sin for granted. The story of humanity is one of running away from God – chasing other gods. But now the new life of the Spirit we have in Jesus is to be the motivation to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Pastor Robert Voigt

25 min
28 APR

Solid Chaos

Send us Fan Mail Sunday 26 April 2026 Jesus said he was the Good Shepherd before he was raised. He remains the same now that he is raised. It is Good Shepherd Sunday. The Shepherd said he would lead his sheep into green pastures and living springs of water in this new creation. Today we catch a glimpse of what that green pasture and living water created in the hearts and minds of those gathered on that first Pentecost day when the church was born. We catch a glimpse of a wonderful community of Word, prayer, eating and Lord’s Supper and sharing life together at all levels. It seems idyllic, but I am not sure it would have been. There were people there from all over the world, all with their own stories and cultural differences, language boundaries, political views... It seems that right from the beginning the church was solidly founded on the everlasting promises of God that Jesus delivered in full and yet, living in quite some chaos as new people join in, new hope springs up, new challenges of practical matters within and threats from outside would come. The church seems to be solid and yet chaotic. At our best, are we always meant to be both – ‘solid chaos’? Pastor Adrian

22 min
22 APR

Thankful One

Send us Fan Mail 19 April 2026 - Harvest Thanksgiving Returning to Jesus and worshipping him is what that one out of ten healed people do the day that Jesus healed them all. We hear of that account today – the healing of the ten lepers. It is Thanksgiving Sunday. Our lovely display of gifts to be given to others in need shows this. Jesus healed a lot of people. Many things were said as he did those healing gifts. Today he uses this wonderful gift of healing. He gifts a return to a full life lived among family and friends for ten people healed. This brings something home to us about what his healing power and love can create in us – deep thankfulness and worship. That is what the guy who came back to Jesus does. He thanks Jesus for the new life and worships him as Saviour. There is no doubt that this is what Jesus’ hopes for in a response from people he has touched, saved, healed and called to be with him. That is us. We are the ‘one’s’ who came back. We are here giving thanks to Jesus and worshipping him as our Saviour this very day. I am thankful today. I may not always be thankful, but I am today, both for the new life Jesus gave me long ago and has sustained me in up to this day. I am thankful for where he did this and where he has sustained the purpose and hope and joy of his healing love and life in me – among you! Among his church. And here at St Petri. I am thankful for this church. I will share some reason for that and hope to inspire you to be thankful and worship Jesus yourself, like the one leper who came back. Because from there comes; generosity of spirit, willingness to pay the price of telling of Jesus in our lives, courage to make changes to look out, reach out, go out and be instruments of God, calling people home to this healing grace of this resurrected Servant King. Pastor Adrian

26 min
16 APR

He Meets Us Where We Are

Send us Fan Mail 12 April 2026 We often give Thomas a hard time. “Doubting Thomas,” we say - as though he alone missed the memo. But it’s worth noticing: Thomas isn’t alone in doubting. He’s just the only one honest enough to say it out loud. No-one expected the resurrection. No matter how many times Jesus had spoken about his death and his resurrection to follow, no one heard him. They may have heard his words, but none believed them. The women went there to complete the burial. The disciples were hunkered down without even checking whether Jesus might have possibly spoken truly. Everyone in the accounts is puzzled, mystified, and confused. They remained spiritually blind to what had happened. Now place Thomas (as the representative of us all) alongside another man in John’s Gospel — the man born blind in John 9. We heard about him only a few weeks back, on March 15th. Here are two men: one cannot see, the other can. Yet strangely, it’s the blind man who comes to see clearly, and the sighted man who acts as though he’s blind. The blind man begins in darkness, but when Jesus meets him, his sight unfolds step by step. First, “the man called Jesus,” then “a prophet,” and finally, “Lord”—and he worships. His eyes are opened, but more importantly, so is his faith. Thomas, on the other hand, begins with sight. He has seen Jesus, walked with him, heard him. But after the cross, his world collapses. Sight isn’t enough. He wants evidence—“Unless I see… unless I touch…” You can almost hear him: “I’m not falling for wishful thinking.” In these actions he’s acting like a blind man, who must touch and feel his way through the world. And here’s the grace: Jesus meets both men exactly where they are. He doesn’t leave them where they are, but he meets them where they are. So also, with us. Jesus meets us where we are to take us to where he is. He’s not interested in leaving us unchanged. So also, for the two men: mud, spit and water for one; wounds and words for the other. No scolding. No dismissal. Just his transforming presence. Because in the end, both men arrive at the same place: not merely seeing… but believing. Perhaps the real question is not whether we see or don’t see - but whether we know that we are seen by Christ. If we know that, everything changes. Dr Noel Due

37 min
16 APR

The Beauty Of The Cross: Easter Sunday

Send us Fan Mail 4 April 2026 We gather over this weekend to celebrate who we are because what God has done for us in this Suffering Servant, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Christians have always known that the crucifixion, death and resurrection is the very heart of our hope and our motivation for living out the love of this Servant. St Paul famously puts it bluntly: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:13) But he goes on to say – Jesus has been raised from the dead by the mighty resurrecting power of the Father and because of that, everything has changed and is still changing. This weekend is not just about feeling sorry for our bad behaviour or being assured that “we will go to heaven when we die”. This celebration confirms that a whole new creation has began that day that death died and God’s new life, based on his goodness and love, not ours, is now here! This Suffering Servant we have been hearing of from the prophet Isaiah is still serving and suffering with us and says he will continue to lead us on to the final resurrection at the last when suffering will finally cease and death will be a distant memory. Enjoy the story. Enjoy his presence. Enjoy the love of the Father poured out in the Son by the power of the Spirit as you ponder the suffering and the triumph once again. Pastor Adrian Kitson

20 min
16 APR

The Beauty Of The Cross: Palm Sunday

Send us Fan Mail 29 March 2026 We welcome you to this Palm Sunday gathering called and powered by the Spirit of God for encouragement and equipping in Jesus’ kingdom mission. We are glad you are here. The 40 day journey to the joy of Easter Day continues with an extra shot of good news to help us on our way as we go deeper into that poem of poems – the Book of the prophet Isaiah. The people in the city that Palm Sunday expressed their pure joy at the arrival of the one they believed to be “The Anointed One”, the “Messiah” (Saviour) long promised by Isaiah seven hundred years before this day, under his name for the same – The Servant. The joy of the welcome will not last. It never really has. Isaiah tells the story in blunt truth: God’s people have never really welcomed God’s plans, intent, will, or direction for too long in any full way. Nothing has changed. Within a week, we assume many of the people laying down palms branches and jackets on the road before Jesus on his little donkey, will be shouting “Crucify him’ with one voice to Pilate. What will change this fickle faith for good? Not our love or lack of. But, “… my unfailing love for you will not be shaken”, says the Lord. He will show us his unfailing certain permanent love at Holy Week, when the palms fall silent. Pastor Adrian Kitson

21 min
27 MAR

The Beauty Of The Cross

Send us Fan Mail 22 March 2026 We are walking through one of the four Servant Songs in that ‘5th gospel’- the book of Isaiah. We are in chapter 53, and we come across something new that has not been said so far by Isaiah. Isaiah has been telling us that God has a dilemma. He loves his people, but they are incapable of loving him back. This is not new. From the Garden to Noah to Abraham to Moses to king David and beyond, with kings and without kings, with land and without land, God’s people have constantly failed to live in this life-long covenant relationship of love with the Lord. At first, in Isaiah, it seems that God is going to attempt to make his people the Servant of the world that they were always meant to be. The Servant seems to be Israel. But now, in this middle part of Isaiah, something new is announced. The Servant will actually be a person. The Lord is going send a new king. But this king will be totally different to the way kings usually are. His kingship will be marked by serving and his serving of the world and God will be marked by suffering for the world not dominating the world. And one more new thing: for the first time we hear that this suffering servant will not only suffer. He will rise. I pray you ponder the wonderful Servant Jesus who serves you this day so that his love rises within you. Pastor Adrian Kitson

21 min

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

200
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Spirited Word
Show Website

Spirited Word