Bonus Episode - NTC Community Chapel Sermon - Rev Jenna Stout (7.3.23)

Today we have a bonus episode for you. On Tuesday, 7th of March, we held our regular community chapel service. This was a unique time of worship because we hosted the chapel in two locations using video conference technology. Our Dean of Students, Rev Dr Joseph Wood, was in New Zealand teaching an intensive class at our Auckland location, and our preacher, Rev Jenna Stout, lives just down the road in Hamilton. Because Dr Wood was going to be in country, he invited her to join him in Auckland. Jenna Stout is a missionary for the Church of the Nazarene on the Australia and New Zealand field. She has a masters degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary and is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. For the past few years she and her husband, Andrew, have been serving the Church in a variety of ways. Currently, they are Community Engagement Coordinators and work with the ANZ Field Communications Team. Jenna is a mother of two, a lover of Jesus, and a passionate story-teller. We were blessed to have her preach for us through the first chapter of 1 John. Before listening to her sermon, please feel free to pause the podcast and read the passage below. We hope this is a blessing to you. 1 John 1.1 - 1 John 2.2 (NLT) We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.