Episodes
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340 / How the Grinch stole Galatians
Another one of the famous one-liners from Galatians comes in 5:1 — 'It is for freedom you have been set free.' Well, obviously. But why is this such a powerful and heavy-hitting claim from Paul? Beloved TVC member and serial contemplative worship leader Adrian Fitzpatrick explores this powerful...
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339 / You were meant to be listening to this podcast
This week, it's one of the most beloved passages in the New Testament... Galatians 3:28, plus a few verses on either side. It turns out, actually, those extra verses are really important! Chris unpacks the way that 'schoolmasters', clothing, and the word 'of' make a huge difference to the way we...
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338 / On Googling the phrase "is it sinful to..."
None of us would admit to this, but the truth is most of us live with an inner set of scales. The old school type where on one side, we have all the 'bad' things we do, and on the other the 'good' things. We carry around this anxiety about doing things that make God angry (and maybe Google "is it...
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337 / Life and faith after everything changes
It's week three of our Galatians series, and we come to the end of the autobiographical part of this epic letter. It finishes with some of the most well-loved words in the New Testament: "It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." When we say yes to Jesus, everything changes — so…
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336 / The gospel is not something we own. It's something we're entrusted with
After opening his letter to the Galatians, Paul goes autobiographical — he spends nearly two chapters talking about his own story. But as Mandy points out in this week's podcast, this isn't to defend himself, it'd to defend the gospel.
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335 / Where do you draw the line between 'in' and 'out' of the church?
As our journey through the bible in a year continues, we turn to Galatians — a letter that may well be Paul's earliest work we have available. While there are a few different ways to look at these six chapters, we're asking the question 'who gets to be a part of the family of God?' We open with a...
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334 / Rebuilding after everything falls to pieces
In the second of two weeks of stories, the wonderful Mandy Grogan shares about her life.
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333 / What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned to good
Last week we talked vision, and we finished with something important — what we do on a Sunday doesn't matter if it doesn't lead us to be more Christlike people on Monday to Saturday. So for the next three weeks, we're hearing from members of our community on what it means to live 'life on a...
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332 / The 'Vineyard in 'Toowoomba Vineyard Church'
Twice a year we like to pause from our teaching, and take a moment to talk about who we are and where we're going. Each time there's an angle — this time around, we're looking at what the 'Vineyard' in Toowoomba Vineyard Church is all about. Not because the movement is the one that finally got it...
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331 / How to say goodbye
Goodbyes are hard. Endings are tough. And yet on this side of heaven, they're part of our experience, as much as we don't like to admit that. In our final week looking at the life of Paul the Apostle, we turn to a teary farewell — in Acts 20, where he says goodbye to the Ephesian elders. The...
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330 / The most anticlimactic jail break
As the book of Acts continues, Paul and his ministry partner Silas find themselves imprisoned in Phillipi. Rather than despair, they choose the opposite approach — they sing through the night to God, despite their chains. God breaks them out of prison, but rather than escape into the night they...
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329 / Paul, the church planter
Fast forward fourteen years, and something totally unexpected happens. While everyone else was busy converting the Jews, the Antioch Christians thought it would be a good idea to preach to the Gentiles… and it worked! Hearing reports of this, the Jerusalem church sent Barbabas to try and manage...
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328 / The lost years of Paul
If you were reading quickly through Acts, you'd be forgiven for missing the fact that between Paul's conversion experience and the beginning of his public ministry (well, after his daring escape from Damascus), fourteen years passed. What was he doing all that time? We don't know about Paul's…
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327 / The sixth most influential person in human history
As we continue our journey through the story of scripture this year, we depart from the Gospels and end up in Acts. For the next five weeks we'll be doing a character study on the sixth most influential person in history (according to one commentator in 1978)... (drumroll please)... the Apostle...
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326 / We've read the Sermon on the Mount. What now?
After a marathon series rolling verse by verse through the sermon on the mount, we find ourselves in the last few verses of the conclusion. It's almost as if Jesus turns back to his audience one last time and says 'what now?' Jesus presents us with a choice. We are welcome to nod our heads along,...
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325 / 'The narrow path' is not about where you go when you die
With only two weeks left in our series on the Sermon on the Mount, we open up a passage that has all too often been used to exclude and shame. 'The narrow path'—as well as the accompanying teaching on false prophets—is usually thought of as an 'us vs the world' scenario. Yet when we rightly read…
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324 / Don't treat God like a vending machine
There's something intuitively wrong about treating God like a vending machine — insert prayer, out comes what you asked for. And yet in Matthew 7, Jesus famously says 'Ask and it will be given to you.' So how do we bring our needs before God with the right heart?
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322 / No worries mate, she'll be right
In the middle of a sermon full of heavy hitting teaching, Jesus drops in some of the most comforting words in all of scripture. The 'do not worry' passage has helped many not to be anxious, but if it's true, why do Christians still experience hardship? If God is going to provide, why do so many…
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321 / What do you truly treasure? And would your bank statement agree?
Another of Jesus' revered teaching is on treasure — 'do not store up for yourself treasures on earth'... It might be a familiar saying, but what does it really mean? If you made a table with one column being 'treasures on earth', and another saying 'treasures in heaven', what things would go in...
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320 / A word for the 'Instagram quiet time' generation
We live in a world that's obsessed with authenticity. Brands live and die by it. A shred of insincerity can crush a celebrity's career. But ironically, thats in the midst of a culture that's never been more curated. Turns out this isn't a modern problem. As we get into chapter 6 of the Sermon on...
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319 / On loving our enemies
One of the most challenging teachings in the New Testament, or maybe the whole bible, is Jesus' command for us to love our enemies. Not because it's hard to understand, but because it's so easy to theologise away, or just ignore. When we look at the state of the church, and the world today, it's...
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318 / This one's for the Facebook 'maybes'
OK, so Facebook doesn't have a 'Maybe' button on events anymore (it has 'Interested' which is kind of the same, but not quite). But that little button has worked its way into our culture to the point that we almost have a crisis of commitment. Whether it's showing up to events, saying 'I'll pray...
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317 / On lust and divorce
Amongst many other things, the Sermon on the Mount is a strong reminder that Jesus wasn't afraid to throw punches. In today's instalment, we tackle not one, but two difficult passages. Tragically, both have been used to shame and control people in the church. And yet when we take some time to...
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316 / Flipping the script on anger
'You have heard it said, do not murder, but I say to you...'. At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gets stuck into the details. He begins a series of sayings that reinterpret and raise the bar on the Old Testament law with anger — something we can all relate to. Laura unpacks...
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315 / Do Christians have to follow the Old Testament law?
In the third instalment of our Sermon on the Mount series, we turn to Jesus' controversial (yet profound) reinterpretation of the Old Testament law. In this opening section, he claims that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven his followers must have 'righteousness that exceeds even that of the…
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314 / Where are you shining your torch?
Following his epic (or strange?) opening to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns his attention to two analogies his audience would've been intimately familiar with — salt and light. What's interesting is what he doesn't say: you will be the salt of the earth, or you could be the light of the…
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313 / A strange way to start a sermon
We sometimes fall into the trap of treating Christianity just as a set of doctrines to be believed. But if you started reading the New Testament from the beginning, you'd quickly arrive at Jesus' most famous sermon (and possibly the most epic sermon ever), and would really struggle to get that —...
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312 / Coming home
After a somewhat unsatisfying 'coming home' narrative last week, we do the better version here — by looking at Jesus. In this Easter Sunday special, Chris walks us through the entire story of the bible through the lens of exile, with a focus on the new home God is making for us... not in some far...
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311 / The return from exile was complicated
We're sort of at the end of our Exile series, so we get to talk about the happy ending... the triumphant return to Jerusalem! Or at least we would be, except it wasn't entirely happy or triumphant, and it certainly wasn't the ending of the story. The Israelites returned to a complex web of...
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310 / Don't compromise with the world...?
Our next instalment of our journey through the exile lands us in Daniel 3. The mighty king Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue and demands everyone bows down to worship it, which everyone does... except for three Hebrews. After a fiery exchange, he tries to burn them alive, but joke's on him —...
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309 / Living in a world where we don't belong
If there's one thing we've learned so far in this Exile series, it's that we can readily identify with the Israelites in Babylon. Yet that raises the question — how do we actually respond to living in a world where we don't belong? There are at least three natural responses. It's only natural to...
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308 / Three myths about grief and lament — BUSTED
As we continue our look through the biblical theme of Exile, Laura unpacks one of the key outlets the Israelites had during this time — lament. Drawing from Psalm 137, she explores three key myths that come up again and again in Western church life, and in doing so, gives us permission to bring…
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307 / The exile was a two sided coin
Last week we focused on the question: 'why did Israel go into exile?' This week we turn towards the exile itself. What was the exile, and why did it matter so much? It turns out the exile (which was more of a process than an event) is like a two sided coin. While it was a curse and a horrific...
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306 / What would Amos say to the church today?
Having finished up Genesis 1-11 last week, we're skipping just a little bit of the Old Testament and fast forwarding to Exile (in other words, the end of the Old Testament). Thankfully, Chris comes to the rescue with a brief summary of all the bits we missed. In the second half of the message,...
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305 / Three and a bit ways to read the Tower of Babel narrative
For our final foray into Genesis 1-11, we look at the famous 'Tower of Babel' narrative. For just nine verses, there's a lot to be said. Chris introduces the idea of 'turning the gem' as a way to study scripture, looking at three (and a bit) different ways to view this passage. While most of the...
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304 / That story in Genesis with all the cute animals on a boat
Remember that story you heard in Sunday school (or that you heard about from the kids you knew who went to Sunday school) where Noah gets all the animals together and goes for a nice boat ride? Well, the bit the Sunday school renditions of Noah’s Ark leave out is where God wipes out the rest of...
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303 / Our vision for 2026
Back in 2022, we decided it'd be a good idea to build a church around Matthew 11:28-30—that passage where Jesus talks about 'rest for your souls'. It turns out this isn't a great way to create energy and momentum. But we're still convinced it's what God has asked us to do. In this year's vision...
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302 / Rereading Genesis 3 with ancient eyes
If there’s any story in the Bible that suffers from over-familiarity, Genesis 3 is a strong contender. It’s a deeply strange passage: a talking snake, a tree “of the knowledge of good and evil” (whatever that’s about), and a God who seems to get it wrong—after eating the fruit, the people don’t...
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301 / On the shores of Babylon
In 2026, our teaching is going to take us alllll the way through the story of scripture, with each series helping tell the story of creation through to new creation (with a few stops along the way!). Mandy kicks off right at the start of the bible, with a deep dive into the Genesis 1 creation...
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299 / Sabbath Reflections — Looking to the present
Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites…
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298 / Sabbath Reflections — Looking forward
Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites…
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297 / Sabbath Reflections — Looking back
Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites…
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245 / A picture of the good life
As we draw our Conversations with Jesus series to a close, and with it 2025, Chris unpacks the final scene in John's gospel. It's got a few peculiar features — why were the disciples (newly commissioned to go and spread the good news to the world) out fishing? Why did Jesus ask Peter if he loved...
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244 / Be more like Doubting Thomas
With only two weeks left of Conversations with Jesus (and church for 2025!), Chris made it his mission to rescue the Apostle Thomas from his 'Doubting Thomas' moniker. Not because he didn't doubt. But because he was willing to put voice to his doubts, and in doing so, got to deliver one of the…
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243 / Jesus, the gardener?
In our next instalment of 'Conversations with Jesus' we explore a dialogue that occurs in a garden, outside the tomb where Jesus lay. Like many passages in John, there are layers upon layers to Jesus' discussion with Mary Magdelene, and Mandy peels them back one by one. It's a striking testament…
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243 / The connection between truth and pilates
This week, we turn towards a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate (once you say it you can't un-say it). Ever the cynic, Pilate is in no mood for the Jewish leaders' games. So he has what ends up being quite a profound conversation with Jesus about the nature of truth—funly enough…
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241 / The lost art of lament
This week's 'Conversation with Jesus' is a high-emotion situation. Jesus arrives in Bethany after learning of the death of his close friend Lazarus. As he interacts with Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, we see a masterclass in how to stand with those whoe grieve. Perhaps even more profound, we...
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240 / We are all 'the crowd'
In another 'crowd' themed instalment of our John series, Laura tackles the famous scene where the Pharisees and teachers of the law try and trick Jesus by presenting him a woman caught in adultery (never mind the man...). Jesus response is legendary—but what do we actually take away from it? How…
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239 / Jesus doesn't want a crowd, he wants a church
This week's Jesus conversation is an interesting one, because it's not with a person but with a crowd. At the beginning of John 6, Jesus' ministry is going superbly by our standards. He's got a crowd who are willing to lay down their lives for him. He's performed a spectacular miracle, walked...
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238 / Who was the woman at the well?
This week, we turn to John chapter 4, where Jesus has a famous encounter with a Samaritan woman. The conversation is full of insight and layered meaning—but one of the most remarkable things is that it happened at all. Who exactly was this Samaritan woman, and why was it so scandalous for Jesus…
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About this show
We’re a new Vineyard church made up of people from all ages, stages, backgrounds, cultures, and political persuasions who are united by our desire to learn from and live like Jesus.
Hosted by
Toowoomba Vineyard Church
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