DISCOVER THE HOPE WE HAVE IN JESUS THIS EASTER
This year St Matthew's will not be meeting for our Easter services as we usually do, but below you will find our online services where you and your family can gather with us as we remember and celebrate the hope we have in Jesus.
GOOD FRIDAY
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Good Friday is when we remember Christ's saving work on the cross. Join us as we hear Ben bring us that good news from the Gospel of Matthew.
EASTER SUNDAY
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)
Easter Sunday is when we celebrate the Risen Christ! Hear from Mike as we look at what that means for us this Easter.
Talk 1 - God’s Crucial Solution
When we look around our world it’s hard not to conclude that it’s pretty messed up. Viruses run rampant, leaders are often corrupt, and if we’re honest with ourselves our own hearts are often not in great shape either.
People have all sorts of plans for how to fix our world. New vaccines, better education, trying harder to be nice. Yet throughout the gospel accounts we see Jesus focussed not on those things—good as they may be—but on the cross. His whole life is about his death. But why? After all, the Roman’s crucified thousands of people, why would one more make any difference?
Clearly Jesus had a plan. What was it? And how do we see God building towards it in the Old Testament? And what difference does it make to our world?
Talk 2 - Jesus and the Death of Death
Most Australians believe in some kind of life after death. At funerals people talk of their loved ones “still being with us”, that “they’re looking down on us and smiling”, or that “heaven has got another angel.” But when Jesus rose it was not as a disembodied soul or an angel, but as a physical, embodied human.
What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make to how we think about life, death, and life after death? No real difference, or all the difference in the world?
THE CROSS & THE EMPTY TOMB
Our indepth look at Easter streamed live at 7:30pm on Good Friday. You can watch The Cross & the Empty Tomb here.
Thank you to Ben Rae, the campus director for AFES at UWA, for bringing us these two talks:
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GET TO KNOW BEN
Ben Rae is the staff team leader for the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) at the University of Western Australia.
Ben grew up in the South West town of Donnybrook before moving to Perth to study Neuroscience at UWA. After working for two years as a research assistant at the Lions Eye Institute he decided to head into pastoral ministry. He did a ministry apprenticeship with the Christian Union at UWA and after studying at Trinity Theological College he returned to the UWA CU as a senior staffworker.
He has been married to Shelley for 16 years. They both attended St Matthew’s Unichurch until after the birth of their first child Emily (9 years old), and have recently been surprised and delighted by the arrival of Madeleine (10 months). They now worship with the church at St Barnabas Anglican in West Leederville.
Ben loves Jesus, likes books and coffee, and is discovering that running is not as miserable as he used to think.