Red Church

In this Christmas Day message, Mark Sayers reflects on how the birth of Jesus only makes full sense when we see it stretched across time—rooted in God’s promises of the past and opening toward God’s future for us. Drawing from John’s cosmic vision of Christ as the Word who holds all things together, and Luke’s earthy scene of a baby in a manger, Mark reminds us that Christmas is where eternity enters time, quietly and personally. Jesus doesn’t come as an idea or force, but as a child who dwells with us—present in our joy, our grief, and the unseen moments of our lives. Even when we can’t recognise what God is doing, He is still at work, often hidden and slow. And just as the manger held immense possibility, so too does our future in Christ: God is not finished yet. The good news of Christmas is this—Jesus loves you, He is close to you, He is at work in your life, and His story with you is still unfolding.🔗 Learn more at redchurch.au

In this Advent message, Mark Sayers invites us to see the Nativity through a royal lens—and to discover just how radically different Jesus’ kingship truly is. Drawing from Matthew 2, Mark shows that the Christmas story is not sentimental folklore but a confrontation of kingdoms: Herod’s fragile power versus the quiet arrival of the true King. While earthly rulers grasp for control, Jesus enters the world hidden, vulnerable, and unexpected—a baby in a manger, surrounded not by force but by worship. This upside-down kingdom overturns our obsession with status, power, and belonging, revealing a King whose authority is expressed through humility and whose reign is defined by love. At the heart of Christmas is not spectacle, but this simple and staggering truth: Jesus came because He loves you. As the year closes and the noise builds, Advent calls us to pause, bow like the Magi, and let the love of the true King reshape our hearts, our lives, and our hopes for what’s ahead.🔗 Learn more at redchurch.au

In this Advent message, Mark Sayers reframes the Christmas story as far more than a sentimental scene, revealing it instead as the decisive moment in a cosmic battle. Through the life of Isaac Watts and the deeper meaning behind Joy to the World, Mark shows that Christ’s coming is not only about a baby in a manger, but about the defeat of evil, the silencing of accusation, and the victory of joy rooted in truth. Drawing from Revelation 12, he reminds us that while darkness still lashes out through lies, fear, and shame, the dragon has already been defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Advent, then, becomes a season not just of remembrance, but of resistance—where we preach the gospel to our own hearts, stand firm in our Christ-given identity, and live as people marked not by circumstances, but by unshakeable joy in Jesus’ victory.🔗 Learn more at redchurch.au

In this Advent message, Mark invites us to rediscover the power of the gospel against the backdrop of silence, longing, and a world aching for hope. After centuries of divine quiet between the Old and New Testaments, the opening line of Mark’s Gospel lands like a thunderclap: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.” Mark paints this moment as the breaking of silence—the long-awaited arrival, the adventus, of the One who brings not advice but victory, not self-improvement but salvation. As he reflects on the installation of Melbourne’s new Anglican Archbishop and the stirring proclamation of Christ’s death, resurrection, and return, Mark calls the church in our city to wake up to its purpose: to bear the good news again. In a Melbourne marked by cynicism, violence, and spiritual hunger, Advent becomes not just nostalgia but a summons—pray, prepare, and posture our hearts for what God longs to do in 2026. The world is gathering at our doorstep; the silence has been broken; the King has arrived. Now we carry His good news.🔗 Learn more at redchurch.au

Launching our Advent series, Trudi invites us into the practice—and the posture—of heaven-directed gratitude. In a season marked by frenzy, pressure, and the noise of consumption, she reminds us that thanksgiving is more than a wellbeing exercise; it is a spiritual discipline that recentres our hearts on the goodness of God. Looking at Jesus feeding the 5,000 and raising Lazarus, Trudi shows that Jesus gives thanks before the miracle—revealing gratitude as a pathway into abundance, partnership, and faith. True gratitude shifts us from scarcity to expectancy, from grumbling to trust, from self-sufficiency to dependence on the One who freely gives life without measure. As Advent begins, we’re invited to pause, lift our eyes to heaven, and give thanks—not only for what God has done, but for the abundance He is ready to pour out in us, through us, and beyond us in the year ahead.🔗 Learn more at redchurch.au