Courage, Faith, and Australian Spirit

Courage, Faith, and Australian Spirit.

Courage, Faith, and Australian Spirit. And I want to read from a social media

post of Pastor Cole Stringer.

Who knows who Pastor Cole Stringer is yet? The author of 800 Horsemen.

Anne gave us a copy of that book for Christmas, and we are loving it, can I just say.

But I want to read from a social media post that Cole Stringer put out only

a few days ago, and it was titled Honouring Our Christian Heritage on Australia Day.

And I'm thankful to Wendy for forwarding this through to Angela and I.

So it says this, and I'm just going to read bits and pieces from it.

Australia did not begin as a Christian utopia.

It began as a penal colony, as we all know, a place of broken lives,

harsh conditions, and human suffering. Yet even in those early days, God was present.

When the first fleet arrived in 1788, among the officers and convicts was the

Reverend Richard Johnson, the first Christian chaplain to the colony.

On February the 3rd, 1788, so less than a week later,

he preached the first Christian sermon on Australian soil from Psalm 116,

Psalms 116:12

verse 12, which says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?

That question, what shall we give back to God, has echoed through our history ever since.

One of the clearest reflections of Australian Christian heritage is found in

what we often call the Anzac spirit.

Courage, sacrifice, mateship, and endurance.

These are not merely national or national traits.

They're Christian values. They're Christian values. Courage,

sacrifice, mateship, and endurance.

Jesus actually said these words. He said, greater love has no one than this,

to lay down one's life for one's friend.

And this truth was lived out by countless Australian men and women who serve

not for glory, but for others.

Chaplains prayed with soldiers in trenches.

Scripture was read in the shadow of death. Faith sustained many when nothing else could.

War itself is a tragedy. The moral framework that allowed Australians to speak

of honour, duty, and self-giving came largely from a Christian worldview.

Awesome. If we forget or allow this woke world system to discredit our Christian

heritage, then all could be lost.

Australia's Christian heritage is not merely something behind us.

It can still be a gift for our future Australians' Christian heritage Sorry,

I read that In a time of anxiety, the gospel offers hope In a time of division,

Christ offers reconciliation In a time of moral confusion.

Scripture offers wisdom And in a time of spiritual hunger, Jesus still says, come to me,

God is not finished with Australia. Amen. He's not finished with Australia.

The same spirit who moved in prayer tents, bush churches, and convict settlements

is still at work, calling people to faith, raising up servants, and renewing hearts.

Awesome. Awesome. Okay. I want to talk about Beersheba this morning.

Who knows about Beersheba? Who knows this story about Beersheba that I'm going

to share with you? Here we go.

On the 31st of October, 1917, in the dusty desert of Beersheba,

something happened that military historians still call one of the most extraordinary

cavalry charges in modern warfare.

The Australian light horse Who consisted of ordinary men Farmers,

stockmen, workers Were sent on what many believed was going to be a suicide

mission The situation was this The wells at Beersheba were about to be destroyed The troops,

they were out of water The enemy was

entrenched Time was running out retreat meant death and delay meant disaster

to understand the weight of that moment we need to understand a little bit about

Beersheba itself and why it mattered so much,

Beersheba sat on the edge of a desert, the Negev Desert, which was held by the

Ottoman Empire during World War I.

And it wasn't just a town, it was a lifeline.

Beersheba was all about water and not territory. It was all about water.

The city was famous for its ancient wells. Some dug centuries earlier Going

deep into the earth And as we know,

in the desert Water means survival The Allied forces,

including the Australian Light Horse Were exhausted They were overheated And

they were critically short of water Horses were collapsing And men were at their physical limits Wow,

If the Australian Light Horse Were able to take Beersheba that day the wells

could supply tens of thousands of men and horses with water the allied forces

would advance their advance into palestine would continue gee that's fairly topical isn't it.

If it did not fall on that day if be sheba did not fall on that that day the

ottomans actually planned to destroy the wells the troops would be forced to

retreat and to perish it was that simple.

This was not about winning ground. It was about survival.

And so the command was given, charge, not with swords, not with sabres,

but with bayonets and rifles in hand, striding straight into machine gun fire.

And against every military expectation, they broke through the lines.

They captured the city, they saved the wells, and they changed the course of the campaign.

Now, history records a victory that day.

But heaven records courage, incredible courage that day.

So today I want us to pause as a nation, as members of a nation,

not to celebrate a country, but to celebrate people.

I want us to celebrate people.

Australia Day is more than a date. It's a moment to remember courage,

resilience, sacrifice, endurance, mateship, and hope.

Among the stories that shape our national identity, one stands out with quiet

power, the charge of the Australian light horse at Beersheba in 1917.

The charge of the light horse wasn't about power. As I said,

it was about perseverance. It was about preservation.

Not about taking, but about protecting. And it was not about pride, but it was about people.

This reflects something deeply Christian.

Whoever wants to be, and this is Mark 10, 43 says, whoever wants to be great

among you must be your servant.

Those guys served that day for a reason True strength doesn't dominate,

it serves True courage doesn't crush,

it protects And true leadership doesn't elevate itself,

it lifts others up Here's an Australia Day

truth for you this morning Our best national

values aren't found in conquest blessed they're found in compassion they're

found in service they're found in fairness and care for one another something

like what was displayed at bondi beach only a few weeks ago.

Compassion service fairness and care for one another the light horse brigade

that day they weren't elite soldiers they were everyday australians just like

us look at these three or four guys sitting in the second row here,

just like them, just like them.

They were everyday Australians, workers, farmers, sons, brothers, husbands, and mates.

What made them powerful, though, wasn't their status.

It was their unity, what they did together. It says in Psalm 133,

Psalms 133:1

verse 1, it says, How good and pleasant is it when God's people live together in unity?

What a great passage of Scripture. Isn't it up there, Josh?

How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity, togetherness.

A nation is not built by systems alone, okay?

It is built by people choosing other people, by people choosing one another.

Here's another Australia Day truth for you this morning. Our strength as a nation

is not our wealth, it's not our land or our economy, it's our people, It's us.

That's Australia. That's Australia.

So the life horse rode into danger that day with courage, not because fear was

absent, because they would have been scared, but because purpose was greater.

Their purpose was greater. Faith works the same way.

Faith works the same way. It says in Joshua 1 verse 9, have I not commanded you?

Joshua 1:9

Be strong and courageous. do not be afraid, do not be discouraged,

for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Faith doesn't remove hardship. It doesn't remove it.

It gives us strength to go through hardship. That's what faith is all about.

National reflection for you this morning. We are a nation that walks through fires.

We go through droughts. We go through floods.

We go through fires. We go through loss. We go through grief,

division. We go through struggle.

Yet we stand. We stand not because we're perfect, but because we are resilient,

because we are faith-filled people.

Australia Day also calls us to have honest reflection, I believe,

and I want us to have some honest reflection this morning.

We honor courage. We honor courage, definitely, but we also acknowledge complexity.

We celebrate unity, but we also recognize wounds.

We give thanks, but we also seek healing.

The gospel never denies pain. It redeems pain.

Here, Isaiah 61 verse 1, part of it says this, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.

Isaiah 61:1

It's what we do. It's what many of us do so well. We bind up the brokenhearted and we hug. We hug.

So a faithful nation building means truth without hatred.

Truth without hatred. It means justice without revenge.

It means remembrance without bitterness.

It's called forgiveness. It's called forgiveness.

There's unity without erasure. There's healing without denial.

God's heart is always for reconciliation.

So Beersheba wasn't just about survival.

It was about tomorrow. It was about the next day and the next day.

Some victories are not about the now.

They're about what comes next. in Jeremiah 29 and verse 17.

Here's another one of those incredible verses, says also, seek the peace and

the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Faith isn't just personal, it's national. It's generational.

Faith is generational, and faith is communal, togetherness.

We don't just pray for blessing either. We pray for wisdom.

We don't just ask for prosperity. We ask for justice.

And we don't just want success.

We want righteousness. That's what we want, not just as Christians, but as Australians.

That's what we want. We want righteousness.

So today, as we celebrate tomorrow, Australia Day. We pray these things.

We pray that courage would not become aggression.

We pray that strength would not become pride.

We pray that freedom would not become selfishness and that prosperity would

not become indifference and that faith would not become silence.

But instead, I want us to pray that courage would become compassion.

I want us to pray that strength would become service, that freedom would become responsibility,

that prosperity would become generosity, and that faith would become love.

Psalm 33 verse 12 says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Oh, far out.

Psalms 33:12

Who knows about that verse? Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

We live in a nation and our nation has God as its Lord.

And that means we are blessed. And we need to show that, don't we?

So I want to bless us all as we go this morning. Why don't you stand with me?

A final blessing as we finish this morning. That's quite a good message, isn't it, I think?

Good length of service. Time to go and have some morning tea.

Trying to go and enjoy the heat today.

But let me bless you. Let me bless you this morning.

May Australia be a land of mercy and justice, Lord God.

May it be a nation of fairness and compassion. May it be a people of courage and kindness.

May we, Lord, be a people of courage and kindness.

May we become a home of welcome and belonging, Australia. and maybe be a country

where faith builds bridges and not walls.

And may the God who walks with nations walk with Australia this morning. Hallelujah.

Today, tomorrow, and for all generations to come. Lord, I pray that in your precious son's name.

Lord, that Australia would be a nation who God walks with. now,

today, tomorrow, and into the future for our future generations, Lord.

It would be a country that God walks with.

So go this morning, church. Be blessed as Australians.

Be blessed as being part of a nation where history records courage, resilience, and faith.

Go this morning and be blessed.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bless you guys. Happy Australia Day.