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Confronting Sin: The Biblical Steps to Take When Helping Somone Caught in Sin
Audio: Text: Anosmia Have you ever heard of “Anosmia”? It’s a fancy word describing the inability to smell and thousands of Canadians have this problem. I read a little about it this week and it’s actually a much more serious problem then one would think because our nose is something that keeps us safe.…
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Judging Others and Confronting Sin: Where to Start
Audio: Text: Let’s open up to 1 Corinthians 5 and read it again. Last week we talked about the danger of sin and the importance of calling it out in our own lives and protecting each other from it by stepping in and giving warnings. We touched on the importance of, when we see…
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Christians & Depression IV: The Truth
Audio: Text: Ok, just for fun we’re going to start today with a True or False test of some random questions I found around the internet: Approximately one-quarter of human bones are in the feet. (True – 52 bones in the feet and 206 in the whole body.) In ancient Rome, a special room…
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Christians & Depression III: Jesus Knows How You Feel
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: We’ve been talking for the past few weeks about Mental Illness and Depression, something that is all too common in our community. We’ve talked about what Depression is, what causes it, and a bit of what it’s like to live with it. Last week we talked about the stigma of…
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Christians & Depression II: Fighting The Stigma
*Sorry, no audio. Tattoos & Human Branding I don’t have any tattoos, but I know lots of people who do – and a few that don’t have one yet but want one. As far as the Bible goes, there’s no problem with getting or having a tattoo, so long as it’s not done in…
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Christians & Depression: A Few Things Your Pastor Wants You to Know
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: Well, we took down the Christmas decorations at home this week. No more tree, lights, or socks on the wall (nothing says Christmas like decorating the wall with fancy socks you’ll never wear, right?). The socks have been replaced with our standard portrait, the tree has been boxed up and…
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Why Our Church Has a Membership Covenant
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: When we become Christians we enter into a new family called the Church of Jesus Christ. When we put our faith in Jesus, God takes us out from under the condemnation we find under His Law grants us forgiveness through Jesus, and then makes us a part of His Kingdom.…
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Reflections from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (Christmas Day Sermon for Kids)
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: How many of you watched a Christmas movie this year? We have a tradition at my house, though we haven’t been the best at it this year, of watching Christmas movies throughout the month of December. We like the fun ones like Elf, Santa The Clause, Home Alone, Miracle on…
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If Jesus is My Saviour, Why Don’t I Feel Saved?
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: Tigger & Eeyore Have you ever met a super-happy person? One of those folks that just seems to have a good attitude all the time, glowing about life, full of energy, optimistic about the future? I’ve met a couple of them, though not many. They’re awesome to be around because…
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What God is Doing When We’re Not Looking
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: We read a scripture last week from the Isaiah 8-9 and I want to take this week to revisit one of those verses. Open up to Isaiah 9:6-7 and let’s read it together again. Last time we emphasized verses 1-5, as we discussed God coming as the child Jesus, making…
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A Christmas Perspective on “The Worst Year Ever”
Sermon Audio: Sermon Text: Maybe I spend too much time on the internet, but there seems to be a fair consensus that 2016 wasn’t anyone’s favourite year. Political insanity, environmental disasters, racial tension, war, famine, terrorism, genocide… plus Alan Rickman and Gordie Howe died… argh. It was kind of a lousy year. I’ve personally…
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Why Sexual Sin is a Big Deal – God As Husband (The Gospel & Sexual Sin: Part 3)
Sermon Audio: Handout / Small Group Questions: The Gospel & Sexual Sin Part 3: God As Husband – HANDOUT Sermon Text: I need you to do a little, mental legwork this morning and recall the last few sermons, because, in truth, they along with today’s is really altogether one sermon. Part of me longs…
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Counterfeit Living (The Gospel & Sexual Sin: Part 2)
Sermon Audio: Handout / Small Group Questions: The Gospel & Sexual Sin Part 2: Couterfeit Living – HANDOUT Sermon Text: These examples of knock-off products are pretty funny and easy to spot, but it’s not always so innocent. High-end art and fashion are constantly having to fight against forgeries. I read this week that…
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The Gospel and Sexual Sin
Sermon Audio: Handout / Small Group Questions: The Gospel and Sexual Sin – Handout & Study Guide Sermon Text: Before we get into our discussion of 1 Corinthians 5 next week, it’s very important that we look back to the context. Remember the Context The Apostles Paul is writing to a church he had…
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What Are Christians Allowed To Do? (or “Don’t Let Imaginary People Tell You What to Do”)
Sermon Audio: Handout / Small Group Questions: Own Your Why – What Are Christians Allowed To Do – Handout.PDF Sermon: Sin Ruins Everything Culture presents to us a whole lot of options for things to do, but as Christians who want to do all things to the glory of God we often struggle to…
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What Makes a True Apostle?
This is the second of a two-part series on 1 Corinthians 4, so please open up to 1 Corinthians 4 and let’s read verse 1 to remind ourselves about what we talked about last week. It says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of…
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Self-Image: Who Are You When No One Is Looking?
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do…
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There’s No Deception Like Self-Deception
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the…
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God’s Temple: The Church Needs To Stay United – OR ELSE!
Let’s start with a quick review and then close of the section of 1 Corinthians 3 that we’ve been studying for the past few weeks. If you recall, we’ve been looking at Paul’s threefold illustration to describe why the Christian church needs to ensure that they remain united. Remember that in this section Paul…
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God’s Farm: Life As God’s Field Hand
There are a lot of illustrations that God uses to describe His people. Jesus and Paul, likely because they lived in an agricultural culture, often used natural illustrations. In John 15, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, God is the gardener who prunes and strengthens the branches, or burns the fruitless ones.…
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Crabapple Christians
When I was growing up, my grandparents had a crab apple tree in their front yard, and every time we went to visit them, my brother and I would see the tree and hope the apples were ready to eat. It was actually quite frustrating for us because we found the readiness of crab…
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Forbidden Fruit: Why We Keep Changing What We Believe About Who God Is and What He Has Said
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about how important it is for us to realize that we don’t have the right, or the need, to make up things about who God is or what God wants, because He has already told us everything we need to know. All through scripture, we are…
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Why Bad Theology Makes Me CRINGE! (Examples of Every Day Heresies)
If you’re on YouTube, then you’ve probably seen the “Try Not To Laugh” challenges where someone puts together a bunch of funny clips and you’re supposed to watch them with a friend and see who laughs first. Well, I was watching some YouTube videos the other day and came across one where the people…
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God’s Plan For Your Life is Revealed Not Discovered (Stop Looking, Start Listening)
If you remember last week, we learned that regardless of what the multitudes of unbelievers in this world think, there really is objective truth and objective morality, and those things were written long, long ago by God Himself. And therefore, despite all of the dramatic changes of opinion which seek to envelop us, and all…
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Christians and “The Wrong Side of History?”
A lot of people are very concerned about being on “the wrong side of history” these days. They’re terribly worried about being “stuck in the past” and spend a lot of time thinking about how they can be assured that they will be remembered by historians as being on the “right side” when it’s…
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When “Count Your Blessings” Isn’t Good Enough (How to Give Thanks in Every Situation)
Somehow this sermon got missed in the shuffle, so it’s a little our of order and the illustrations are a little dated. Sorry! Every year I watch the SuperBowl. It’s the only football game I watch all year long. I don’t watch the CFL or the NFL at all. I don’t keep track of…
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What Can We Do and What Must God Do Alone?
We like doing things ourselves, right? I think almost everyone here today takes pride in the skill and abilities they have, what they can accomplish, and how, for the most part, they don’t really need anyone’s help to get by. Sure – as I said last week – some of us are willing to…
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Your Weaknesses Are Very, Very Important (Acknowledging the Necessity of Lack)
If you have your Bibles with you, please up to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and let’s read it together. Those of you who have been following along with the sermon series so far are going to see some really important words in there and will, hopefully, recall some of the things we’ve already learned. When…
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“Fly, You Fools!”: Fear, Foolishness & Gandalf
One would think that it would be universally true that no one likes looking like a fool, but that’s not really the case is it? There are countless websites, YouTube channels, gifs, tv shows and blogs that are solely dedicated to watching people do foolish, dangerous, stupid or ridiculous things – and they get…
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The Simple Truth: Is The Gospel Enough?
Spectacle over Substance Our North American society, including the Christian church, tends to overvalue style, spectacle, and cleverness in not only our educators but also our teachers, preachers and authority figures. What a person may lack in knowledge, character, understanding, wisdom and kindness, they can more than make up for in how they look, their…
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Mind Your Buckets: What You Need to Know to Get Your Priorities Straight
I was given the opportunity to be a special speaker this week and as I was preparing my sermon, I ended up stopping and thinking: “You know what, the talk I just wrote for this other group really lines up to what we’re talking about in 1st Corinthians. Maybe I should just share this…
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Called & Cleaned Part 3: A Biblical Case for Pursuing a Godly Life
Right now, and over the past few weeks, we’ve been working through an extended introduction to the first few verse of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. It begins as most letters began, by stating who the letter was from and who it was to. It reads: “Paul, called by the will of God…
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Called & Cleaned Part 2: Biblical Paradoxes and the Doctrine of Sanctification
Biblical Paradoxes I remember hearing somewhere that it is the psychologically healthier mind that can handle holding opposing thoughts and paradoxes in tension. It’s the unhealthy mind that is always trying to rectify the world and make it fit exactly, perfectly into categories. A healthy mind is ok with not understanding everything in the…
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Called and Cleaned Part 1: The Doctrines of Election & Sanctification
Voices In Your Head One of my favourite country songs is one by Chris Young called “I Hear Voices” which is about a man talking about how thankful he is for all the good advice he’s gotten in his life –from his mom, dad, grandparents, etc – who now exist as voices in his…
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We Need Both God and The Church (Paul Comes to Corinth)
Quick Review Last week we started a new series on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and I talked about the two principle players involved , that being Paul and the city of Corinth. The two things that I hope you walked away with last week was Paul’s passion for spreading the love of…
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The Context of 1st Corinthians
Welcome to the first week of our series on 1st Corinthians! I’ve been really excited to start this series for two reasons. First, I really enjoy teaching books of the bible, and second, because I believe that the content of this series is going to be not only extremely interesting, but also very helpful.…
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The World’s Most Dangerous Idea (Easter Sermon)
Festival of Dangerous Ideas Today is Easter Sunday, the day that the Christian church has set aside for hundreds of years – dating back to the third century – to celebrate and remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! This event is the single most important event in the history of humanity! To…
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Will You Relent to God? (When God Answers Your Prayers in Uncomfortable Ways)
When crisis hits – whether it happens to us, our family, our friends, or we just hear about it on the news – our first instinct is to ask a lot of questions. Why did it happen to me/us? What will happen next? Is it over now or will it get worse? How far…
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Woe to the God-Makers (Why People Think They Can Get Away with Anything)
Review We’re currently on week 8 of our 3 week series on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, and this week we’re concluding our study of the five Woes Against the Chaldeans that we find in chapter 2. If you remember the other sermons in this series you’ll remember that we’ve seen quite a…
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Woe to the Exploiters: From Coffee to Human Trafficking – a Warning Against Self-Centredness
Habakkuk Review Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working through the book of Habakkuk. This short book captures a conversation that the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk had with God during a time of great trouble in his nation. Everything around him was falling apart – the people were fighting one another, violence ruled…
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Woe to the Self Secure: You are Not as Safe as You Think
Parable of the Rich Fool Let’s begin today by reading “The Parable of the Rich Fool”: “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take…
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A Woe to the Greedy & Warning about Debt
Changing Sin Confronting people’s sin isn’t very popular these days. More and more the world is handing out excuses rather than judgements and punishments. It’s not that I’m advocating for the return of the Salem Witch trials or the Spanish Inquisition, but I do believe that we have lost something incredibly important to human…
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From Pride to Addiction to Greed: How Sin Creates Addicts and Consumers
God Hates Sin God hates sin. Were it not for His abundant love for humanity and amazing grace, humanity would have been utterly destroyed a long time ago. God created two people and put them in the perfect environment, gave them everything they needed, and let them know only good – it wasn’t enough…
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Life Sucks Then You Die
Please open up to Habakkuk 2, and as you get there let me give you a quick reminder of what we’ve covered so far. Quick Review Habakkuk is a book that show us a conversation between God and one of his prophets about the incredibly sinful things he’s seeing around him. His whole nation…
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Habakkuk’s Lament: How to Keep From Drowning in the Deep End of Life
Lifeguard Training My kids have been in swimming lessons for quite a while. I took them when I was a child, as most people do, but I’m nowhere near as good at swimming as my kids are. Even my littlest, Eowyn, knows more strokes and techniques than I do. To be totally honest,…
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Why, God, Why?
The Charge of the Light Brigade There’s a scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan that gives a great illustration of waht we’re talking about today. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a squad of soldiers who have been given the task of tracking down a paratrooper who is the last surviving brother…
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The Role and Qualifications of Deacons
(I want to start by thanking 9Marks for some great articles that helped me put this together.) Intro to Deacons This week, however, I want to talk about something that I’ve never covered here before – the role of deacons in the church. This is both important and pertinent as the Nominating Committee…
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Mary’s Song & Troubled Times (Advent 2015)
Just this week we celebrated the birthday of someone that has touched all our lives – though most of us have never heard of him. On December 11th, 1792, Joseph Mohr was born in Salsburg, Austria. His childhood was one that was filled with strife and shame. He was his mother’s third illegitimate child.…
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Zechariah & Being Filled With The Holy Spirit
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they…