Podcast Audio: Trying Times These are trying times in the lives of the people of Ottawa, Canada and the world. We’ve experienced something here in Canada that we are not used to – an attack on our own parliament buildings. Canadians across the country were glued to their TVs and computers as they watched…
Podcast Audio: It’s important that we remind ourselves what God has been telling us in scripture, in prayer, and through the leadership of the church. Which is why, if you recall before Thanksgiving, we started a short series on our Mission and Core Values statements. What is a Core Value? When we asked the question,…
Podcast Audio: Let’s talk about Nehemiah 8. But before we do, let me give you a quick background to what’s going on. After the peaceful reign of King Solomon, the son of David, was over, the kingdom of Israel split in two. Israel to the North where 10 tribes were living, and Judah to…
Podcast Audio: “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you,…
Podcast Audio: Our church’s mission statement says that we “share the love of Jesus” two ways: “….through Biblical Teaching and loving relationships.” The second part of that is easy to understand. We have a loving relationship with Jesus and that makes us prioritize having loving relationships with others. Agents of Truth But sometimes it doesn’t…
Podcast Audio: “I Need a New Seven-Hundred-and-Ten” A man walks into a car dealership. He’s not fond of being there, because he knows that some of these places are famous for ripping people off, so his plan is to not let on that he has no idea what he’s talking about. He gets into…
Podcast Audio: Do you know what this is? It’s quite famous and has been around for over 100 years. Millions and millions of people have seen this, probably including yourself. Now can you identify it? Of course you can. Interesting isn’t it? When people go to the Louvre in Paris, not too many even see the…
Podcast Audio: “He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such…
Podcast Audio: And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little…
Podcast Audio: The Bug Zapper Have you ever sat outside next to a bug zapper? My parents have one. It’s a little gadget that hangs from the roof of their patio and glows. And the light that emits from it attracts bugs… and when they get close… ZAP! I know exactly how those little…
Podcast Audio: Three Realms Sun Tzu in “The Art of War” says, “Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” That’s a great quote and it’s hugely applicable to the Christian life. One could almost summarize the path of discipleship using almost those words. Being a Christian…
Don’t forget to enter the “Be the New Podcast Intro Voice” Contest! Podcast Audio: Don’t You Care? “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats…
Podcast Audio: Jesus & Parables When Jesus was speaking to crowds, instead of wowing them with His intellectual power or overwhelming them with theological lectures, He often spoke in little word pictures that captured people’s attention and forced them to use their imaginations to think through big ideas. We call them parables. There may…
I’m back from vacation and looking forward to catching up on my posts. I had a wonderful holiday and I’m very thankful to the church for allowing me to be able to spend time with my family taking a break. I hope you are all able to do the same this summer. Podcast Audio: Planting…
Podcast Audio: The Same Message I’ve been reading a lot about men these days. I just finished The Screwtape Letters and The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis, Happy Happy Happy by Phil Robertson, and am half-way though Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield. Mansfield is a New York Times best selling…
Podcast Audio: I want to take you on a bit of a journey around scripture today. We’re still in the Gospel of Mark, but we’re going to jump around a bit to explain part of what we are going to talk about today. First, open up to Mark 4:21-25. Let’s remember our context. Jesus…
Podcast Audio: Last week I gave you a brief introduction to Spiritual Journaling using Scripture as your Guide. (If you haven’t read that yet, I suggest you start there.) I said that the system I’m teaching isn’t the only way to meet with God, but it is one way that has worked for me…
Podcast Audio: In the last three weeks we have been talking about the making the daily reading of God’s Word the core part of our lives – the foundation of our relationship with God. We’ve said that God’s Word, the Bible, is our umbilical cord to Jesus. We started with looking at the Parable…
Podcast Audio: Over the past couple of weeks we have talked about the importance of making the daily reading of scripture the core part of our lives, and the foundation of our relationship with God. This all started because I wanted to share a way that God has spoken to me through my devotional…
Podcast Audio: We’re continuing our sub-series in the Gospel of Mark which I’m simply calling “God Still Speaks”. Last week we talked about seeing the condition of our hearts, and how we have a responsibility to make sure we are not crowding out God’s voice with unrepentant sin or other things we are giving…
Podcast Audio: We’re getting back into the Gospel of Mark today, but as we step back into it – into Chapter 4 – I want to do it by way of a mini-series, of hopefully only two or three sermons, about something that is very near and dear to my heart – meeting God…
Podcast Audio: Have you ever had a bad week? I had a tough week this week, and I’m sure that some of you did as well. Holy Week is a tough week for Christians. There’s a lot on the calendar, a lot of emotional ups and downs, and of course there always seems to…
Podcast Audio: As the sun gets warmer and the trees start to bloom, I find myself looking forward to summer vacation. I’ve heard of one place that sounds nice… but I’m not sure that I’d ever go there for a holiday. I think you’ll understand why once I tell you about it. A Not…
Podcast Audio: I’m so proud of our Sunday school kids, and the teachers, for taking the time to memorize the Romans Road to Salvation over the past few months. Memorizing of scripture takes time, concentration, and energy – and it is a way to worship God. That time is never wasted and these kids will…
Podcast Audio: Let’s start with a couple of short stories: I remember, a while back, going to a fancy restaurant on my parent’s 25th anniversary. We had a great meal, and my brother had bought a bottle of Dom Pérignon, which was pretty good too. After the appetizer we were served a small bowl…
Podcast Audio: This is the final week we will be spending on Psalm 15. We have been going through it for nine weeks now, and it has been a challenging, and hopefully encouraging, piece of scripture to study. I know it has been for me! And from the responses I’ve heard from some of…
Sermon Audio: We are saved by Grace. We cannot know God, be forgiven, get to heaven, or be saved from our sin, unless God is willing to give us grace. Graceless Amazing Grace The song Amazing Grace says, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” Now listen to this…
Here’s the Audio for this sermon: For the past while we’ve been studying the characteristics of a person and a Christian of integrity. We’re asking the question, “what does it mean to look and act like a Christian, and a Christian church?” It all starts with the first verse, the question that is asked…
Here’s the audio for the sermon: You may have noticed that I changed the title of this series. Instead of being “Being People of Integrity”, I’ve simply called it “Christian Integrity”, and that’s because I believe that it’s important to distinguish the fact that we are specifically talking about the characteristics of a person…
Last week I presented a problem: What do we do with hypocritical people who call themselves Christians, but continue to love their sin? This week I want to look at a biblical solution. This is all part of a series on Psalm 15 which talks about what it looks like to be a person…
What we are talking about in this series is how to be a person of Christian Integrity. To do that we are examining what Psalm 15 says about what it means to look like a Christian. I don’t mean how to be superficial in our faith, nor is this a list of ways to…
For the past couple weeks, and the next few, we are looking at what it means to look like a Christian. Saying that it is controversial because a lot of people don’t understand, or want to talk about, the fact that there are standards of practice for all Christians. “God Loves Me The Way…
As we set out into 2014, a word that I want us each to ponder, to reflect on, and to think about is the word “Integrity.” It’s a big, important word, and has been significant in my devotional life for a long while. It comes up all the time. I’m reading through the Bible…
(I used this prayer by Pastor Scotty Smith this week.) I don’t know where you are at today, and I don’t pretend to know what is going on in your heart – only God knows that. I can say with absolute certainty that there is something you desire very much, that you have worked…
Last week we talked about the first purpose of Christmas, which was to Celebrate the Love that God has for us and how he proved it by giving up so much for us. Big cost, big love. I said there that one of the challenges for us this Christmas season was to live be purposeful…
Before you start, I encourage you to read the Christmas Story from Luke 2:1-20. A Special Time of Year Last week I invited you last week to take one of these books, called “The Purpose of Christmas” by Rick Warren. The reason that I did this was so that we could spend time together,…
The Advent Wreath Over the next month we will be been celebrating the season by using Advent candles to mark the weeks preceding Christmas. I’ve appreciated doing this over the past years because I believe they are a wonderful tool to remind us about what Christmas is all about. The Advent wreath is rich…
The Freudian Trio This probably won’t come as a shock to many of you, but I’m a Star Trek fan. One of my favourite parts of the show is the interplay between Captain Kirk, the Vulcan First Spock and Doctor McCoy. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, made a genius decision when he…
Meeting the God of the universe, being saved from Hell by Jesus exchanging his life for yours, and having the Holy Spirit indwell you and recreate every part of your being, obviously has a pretty dramatic effect on every part of your life. Meeting Jesus and having His Spirit guide your life changes how…
We’re continuing a sub-series within our study of the Gospel of Mark where we are going to look a little more closely at the lives of the Apostles. A couple of weeks ago we talked about the Apostle Peter, and I reminded you that as we go through these mini-biographies that I want you…
We’re starting a sub-series within our study of the Gospel of Mark where we are going to look a little more closely at the lives of the Apostles. As we go through these mini-biographies that I want you to do a few things: First, I want you to find yourself in this group. Without…
There are lots of pictures of the apostles. Probably the most famous picture with all the disciples is Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”, but many artists over time have tried to put together a rendering of what they looked like. Over the next couple weeks, since I’m not much of an artist, I want…
I took a little break from the Gospel of Mark series and preached a very difficult (yet hopefully timely) sermon this past Sunday. The background of the sermon was that our church needs to make some big decisions about its future together. I didn’t give my own opinions of the situation, but shared 5…
“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The…
“Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a…
If you were converted later in life, or have friends that are non-Christian, then you have probably had the conversation about “what you are allowed to do.” The underlying question is always, “What kind of burdens have been placed on you now that you are a Christian?” And it’s a justified question because becoming…
Jesus and the Mob Boss We’re going to talk about Mark 2:18-22, but let me set the context first. Jesus is sitting at the table of Levi, also called Matthew, who has just left his Tax Collectors booth and has followed Jesus. They went to his home where Jesus sat down to…