Easter for many people is a celebrated holiday and a family tradition, but according to the Bible it is central to the Christian faith. Even for people who love to celebrate Easter, it’s easy to miss the implications of Jesus’ resurrection. This passage considers how Easter ought to define our faith and shape how we live.
Romans 10:5-13 // [outline]
The final scene and often the closing words are crucial in understanding any story. The same is true of Jesus. The last words that He uttered on the cross give us an essential understanding of what He came to do. Many people misinterpret Jesus because they don’t take His final words seriously. And even those who do understand Jesus rightly often don’t connect what He accomplished with how we are freed to live. Join us Good Friday for an examination of the meaning and implications of Jesus’ final words on the cross.
John 19:28-30
Stress brings out the worst in all of us. While we’re all affected by COVID-19 differently, most of us are experiencing added pressure. We will either turn to God for relief or something else. What we place our hope in is critical. According to the Bible, worship is the act of declaring our hope and identifying our ultimate allegiance. This message looks at how to worship God in a pandemic and find relief from the false hope that we might otherwise trust.
Psalm 115 // [outline]
People keep describing the COVID-19 pandemic as unprecedented. While our times are unprecedented in one sense, you don’t have to look far back in history to see examples of people who have faced similar situations. This psalm looks at a person who dealt with the pain of isolation and it gives some warning signs to look for as well as some steps that we can take to cope with quarantine.
How do you feel thinking about or preparing for worship? Excited, exhausted, conflicted? Today we will turn to Psalm 135 and be reminded that no matter what is going on in our lives or in the world, God is always worthy to be praised!
COVID-19 has put everyone on edge. While we all work to take necessary precautions, many feel a sense of panic as well. The greatest example of this has been the mad rush to stockpile toilet paper. The Bible promises confidence in God, but many are unsure of how to lay hold of it. This message looks at a psalm of David where we learn some practical steps we can take to overcome our anxiety and find confidence in troubling times.
Many books and movies tackle the theme of coping with hardship. Usually, the take-away is that human willpower conquers all adversity. But most of us have come to learn that willpower has its limits. If we think that God might help, then we often struggle to understand how. This message looks at specific steps we can take to find hope in circumstances that feel hopeless.
Some of the prayers in Scripture sound like the bartering in a Middle Eastern market. There's a back and forth that seems deliberate and intentional. Today's message looks at one such 'prayer negotiation' between Moses and God. And it shows us that sometimes God tests us in prayer to see what we'll settle for. His hope is that we won't settle until we've seen His glory.
Sometimes life can feel as if it’s cursed. We look around at how easy things come for other people and it feels as if we’re being left behind. We’re on the B team, forever sitting on the bench, never able to play. The Bible presents a prayer of someone who was made to feel like he was on the B team. And God’s answer to that prayer gives us hope for what God could do in our lives.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 // [outline]
Parents are busier and more stressed than ever. But in our race to help our children lead happy, successful lives, we can lose sight of what’s most important. This message looks at a simple prayer for parents and what it can teach us about how to pray for our parenting and see the role that God has given us through His eyes.
Passages like the Lord’s Prayer can teach us what God wants us to pray about, but we can still be left wondering how. Our prayers can be timid and hesitant or flippant and casual. After Jesus taught His disciples what to pray, He also taught them how to pray. And the attitudes He encourages us to bring to prayer are both counter-intuitive and life-changing. This message looks at the boldness, persistence and confidence that God encourages in our prayers and what He’s seeking to do in our lives and our relationship with Him as we pray like this.
Luke 11:5-13 // [outline]
Prayer is an almost universal experience. Just about everybody has times in their life when they call out to God. But prayer is like marriage: it’s easier to start than it is to figure out. This message looks at what we can learn from the world’s most famous prayer, Jesus’ response to his followers’ desire to be taught how to pray.
Matthew 6:9-13 // [outline]
The good news of the Bible is that, because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, all people of all backgrounds can freely receive His forgiveness through repentance and faith. But people can subtly add conditions to that free grace and turn it into something else. And the problem is that we’re tempted to do the same! This message looks at a man named Gehazi whose greed and prejudice risked corrupting the grace of God.
2 Kings 5:20-27 // [outline]
How do you respond to God’s blessings in your life? Some people take them for granted. Other people try to even accounts with God. But the Bible paints a different picture of how we can honour God for His grace in our lives. This message looks at a Syrian general’s response to God’s healing and teaches us how to respond to God’s grace.
2 Kings 5:15-19 // [outline]
Sometimes we look to God and it feels like He’s turned His back on us. Other times we struggle to understand why He doesn’t do what we ask Him. This message looks at God’s dealing with a Syrian general who wanted healing and shows that there are good, divine purposes behind some of our disappointments with God.
2 Kings 5:8-14 // [outline]
In this passage, the king of Israel is powerless and the Syrian general is helpless. Ironically, the most powerful person is a Jewish slave girl. Although she’s been kidnapped, she knows the power of God and so lives with freedom and confidence.
2 Kings 5:1-7 // [outline]
Everyone is busy. And even when we get some time off, we struggle to feel rested. Jesus promised that He could provide rest for our souls. But that rest comes as He deals with the heart issues that rob our rest. This message looks at how we can experience the deep rest that Jesus promises.
Matthew 11:28 -30 // [no outline]
There are many surprises in the Christmas story, but perhaps nothing quite as surprising as who shows up for the birth. The wise men who bring gifts for the baby are the most unlikely worshippers of the Christ child and the obstacles they overcame to get to Him inspire our own journey of hope. This message looks at what the wise men teach us about overcoming the obstacles that keep us from true worship.
Matthew 2:1-12 // No outline
When we depict the Christmas story in carols and cards, we remember the angels, shepherds, manger and wise men. But the birth of Jesus took place under the threat of a king intent on killing Him and in the shadow of the unspeakable loss that the king’s paranoia and rage brought about. This message looks at what has been called Herod’s, “slaughter of the innocents,” and how it speaks hope into the despair that can often accompany the holidays.
Matthew 2:13-23 // [outline]
The stage is set for the birth of the Messiah, but the baby is in danger of being abandoned. In order to accept Jesus, Joseph has to deal with ridicule from others, his own preconceptions and the fact that he will no longer be in control. To receive Jesus’ work in our lives today, we face the same challenges. This message looks at how Joseph responded to the obstacles that almost kept him from accepting Jesus and how we can overcome them ourselves.
Mathew 1:18-25 // [outline]