Acts 16:11-40 Introduction How does one become a Christian? That seems to be a fairly reasonable question. If we claim to be Christians, then we better know how one becomes a Christian. I don’t think that I’m straying into heresy by saying the way to Christianity is through Jesus. There are those who believe there…
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Acts 16:6-10 Introduction How many of you like to go on long car rides? This can be especially nice at this time of the year when the leaves are changing and before the snow comes and everyone forgets how to drive. There are a couple of ways you can choose to do one of these…
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Acts 16:1-5 Introduction How committed are you to the Church? I don’t mean specifically Queen Street Baptist Church, although there is overlap with what I’m talking about. I mean more specifically, how committed are you to being the Church? When I have talked to Christians of older generations about commitment, the response was usually somethings…
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Acts 15:36-41 Introduction I want you do something. Without look around the room, I want you to think back. Is there any person who is a part of this church that has disappointed you? Is there anyone who said or did something that really bothered you? Has there ever been a time when you saw…
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Acts 15:22-35 Introduction When you are reading a story, one of the important steps for understanding is identifying the major characters. This is true whether you are reading William Shakespeare or reading a Superman comic book. It is also true when reading history. I have an interest in reading both ancient history and the history…
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Acts 15:1-21 Introduction When you think of the different events put on by the church, what is your favourite? Is it the worship service? Bible studies and prayer meetings? Potlucks and other meals? Where do business meetings fit into the ranking? When I was just starting in ministry, I was warned about how bad church…
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Acts 14:8-20 Introduction Most likely, you have expectations for any situation you are facing. You may not know all the details and your expectations may be wrong, but you do have expectations. At a previous church, one where I was expected to wear a suit and tie to each service, I snuck out during a…
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Acts 13:44-52 Introduction It was approximately thirty years ago. I had just come out of a period of atheism while a student at Brock University. I had come to believe in a God but I had no idea what religion I should follow. Christianity seemed too obvious, being the most common religion in Canada and…
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Acts 13:13-43 Introduction One of my favourite things is studying history. In another life, I could have seen myself as a history teacher rather than a pastor. I like history because it is interesting and often entertaining. But I love history because it is relevant to today. Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the…
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Acts 13:1-12 Introduction A few months ago, it was the twenty years ago that I was ordained. It was at Queensway Baptist Church in Brantford, and it took place on mystery last Sunday there before starting at a new church. It was a meaningful service but it really was one step in a long process…
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Acts 12:20-25 Introduction I’m going to give you a little bit of insight on how I go about picking passages to preach on. I enjoy preaching a series, preferably on a book of the Bible. I like this because it forces me to get outside my own area of interests and to be challenged by…
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Acts 12:1-19 Introduction It does not take us long before we discover that life is not fair. Children at a young age complain that things are not fair. They sense a disconnect when someone gets something good that they didn’t get or if they get punished and someone else doesn’t. It just isn’t fair! As…
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Acts 11:27-30 Introduction What is the question that the world is asking about the church? Believe it or not, the main question is not about which church is the true church. People are not lying awake at night wondering of the Anglicans or the Pentecostals or the Baptists have a corner on the truth. That…
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Acts 10:1-33 Introduction How common would you say prejudice is? We might be inclined to think that we are not as prejudiced as some other people. But then that is a form of prejudice. Here is an example. I find that Canadians point to Americans as people who have really struggled with racism. We hear…
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Acts 9:19b-30 Introduction Has there ever been a time when you have felt rejected, like the whole world was against you? Perhaps the supports that once been there were now gone. Do you remember what that was like? And have you ever been in that position and someone came forward to support you? It may…
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Acts 9:1-20 Introduction I want you to think about the person you would most be surprised to become a Christian. It could be someone famous, perhaps a musician or an actor or a politician. Maybe it was someone who is a known criminal or is had had a particularly immoral life. Maybe it is someone…
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Acts 8:26-40 Introduction I have often felt like the story of the Ethiopian eunuch is one of the strangest in Acts. It’s not the picture of Philip running alongside the horse drawn chariot, listening to what the man was reading. Nor is it the way the Holy Spirit takes Philip away immediately after, making it…
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The Church scattered February 7, 2021 QSBC Acts 8:1-8 Introduction Back when I was in my mid-20s, I went on my first mission trip. It was with the organization Operation Mobilization. I was pretty excited to go overseas and preach the gospel. And I as feeling a bit overconfident as well, if I am honest.…
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Acts 7:54-60 Introduction Have you ever thought about what it will be like when you die? I don’t mean passing into the afterlife but in the hours and minutes leading up to it. I know that sounds morbid and yet it is something we will all experience. I have spent time with a lot of…
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Acts 7:51-53 Introduction Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and you realize that you have come to a crossroads? You can see the next thing that you plan to say in your mind. You know that if you say that, there is no going back. Not only will it change the direction…
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Acts 7:44-50 Introduction Many years ago, I was at a revival service here in St Catharines and I heard something that I have never forgotten. Interestingly, it was in his sermon but in his appeal for the offering. As he was asking people to dig deep into their wallets, he told us that God was…
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Acts 6:8-15 Introduction I want you to think about a time when a person or a group of people were very upset with you. Not just slightly annoyed but downright angry. Now I want you to think about what it was that made them angry. How accurately were they interpreting the facts of what you…
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Acts 6:1-7 Introduction With this being Remembrance Sunday, I can’t help but think of conversations I have had in the past with veterans, especially of the Second World War. I was blessed in my previous church to have a good group of WW2 veterans that I was able to get to know and hear their…
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Acts 5:33-42 Introduction As many of you know, I have a great interest in military history. It is not to glorify war but to learn from what happens to humanity when put in the most difficult situations. There are often practical life lessons, and even lessons for us as a church, even if the weapons…
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Acts 5:12-32 Introduction This time COVID-19 has been a chapter of the church unlike anything that I can remember. It has challenged us to to rethink everything that we have just taken for granted. What does it mean to worship? What does it mean to gather? What does it mean to care for one another?…
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Acts 5:1-11 Introduction Every once in a while I get the urge to write a devotional on the most disturbing passages in the Bible. There are a number that could be included and one of them would be the story of Ananias and Sapphira. This is the story of a married couple in the church…
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Acts 4:23-37 Introduction I remember being at a ministerial and I pointed out that John had been a Baptist. The Nazarene pastor reminded me that John may have been a Baptist but Jesus was a Nazarene. That’s when another pastor stated in heaven, we would all be the United Church. I’m not suggesting that any…
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Acts 4:13-22 Introduction You may or may not know that I took a number of years off pastoral ministry between my previous churches and coming to Queen Street Baptist Church. But of course we still needed to eat and so that meant I needed to get a job. At that point, I had been a…
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Acts 4:1-12 Introduction I will confess to you that I’m horrible when it comes to directions. Whenever we go on a trip, I completely rely on Amanda. My confidence in her surpasses that of any GPS. If I don’t have Amanda, I definitely rely on the GPS directions on my phone. But what did people…
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Acts 3 Introduction At some point in 2019, just a few people contracted a virus that we now call COVID-19. At the time it probably looked like a small thing. I don’t even know how sick those first people got. I am sure that if you could go back and explain to them all that…
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We have recently started a sermon series on the Acts of the Apostles. There is some background information that is helpful but doesn’t necessarily fit in a sermon. Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke and was written by the same author. Although they are separated by the Gospel of John in our…
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Acts 2:42-47 Introduction I want you to imagine you were doing a public performance of some kind. It could be a speech, some music, presenting something you have made, whatever you are passionate about. You present your skills to the public. After the performance, someone comes up to you and says, “I was just filled…
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If you were to ask random people to define prayer, some would say: “Asking God for stuff.” While that is part of prayer, there is much more to it. When it comes to prayer, I like the ACTS model of prayer. ACTs refers to Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Adoration Adoring God is praising him…
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Acts 2:22-41 Introduction Have you ever had a recurring dream? It may not be exactly the same dream but it is the same sort of dream or it happens at the same place or it includes the same people. I have had a number of recurring dreams over my life, usually repeating frequently during a…
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Acts 2:1-21 Introduction I am the pastor of Queen Street Baptist Church. But I am not a lifelong Baptist. In fact I have been baptized twice in my life and neither time was in a Baptist church. I was raised in the Anglican church for a long time that’s all I knew about church. I…
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Acts 1:12-26 Introduction I want to be careful in what I predict, but I want to say that I hope that this is my final congregation of my pastoral career. I realize that I still have a lot of time before I retire, but the thought of going through the process again is not appealing.…
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Acts 1:1-11 Introduction Have you ever been in the awkward experience of expecting someone to do something and you are not sure if they are going to do it? You are hanging on their every word and action, hoping that that they will get around to what you want them to do or say. It…
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In this service, Amanda Bedard shares with us from Acts a picture of what the Church can be like.
This is the start of our online Bible study of Philippians. Please feel free to leave your comments on this post. We will start with a basic introduction. The city of Philippi in Macedonia is named after Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian…
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Acts 17:1-9 Introduction Is it a good thing or a bad thing to argue? That depends on what you mean by an argument. If you define an argument as an angry exchange that produces more heat than light, then arguments can be bad. As a parent, I will say that I have observed many arguments…
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This is a message that was preached by our Outreach Director, Amanda Bedard.
Acts 10:9-35 Introduction The very first part of our church mission statement is that we are “a welcoming community.” I think it is appropriate that the welcoming part comes first because that could derail the rest of our mission. You might think that even the most unfriendly church could at least worship God. But the…
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A sermon based on Acts 2:42-47 and preached at Queen Street Baptist Church. Introduction Have you ever picked a New Year’s resolution and stuck to it? Some of the experts tell us that New Year’s resolutions don’t work. I don’t believe that’s accurate. I believe what really goes on is that many people are not…
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