1 John 4:7-21 Introduction I have had a number of conversations with people recently about the emphasis on the message of God’s love in the church. No one is arguing that God’s love is unimportant. But we can observe that there has been a shift from seeing God as a harsh judge to God as…
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1 Peter 3:13-17 Introduction As far as I can see, there are two reasons why people choose to celebrate Christmas. One is that they love the symbols, images and beauty of the holiday. This is not as simple as a secular vs religious view of Christmas. There are many people who are ambivalent in their…
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James 3:1-12 Introduction One of the frequent sayings from my childhood was the phrase, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” I can’t think of a more incorrect statement. As I look back over my life, I can’t remember much of the times that I was physically hurt by…
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2 Timothy 4:6-8 Introduction When our children were younger, many of their questions began with “How many sleeps until…?” Many of the questions were quite trivial and I started to just make up numbers. Then one day, one of the children asked, “How many sleeps until I die?” That shook me. I had no clue…
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This message was based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 was part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
Colossians 4:2-6 Introduction There is a lot of work that goes into sending military troops on deployment. There is more to it than just providing transportation and supplies. Rules of engagement must also be developed. What are rules of engagement? They are very specific rules on how the troops are to respond during a conflict.…
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Ephesians 5:21-33 Introduction Christians, especially conservative Christians, often claim to stand for “family values.” What those values are sometimes are rather vague. But the disturbing thing is that one can get in the media spotlight and preach family values and come home and not value family. There have been many unfortunate reports of bad relationships,…
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Galatians 2:11-14 Introduction In general, human beings work in extremes. This includes our attitudes toward conflict. On the one end of the spectrum are those who love conflict. It is not necessarily because of hatred or anger attitudes. It may be because they value precision and accuracy. It may be because they lack patience. It…
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2 Corinthians 4:7-18 Introduction If you wanted to achieve a certain goal, gain a certain level of effectiveness, what would you seek? I would suspect that most of us would seek a position of power and strength. We would want to have as many resources as possible and attempt to minimize weakness. We would connect…
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Romans 8:12-17 Introduction One of the biggest shocks to happen to me took place around fifteen years ago. My mother sat me down and revealed to me that I was adopted. Now my adoption story is a bit different than most. My mom was my birth mom but my dad adopted me. He was not…
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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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John 3:1-8 Introduction What comes to mind when you hear the words born again Christian? I know what I hear. I think of a person who lived a really rough life, far from God. Probably involved in drugs and having a lengthy criminal record. The person encounters Jesus, has a dramatic conversion and a radical…
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Luke 8:1-3 Introduction What is the most important role in the church? Is it the preacher? While I hope my preaching is helpful, I could call in sick right before a service and you could still have an inspiring and God-honouring worship service. Is it the musicians? Some churches don’t use musicians at all. What…
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Mark 4:35-41 Introduction I would like to ask you a question. Is it good or bad to feel fear? I would like to suggest that you cannot answer that with yes or no. The answer is rather that it depends. Especially when they were younger, our children with autism didn’t feel fear. I watched Logan…
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Matthew 6:7-15 Introduction If there is one part of the New Testament that is well known, at least for certain generations, it is the Lord’s Prayer. In movies or television show, if they want to show a generic Christian, they might have them recite the Lord’s Prayer. Even though it was first said by Jesus,…
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Malachi 4:1-6 Introduction I have come to the conclusion that people are willing to put up with a certain amount of confusion and chaos if they know that some where there is a plan. You wouldn’t want someone tearing down walls and ripping up carpet in your home unless you knew there was a specific…
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Haggai 1:7-15 Introduction Have you at any time in your life imagined what it could be like to build your dream house? What would it look like? Personally I love the style of old houses. They have such character. Amanda and I have often found ourselves driving through neighbourhoods admiring those beautiful old houses. When…
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Habakkuk 3:17-19 Introduction My children are often trying to convince me to play video games with them. I mostly refuse as I don’t want to sit in front of a TV and play a game. But they also know there is a way to convince me and that is the offer to play a Virtual…
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Jonah 1:1-17 Introduction Have you ever been asked to do something that you don’t really want to do? I don’t mean something that is just not quite your thing, like being invited to a movie that looks boring. I mean something that makes you want to run the other way. Back before I was a…
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Amos 9:11-15 Introduction What are your thoughts on restorations and renovations? Do you love them or hate them? It might be a little of both. They can be inconvenient and they can be expensive. But when it is done, there is such a satisfaction, remembering where things were at and enjoying where things are now.…
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Joel 2:28-32 Introduction There are many things that I appreciate about Canadian society but one of them is definitely democracy. I wouldn’t want to live in a country where only one person or only a small group of people had all of the say. While we may sometimes complain when election time comes and we…
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Daniel 12:1-4 Introduction Death. It is not a pleasant topic but it is something that unites us all. We hate when we hear about a terminal diagnosis but in another way, we all have a terminal diagnosis the day we are born. We just don’t know the date. This past week, two people I knew…
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Ezekiel 37:1-14 Introduction One of the fun things about being a parent is watching my children develop in their gifts and talents. Each one of our five children have an area in which they excel. The important thing as a parent is not for me to compare them but to celebrate their unique talents. I…
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Lamentations 3:13-26 Introduction Even a quick glance at entertainment, TV shows, movies or music, reveals that people are on a quest to experience love. There may be some disagreements about what that love looks like and how it is found, but we are agreed that there is something called love that is worth finding. So…
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Isaiah 40:28-31 Introduction I have been enjoying going through the Old Testament over the past few months on our series on Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament was the Bible for the early Christians and was regularly quoted by Jesus and Paul. But as we have been going through it, I sometimes feel like we…
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Proverbs 3:5-6 Introduction Have you ever noticed that some people have an uncanny sense of direction and are able to instinctively find places, whereas others have to rely completely on a map or other directions? In our case, it is Amanda who is able to find places fine on our own, while I could still…
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Psalm 22 Introduction I recently came across this quote: “We might impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses.” (Craig Groeschel) Does that ring true for you? Do you prefer the people around you to only demonstrate strength or are you inspired by people revealing their weaknesses? One of the…
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Job 1:20-22 Introduction I think that one of the most annoying things in the market place is the bait and switch. Obviously businesses want to attract as many customers as possible, so they put forth a very attractive offer. The idea is that the potential customer will see the offer as to good to be…
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Nehemiah 1:1-11 Introduction I think that prayer is one of the most natural of things for us to do. When we are placed in a stressful situation, we want to call out to someone for prayer. A number of years ago, I was sitting in the backyard of a hardcore atheist. As we were discussing…
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2 Kings 5:1-19 Introduction Have you ever experienced the joy of helping someone? I’m sure you have. There has been a person in need and you are the right person at the right time to make the difference. I can see a few scenarios of what this may look like. One is when it is…
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1 Samuel 16:1-13 Introduction They say that “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.” This means that in those first moments of meeting someone, we make up our minds about them and it is very difficult to change that impression. Have you ever met a person and immediately had a sense…
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Judges 4 Introduction Who here is a leader? Would it surprise you if I said that all of us are leaders? You do not need to be a pastor or a deacon to be a leader. Leaders are not about titles, they are about influence. I would suggest that anyone who has influence is a…
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Joshua 1:1-9 Introduction Have you ever been forced to leave your comfort zone? Have you had to do something new that you just didn’t feel equipped to do? It could be something minor or major. Both can be terrifying. Many years ago, I was in a Sunday school class led by the pastor of a…
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(Please note that some of the audio is missing) Deuteronomy 5:1-22 Introduction I remember sharing my faith with a high school friend. He identified as either an atheist or a strong agnostic, although he had a Roman Catholic background. His response was that he didn’t need the gospel I was sharing because he was already…
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Numbers 13:17-14:12 Introduction One of the most anxious experiences I had was going for basic training as a chaplain in the army reserves. I was excited about the final result of becoming a chaplain had some concerns about the process. Fortunately I had a friend who was a chaplain and he assured me it was…
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Leviticus 19:1-10 Introduction When I came back to the church, I became involved in a church influenced by the holiness movement. The holiness movement emphasized personal holiness, which is good, but sometimes went beyond what the Bible commanded. So if you asked people what holiness looked like, they would say things like not listening to…
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Genesis 15:1-6 Introduction One of our children’s favourite movies was the LEGO Movie. At one point in the movie, one character, voiced by Morgan Freeman, says to the main character, “Believe. I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true.” When it comes to Christianity, words like “belief” and “faith” are very important…
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