Back to Basics #10: New Testament
Posted August 31, 2010 – 11:54 am in: Messages
We wrapped up our “Back to Basics” series with a look at the New Testament this week. The New Testament provides God’s answer to the problem of human failure and rebellion. It’s a threefold story:
- Jesus’ life: He announced and demonstrated the kingdom of God by various signs. He lived a perfect life—something that no human has ever been able to do.
- Jesus’ death and resurrection: In his innocent death, he suffered the consequences for our sins. When we trust and follow Jesus, his sacrifice covers us.
- Jesus’ Spirit: When Jesus ascended he sent his Spirit to transform his followers into his body on earth. That’s what the church is.
Like last week, I wrote a brief little reading guide to help you through the New Testament. You can download it here.
Here’s the message:
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No Comments | Tags: Jesus, New Testament, scripture
Back to Basics #9: Old Testament
Posted August 23, 2010 – 3:52 pm in: MessagesThe Old Testament makes up about three quarters of our Bible, but it’s often overlooked. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is the difficulty of understanding such an old story with so many twists and turns.
This past Sunday I shared the grand story of the Old Testament. It’s a story of God’s good creation, human rebellion, and God’s desperate attempt to draw his wayward subjects back to himself.
The Old Testament is far more than a place to find stories for Sunday School or moral lessons for adults. Read it for yourself and find out!
I created a little booklet to help you understand where each Old Testament book fits into the story. You can pick up a copy at church or download it here.
Here’s the message:
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No Comments | Tags: history, Old Testament, story
Back to Basics #8: Tradition
Posted August 16, 2010 – 3:36 pm in: MessagesWhy do we do the things we do? Tradition. As pentecostals, we often pride ourselves in our freedom in the Spirit to break with tradition. The truth is, tradition can be both good and bad. It’s the active presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that will help us to tell the difference.
This past Sunday we looked at good and bad traditions. Here’s the audio:
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Here are the scriptures we looked at:
- Joshua 4:1-7
- Hebrews 12:1-2
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
- Mark 7:1-13
- John 16:12-15
I quoted from G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy during the message (page 69 below). You can preview more of this fantastic book here:
No Comments | Tags: music, spirit, tradition
Back to Basics #7: Church
Posted August 9, 2010 – 11:09 am in: MessagesWhat is the Church (with a capital C)? That’s the question we tried to answer on Sunday morning. There are a lot of modern misconceptions about the Church, so we tried to return to scripture by reviewing four biblical metaphors:
- The Church is a Household where God’s people get together
- The Church is a Temple where God lives
- The Church is the Body of Jesus
- The Church is the Bride of God
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Here’s the video we watched at the beginning of the message:
Here’s Peterson’s book on the Church that I quoted Annie Dillard from:
Finally, here’s Derek’s Webb’s song, The Church:
No Comments | Tags: body, bride, church, household, temple
Outdoor Worship: Easy Yoke
Posted August 3, 2010 – 2:05 pm in: Messages
We’re two for two! The weather cooperated beautifully last Sunday for our second outdoor service. In case you missed it, we worshiped God together with by singing, giving an offering, and hearing his Word from Matthew 11:28-30. We were able to record this Outdoor Worship Service, so here’s the message:
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No Comments | Tags: all, burden, canoe, teaching, yoke
Ukraine Wrap-Up
Posted July 26, 2010 – 11:26 am in: Messages
After a year and a half of prayer, planning, and fundraising, we wrapped up our Ukraine Mission trip with a report on Sunday. It looked like our church was invaded by a cult of green-shirted fanatics! The morning was stuffed-full of pictures, videos, music, and testimonies about the successful trip.
It was pretty clear that the highlight of the trip was the last day of kid’s camp when almost everyone responded to the invitation to get to know Jesus.
Thank you to Pastor Wendy, the leaders, the sponsors, and everyone who sacrificed time and finances to make this trip such a success.
For those of you who can’t get this out of your head, here’s the kid’s song the team taught us:
No Comments | Tags: missions, pictures, Ukraine
Back to Basics #6: Temptation
Posted July 19, 2010 – 2:01 pm in: MessagesIt doesn’t take long before anyone living for Christ experiences temptation. Jesus was tempted—why should we be exempt? This past Sunday we took a broader look at the subject by examining:
- Sin v. sins: Do you know the difference between Big-”S”-Sin and little-”s”-sins?
- Temptation: How does temptation work? When are we tempted? Can we resist? What happens when we fall (yes, I said, “when”)?
- Don’t Walk the Line: We’ll never escape temptation if we continue to flirt with it. Temptation defense requires a solid offense: stay close to God’s heart.
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Information on the Sundew (Drosera) plant along with the pictures I showed can be found on their wikipedia page.
Here’s the video I showed during the message:
Here’s a bonus video on that last point:
No Comments | Tags: sin, temptation, will power
Back to Basics #5: Stewardship
Posted July 13, 2010 – 10:15 am in: MessagesLast Sunday we looked at the topic that pastors approach with fear and trembling: money. We looked at a lot of scriptures, so here’s a summary with the verses for your own study:
God created everything that exists and entrusted it to us to manage and care for (Genesis 1:26-28). God never gave up ownership of his creation (Psalm 50:7-15).
We’re greedy little critters (as any lottery commercial will remind us), so in the Old Testament God kept reminding his people to be generous by:
- Forbidding the permanant sale of land (Leviticus 25:23-24)
- Forbidding the charging of interest to neighbours (Exodus 22:25-27)
- Instituting the tithe (Numbers 18:21-24; Deuteronomy 12:5-7; 26:12-15; Malachi 3:8-10)
In the New Testament, we’re not bound by the law, but held to a higher standard as Jesus taught in Matthew 5. It’s no surprise, then, that the early church sold everything for the common good (Acts 2:43-47). Paul spoke about giving in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11:
- You get what you give (not prosperity ‘gospel’ nonsense).
- Make up your mind on what to give, and give cheerfully (the tithe is a good place to start—it reminds us that God still owns everything).
- God blesses us abundantly so we can give generously to good works (not the other way around).
- God blesses us for our generosity in many different ways.
- Giving to people is really giving to God.
We closed the service by hear some testimonies about how people learned to give and how God has blessed them.
Here’s the message:
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Here’s the video I showed near the beginning of the message:
And here’s a bonus video we didn’t have time to share during the message:
No Comments | Tags: generosity, money, tithe
Outdoor Worship Service
Posted July 6, 2010 – 2:27 pm in: Future Plans, News
What a great day. We prayed for sunshine, and boy was it beautiful (if a little hot)!
In case you were not able to make it out, we sang songs themed around five words of worship—words that are left untranslated in scripture:
- Hallelujah — “Praise the Lord”
- Hosanna —”Save, please!”
- Abba —”Father”
- Maranatha —”Our Lord, come”
- Amen —”So be it”
Special thanks to everyone who invited friends and family out. The service was very well attended. I’m looking forward to August 1st, now!
No Comments | Tags: music, outside, worship
Back to Basics #4: Growth
Posted June 28, 2010 – 11:46 am in: MessagesWhat a Sunday! If you were there, you’ll know what I mean. If you missed it, I’ll share the details but you’ll miss the excitement.
The theme of the morning was spiritual growth. Here’s the big secret: the key to growth is obedience. If you obey what God whispers through prayer and his Word, you’ll grow up spiritually. If you ignore his voice, you’ll remain stagnant.
Following a brief message, we were able to witness obedience in two very practical ways:
- We prayed to send off the Ukraine Mission team. We witnessed a number of people who sacrificed their time and finances to obey God’s call.
- We heard testimonies from five baptismal candidates who were taking their step of obedience (a.k.a. “the plunge).
At about 11:20, we moved the service from our building down to the Muskoka river where Pastor Wendy and I (along with Brian Higgins for his son) baptized five people. What a thrill.
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Here’s the video clip I showed from Evan Almighty:
No Comments | Tags: Abraham, Noah, obedience, spiritual growth
