“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” – 1 John 3:1 Last week we had the first part of our mini two-part series titled Living in the Light of Easter – where we looked at Easter through the analogy of a wedding between God and humankind, God making promises to us, of forgiveness of sins, of eternal and abundant life, of life in his presence and kingdom forever. Like a wedding there is a marriage that follows life after the … [Read more...]
Living in the Light of Easter (Part 1)
“With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” – Acts 4:33 When Bethany and I were first engaged, I must admit I was appalled by the whole wedding-industrial complex. Weddings these days are complex events, often requiring a wedding planner to pull off all the various elements. It seems that people look to one-up one another on how extravagant their wedding can be – the best dress, the best ring, the best cake and … [Read more...]
In the Garden – Sermon for Easter 2018
"Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." – John 20:15 Two days before Mary had stood at the foot of the Cross, as her teacher, her friend and Lord had suffered the full force of the Roman Empire’s brutal power – death upon the twisted, torturous tree. The whole earth seemingly mourned Jesus’ death as the sky was darkened, bruised by … [Read more...]
Desire: Sermon for Easter 5 – May 14th, 2017
What do you pray for? Do you pray for everything you desire? A sermon on how prayer expands and enlarges our desire to encompass the life and love of God
Sweetest Devotion – Sermon on Acts 2:42-47
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42 Have you ever been part of a really exciting and seemingly life-changing event? Have you been at the centre of a craze or a fad as it exploded to epic proportions? I wasn’t around for them, but I know that some of you experienced the power and fervor of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusades – the energy was electric, thousands of people renewing their faith, for many it was a … [Read more...]
Do not be Afraid!
“Do not be afraid.” – Matthew 28:10 Do not be afraid. As we have walked through Holy Week we have heard a lot about fear. The fear of the elders and chief priests had concerning Jesus, the fear of Judas as he realized what he had done in betraying Jesus, the fear of Pilate’s as he tried to reason with a bloodthirsty crowd, the fear of Peter of being connected with Jesus, the fear of all the disciples who abandoned Jesus. Even after Jesus’ death it seems that fear reigned in the hearts and … [Read more...]
Break Down these Walls
“If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?” – Acts 11:17 While I’m not typically an advocate in favour of skipping the Old Testament lesson on a Sunday morning, it is one of the pleasures of the Easter Season that we get to hear 9 weeks of readings from the book of Acts. Despite this consistency during the Easter Season, we nonetheless hear these lessons out of context. Last week we heard the story of Tabitha, and … [Read more...]
Lay Your Hands on Me
Alleluia Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed Alleluia!! While we tend to make a big deal about celebrating the one-day of Easter Sunday, the joy of the season of Easter is that we get to celebrate it for six weeks following Easter Sunday all the way until Pentecost. Every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday, but for six weeks we focus specifically on the Resurrection, we focus specifically on the stories of Jesus, which speak of the Resurrection, or the stories from the Book of Acts, and the … [Read more...]