St. Paul's Leaskdale Weekly Sermons

Mark 11:1-11 - We're just touching down as Mark's biography of Jesus moves towards the Cross. The Triumphal entry seems anticlimactic and insignificant to us, but for those in the know, those who had waited for hundreds of years, there was electricity in the air. A perpetual bone of contention in Israel has always been about finding and following the rightful king. Turns out, that's still the main...

Mark 9:1-13 - We've hit fast-forward in the Jesus Story! In one week, we've shuttled from the mountain where the 10 commandments were given, over to the mountain where Jesus shows his true colours. This story is a shout-out to everything that has happened to this point in the Bible, and at the same time, a shout-forward, to the most important stuff that was and still is happening for planet Earth.

Exodus 40:34-38 - The Book of Exodus ends with God's tent, the Tabernacle, furnished and fully operational. The job of exiting, leaving Egypt, is done. Now it's time to change focus from getting out of slavery to getting into the Promised Land. This is the ultimate road trip because God is on it, and that brings complications too.

Exodus 33:12-23 - The book of Exodus unfolds the growing friendship between God and Moses, one conversation at a time. Moses' honest exchange with God is a picture of how we can talk with God, too. 

Exodus 19:3-8 - God is seeking a community to join Him in His mission to bless and save the world. Israel was out of Egypt, where their purpose had been clear: make bricks! What was their purpose now? At the foot of Mount Sinai, before they take another step, God has a proposal.

Exodus 16:2-16 | The story of our roots continues. As in all relationships, things have shifted from near daily drama of the epic and spectacular to settling into daily routines. What will God do about their need for food every day? How much can we trust God? How much control do we have? So many questions to answer as we learn to walk with God.

Exodus 14:5-31 - The story of God's rescue is not without drama! God's people left Egypt only to come against a new opponent, the Red Sea! They were trapped between an angry Pharaoh and, at least as bad, an angry Sea. They cried out, expressed their terror, and God made a way. Of course, it did involve them moving their feet! Participation is always required when God rescues.

Exodus 12:1-14 - The story of Exodus is the story of Jesus. The God we get to know in Exodus is the God who comes to us in the person of Jesus: a God who judges, who saves, and who renews.

Exodus 3:1-14 - The Rescue begins! And as God always does, he goes looking for a person to lead the charge, a fallible, often unwilling person. God chose Moses and picked up on a relationship that God started years ago, when Moses may not have been paying attention. He started paying attention the day that he came across a burning bush that talked!

Exodus 1:6-14 - This Sunday we begin a new teaching series called "Roots" based on the book of Exodus. You can't fully understand the life, death and resurrection of Jesus without studying Exodus. Chapter 1 lays the foundation of a people in desperate need of rescue.

Exodus 36: 1-7 -God gave Moses a huge project. Moses already had a huge assignment in guiding the Israelites through the wilderness, but now God wanted an ornate Tabernacle built. It would require great skill and a pile of gold, silver and precious gems. Providentially, these very recently freed slaves had been showered with gold, silver and precious gems as they left Egypt. The question was wheth...

Luke 12:13-21 - Jesus tells us to watch out for all kinds of greed. The challenge is, greed is sneaky—it hides in our hearts. So Jesus tells a story illustrating three attitudes towards money that are symptoms of greed: I deserve it. It's all for me. I'm better off with more.

Luke 2:22-40 - This week, we continue our Advent series,  Go,  by reflecting on the quiet faithfulness of Joseph and Mary as they bring Jesus to the temple. In this moment of ordinary obedience, God meets them with extraordinary hope through Simeon and Anna.

Matthew 1:18-25 - This week's story is God's call to Joseph. Joseph would have hoped to lead an ordinary life, work a job, have a family, and contribute in some small way to the community. God had bigger plans.

Luke 1:39-45: Unexpectedly pregnant before she was married, Mary's life was in upheaval. God sent her to Elizabeth, who would encourage her with a blessing.

Luke 1:26-38 - It's Christmas, and everyone is GOING! For starters, it's Gabriel who goes first to Zechariah (last week) and now to Mary in Nazareth. Christmas has God on the move, and God chose to include humans as key players in the best story ever. Mary's involvement in this story will prove very costly. Such is the Christian life.

Luke 1:5-17 - The first Christmas was hopping! God was fulfilling promises made centuries earlier and now he needed the right people to be in place and ready to go. His first stop was Jerusalem to talk to an old priest about he and his wife having a baby. There was excitement in the air! And so it begins.

Mark 3:32-35 - The most important practice of all is Community, because, in part, we can learn every other practice as we walk with other Jesus people. In this week's passage, Jesus clarifies the kind of community we need to be surrounded by: those who do the will of God.

John 15:5-17 - Jesus describes himself as the vine whose source and power produce fruit in the branches. When we remain in Jesus the way a branch does in a vine, he grows the fruit of true life in us. A Rule of Life is a set of practices that help us remain in Jesus. These practices include prayer, solitude, Scripture, sabbath, community, fasting, service, witness, and generosity.

Mark 2:17 - Jesus came to call sinners. Sinners, those who miss the mark, are on God's invite list! Jesus also adds that he didn't come to call the righteous, so everyone who believes, or at least wants others to believe, that they've got it all together, need not apply. There's a fundamental self-awareness required to follow Jesus.

Matthew 26:36-39 - A number of the Christian practices that Jesus gave us (like solitude, Sabbath, prayer and Scripture reading) turn down the noise of the world so we can turn up the volume of His voice. Other voices surface as well! Buried emotions and wounding memories can also rise to the surface. This is one of God's ways of telling us it's time to enter those harder bits of our lives with hi...

Mark 1:35 - One of the many remarkable things about Jesus' life is his restraint and rhythm. Knowing he had only three years in ministry might have made him frantic and sleepless, but it wasn't the case. Thankfully, he gave us practices so that our own lives can also be marked by restraint and rhythm.

Luke 6:39-49 - Jesus has much to say about how life is intended to be lived. We're always learning; that means, consciously or otherwise, we have teachers. Jesus warns that some teachers are dangerous! They are like the blind leading the blind. In the end, you will become like your teacher. Choose wisely.

Romans 12:1-2 - Jesus' invitation is to follow him: to be with him,  become like him , and do what he did. We surrender control to Jesus, resist the pattern of the world that shapes us, and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for transformation.