The Olive Branch Markham • Audio Podcast

James 2 It’s easy to say we have faith, but what does living faith look like? In James 2, genuine faith shows up in how we treat people. It refuses to play favourites, notices those in need and puts belief into action. We’ll see how James and Paul fit together and what Abraham and Rahab teach us about trusting God with more than our words. Does my life look like Jesus?

Each year, churches across Canada set aside IDOP Sunday to stand with believers who face persecution for following Christ. This Sunday, TOB joins them in praying for our brothers and sisters who follow Jesus where faith costs the most. We’re blessed to welcome Chris Chase from Open Doors Canada to lead us in prayer.

James 1:19 and 3:1-12 “Quick to listen, slow to speak” (1:19) makes us all stop and think. But James isn’t done. In Chapter 3 he declares that even a wild animal can be tamed, but the tongue cannot. So where’s the good news? You might be surprised.

James 1:1-12, Romans 5:1-8 We’ve all heard it: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But that’s not so easy when the lemons are a difficult diagnosis, a lost job or a broken relationship. James doesn’t offer a slogan. He tells us to count it all joy, not because trials are good, but because God can use them to build endurance and shape mature faith. Walking through James 1 and Romans 5, we’ll...

Deuteronomy 8:1-20 Entitlement, self-reliance, and plain old "I forgot" quietly crowd out gratitude. Moses' answer isn't to try harder. Israel is standing at the edge of the Promised Land after forty years in the wilderness, and Moses has a warning: when life gets comfortable, it's easy to forget who brought you there. On Thanksgiving Sunday we'll see why gratitude grows...

2 Corinthians 8–9 Your money has a voice. What is it singing? This Sunday, we’ll look at 2 Corinthians 8 and what generosity reveals about our hearts. We give because Jesus gave first.

Ephesians 6:5–9 Worship is more than a song — we worship God in our work, too. Ephesians 6 calls us to "do the will of God from the heart." Paul was writing to slaves and slave masters, the economic reality of the Roman Empire in his day. So how does a follower of Jesus serve wholeheartedly? How do we honor the authority over us at work "just as you would obey Christ"? Worship,...

Matthew 3:1–17 At Jesus' baptism the Spirit descends and the Father speaks: "This is my Son." In a world of many gods and many celebrities, only one is worthy of worship — Jesus our Lord. He became man, he lived among us, he died for us, he conquered death, and he is coming back to establish a world of peace and justice. Our own baptism declares that same worship and allegiance to Je...

Acts 2; Hebrews 10:19–25 Walk into our worship space on a Tuesday afternoon and you'll find carpet, cables, and rows of empty chairs. It's just a room — nothing about it feels holy. So what changes on Sunday morning? Some of us have been walking into church buildings our whole lives. Others are still deciding what to make of all this. Either way, it's worth stopping to ask a question m...

As we finish our journey through the Psalms, let's remember why God gave us this prayer book. While most of Scripture speaks to us, the Psalms give us words to answer the God who speaks first. Prayer isn't just a goal — it's the way we grow closer to God. As Psalm 25:14 says, “The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him.” As we move into a new season, we're not leaving th...

Psalm 103 David gives us so much to unpack in this awe-inspiring psalm — blessings abundant enough to satisfy our souls in this life. How can we overlook them? A man after God's own heart, David sings through poetry about a heart made for worship. In Psalm 103, we see God's rich, steadfast love: His grace, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness that call — no, beckon — us as believers in Jesus...

Psalm 95 calls us into worship with open arms: “Come, let us sing for joy... let us shout aloud.” But it doesn't stop at celebration — it moves us to our knees: “Come, let us bow down... let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” True worship holds both postures: joyful praise and humble surrender. This week, we ask whether our worship is just words, or whether it shapes how we live. Let's w...

Psalm 121 Much of life is spent looking downward — at our problems, our phones, or our own feet. Psalm 121 begins with a different posture: “I lift up my eyes.” When the psalmist looks upward, he discovers more than a view; he finds a promise — the Maker of heaven and earth is personally attentive to him. Again and again, the psalm offers the same assurance: the Lord keeps you, your Helper in trou...

Psalm 73 When life feels unfair and God's people are struggling, our faith in His goodness can be tested. Asaph, a worship leader in ancient Israel, wrestled with this very doubt — and Psalm 73 tells his story. This week, we'll walk through his journey from envy and confusion to renewed trust, and see how his struggle speaks to our own.

Psalm 88 Have you ever cried out to God and heard nothing — prayed through the pain, waited for an answer, and wondered if He was even listening? Psalm 88 is one of the darkest passages in Scripture, as the psalmist pours out his heart, convinced God has abandoned him. Yet this isn't a psalm of despair; it's a psalm of wisdom. What does God teach us when heaven seems silent, and what does...

Psalm 128 is a Song of Ascents, sung by pilgrims climbing toward Jerusalem with hearts set on worship. This week, we follow that same ascent into a portrait of true blessing. What does life look like for those who fear the Lord? Not drudgery, but flourishing — a full table, a secure home, generations blessed. This is the life God invites us into. Come climb the hill with us.

Psalm 51 is David's psalm of repentance and restoration, written in the wake of his affair with Bathsheba and the cover-up that followed. How do we come before God when we've failed badly? This week, we'll look honestly at sin and grace, and discover what David's confession teaches us about God's holiness and mercy.

Our special guest, Russell Porter, will be sharing with us Psalm 2. It pulls back the curtain on the ultimate contest for power — the nations and their rulers rage, only to discover that God's King is already enthroned and His purposes cannot be shaken. Join guest speaker Russell Porter as he explores what this ancient royal psalm reveals about God's sovereignty, His anointed King, and whe...

Psalm 1  opens the entire book of Psalms by pointing us to God and His Word — in Hebrew, Torah. It calls us to delight in and meditate on Scripture, a habit that leads to a flourishing, fruitful life as we walk in God's will. Jesus echoes this in the Sermon on the Mount, calling us to build our lives on His teaching like a wise builder on the rock instead of the sand.

Acts 17:16-34 What if the people in your life who want nothing to do with God are actually closer to Him than they think? Paul walked into Athens—a city of a thousand gods—and spotted something no one else had noticed: everyone there was already searching for the one true God without knowing it. That changes how we see the people around us. We close our series with the most hopeful message in Acts...

Acts 16 What if your worst night became your family's greatest turning point? In Acts 16, a Roman jailer hits rock bottom, and in one midnight moment, everything changes. This Father's Day, discover how one desperate question led to a whole household being saved, and why it's never too late to become the father your family needs.

Acts 10 In Acts 10, a Roman soldier and a Jewish apostle both receive a vision they didn't ask for, and nothing will ever be the same. The story of Cornelius shatters every assumption about who belongs at God's table, as the Spirit falls on the unlikeliest of guests.

Acts 25:23-26:29 Paul has been a prisoner for two years. His audience this Sunday is a king. Standing in chains before King Agrippa — outmatched in every visible way — Paul is finally given the floor, and he doesn't waste a second of it. What unfolds is one of the most compelling personal testimonies in all of Scripture: a former persecutor, face to face with royalty, making the case that Jesu...

Acts 5:17-42 The early church didn't slow down when things got hard. They doubled down. In Acts 5:17–42, the apostles are arrested, miraculously freed, arrested again, beaten, and told in no uncertain terms to stop talking about Jesus. They don't. What does it look like to make up your mind about what you believe and refuse to back down no matter the cost? This Sunday, find out.

God Acts 8:26-31 This Sunday, Pastor Fred steps into the sandals of Philip — one of the early church's first deacons — and tells the story from the inside. First-person. No notes on literary genre. Just a man, a desert road, and a divine appointment that neither he nor the Ethiopian official ever saw coming. Come ready to be drawn in.