Benediction Church, #HamOnt

(Recorded May 30, 2021) As we've studied 1Corinthians, we've heard Paul say some important, memorable things: some are memorable for how they sting; others because of their beauty. In this final message on 1Corinthians, Paul shows why any one of us can do what he did, and why (Lord willing) it could be in Hamilton as it was in Corinth. 

(Recorded 05/23/2021) This message is an honest effort to define “biblical manhood and womanhood” in light of Jesus, instead of unhelpful, unbiblical stereotypes.  How do interpret a passage in which Paul calls it "disgraceful" for women to speak in church? When we look at it through Complementarian, Egalitarian, Patriarchal, and Feminist lenses can we clearly see what Paul really saying, “no...

(Recorded 05/16/2021) Paul's “love chapter” is simple yet beautiful theology. It's a love song that exposes a serious problem: many of us have a notion of God that doesn't even pass His own definition of love. If so, why should we surprised if we don't feel loved by God, or our love for others is distorted? This message is an invitation to receive God's love, to put down all our bad ideas about it...

(Recorded 05/09/2021) In this Chapter Paul compares a healthy church to a body with all its parts healthy and functioning. Yet in many parts of the culture, Consumerism has created something that looks more like Frankenstein's monster: technically "one body with many parts" but horrible. In this part of the letter, Paul names four dangers of Consumer Christianity in Corinth: idolatry, pride, greed...

(Recorded 05/02/2021) This section of the letter, perhaps more than any other, epitomizes what we mean in this series by “Table Manners”. What happens when we celebrate the Lord’s Table? And consequently, which people should and shouldn’t participate? In this message we learned why Communion is a Reunion, a Rebuke, a Remembrance, and a Reorientation for God's people, and we applied that to the que...

(Recorded 04/25/2021) Gender inequality remains an issue in the Church, though it’s hardly just an “issue”. Texts like this one have been used to suppress women and divide churches. The Apostle's saying 'no' to SOMEthing, but what? In this message we propose what might be a helpful way forward in the gender debates that relies less on labels, stereotypes, and tribal loyalties: neither Complementar...

(Recorded 04/18/2021) The Church is constantly tempted to measure, celebrate, and pursue the wrong things. The temptations of power, pleasure, and pride are almost more than we can bear, and the damage to the Church's witness in many places and times has been devastating. In this message we don't point fingers, we share hope and promises, because through the Church, God is making all things new.

(Recorded April 11, 2021) For those who were taught either by movies or their Sunday school that eternal life will be spent as spirits playing harps in the clouds, this text has mind-blowing news: we were made embodied beings, and we will be RE-MADE embodied. In this message, Elder Jordan Moss walks through 1Corinthians 15 and the example of Jesus' own resurrection to explain what we will be and d...

(recorded Easter Sunday, 04/04/2021) Like Star Wars, the Bible is full of easter eggs. The resurrection of Jesus might be the greatest one of all: it points back to God's promises, and forward to God's plan to someday be all in all. When God is everything, our enemies won't be. This was a candid, personal message that translated the resurrection into real hope that someday our enemies will be crus...

(Recorded 03/28/2021) What’s your stance on marijuana, alcohol, profanity, or other things the Bible neither forbids nor endorses? No matter what your parents or pastor thinks, YOU need good reason for your Yes or No. Are there ANY circumstances in which these are okay? Is there any excuse for NOT using, since we're 'free in Christ'? Here, Paul offers us a helpful (and a little surprising) set of...

(Recorded 03/21/2021) In some traditions, views on divorce has created church outcasts. Yet as Paul applies the Old Testament's divorce teaching to the situation in Corinth, it turns out there are circumstances in which staying in a bad marriage is actually worse than leaving. What breaks a marriage? When can a Christian divorce and remarry? And how can we be a church of, and for, those healing fr...

(recorded 03/14/2021) It turns out that there are several reasons why an unmarried believer isn’t a second-class citizen. It may be that single people might have the advantage over married ones. But that doesn’t make it easy. What else have we gotten wrong about singleness? What else do single Christians wish that married Christians understood?

(Message preached by Kevin Foth, March 7, 2021) Why would the married couples in Corinth need an Apostle to tell them to have sex? Even though marriage is a gift from God, its importance is easily distorted. How would we know if we were making too much of marriage, or, not enough? 

(recorded 02/28/2021) Christian purity culture taught us that in sex is bad, and virginity is everything. In reaction, some Christians decided that restrictions are bad and sex is everything. This message presents a Gospel response to both errors. Warning: this message is rated PG13! 

(recorded 02/21/2021) This is an important and timely message. What’s at stake when Christians can’t resolve disputes on our own, and end up bringing them out into the court of public opinion? This passage has been used to justify church cover ups to and silence abuse victims, which - as we’ll see - is the very opposite of Paul’s aim.

(Recorded 02/14/2021) In this message about church discipline, the greater problem wasn't the man's incest, but the Christians' refusal to do anything about it. God's Word corrects our bad ideas about privacy and unity, and shows how to respond to threats to the Body the same way we would to cancer.

(Recorded 02/07/2021) The Corinthians were behaving like children, and like many churches today, measuring success all the wrong ways. Paul offers the solution to their worldliness: not anti-worldiness, but something far better: the right kind of worldliness. One that helps us think, feel, and live like Jesus.

(Recorded 01/31/2021) Paul confronts the Celebrity Pastor problem. Everyone’s going to boast in something or someone. Who’s your idol? Who’s the person on your pedestal and what’s the harm in leaving them there? Speaker: David Howson-Jan

(Recorded 01/24/2021) Series Launch: TABLE MANNERS for Brothers, Sisters, Saints and Sinners. An intro to Corinth, their problems, and why we’d spend the next few months reading their mail. We start by asking: Who’s welcome in our version of ‘church’? Who isn’t? As big a mess as the church in Corinth had become, here’s why Paul still considered them “brothers and sisters”...

Recorded 01/17/2021 What if we could have everything we ever wanted? If we had the power to truly make it ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ would the end justify the means? In this third temptation Satan offers Jesus - and us - everything God wants for us, without a cross. Would it really be so bad if He (or we) accept? (Part 3 of 3)

Recorded 01/10/2021 What happens when we face a situation that requires more faith than we’ve got? Do we take the leap of faith, or avoid risky situations altogether? Here, Satan tempts Jesus - and us - to put God’s love and faithfulness to the test. Our failures and fears, scream “don’t jump!” but what should we do? (Part 2 of 3)

Recorded 01/03/2021 What’s the difference between being tested by God and tempted by Satan? What wouldn’t you do if you believed God had left alone in this world to fend for yourself? This first temptation offered Jesus a way to be filled and satisfied apart from God. If he can get Jesus - or us - to doubt that God could or would provide, it could work. (Part 1 of 3)

(Recorded December 20, 2020) There are so many reasons why true peace eludes us in our culture and lifestyles. There's one Person who offers it, and has the power to provide what He's promised. The peace of Jesus doesn't make us immune to stressful, difficult situations - it does something better: it assures us that not even this thing can separate us from God and God's love. It's a timely gift, a...

(Recorded December 13, 2020) This week, Scott McIntosh shares reflections from the point of view of the shepherds. When Jesus arrived, their overwhelming joy showed us that God cares how we respond to Him. God doesn't want us to come to Him in dutiful, religious obedience. Without joy, it isn't Christianity.

(Recorded December 6, 2020) There's confusion in our culture over what faith is and what it does. Folks sometimes think faith makes life more bearable; the truth is no matter how much faith one has, if the object is unreliable, this faith is wasted. This week, Jordan Moss shares lessons from the life of Simeon, the old man who met the infant Jesus after years of patient waiting. His faith is an ex...