Benediction Church, #HamOnt

Date: February 4, 2024 Scripture: Revelation 1:1-8 Teacher: Mike Mileski For a lot of us, the book of Revelation is not only the last book of the Bible; it’s the last book of the Bible we’d ever read. Functionally, we have a Bible that’s one book shorter than it should be. This is the first message in a new series on the Revelation. We take back the Revelation from the end-times prophets who use i...

Date: January 21, 2024 Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35 Teacher: Mike Mileski Lots of Christians are terrible at resolving conflict because we've learned all sorts of excuses and alternatives to forgiving. The damage from these is real, but God wants us to forgive. In this message we explore (1) What is forgiveness? (2) Why does God care so much that we forgive others? and (3) How can I know whethe...

Date: January 14, 2024 Scripture: Genesis 50:15-21 Teacher: Mike Mileski Sooner or later, each of us will need to apologize for something we’ve said or done. Why is it necessary? Isn’t an apology just a formality, and it should go without saying? Many people think so, and many of the apologies we hear or give turn out to be non-apologies. In this message, we learn how and why we should say we’re s...

Date: January 7, 2024 Scripture: 1 Samuel 11, 12 Teacher: Mike Mileski It seems like each time a prominent Christian leader has a moral failure, someone rationalizes it by saying "Well we're all sinners - just look at David!" or "God can use anyone - just look at David!" In this message - the first in a series on reconciled relationships - we indeed "look at David&quot...

Date: December 10, 2023 Scripture: Luke 1:26-38 Teacher: Trevor Seath Jesus offers a peace that makes absolutely no sense, except it's real. With all that's going on in the world, and in your life, can you really afford to ignore His offer of peace? #peace, #princeofpeace, #church, #jesus, #theGospel

Date: December 17, 2023 Scripture: Luke 2:21-39 Teacher: Elias Dummer Where does joy come from? In this message, Elias shares how joy isn't a feeling to wait for; it's a decision to rebel against what is. Joy is a subversive choice to practice the way of Jesus: sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. #joy, #advent, #christmas, #jesus, #theGospel, #bethechurch

Date: December 3, 2023 Scripture: Various Teacher: Lane Fusilier The church calendar begins with Advent, and Advent begins with hope. This week our friend Lane Fusilier leads us through the promises of Scripture to show that Jesus is the answer to the world's hopes and longings to know that it won't always be this way. Do you know that hope? Do you want it? #hope, #jesus, #advent, #nativit...

Date: November 26, 2023 Scripture: the Book of Daniel (reveiw) Teacher: Mike Mileski The Prophet Daniel believed that everything that happened before and during his lifetime, and everything that would follow him, was part of God's sovereign plan. Daniel's life is full of these 'sovereignty stories' - and so is yours! In this message we share the good, reassuring news that the one t...

Date: November 19, 2023 Scripture: Daniel 10 Teacher: Mike Mileski What are we meant to think (and do) about spiritual warfare? The Bible has much to say about the reality and actions of angels, demons, and the devil, and we do well to avoid two equal mistakes: (a) to bury our heads in the sand, or (b) to become obsessed with spiritual warfare. In this message we shared several helpful lessons tha...

Date: November 12, 2023 Scripture: Daniel 6 Teacher: Mike Mileski What's your saving faith in? Possessions? Achievements? Friends? Your good looks? We all trust in something. Daniel's saving faith was in God, and in this story, it looks like God rewards Daniel's faith by rescuing him from the lions. We who live here in our own Babylon know that God doesn't always rescue us, no matt...

Date: November 5, 2023 Scripture: Daniel 4, 5 Teacher: Mike Mileski When we think about the relationship between the Church and the culture, we're sometimes tempted to say too much - like we're a Christian nation - or too little, by burying our heads in the sand. What's our responsibility to the culture, and its kings? What's fair for 'them' to ask of 'us'? In this...

Date: October 22, 2023 Scripture: Daniel 3 Teacher: Mike Mileski We'll all experience times when we're expected - by lawmakers, employers, neighbours, or by the culture - to say things we can't say, do things we can't do, and participate in things that seem wrong. What'll we do when the king expects us to ignore our conscience and bow down anyway? The famous story of Meshach, S...

Date: October 15, 2023 Scripture: Daniel ch's 2, 7 Teacher: Mike Mileski There are times in Exile when the truth we need to tell isn't welcome, popular, or safe. Where do truth tellers come from? In this message we uncover four marks of a truth-teller, and the part each of us has to play in God's recurring dream! #TheGospel, #Exile, #Truth, #TruthTellers, #Fear, #Prayer, #Compassion, #...

Date: October 8, 2023 Scripture: Daniel ch.1 Teacher: Mike Mileski How do you - as a person of faith - make decisions about whether to partake or abstain? Would it surprise you to know that in Exile, Daniel said "NO" to some things that seem kind of innocent, and "YES" to some things that seem kind of dangerous? This is our first study in the book of Daniel, which will give us...

Date: October 1, 2023 Scripture: Luke 24 Speaker: Sarah Robinson According to Henri Nouwen, the way of Jesus is hospitality, not hostility. Do we know the difference? What do we do when we realize that when we *thought* we were showing hospitality we were actually practicing hostility?

Date: September 24, 2023 Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30; Luke 9:23-26 Speaker: Mike Mileski In our culture, it's easy to outsource our discipleship and assume that we'll become the kind of people we're supposed to if we put effort into bettering ourselves and not being jerks. But that's not discipleship. In this message, we were introduced to five spiritual disciplines meant to help u...

Date: September 17, 2023 Scripture: Jeremiah 29:4-9 Speaker: Mike Mileski There was a time when the Church's paradigm for mission was Billy Graham: someone who stood at the front of a room, called them all sinners, and invited them to repent. The culture has changed, but the mission hasn't. We may not all be evangelists, but we're all sent. We're all on mission. We're all ambas...

Date: September 10, 2023 Scripture: Acts 2:40-47 Speaker: Mike Mileski Sometimes we find community in surprising places. There are all sorts of communities we might belong to, but they're not all helpful. This message is the first of three asking us whether we're 'all-in' on what makes the Church the Church: community, mission, and discipleship. We ask: What rhythms or practices ma...

Message Date: August 27, 2023 Scripture: Romans 11:33-36 Speaker: Nathan Tomes Gandalf. Yoda. Dumbledore. Solomon. The magi. When we think of wisdom, we imagine some old mystical sage whose wisdom is the result of decades of watching and learning. God's wisdom is different: There's no knowledge He lacks; He never makes a bad decision or judgment. In this message, we learned that God's...

Message Date: August 20, 2023 Scripture: Psalm 51 Speaker: Bill Allan (AGC President) Inside and outside the Church, people are convinced that God is out to get them, that He can't stand them, and He's just waiting for an opportunity to smite them. That's not the God of Scripture, and certainly not the Father of our Lord Jesus. In this message, our friend Bill Allan - president of the...

Message Date: August 13, 2023 Scripture: Acts 4:32-5:11 Speaker: Mike Lewis Does God lie? Does God exaggerate or stretch the truth in order to make Himself seem better than He is? In this message, Mike Lewis leads us on a helpful study of some biblical reasons why people who lie - even people who know better - to ask whether the same could be true of God. The result is an encouraging, life giving,...

Message Date: August 6, 2023 Scripture: Isaiah 6:8 Speaker: Mike Mileski God is so holy that when the angels cry out to Him in worship, they declare not just "Holy!"; not even that He is "Holy, holy!"; no - they cry out that this enthroned God is "Holy, holy, holy - the whole earth is filled with His glory!" In light of prevailing attitudes about God, and about our ow...

Message Date: July 30, 2023 Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 Speaker: Rony Mikhael The problem at the tower of Babel wasn't WHAT they set out to build, but WHY. We seldom talk about God's creativity, but we need to. Our acts of creativity - whether in the arts, STEM, business, family, or justice - are acts of worship, beautification, community, and mission. In this message, Rony invites us to joi...

Message Date: July 23, 2023 Scripture: 1John 4 Speaker: Tom Lambshead What do we mean when we say that God IS love? In this message, our friend Tom Lambshead, AGC Regional Director for Canada East, draws from his experience with Christians who don't understand love, to help us know and love the God who IS love.

Message Date: July 16, 2023 Scripture: Psalm 139 Speaker: Dwayne Cline What does it mean that God is everywhere at the same time? Is there really no place in existence where God is not? In this message, our friend and neighbour, Dwayne Cline goes back through the Old and New Testaments to show how God was ALWAYS present, and in a special way, present with His people, by His Holy Spirit. #HolySpiri...