First Congregational of Hamilton

People talk of the Spirit of Christmas and they mean the good cheer and kind expressions that happen around the holidays, but this Advent we have been focusing on the Spirit at Christmas, looking with fresh eyes at the role of the Holy Spirit in the Messiah’s coming. Join us this week as we see the Holy Spirit’s work in a variety of people’s lives preparing them for Jesus’ birth. As you prepare to...

Our Advent series continues with, ‘The Spirit at Christmas: The Prophetic Overture’. In preparation for worship, please read  Isaiah 11:1-5  and  Ezekiel 36:24-29 . 

We begin our Advent series, ‘The Spirit at Christmas’ with a sermon entitled, ‘Waiting in the Wings’. We will be taking a bird’s eye view of several passages which speak to the work of the Holy Spirit in creation including:  Genesis 1-2 ;  Psalm 33 ;  Psalm 104;   Genesis 6-8 ;  Exodus 1-2 ; and  Exodus 14 . 

Friendship is one of the most important things in life. It’s also a crucial theme in the ministry of Jesus. We will think about it together this Sunday as we look into .

This week we will begin a two-part mini-series from John’s gospel on what Jesus does and says the night before he died. This week we will look at three key questions connected with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples in John 13:1-17. Please join us this Sunday to learn what those questions are…and how we can answer them.

We all face uncertainties, struggle, and change, but are hoping for peace. This search for security and peace in the midst of transitions and change is the reality of life in our world, neighborhood, and home. We trust in a variety of people or ideas to cope, but so often they can’t stand the stress test of real life. Thankfully, God has a track record we can depend on and a commitment to caring f...

As we face various trials and transitions in life, it's especially in these times that we need an unshakeable hope—something secure that we can hold onto. In this final sermon as your current Senior Pastor, I want to share a message of hope that has been on my heart. This short benediction in the book of Romans is packed with spiritual principles on how to understand the biblical dynamics of hope...

Join us for the concluding message in our study of the Lord’s Prayer. We’ll be considering some vital principles on how to live the Christian life that we can learn from this final petition. These spiritual principles will answer common questions like —How does the gospel relate to our ongoing temptations? How do we recognize various temptations? And how does God help us to avoid temptation? We lo...

The migration of unreached people groups to cities, seen through the lens of Scripture and God's revelation through Christ, has provided opportunities for the Body of Christ to engage in his global mission in new ways. Chris Clayman, Co-founder of Global Gates will be preaching a sermon based on Acts 17:26-27 entitled, Cities in God's Global Purpose.

We continue our series in the Lord’s Prayer and kick off Engaging Missions Week. We will consider the fifth petition and the evergreen topic of forgiveness. We’re told in Scripture (Luke 24:47) that the message of God’s forgiveness is to be proclaimed to all the nations. But what about our daily need for God’s forgiveness? This week we’ll look at how the power of forgiveness is meant to operate in...

As we continue in our study of the Lord's prayer we come to the second half of the prayer which is dealing with our needs and our agenda. We’ve looked at the first three petitions which are focused on God's agenda—God's glory, God's kingdom, and God's will. Now, in light of this God-centered view of life, we come to our need for God's provision. Join us as we consider the privilege and importance...

Last week, we explored the nature and coming of God’s kingdom in our lives. But what does it look like for us to be kingdom-first people? The next petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “your will be done”, gives us the answer. We are called to do God’s will and model our lives after the King’s heart and the value system of heaven. Yet, how can we discern God’s will for the big and small decisions of ever...

When we pray, “Your kingdom come…on earth as it is heaven”, what are we actually praying for? What are we hoping will happen? What does this part of the Lord’s Prayer mean for our lives, our church, and the world? And why is praying it so important? We hope you can join us this Sunday as we consider the nature of God’s kingdom and the coming of God’s kingdom. We’ll discover the revolutionary impor...

Last week, we looked at a general overview of the Lord’s Prayer. This week we consider the first main theme of the Lord’s Prayer, God’s glory. What is the meaning and everyday significance of “Our Father in Heaven”? What are we asking for when we pray, “Hallowed by your name”? And what would it look like for God to answer that request in our lives? There’s so many transformative lessons packed int...

Jesus knew the everyday value of prayer. We're told in the Bible that he would often draw away by himself to pray. His disciples saw the power and importance of Jesus' prayer life, but like all of us, they recognized they needed help. When they asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray," he gave them a model prayer to follow. What a gift! The Lord's Prayer is like handrails for when our prayer life los...

In the section of Scripture we'll be looking at together this week, Jesus encourages his disciples in the priority and practice of prayer. We'll be looking at four specific sections that center around four distinct sayings: 1) The One Thing Necessary, 2) When You Pray Say This, 3) Ask, Seek, and Knock, and 4) How Much More. Each section builds off of one another and works to encourage us all in th...

As we face this difficult transition in my ministry here, our daily need for personal and community strength is certainly accentuated. We know the Lord is our unchanging rock and source of strength, but how do we experience God’s strength in the trials of life? What threatens our strength? And how can we become stronger as a community during this challenging time? I hope you can join us this Sunda...

One of the most underestimated parts of our lives and tools that we have are the words that we speak. Our words are often underestimated in the way they reveal our hearts and the way they can influence the hearts of others. So, how do we better appreciate the power of our words and learn to steward that power well? How do we speak wisely? What characterizes the words of the wise? According to Prov...

How does Jesus relate to your job? Too often times, we can look at the Christian life as very separate from our everyday work life. When this happens, getting involved in “the work of the church“ can be narrowly perceived as doing things directly related to the ministry that takes place on the church grounds or intentional outreach efforts. As important as that work is, how can we reconnect our Su...

As we continue our study in the Proverbs, we come to one of the most underrated and unconfessed sins of the heart—envy. What is envy? How do we diagnosis it? Why is it so dangerous? And what are some of the gospel remedies that we’re given to treat it?

Each week, we've been looking at a particular topic or aspect of life that the book of Proverbs highlights. In this message, we consider the heart and practice of generosity. We learn that the joyful life is the generous life. But how do you reconcile frugality and generosity? Careful saving and generous giving? Through a series of proverbs, this message seeks to tackle these questions while disco...

The lack of integrity is a growing issue in our culture today. We hear of issues with academic integrity, election integrity, journalism integrity, and so on. But what is integrity, and why does it matter so much? What is the relationship between the gospel and our integrity? In this message we continue our study of Proverbs and discover the nature, the benefits, and the hope of integrity in our l...

Wisdom, essential to successfully walk through life, shows us morally what we should say and do. Wisdom also shows us how and what to make and create. This Sunday, we will look at the role of wisdom in the creating and sustaining of the universe and the enormous implications it has for our own making and creating.

Self-control is at the heart of the book of Proverbs; as Proverbs 16:32 puts it, “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city." Yet we often associate this self-control with drudgery or ‘repression’. Join us as we get a fresh take on self-control, and see how it is key to living a beautiful life with God, other people, and the whole creation.

Have any of you dealt with conflict this week, this year, this life? Conflict is like that annoying toilet paper stuck to your shoe. You want to leave it behind, but you don’t really want to touch it. Conflict arrives early in our lives and shapes our souls and relationships as it is related to trust, desire, and fear. We will look at some of the proverbs that give advice on how to think, speak, a...