Fort Garry MB Church - Winnipeg, Canada

Pastor Carl shares with us the second sermon of our series drawn from Psalm 103, touching on the prevailing themes of forgiveness and justification present in this Psalm.

As we experience the death of Jesus through the lens of people who were there, Pastor Carl offers a meditation to remind us of the meaning and purpose of Christ's death, despite its seeming pointlessness.

He is risen!  As we revisit, once again, the rising of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, may you be compelled to ask yourself the question, "what's next."  

Our Scripture today brings us to the precipice of Holy Week; Jesus is standing before Pilate, and Pilate asks Jesus, "what is truth?"   This question - what is truth? - is a question that we as Christians have been asking since Jesus first uttered this question to Pilate.

As we approach Passion Week, our Scripture this week shows us Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas - but despite all appearances, Jesus is not cornered or trapped by the circumstances.  Rather, in this story, we see the another key stage of God's plan for salvation for us.

When you squeeze an orange you expect orange juice.   When you squeeze an apple, you expect apple juice.   If you squeeze a Christian, what do you expect?  Is it good?  Is it bad?  How do you respond to the pressures of life when you are squeezed?

In one of Jesus' most profound declarations of his divinity, when the armed group arrives to arrest Jesus, Jesus' response hearkens back to the Old Testament and the story of Moses.  

In this famous story of Jesus washing the disciples feet, Pastor Carl challenges FGMB to consider the modern equivalent of such an action, and to go and do likewise.  

In his final service with FGMB, Jesse uses the text from John 11 to remind FGMB of two things:   1)  There are 12 hours of daylight in which we are called to serve, support, and love others as disciples of Jesus Christ; and 2) There are also 12 hours of night, during which we can rest and seek to spend time rejuvenating ourselves through meaningful time spent with God.  

Drawn from the story found in John 8:2-11, the woman caught in adultery, Pastor Carl brings Fort Garry to consider the grace upon grace they have received from Jesus.

John 5:6 reads, "when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, [Jesus] said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  What is holding us back from experiencing healing and reconciliation and wholeness in our lives? Is it actually circumstances beyond our control? Or is it we ourselves that stand in the way of the healing offered by Jesus?

Dr. Cheryl Pauls, President of Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, comes to Fort Garry this morning with a message on hope, drawn from Romans 8:18-25  But not ordinary hope, the sort of which one may 'hope' to find their keys, but hope in a broad sense, or what one may say, in a wild sense.  Hope for the possibilities that may come through a community of believers united in their...

Jesus comes to us where we are in life. Jesus invites us to serve him. Are we like the Samaritan woman in thinking we cannot possibly be the one that Jesus wants? What are the barriers that we have put up in our own hearts or in the way that we do church that keep us and others from experiencing the living water of Jesus in our lives?

John begins this gospel account with a bold declaration of the divinity  of Jesus (Logos). People are drawn to Jesus’ teaching and ministry for various reasons. Are we aware of or honest with ourselves about why we have chosen to follow Jesus? What are we looking for in a Messiah? What do we think Jesus will do for us? What do we think being a disciple of Jesus means?

We often seem to use spiritual language in church without giving much thought to what it actually means or ought to mean for our life in Christ. Is it surprising that we struggle to bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus when we ourselves do not have a good understanding of what mature faith looks like? Is our life of discipleship firmly grounded in the teaching and presence of the living Christ or a...

Danny Unrau returns to Fort Garry MB Church to blend scholarship and story in a way that only Danny can.  Approaching Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek, Danny presents how an Ancient Jewish midrash discipline is wholly applicable to churches and Christians in our 21st century context.

As we all turn our calendars and begin the year 2023, Pastor Carl offers us a meditation on the Feast of Epiphany, and about what it means as the day recognizing the receiving of the Christ child by the Gentiles, through the Magi.

God's love is needed here, and here, and here, and in every instance of darkness that seeks to overwhelm during this time.  In the face of insurmountable grief and anger, may the flame of God's love illuminate even the darkest moments.

As we continue our journey through the Psalms, Jesse approaches the heavy reality of brokenness that exists in our world and meets it with the natural human response of lament, as well as the yearning for peace we all feel.  

As we open our Advent season, Pastor Carl Heppner offers us a meditation on Hope and Praise.

In the final message of our Whatever You Do series, Pastor Carl brings the entire series to its end, recapping some of the important points that came up during the series.  Following that, Pastor Ruth leads the congregation in communion as we anticipate the arrival of the Christ child through the Advent series.

This is God's world, we're just living in it.  Money, sex, and politics have had universal draw on humans throughout all time.  Paul recognized that in the Corinthians, and Jesse, in his sermon drawn from 1 Corinthians 10, challenges us to see how these things have almost an idolatrous hold on us in the 21st century.

Freedom in Christ does not mean freedom to do whatever we want, rather, it means freedom to serve others in a way that brings others to Christ.  Christians must be mindful of our witness at all times and in all things.  Pastor Carl unpacks 1 Corinthians 8 & 9 to these ends.  

Edit Note:  At 30:35, Pastor Carl misspoke.  The edited video includes a necessary clarification on this.  (Original video was unlisted on Friday, November 4; this clarification was filmed and uploaded on the same day).   As we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians, Pastor Carl approaches the difficult passages with honesty and frames the conversation around marriage and singleness from the p...