From the Pulpit

It’s one thing to hold a membership at a fitness centre, it’s another thing to use it. It’s wonderful to belong to a gym but its potential benefits are more fully experienced if time, sacrifice, sweat, and a bit of pain are exerted. Similarly, there are many people who have become saved members of God’s household who, for countless reasons, are not experiencing all of its familial blessings. They...

There are many significant questions one may ask and seek to answer in life. Why am I here? What should I do now that I am here? How shall I spend my time? Am I lovable? What is truth? Will you marry me? Where should I focus my abilities and attention? Questions like these are of great consequence and, thus, worthy of great consideration. But of all the weighty questions we can and should ask ours...

Have you ever been confronted by an individual who is displeased about something you have done, something you have said, or some way you have behaved? It can be a jarring and upsetting encounter, regardless of the purity of the intentions, the veracity of the claims, and the closeness of the relationship. Having to face the reality that there are those who are upset with us, disapproving of us, or...

The humanitarian organization,  Doctors Without Borders , is on a mission to mobilize doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to provide medical aid to people in parts of the world where it is most dramatically lacking. If there’s a need, this group attempts to cross  all borders  to meet it. God, similarly and more perfectly, is a God without borders, constantly condesc...

The  many Christmas traditions we enjoy can spark in us a  renewed appreciation of many beautiful realities. However, few are more  important than the two we’re reminded of tonight:  First, God keeps his promises and, second, God means what he says. This  season, as you take in the lights in your neighbourhood, the decorated  tree in your home, the nativity scene...

We all know that life doesn’t always (or often) go the way we plan or desire it, from small disappointments and frustrations, to major loss and suffering. Yet for those of us who are Bible-believing Christians, we would say that God knows what we need, even when things aren’t going the way we want them to.   We know that in the midst of the chaos when Mary and Joseph journeyed to and arrived...

Join Dr. Jim Rennie as he shares a message on the third Sunday of Advent: Hope.  Speaker: Dr. Jim Rennie

According to the 2020 Global Peace Index, Canada is currently the sixth-most peaceful nation in the world as it enjoys both positive peace, “the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies,” and negative peace, “the absence of violence or fear of violence.” In other words,  Canada has peace because it has cultural building blocks in place that  disc...

Everybody wants to be happy, a desire that’s understandable and expected when we remember what Scripture teaches about human origins. In the beginning we were made good creatures by a good God to enjoy his goodness unendingly. Certainly a joy-filled start! But when Adam and Eve believed the lie that something greater existed outside of what had been provided, they turned their backs on the source...

In the book of Job, we read how God removes his hand of protection from Job, opens him up to attacks of Satan, and then seemingly leaves Job hanging in the dark, without an explanation for why God does this. And from chapters 3 until 32, Job and his three friends wrestle, argue, and debate. Job’s friends are convinced that Job must have done something terrible that deserves God’s judgment. Job dou...

Join Lew as he walks through the Book of Deuteronomy to study and observe Moses.  Key Passage: Selected passages from Deuteronomy Speaker: Lew Worrad

Join Lew as he walks through the story of Balaam. Key Passage: Numbers 22-24 Speaker: Lew Worrad

Whether we realize it or not, whether we understand it or not, and whether we believe it or not, we are all at war (Eph 6:10–11). This particular war is not over territory, money, or national peace. This is a war for the human heart and it has been raging for millennia with countless casualties. The Creator God wants our hearts—our reciprocated love, our unwavering loyalty, our undiluted adoration...

Most cellphones today come equipped with passcodes, facial recognition software, fingerprint scanning capabilities, and multistep-step user  verification. Why? It’s all for the purpose of ensuring that whoever is accessing the information stored inside the device is the person who should be accessing all the information stored inside the device! We understand that failure to identify—or mis i...

As one reads the gospel according to Matthew, a pattern can be identified in how the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, presents his account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, alternating between  stories about Jesus and teachings of Jesus. The book opens with the story about Jesus’s birth and ministry preparation (chs. 1–4) followed by a robust teaching on kingdom principles (chs. 5...

Anyone walking into a church baptism service might be confused about what was happening. Hot tubs are for back yards or for spas, but in a church? “What is going on?”, they would ask in their confusion, and understandably so. But some believers who should know what is going on may have a shaky understanding as well. They might know that all believers are commanded by Christ to be baptized, and tha...

The thirteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel records an abrupt shift in Jesus’s teaching ministry. Responding to his formal rejection as messianic King by Israel’s leadership (12:24), the Lord pivots from a clear declaration of the nearness of the kingdom of heaven to seemingly simple stories that, as he explains to his disciples, are meant to reveal new kingdom truths to some and, at the very same...

Up to this point in Matthew’s gospel there has been a consistent and clear proclamation of the nearness of the kingdom of heaven (see 3:2; 4:17; 10:7). Jesus’s ministry had been  one characterized by urgency and excitement, rebuke and invitation. However, opposition had been brewing and, in chapters 11 and 12, it came to a head as Israel’s leadership looked Jesus in the eyes and declared on b...

When I was a kid, I used to hate going on road trips. I would get really bored, and even when there were things like books I wanted to read or video games I wanted to play, I used to have fairly significant motion sickness, so those options weren’t usually viable for more than a few minutes. So whenever we were going on a trip, my mom would take some steps and make preparations to try and make it...

It’s been said that failures are like a compost heap — they stink but are the most fertile part of the garden! We’ve all experienced failure to varying degrees of severity and publicity, making mistakes in things we’ve thought, said, and done. Sometimes the blunders are containable, rectifiable, and forgettable. Other times, however, they’re not. At those times, failures do , indeed, stink. But th...

Please note there were technical difficulties with the audio during the recording of this sermon. Matthew 12 reads like the transcript of the final scenes of a long courtroom drama— The People v. Jesus of Nazareth . It’s a trial that as arrested the attention of the entire nation of Israel. This otherwise nondescript Rabbi burst onto the scene claiming to be the long-awaited messianic king and bol...

Join Lew Worrad as he dives into the book of Esther on August 29th, 2021 Key Passage: Book of Esther Speaker: Lew Worrad

It’s amazing how the physical presence of an employer can impact the work of their employees. When the boss shows up frivolity fades, laziness  vanishes, focus sharpens, and productivity increases. The mere presence of one with authority over jobs and power to sign paycheques causes a change in behaviour. As Christ followers, we believe that God, as Creator and Sustainer of all things, i...

On July  23, the Canadian women’s eight rowing crew won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The team is made up of athletes ranging in age from 24 to 35. They’re from different hometowns, represent different sport clubs, have been shaped by different coaches, different families,  different hobbies, and different preferences. How does a group of people that differ so significa...

In our study of the seven churches of Revelation we have come to the  last church. Laodicea was a big town, a rich town. People loved their  leisure, living in the lap of luxury. Laodicea reminds us of our own  community, affluent and living the good life, but neglecting the Lord. However, the church is called to resist the influence of the world  around it. But the Laodicean C...