Newmarket Alliance Sermon Podcast

This was NOT an "Instagram moment" Our nativity scenes have such a lovely Hallmark Christmas Card feel to them, one might forget (or never have heard) how desperate, dark and dismal the whole situation was. Don't get me wrong. The birth of Jesus was truly "good news of great joy" but the circumstances surrounding his birth were not "fit for a King"... quite the opposite. But all of this "mess" tel...

I realize it's nice to picture baby Jesus as He is in our pristine Nativity sets: Jesus smiling with a little halo behind him. Lambs cuddling up to the baby in a well-lit, rustic but sterile setting. Mary and Joseph looking like a typical young adult couple hosting guests of mystics and shepherds, oblivious that a genocidal monster is in the process of hunting them down. In truth, the entire Chris...

Our Study in Acts continues... Last Sunday we ended our narrative with an earthquake at a prayer meeting. The Church was experiencing unprecedented growth with miracles, power, sharing life together, and an incredible outpouring of generosity among the multitude of believers and beyond. But a dark cloud soon emerged, threatening to derail the growth of the early Church. What God does about this is...

Our Study in Acts continues... Peter and John were just jailed and berated, all for the "misdeed" of healing a man and proclaiming the good news of Jesus. Clearly, these two never felt alone amid this bullying: Jesus was with them, giving them courage and even the words to say to the authorities. They're about to be reminded that they are not alone in another significant way. The Church of Jesus C...

Our Study in Acts continues... Peter and John have just healed a lame man through the name and power of Jesus. The man is obviously ecstatic and the gathering crowd is curious now and open to the gospel. You'd think EVERYONE would want to carry these two disciples on their shoulders in a heroes' parade, but wouldn't you know it, there are powerful people who want them silenced and punished. You ma...

Our Study in Acts continues... As we've seen in the first few months of the Church's origin story, the Holy Spirit comes with wind and fire. It comes with the supernatural gift of speaking in other known languages for the purpose of proclaiming Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes with a new boldness to recently fearful disciples and a clear articulation of the gospel. The Holy Spirit comes with a harvest...

Our Study in Acts continues with guest speaker Tony Wong. If you have ever read the brief verses describing this early Church in Acts 2:42-47, perhaps your heart has sped up as mine has. THIS sounds like the Church we all long to be a part of... Deep community. Breaking bread together. Praying together. Sharing possessions and money for those among them in need. There was JOY. There was generosity...

Our Study in Acts continues... Remember that blustery fisherman dude with a temper, who 50 days prior had fearfully denied the Lord three times? He is beautifully forgiven and restored by Jesus over breakfast following His resurrection, and then before Jesus ascended to heaven, told him and the other disciples to WAIT... something exciting is going to happen that will fill you with courage and emp...

This following proposition may be controversial but here goes... Without the events of Acts 2, there is no Christianity. There. I said it. The Incarnation of Jesus proved He was a missionary to the world He created. The Cross proved His great sacrificial love and plan for salvation. The Resurrection proves the hope we have of eternal life and our enemy of death being ultimately defeated. The Ascen...

There might be as many opinions as there are people as to what it means to BE the Church and BE a true disciple Sometimes in the business world, when the organization begins to drift or lose their core values, there is a strategic effort to return to the founder's vision and template. I can't help but think our "Founder's" vision and values for The Church and for true discipleship can best be foun...

Context is everything... Think of a simple word like "ball" 1. A cylindrical toy or sporting apparatus that most often bounces (noun) 2. A dance party where you dress in formal attire (noun) 3. To have a good time, as in, "we had a ball" (idiom) That's just one example, and we are typically adept at parsing out words depending on their context; but in a theological context what does it mean that b...

Pastor Glenn is only partly right. I (Jonathan) only hate MOST country music. There's one cowboy I hold in hallowed esteem... The "man in black"... Johnny Cash. A committed Christian, who had previously done some "hard livin’ ”, Johnny wrote nuanced songs of faith AND of struggle. This is one of my favourites: The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars Restless by day and by night rants an...

As much as our inclination is to make PEOPLE our enemy, we actually remember that our battle is not against "flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:12). The first of our real enemies is Satan. I realize in our modern world there are many - even Christians - who put as much credence in the Devil as they would in mythological villains like Medusa, Loki or "the Boogey Man". Unfortunately, Satan is very much real a...

Some are uncomfortable with equating the Christian walk with "war" or "battle" imagery (while others are perhaps a little too comfortable with it). I assure you our Church forefathers had no such reservations. Make no mistake, we are in a FIGHT... a fight for souls! Unfortunately many are directing their resistance at the wrong foe... namely PEOPLE! Join us in the 4-week series to learn who the re...

There are many of you in our Church family living with long-term illness. Many of you live with, or love someone, suffering in this way. One thing is true for ALL of us. Everyone will be afflicted at some point in their life with an area of brokenness that needs healing. Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. The secular sciences are finally recognizing that these aspects of our whole sel...

We have never seen this kind of widespread cultural affliction of Anxiety & Depression. It is no respecter of age, race, gender or even whether you are a Christian or not. You may not struggle with it personally but you definitely know and love someone who does. Brett Ullman is part of the "walking wounded" and his story is both raw and hopeful.

"Yes, YOU!" In this brief wrap-up of our summer series "Get in the Game" we will talk about the last spiritual gift (and it's a doozy) and then I suppose the onus is on you... How has God uniquely wired you? What is your role in "the body"? What will it take for you to get off the sidelines and into the game?

"Get the FAMILY in the game" This long weekend we will have a short and engaging service for the whole family (children will be remaining in the service) which will include some games, some laughs, some prizes and an opportunity to receive Communion together with all the generations represented... the whole Church FAMILY! We'll also address one spiritual gift that maybe the kids could teach us a t...

"Get in the game" Power Gifts (part 2) Are you up for some more (as we referred to it last week) "weird stuff"? Do you believe that the prophecy of Joel and of Pentecost is being fulfilled in our day and generation? Do you believe that miracles can happen in 2024... not just theoretically, but that miracles could happen at NAC... even at any given moment? Do you have the kind of faith that truly b...

Power Gifts Lately, have you heard people speak colloquially of someone's "superpower"? As in, "that's Jenny's superpower... staying calm in a crisis". It can even be used as a bit of a back-handed compliment; "That's just like Tony. His superpower is to turn the centre of attention back to him" What if I told you the Holy Spirit may, at times, give you real supernatural giftings? Things that can...

"Get in the game" Part 2 of the "WORD" Gifts Somebody asked me (Jonathan) at our Alliance General Assembly this week what my favourite thing about being a pastor is. I thought for a second - and I realize the spiritual gifts series is kind of “on the brain” - but what I said is spiritual gifts have got to be in the top three. I love seeing people discover the unique way God has wired and gifted th...

"There are two great moments in a person's life: the moment you were born and the moment you realize why you were born." —Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwel For the purposes of this series, you'll remember we've divided up the Spiritual Gifts into 3 categories. If the LOVE gifts (which we talked about last week) are more about the DOING, then the WORD gifts are more about the SAYING. Not just in terms of pub...

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. - Frederick Buechner As we said, all-y'all have been blessed through the Holy Spirit with unique spiritual gifts. For the purposes of this series, we've divided them up into 3 categories. This Sunday we start with the LOVE GIFTS These are the wonderful and necessary gifts in the Church that allow bel...

A New Summer Series! It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena. - Theodore Rosevelt There will always be those who sit on the sidelines. Those who fancy themselves as armchair quarterbacks. They offer critiques or appreciation but they ar...

Hey Jude! Here we are with ANOTHER letter that seems to be addressing yet another messed-up Church. In fact it seems A LOT of the New Testament is responding to messed-up churches... It makes you wonder if the whole enterprise is worth the effort, or if it should be abandoned (as many people that you probably know have decided). But in fact, that's WHY so much ink in the Bible is given to maintain...