Southside@Main | Sunday Morning Services

November 24, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Rev 20.11-15 "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." So we find in Dante's Inferno from the 14th Century where he describes an inscription at the entrance to Hell. Is Hell a real place? Who is destined for Hell? Is it about conscious, eternal punishment as many doctrinal statements of evangelicalism state?

November 17, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 14.6 Jesus was very plain about His claim to be the only way to the Father. So is it just that plain and simple, come to Jesus and you're given a ticket to heaven and the Father? Or is it more complicated somehow? Do you find yourself with some "but.." questions that don't seem easily resolved? Are they "who.." questions that poke at the "us" and "them"...

November 10, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Genesis 50.20 Last week we established that God knows and loves us individually and personally. The follow up question is why then doesn’t He intervene in our lives when we are in trouble of some kind? Perhaps the greatest objection people raise is about the relationship between God and suffering. Is there a reasonable response?

November 3, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 139 This question might be followed by a "why" sort of question which is perhaps the harder one to figure out. But it's a very important one to ask first. Then we might be able to discuss possibilities for the "why" follow ups!

October 27, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 20.29 On the other end of our discussion about the value of questions and doubt we are faced with a statement Jesus made to Thomas calling those who believe without seeing "blessed." How do we make sense of this? Wouldn't it be better to know God's existence for sure and then deal with what implications that has? What is the added value of faith?

October 20, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Timothy 3.16 What kind of book is the Bible? How are we supposed to read it and understand it? The National Post posed that question a few years ago and proposed that there are four views on this question: 1. supernatural revelation of God's eternal will; 2. inspiring moral guide; 3. sacred literature like all sacred literature or 4. faithful confessions an...

October 13, 2019 Speaker: Mike Burns If anyone has ever read through the Bible – or even read parts of the Bible from both the Old & New Testament – a nagging question usually arises: How can the God of the Old Testament be the same as the God of the New Testament? A quick glance could leave us viewing the OT God as an angry father and the NT God as the hippie son. Are they different? Did God chan...

October 6, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 14.1-6 Is Heaven real? Is there really an afterlife? We will address this question this week as the gatekeeper of the rest of our doubts. Should we join John Lennon and imagine there’s no heaven? Would that solve our problems or create new ones?

September 30, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Job 19.25-27 In the midst of Job's great existential struggles for meaning and answers he has the profound clarity of the hope of life after life and certainty that he will see God in a physical existence. Can we hope in the midst of doubt?

September 22, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Each Sunday we are taking an "Alpha" approach to our teaching time as we explore our questions about life's meaning. Join us as we piece together some topics of discussion and instruction and feed in your great questions! Question #1 Is it OK to ask? (Ecclesiastes 1.3) I once asked a difficult theological question of a mentor as we were travelling together....

September 15, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 1:6-9 The classic introducer in the stories of the Bible is someone that we meet with the simple words that "there was a man sent from God whose name was John."Many of the Kingdom aspects of introduction are personified in this dramatic character. He was sent to bear witness of the Light. And his means of bearing witness was the public job of introduct...

September 8, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 1:41-42 Last Sunday we dispensed with "Inviters" in favour of a better word to describe our role as Christ's Followers. As we continue to follow the example of Andrew we will find that this is precisely the role he assumed. Our role is not to invite people to something but to introduce them to someone. And we will see there is often a chain of introduct...

August 25, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Exodus 20.5 Can God be jealous? Is it like an exclusive relationship that has God looking nervously or suspiciously at someone moving in on his lover? Is he insecure? We have a hard time with this adjective "jealous" don't we? What do we make of it?

January 7, 2018 Speaker: Ian Campbell Proverbs 29.18 (msg) As we enter 2018 we do so with great excitement looking forward to a move to Main Street. In a different setting with different surroundings, different facilities and many different opportunities some of us will feel tremendously empowered and some will feel quite daunted! For all of us there needs to be a grounding in our understanding of...

January 21, 2018 Speaker: Ian Campbell Mark 1:15-17 As we enter 2018 we do so with great excitement looking forward to a move to Main Street. In a different setting with different surroundings, different facilities and many different opportunities some of us will feel tremendously empowered and some will feel quite daunted! For all of us there needs to be a grounding in our understanding of who we...

January 14 2018 Speaker : Ian Campbell Mark 1:15-17 As we enter 2018 we do so with great excitement looking forward to a move to Main Street. In a different setting with different surroundings, different facilities and many different opportunities some of us will feel tremendously empowered and some will feel quite daunted! For all of us there needs to be a grounding in our understanding of who we...

January 28, 2018 Speaker: Ian Campbell As we enter 2018 we do so with great excitement looking forward to a move to Main Street. In a different setting with different surroundings, different facilities and many different opportunities some of us will feel tremendously empowered and some will feel quite daunted! For all of us there needs to be a grounding in our understanding of who we are as a chu...

August 18, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalms 107 & 145 Are we ever beyond hope? Does anyone ever reach the limit and is found to be a write-off? If so it is a self imposed state and never can be ascribed to God. He is always ready to rescue.

August 11, 2019 Speaker: Mike Burns The wrath of God is not a popular subject these days. Though prominent in both the Old and New Testament, even Christians seem to want to play this subject down a little. Perhaps we find it difficult to reconcile God’s anger when we consider His message of love. Can the two be one in the same? Can a loving God also be angry? And how do we apply this to both ours...

August 4, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 5:22-24 Packer wonders if we believe in God as Judge and says “speak to people of God as a Father, a friend, a helper, one who loves us despite all our weakness and folly and sin, and their faces light up.. but speak to them of God as Judge and they frown and shake their heads.” What are our thoughts on this matter?

July 28, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Samuel 9 Perhaps the two most staggering doctrines of the Bible are the Love of God and then the Grace of God. Our journey is into a deeper experience of both. We may more easily grasp our need for the love of God than that for His grace. But we are in desperate need for this incredible provision in our lives and relationships.

July 21st 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Ephesians 3.14-19 When the Apostle Paul thinks of his friends and what to pray for he is powerfully drawn to the matter of God's love. In fact he calls it Christ's love making it even more personal and experiential. He prays that they will explore the dimensions of Christ's love and will know it although it is beyond knowledge. How do we experience God's love i...

July 14 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Timothy 3:16 The Holy Bible is the most popular, most read, most purchased book in the world. What an amazing fact this is. What is there about this book that has gained it such notoriety? Let's have a fresh look at its value in our lives and faith with a look back at what an early apostle said about its source and effect for us.

June 30, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Hebrews 11.8-12 What is the role of faith in Knowing God? Perhaps a different take on this subject would be that faith is believing that only God knows, understands and works out the backstory to our lives. Hebrews 11 gives us a whole cast of characters, not many of whom got the e-mail that explained everything God was organizing and arranging! Have you received...

June 23, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 8.1 & Psalm 93.1-5 Have you ever been "lost in wonder, love and praise" as Charles Wesley penned in his hymn "Love Divine"? Against our attempts to understand and explain God we are often much more suited for admiration and awe than grasping. In the words of the Band Sleeping at Last "The universe was made just to be seen by my eyes." Is that the end purpo...