Teachings from Unionville Alliance

Christmas is known as a time for giving. The epitome of giving is the gift of Jesus. The generosity of Jesus should find resonance in the lives of his followers.

As Jesus began his famous Sermon on the Mount, so he will conclude it. The critical point of ending the sermon is the take-away. Jesus wants to make sure that the sermon achieves its desired goal. This goes for all good sermons.

We are privileged in prayer to ask, seek, and knock, because the Lord delights to give us good things that further his kingdom values and the fulfillment of his kingdom ethic to do unto others what we would desire to be done to us.

Jesus told us that we were not to judge others. That message resonates with many in our society. But that can be confusing because he also instructed us to be judicious and critical. In this message we will unpack what Jesus’ message is for us.

Our lives can be weighed down with worry at times and the effects can be hard. Kingdom citizens are not to be encumbered by worry, but that’s easier said than done. Jesus not only calls his followers to not to worry, he shows them how they can have a worry-free life.

In this message, we aim to build our understanding of God’s global mission and how He aligns our hearts to participate with Him. We’ll look at some maps, stories of God at work, and examine our hearts in light of a Task Unfinished.

Part of kingdom living is to intentionally leverage our resources with a vision of generosity and grace in order to fulfill God's will on earth because Jesus is our Lord.

God is very concerned about how we live our lives, but he is concerned with more than just what we do. He is concerned about why we do it. In this message Jesus looks beyond the externals to see what is driving that behaviour. Prepare to be challenged as Jesus strips away the façade and gets to the heart of our living.

Sometimes we feel as though we have it all together spiritually. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day sure felt that way. Jesus rocked their world and self-righteous attitude when he explained the real intent of the law and how far short they were falling.

Jesus’ life had a great impact on many people. Submitting to his rule would make us more loving, caring, fair, humble and accommodating which can help to transform our environment.

We tend to think of the church in very personal ways. Jesus wanted us to be mindful that we are in community of faith and that we have a greater ability to serve, grow and reach out to others when we do it together.

You may not realize it, but when you became a follower of Jesus, you also became his spokesperson to share his good news. As daunting as this may seem, Jesus promises to help you in this critical role.

When we come to find Jesus, we discover that it was he who was searching for us. He then makes us a part of his rescue team.

The last fruit of the Spirit is self-control. It is unique in that it is not a characteristic of God like the other fruit of the Spirit. Many times we lack self-control and need the help of the Holy Spirit to control our sinful desires and passions. As we admit our failures and put on Christ, we can grow in this vital area of self-control.

Gentleness is not a fruit of the Spirit that is attractive to many people. It may seem like a very passive and wimpy kind of character trait. Be prepared to be surprised!

God is always faithful, are we?

The word goodness is a very unique Greek word that is found only in the Bible and not in the classical Greek language. It is used to describe God’s character of being blameless, upright, pure, righteous and generous. Contextually for us, it is a Spirit-created moral excellence. It not only encompasses kindness as acts of love, but reflects the complete character of God who does good things for us...

If patience is the passive response of love then kindness is the active response of love. We see the kindness of God lived out through Jesus in his tangible expressions of love. Through the help of the Holy Spirit we can also produce this fruit and be watchful, compassionate, and ready to show kindness to others.

Patience is an extraordinary characteristic of God displayed in his forgiveness of our sins. We are also called to be patient with others and in the midst of our trials. We can learn from godly examples before us to develop patience by seeing things from God's perspective, loving others, praying for others, and trusting in God.

What is peace? We often define it in terms of what it isn’t—as in, it’s the absence of conflict. Our study will examine the Biblical truth of peace from our series in the Fruit of the Spirit.

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One of the resources that God has given to help us to live the Christian life successfully is a friend. David had a great challenge with opposition in his life and God provided a wonderful gift in the person of Jonathan. This friendship of the ages stands as a model of how friendship can work.