The Compass Church

The manna that fell from Heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness was a foreshadow of Jesus, the bread of life, that has come down from Heaven. In John 6:48, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." Pastor Blair explains what it means that Jesus is the bread of life, and this affects our lives practically.

John wrote the Gospel of John as a theologian to prove that Jesus is God. He also wrote as an evangelist urging his readers to put their faith in Jesus and receive eternal life. In this introduction sermon, Pastor Blair lays the foundation to the Gospel of John and John himself, as well as the seven "I AM" statements made by Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John invites us to see who Jesus is from the...

Our Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, understood the dark reality of life under the sun. As an old man, he spent his life looking for something under the sun to give him meaning and purpose, but found nothing. In the midst of his confusion and despair brought about by contemplating the meaning of life under the sun, Solmon now focuses us heavenward. We are free only through the victory...

All throughout this remarkably honest book, the Teacher has been driving us to the abyss and insisting we peer over the edge. He has insisted we examine every under-the-sun avenue and see for ourselves the validity of his claim that all is vanity in the end, for in so doing we are forced to lift our eyes above the sun and look for rescue. The avenue examined in chapter eleven and through the cours...

Although Mary's reputation was damaged, God chose Mary to birth and raise Jesus Christ. Has your reputation ever been called into question? Mary is a wonderful example for what it really means to trust God in all things, and to obey Him when the call is difficult.

Murray shares the story of Ruth, and how God can redeem any situation for His glory. We are all in need of a Redeemer, and no matter how messed up you are, Jesus can redeem you from the enslavement to sin and death.

We look at the story of Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute, and how God gave her faith in the true God. Rahab later became part of the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11. We can be religious and ask how this can happen, but the truth is that we are all in need of Jesus' grace. Thank God that he takes broken people and gives life through the blood of Jesus!

The genealogy of Jesus Christ includes Judah and Tamar. We look into their lives, and how there is room in God's family for even the worst of us. For those who have been prostitutes, perverts, bad parents, porn addicts, and drug addicts, there is room for us in the family of God through Jesus Christ. The worst people can be loved, forgiven, and embraced by God if they repent. There is hope for us...

Because we are unaware of the day of our death, we tend to live our days as if they are infinite. This can cause us to be careless with our money, our time, our relationships, our energy, our words, etc. Pastor Blair explains what it means to really live today with a perspective that life is a gift and tomorrow we may not have it, and what it means for a Christian to live in light of our future gl...

Murray Lutzer shares how we are to respect human authority, fear God, and know that God's authority is best.

There are two lifestyles that can emerge in a life without God: the way of the moral and the way of the immoral. The way of the moral is concerned with external, ethical rule-keeping as a way that defines righteousness. The way of the immoral is concerned with self-indulgent pleasures that briefly satisfy but fail in the end. Both ways are meaningless. The righteousness of another is the only answ...

Like the making of currency, character is formed by pressure and polished by friction. Some of the best learning we do is through failure and adversity, but everything is us wants to run from it. Pastor Blair shares why adversity is better than prosperity, and how sorrow and suffering brings us to God.

The love of money is a trap. It never satisfies and it delivers no peace. It's a good servant but a bad master. If we put money and stuff first and foremost over people and God, we will not find satisfaction nor be able to enjoy the good gifts of God. Our hope needs to be in something more secure than money.

Dr. Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, talks about how great and awesome our God is, and how we have been so fearfully and wonderfully made.

We as humans are full of envy and competition. Most of the striving we do in this life is out of envying and comparing ourselves to others. We work so hard to keep up with other people. Steve explains how this unhealthy competition is futile and meaningless under the sun. However, relationships under the sun with Jesus are to look different. Since we have everything we need in Him, there is no nee...

We think we are in control and can bring perfect justice and righteousness ourselves, but we really cannot. God has allowed us to fail at this, so that we can realize we are not in control. In a world longing for justice and righteousness, we can rest knowing that God will bring perfect justice in His timing. We need to trust in God and rest in Him. He is sovereign and has everything under control...

God is exhaustively sovereign in every aspect of our lives. God has appointed the times and seasons of our lives. This should give us hope, because we know God is in control. God exalts and humbles the same person. He raises nations up and brings them down. Even the day of our death has been set. God is in control. The third chapter of Ecclesiastes is a Gospel grenade lobbed into our manipulative...

There is the need to be reconciled to God and to one another. The good news is that there is a promise of reconciliation through faith in Jesus Christ. Inequality before God has been abolished and there is a new unity in Christ. The church is united because of Jesus and His saving work on the cross. Christ attained this unity, and our task is to maintain this unity. We are one body because of our...

We work so hard. Our to-do lists are longer than the amount of hours we have in a day to work on them. Not only does our job take our day, but it often takes our sleep at night. Work is exhausting. Toil and work — in and of themself — will not satisfy and is vanity. Solomon makes it clear that work does not provide meaning to life. However, work is one of the things we were created for. It is part...

We are continually trying to obtain happiness and satisfaction by reorganizing our external life. We think we will finally be happy and satisfied if we had more money, knowledge, possessions, etc. For Solomon, he had it all, and he had searched his life and everything under the sun only to find that every aspect of it proved meaningless. Until we believe this, we are not open to the truth about th...

We all crave meaning! We want our lives to count for something. What are you depending on to make your life worth living? What is your functional saviour? What do you pursue to give you meaning in life? These are the big questions that the book of Ecclesiastes forces us to investigate, and causes us to stare reality in the face. Ecclesiastes strips away our futile attempts to stay so busy we don't...

Why doesn't God always heal the sick? Steve examines this question through the lens of Scripture, and shares three major points regarding healing.

Are new covenant Christians biblically and morally obligated to give according to old covenant laws? Are Christians obligated to tithe of their income, and does the Bible legislate to believers under the new covenant a specific percentage of their income that they are to give? Pastor Blair examines these questions through the lens of Scripture, and looks at what the Old Testament and New Testament...

Can a Christian lose their salvation? Does the God of the universe lose one of His children? And how can a Christian be assured of their salvation? Throughout the pages of Scripture, we find the truth that God completes that which He begins. Those who truly love and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ will never fall away from the salvation which God has promised and provided. Pastor Blai...

What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? There is much confusion around the Holy Spirit and spiritual experiences, and churches often divide over them. Pastor Blair looks at the heart of these divisions about the Holy Spirit by answering some of the questions surrounding the terms, "Baptism of the Spirit" and "Filling of the Spirit." What is this...