The TMP Podcast

Paul is not in control of his life now. He is placed on a ship sailing to Italy. He is a prisoner being transferred to a different prison. In this regard, Paul is nothing more than cargo. That is until a moment of crisis. Winds of hurricane force batter the ship and blow it off course. The sailors makes every attempt to rescue the ship to no avail, and thus they “give up all hope of being saved.”(...

Paul is in Jerusalem at the temple when a group of Jews from the province Asia stir up a mob against him. To quell this uproar in the temple courts, the Roman commander and his troops arrest Paul and prevent the mob from killing him. Paul addresses the crowd and shares his story of being “zealous”(22:3) and a “persecutor of followers of the Way”(22:4) until he is blinded by the Light. The crowd is...

Paul feels compelled by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem (v22). He does not know fully what will happen to him, but he knows there is “prison and hardships” ahead (v23). Paul takes some time in his hurried journey to Jerusalem to give a farewell speech to the Ephesian elders. It is not only a fitting goodbye to this group of friends, it is also an appropriate conclusion to his missionary journey...

Paul’s missionary journey continues on to Ephesus. God is on the move in some powerful ways. We read of men being filled with the Holy Spirit (v1-7), extraordinary miracles (v11-12), and a great number of people were leaving idols and following Jesus (v17-20). God was on the move in Ephesus, so much so, that it was having a financial impact. And where the Gospel has a financial impact, trouble wil...

Paul is on the road again. He finds himself in the Greek city of Corinth. It was a city of affluence, influence, and an important trade route. In Corinth, Paul finds new friends in Pricilla & Aquila— a couple who were escaping the persecution of Jews in Rome by Emperor Claudius. Paul joins them in their business of tent making. Paul continues his practice of speaking about Jesus in the local s...

Paul is in the city of Athens, which is one of the cultural and religious hubs of the Greco-Roman world. Paul is distressed at the many idols found within the city of Athens. He begins to reason with Jews and God-fearing Greeks, but in the process, he attracts the attention of two schools of thought: the Epicureans and the Stoics.  Together, the concerted Epicurean-Stoic opposition against Paul fo...

Paul and Silas encounter a slave girl who is inflicted by a spirit. (16:16–18). She goes around the village yelling, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”(v18) You’d think that this would be great publicity for Paul & Silas? Perhaps they could have utilized this slave girl who was announcing the truth about them? Instead, Paul gets into so...

The Apostle Paul desires to go back to the cities he and Barnabas have preached in to see how those churches are doing. Barnabas is determined to take John Mark with them on this journey. John Mark had gone with Paul and Barnabas on the first journey but returned to Jerusalem early in the trip (Acts 13:13 ). It is Barnabas’ expectation to take John Mark on the journey with them again. But Paul ins...

A cultural and theological crisis was brewing in the early church. Some Jewish followers of the Messiah were insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to receive salvation. (15.1) Others— like Paul and Barnabas—- believe that Gentile believers are welcomed into the church as Gentiles. The resulting discussion leads to the Jerusalem Council where important questions are being raised arou...

Our Teaching Pastor Paul Walker sits down with Pastor Keith to discuss the implications of Acts 15 as it relates to the gospel, race, polarization, and the third way of Jesus. Keith shares his own experience of walking through the polarization of USA political landscape and the racial tensions that ensued. 

Generosity is at the heart of the character of God. As the famous Bible passage says, “For God so loved the world that he GAVE….” (John 3:16) When we give, we emulate the very generosity of God towards us. Being generous with our money now forms our character in a Christ-like direction and there are inherent rewards that result from it. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, “what we re...

Everyday we are confronted with advertising that is trying to sell us something. We are told that our happiness and wholeness is found on the other side of a shopping spree. Curiously Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal.” (Mt 6:19) This is a call to consider how we spend our money. It is a call to simplic...

God is not some cosmic do-nothing deity. God is a creator, a worker— and we are created in this image. This is why the first human Adam is given a vocation and an assignment in Creation. Our reflection and our likeness of God will be expressed in our working lives and not apart from them. Work is a gift of God, not a punishment for sin. This means every worker is called to serve God in his or her...

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the upper room like a rushing violent wind and filled all those who were gathered. This reminds us that the Holy Spirit is not merely an idea, a concept, an ethic, or a feeling. The Holy Spirit — who is a person of the Godhead/ Trinity, makes God’s presence real to us. This is why the Apostle Paul will tell us to “be filled with the Spirit.”(Eph. 5:1...

Throughout Scripture we find reference to the Holy Spirit empowering people for Kingdom work. It’s important to note that the Apostle Paul did not create a technical category, limited list, or box, called “spiritual gifts.” Rather, when the Apostle Paul talks about “the spirituals” (πνευματικός) or “gifts” (χάρισμα) in 1 Corinthians 12 and elsewhere, he is simply offering a number of examples of w...

We live in the age of self-help, therapy, and technique-obsession. Deep down, we all know we’re broken and need to change. The question is, How? In North American Christianity, the most common approach to this process is one of intellectual ascent. If we can know enough, learn enough, be smart enough, get inspired enough… we’ll change. Another approach is through strengthening our emotional health...

The Holy Spirit falls on a group of Gentiles for the first time. The implications are mind blowing. Peter realizes for the first time that, “God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” (Acts 10:34) God does NOT show favouritism but accepts from EVERY NATION—the Anishinaabeg, The Cree , The Dakota nation , The Dene, The Métis, The Oji-C...

Under the cover of night, Jesus has an extended conversation with Nicodemus about the coming kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, and as such, likely assumed that God’s kingdom had a lot to do with your birth right as a child of Abraham. Jesus turns the tables on Nicodemus by saying, “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit....

Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit will “speak to us” and “guide us into all truth”. (Jn 16:13) But how exactly does this work? There are some who believe that Jesus is only talking about the formation of the Bible— after that, it is said that God ceases to speak. Curiously, the Bible itself never tells us that the Triune God’s speaking is limited to the Bible—rather the promise is that Jesus—...

Before his death, Jesus taught at length to his disciples about the importance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was to lead them, guide them, instruct them, empower them and so much more. After the resurrection, Jesus again reiterates the importance of the Holy Spirit by breathing on his disciples and saying “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22) and telling them to “wait for the gift the Fathe...

In John 18, Jesus is arrested and betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus will be put on trial by the High Priest, Pilate, and Herod. The crowds will shout “crucify him.” Jesus will be mocked, beaten, whipped, receive a crown of thorns, and ultimately be crucified. From the garden, we follow Jesus into death and the grave. Though we might see these events as a series of tragedies, this is the...

The first person to see the risen Christ was Mary Magdalene. It happened in a garden. At first Mary thought Jesus was the gardener. A logical mistake. Or a prophetic mistake. Or perhaps not a mistake at all? When Mary Magdalene “supposed him to be the gardener,” she was exactly right! Jesus is now the gardener of resurrection, cultivating new life in all who believe. The first Adam was a gardener...

Jesus is making his Triumphant entry into Jerusalem. As he enters the city, the people lay their cloaks and palm branches on the ground in an act of reverence. The people proclaim "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Lk 19:38) It is a public declaration that Jesus is the King— the Messiah. This of course upsets some of the observant Pharisees who were in the crowd. They a...

All four Gospels give an account of Jesus being anointed by a woman as an act of worship. In Matthew and Mark, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, anoints Jesus’ head in Bethany following the Triumphal Entry. In Luke an unnamed woman who was a notorious sinner anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair in the home of Simon the Pharisee in Galilee. In John these two anointing’s are combin...

When the Apostle Paul mentions in the Gospel he received in 1 Corinthians 15 he goes on a rabbit trail after verse 5. Many scholars believe that Paul actually continues his gospel statement at verse 20 and that the “gospel” Paul received and Paul preached and the Corinthians received did not end with  15:5, but continued to the end of all ends in paragraph C (vv. 20 – 28). In other words, there ar...