Trails Church Sermons

False accusations sting … but they don’t have to sink you.  Instead, they can be used to demonstrate our faith and deepen our trust in God as we wait for Him to vindicate us. That’s what we are going to see in Psalm 26 as David walks through false accusations and, instead of trying to prove himself innocent in the court of public opinion, he 1) leaves the matter with God to sort out and 2) prays t...

FORGIVEN ➞ GUIDANCE ➞ RESCUE David’s stuck. He can’t Google‑map his way out, so he asks God for two things on repeat: 
1️⃣ “Wipe my mess.”  2️⃣ “Show me the path.” 
 Same for us—if we were wise enough, we’d already be free. 🤯 So when we need rescue, how do we learn the way to go?  And when we learn the right way, what do we gain when we obey it?  Before You Listen 🚪 There's a lot going on in...

In this sermon, we’re diving into Psalm 24 and the jaw-dropping reality of God’s kingly presence.  Before you listen, we'd encourage you to carve out some quiet moments to prepare your heart for this sermon in the following ways: 1️⃣ Read Psalm 24 slowly, noting how the entire psalm reflect's God's holiness and glory. 
2️⃣ Read 1 Chronicles 15-16 for some historical backdrop that will...

God’s comforting presence never clocks out. Whereas we are bound by time and space; while we close our eyes in sleep and can only be in one place at one time, we must remember that God is not like us. No, He is always with us.  Not only in the green fields and beside the calm waters; no, all the time - meaning that He is with us as we walk through the darkest of valleys, promising us comfort, vind...

In this sermon, we’ll be reflecting on Psalm 22 in a message titled “Forsaken by God.”  We’ll walk through one of the most haunting cries in all of Scripture: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” words spoken both by David in anguish and by Jesus on the cross.  This psalm helps us see that even in our deepest sorrow, God is at work. Christ was truly forsaken so that we, in Him, never will b...

How do you respond when what you’ve been praying for finally comes to fruition? Are you someone who naturally moves on and thinks about the next situation or problem? Or are you someone who pauses, reflects, and spends time praising God for how He solved the situation and came through?  Most Christians would like to say that we respond with pausing and reflecting … but we’d also admit that there h...

As we prepared ourselves for our gathering (where we examined Psalm 20), we encouraged our church to spend some time reading over and trying to understand the main theme and rhythm of Psalm 18. Why?  Well, the reason for doing so is that David, in Psalm 18, reflects upon how God has delivered him from all of his enemies.  Then, in Psalm 20, David builds upon what he has already said and turns to a...

It’s getting warmer outside. The flowers are bursting forth and filling our city with wonderful colours. We hear the old familiar sound of lawn mowers on Saturday mornings. And we have busy schedules around ballfields. Which means … Summer has arrived … well, almost, we are in Canada, after all 😂 Around The Trails, this is the time of year when we dive back into our study of the Psalms, which is...

In this sermon, we will be finishing out our study of the book of Titus by looking at all of ch.3. There Paul once again focuses on the importance our good works being the fruit of the Christian life. Throughout Titus we have seen how sound doctrine is the root which produces good works. Just as fruit adorns or beautifies a tree, our good works should beautify the gospel we preach. Before listenin...

Have you ever noticed, when teaching teens to drive, that what is instinctive for you … isn’t instinctive for them? You want them to be aware what’s going on around the car at all times.  One of the times when they don’t instinctively do this is when changing lanes. So, you have to remind them that, if they want to change lanes, they need to physically turn around and check their blind spots to av...

Making disciples. These are words that we might see on a church website and it’s definitely ones that Pastors or Missionaries like. But, if we are honest, most of us have no clue what it means to be apart of “making” someone a disciple of Jesus. Well, this weekend, we are going to flesh out what this means as we study Titus 2:1-10. And what we will discover is that, for a church to be healthy it m...

In this sermon, we discuss Titus 1:6-19 and how to spot faithful and faithless elders. For more information about The Trails, please visit: trailschurch.ca

What does a church need to be healthy? How can you tell if a church is healthy or unhealthy? For many of us our answer to that will be more informed by our experience in the church more than what God's word makes clear. And thankfully, it is not quiet on the subject. We will see throughout the letter of Titus what Paul teaches is necessary for the health of a local church. It's not what we may thi...

Who is this “righteous” person who has power to heal when they pray? Is it me?  Is it you?  Is it some “super holy person”? And, are we guaranteed healing as Christians? If we gather the elders together and they anoint you with oil, is that the trick to guarantee a healing? Is the reason you’re sick because of uncobfessed sin? There are so many HUGE questions in our text for this weekend and we ca...

This is a time of year with a lot of questions about Jesus, like: - Who was He? - What did He do? - Why was (is) He important? - Why in the world is He so influential today? There are answers to these questions all around us: magazines at grocery store check-outs, reels or shorts on social, schools give their answers and politicians this time of year have to decide what to write in their tweets as...

What you believe about the future shapes how you live in the present. For example, how do you respond when the rich and powerful take advantage of you and seem to get away with it? When you experience unjust suffering, do you do so with an eternal perspective? Well, one of the foundational principles of theology is that what we believe shapes how we live. And James calls us to believe that Jesus i...

Do your words demonstrate someone whose life has been transformed by Jesus? Our text this Sunday, James 4:11-17, picks up on this theme and it’s a continuation of James’ admonition that we’ve seen earlier in this book for believers to tame our tongues. In short, James’ desire is for the believer’s life and actions to be consistent with the new identity and new life they have in Christ. Having just...

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Would you describe yourself as “wise”?  That seems like a trick question, right? I mean, you’d probably need to know what the definition of “wise” is before you’d respond.   That’s what we’d suggest doing as we walk into this weekend. As we come to James 3:13-18, we see that there are two different sketches given; one of the wise person (who has wisdom from above) and what their life is like and t...

Accents.  You know, those funny little ways that we learned how to say certain words which are dead ringers that we come from a certain country, people group, or family.   This weekend, we are spending time in the book of James considering how our words are like accents - dead giveaways as to what family we belong to - and they are indicators of what is going on inside of our hearts. Our words hav...

Do you have saving faith? A kind of faith that makes its way out into your everyday life in ways that can be seen by those around you as evidence that you are a new creation in Christ? Would those in your workplace or neighbourhood see evidence of your faith in how you make decisions, spend your time, and steward your finances? Does your faith work? Or would your faith be described more as “inoper...

In this sermon, we study James 2:1-13, discussing the sin of partiality or what other translations call “favouritism.”  We commit the sin of favouritism when we judge people according to what is external, treating one person better and another worse.  In modern words, James explains that it is sinful for Christians to treat the man in the suit and tie well when we treat the homeless man in rags di...

What difference does Jesus make in your every, practical, ordinary life and in the world around you? Any? James lets us know in James 1:19-27 that He should make a huge difference in: - Our anger and speech - Our humble reception of the Bible and our faithful living out of its’ commands - Our bridling of our tongues - Our practical care for widows and orphans - Our personal holiness These verses t...

In this sermon, we take a one week break in our James sermon study due to illness. however, this pit stop is well worth the delay as we studied Matthew 11:1-19

Ever been deceived? It’s not fun. You think that something is true until the rug gets pulled out from under you and you feel foolish. .  That’s one kind of deception.  Yet, another kind of deception is when we are self-deceived. When we convince ourselves of something that isn’t true or when we avoid facing uncomfrtable truths. This is the kind of deception that James says we are all prone towards...