Toronto Alliance Church

Today's sermon includes a component of listening to God using the SMORP steps. If you would like to skip this, jump to the following locations; 7:35 - Reading of the sermon passage 19:39 - Start of sermon Today's sermon is based on a Latin phrase, carpe diem. "Seize the day". Meaning, there are opportunities in every day, and to not let the important ones pass by. For example, wh...

If you like growing plants, you will be familiar with clay pots. To have or to work with clay pots is a practice that is thousands of years old. Clay pots are common, cheap and fragile. However, they can carry things of great value. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered around 1950. All of them were sealed inside clay pots, and they are among the oldest pieces of scripture on planet Earth. It's...

One thing that drew me to my wife when I first met her was her zeal. She didn’t do anything half-heartedly. She was all in, whether playing a game, if she was talking, or when it came to her faith. It was her enthusiasm, her energy, her conviction, her dedication. There was nothing half-hearted. Today is the last Sunday we'll be looking at what I called "Working from the Right Scorecard&q...

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, had a constant critic in Congress, Edwin Stanton, who humiliated him, called him names, and mocked his policies. Lincoln overlooked this and gave him his greatest trust, naming him minister of war through the Civil War. When Lincoln was assassinated and his life was passing away, Stanton was beside him and said, "Never has there been a...

We are continuing our sermon series, Working from the Right Scorecard. Appearances can be deceiving. Have you ever bought something off of Facebook Marketplace that looked good? The seller said that it was fine, that everything was in working order, maybe it even passes your visual inspection. But you get it home and you try to plug it in and you realize that it's broken and you've been du...

It’s thought that holiness belongs to the Pope or others in that category. The rest of us feel intimidated by the concept. It feels out of our league. Some people looking from the outside think holiness is dull or boring. Others say those associated with it come across as judgmental, snobbish, or morally superior. To some, it just seems rigid and hopeless. But how could that be? Jesus, when he wal...

There are different types of purists. I drink whatever coffee is closest—right now that’s Tim Hortons. A coffee purist would cross town for an amazing cup, or grind their own from specific sources. That’s what a purist does. I have a growing appreciation for purists, because when it comes to Jesus, are we purists? It’s easy to take what is pure in Jesus and add to it, shaped by our experience and...

There is a robin on our street that has been singing all through the winter. A robin usually only comes in springtime, but this is a very optimistic robin. This robin has courage in suffering! We're walking through the letters to the seven churches in Revelation in a series I called "Working from the right scorecard". We have our own scorecards, what we value, what we put effort and...

I had to work hard for my grades in university. I studied very diligently. A few times, though, what I had chosen to study was not on the exam. At the time, I felt I had blown it. It was much more helpful when an instructor told us where to focus our studies. When there's a review done of our lives, when we appear before God, it would be very bad having lived our many years to find out that we...

I urge, invite and call you into Solemn Assembly. We love the idea of being joyful. Coming with a certain sobriety before God is itself a pathway to joy and peace. But certain things demand seriousness. Solemn assembly is a call to spiritual renewal. Jesus said that the thief, meaning his and our enemy, comes to kill, steal, destroy. He's really good at it, all over the world, in our lives. Bu...

..The two of them would create goodie bags in large numbers, like 150, to hand out to people. I noticed the incredible compassion he has for the needy, sometimes the ones who give him the most difficulty. One day I asked him, "Why is it that you have such an enduring love and commitment to this ministry?" He said, "My grandfather was one of these folks. He stumbled around the street...

Some time ago, I was having a conversation with a friend. We were talking about God, Jesus Christ and the Bible. He was sharing with me what he believes about God and Jesus Christ. As I was listening to him, I could see that he did not know who God is. He did not know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I believe there are many people today who do not know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They know about h...

On Boxing Day 2004, there was a huge tsunami that hit parts of Asia. And there was a picture that was all over the internet of the moment people on the beach, vacationing, realized that a gigantic wave was crossing the boundary between sea and land bringing great destruction. The people in the picture are running as fast as they can away from the wave, desperate to get to safety, except there's on...

God with us. Everything about that statement is remarkable. Just three words, God with us. When you feel alone, that touches us. When you feel trapped and hopeless, it meets us, God with us. When you're fearful and vulnerable. When that's what you feel, it meets us, God with us. When you're in a storm, it meets us, God with us. When the way is not clear, those words are precious, God with us. When...

This summer our son became married in Germany. We flew there and were hosted in the home of a woman maybe 75 year old who had recently lost her husband to illness. She herself was dealing with cancer. The treatments had already claimed all of her hair, so she wore a head covering the whole time. And shortly after we left, she went for a double mastectomy. What struck us about this woman, though sh...

What would you say if somebody were to ask you, "What's the pathway to God?" It's a big question. Does he even exist? In such a scientific age, if you can't see him, how would I find him? I wanna look at that today out of Zechariah 12, a pathway to God, a pathway to renewed relationship with God. The passage takes us down the long pipe of time until the very last days of plan...

How do you maintain hope when you have disappointment? Is it possible to have joy when you're surrounded by discouragement? How do you carry on when things don't go your way? One way to deal with it is not to get your hopes up. But that's not a great way to go through life. It's easy in those times to have doubts about God. I've met people who've been in leadership of churc...

By our house, there's a tailor. An elderly woman who works long hours. I was walking the dog at 9:30 last night and there she was on a Saturday night, not even watching the Blue Jays game, repairing clothes. What makes this woman amazing is that she totally runs against the tide of fast fashion or throwaway culture. She'll fix anything. And she takes delight in it. What I want to talk abou...

For a number of years, I have worked in the field of construction. And if there is a project that is falling behind schedule, there are ways in which you can get the work done quicker. For example, you can add more people, you can add more resources, or you can work longer hours. But when it comes to the work of the Lord, it can only be accomplished by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God uses...

When God does a new thing, which is definitely what the book of Zechariah is all about, it's not just a desirable future. What makes it amazing is that he releases us from the grip of a painful past. The grip of things like guilt and shame. Guilt is black and white, either we're guilty or not. But shame isn't so straightforward. Maybe it's something we did. Maybe it's what othe...

I enjoy trains, train tracks, train stations, riding on trains. Things with trains are pretty straightforward and clear if there's just two tracks, one line. But the nearer to the city center, the more switches there are, so that you can have a dozen tracks side by side and move from one to the other. Some large trains can be 100 cars, but it just takes a little switch that moves 3 centimeters...

The expression "Prisoners of hope" comes out of the book of Zechariah. It means you can't escape hope. Usually imprisonment is a negative thing, but Zechariah talks about being prisoners of hope--no matter how trying times might be, to come back to hope again and again. There may be things we've waited for for a long time. The outlook gets a little depressing. How do you keep looking ahead with ho...

The title of the message this morning is "Reflecting Jesus Christ wherever we are". We're going to be looking at a time in the life of Daniel. And I believe that there are some guidelines which we can take from this time in the life of Daniel which can help us in reflecting the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever we are. In our homes, in our schools, in our workplaces, anywhere in the secula...

I think the church generally is remarkable. I love the church. But TAC is a remarkable church. People are involved in so many ways and are eager to do so. I asked five people to give testimonies, and all five said yes, no hesitation - though my list was much longer. I'm praying all the time, "Lord, bring workers for the harvest. Bring workers that are needed." But sometimes there are...

When our lives become overly complicated, it's often a call to get back to the basics. We recently had a wedding in our family. Any wedding is complicated. You have guests and a meal, details in the ceremony itself, a website. When it's an international wedding, even to get a marriage license, and all the people flying in, the whole thing can become quite complicated. As a pastor, I've...