Temple Cambridge: Recent Episodes
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Temple Baptist Church in Cambridge, Ontario is on mission with Jesus to turn broken people into whole people who multiply Christ-followers. We LOVE God, CONNECT with others and SERVE in our community. Check out this podcast to learn more from the Word of God.
Long before Remembrance Day was instituted, Jesus established a remembrance of His death. This remembrance wasn’t optional - it is a command (aka ordinance) that we are to observe regularly until Jesus comes back. Why remember? We never want to forget what Christ has done for us by giving up HIs body and shedding His blood for our sins. This is something we do together publicly! Come this Sunday and participate in Communion as we study 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.
Have you ever seen the Amish and Mennonite women wear a head covering and wondered why they are doing so? Have you ever wondered what the Bible says about how men and women are to interact with each other? Do they have distinct roles? Who is supposed to lead? This Sunday, we hope to answer these questions from 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 and discover God’s created order as evidenced most often when we gather together to worship.
Happy Mother's Day! We thank our mothers for not only giving us life but helping us throughout life and teaching us about life. One of the benefits that parents provide is their example. We can learn from their good examples and their bad examples. This is also true from God’s people. We can learn from their good and bad examples as we will discover from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 this Sunday. If your mother is still alive, seek ways to honour her this weekend and throughout the year! I thank God for my mother and her godly example!
We in Canada have more rights and freedoms than many others around the world. Granted, some of those are slowly being taken away, but we still enjoy so many rights. The big question is: How are you using your rights? This Sunday we are going to find out how to use our rights in light of the gospel from 1 Corinthians 9. How are you using your rights to win the lost with the gospel? That is the burning question. Will you do whatever it takes to see more people come to faith in Jesus Christ?
What are the issues you think are non-negotiable for you? Are they based on Scripture or a matter of conscience? If it is a matter of conscience, would you be willing to forego your freedom to act if it caused others to stumble? These are some of the questions we are going to address this Sunday from 1 Corinthians 8. May we do all things out of love
If you are single, should you get married? If you are widowed, should you get remarried? In light of all the troubles in the world and Jesus coming back soon, how are we to now live whether married or single? These are some of the questions we will be addressing this Sunday as we study 1 Corinthians 7:25-40. I love how the Bible has practical answers for everyday life while showing us that there is more to live than just living for today. Do you?
One of the great things about following Christ is that we are to be future-oriented. We cannot change the past. Christ cleanses us from our past, then He calls us to move forward with Him. This is part of the reason why we are to live as we were when we were called, especially in regard to whether we were single or married, or widowed. Furthermore, if we were married to an unbeliever at the time of our conversion to Christ, we are to stay with that person as long as they will have us. We learn this from 1 Corinthians 7 that Pastor Kyle will be unpacking this Sunday. Christ calls us to move forward with Him, not to try to undo the past. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
Due to the cost of housing, more and more family members and friends are moving in together to share costs and have a sense of community post-COVID when we are all lonely. Multi-generational homes and joint-ownership is not a new concept. In fact, living by ourselves or with just our immediate family may be a more recent phenomenon that has been predominantly practiced in the West due to affluence and rugged individualism. Certainly the Bible describes multi-generational living arrangements from the time of Abraham moving with his wife and nephew (Genesis 12:5) to when Jesus asked His disciple John to take care of Jesus’ mother after His death (John 19:25-27). Multi-individual and multiple-family dwelling is permitted and may be even modelled in Scripture. We find this surprisingly in all places of God’s Temple - our bodies. Did you realize that, if we are believers, that our bodies do not belong to us? Jesus purchased them with His own blood. He now resides and abides in us through His Spirit - the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our bodies have multiple occupancy by different members of the Trinity. This is what we will learn in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 this Sunday and it emphasizes how important it is to use our bodies in a way that honours God. Furthermore, if we are married, we share joint ownership of our bodies with our spouse as we will discover in 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 a long with other instructions about marriage and remarriage. Please pray for Pastor Jason as he prepares and preaches this important message. We will also be hearing an update from our missionary to the Czech Republic Christina Mayer, so we look forward to having her home. See you then!
Christ has risen! Those three words may be the most life-changing in history. As we celebrate Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, this weekend we are going to focus on how Christ deals with our past and Christ also gives us a future from 1 Corinthians 15. That future includes our own resurrection. We too will rise! As a picture of what Jesus did for us, is doing for us and will do for us, we also have baptisms this Sunday planned for the end of the service. If you have not been baptized and would like to be, please come ready to testify to Christ’s love and power in your life.
One of the big differences I have noticed over the nearly three decades of ministry is that Christians are now more prone to sue one another. This should not be as we will discover from 1 Corinthians 5! Why not leave room for God’s justice? Why not leave room for God to work and change a person’s life? As we will discover, God can change the heart of the vilest offender of sin. Has He changed yours and mine?
I recall having a conversation with a person outside of the faith who wanted to encourage the church to be tolerant by quoting Jesus’ words, “Judge not, that you be not judged!” Of course, those words ripped from their context do not tell the whole story. What Jesus said in Matthew 7:1 is missing from what Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 7:2, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” Jesus then talks about getting the log out of our own eyes causing us to not see our own sin, when we look at the speck of dust in our brother’s eyes. Jesus is not saying there should not be any judging. Just that you should expect to be judged on the same things you are judging others. This Sunday from 1 Corinthians 5, we are going to learn when to judge and not judge others and in fact, who to judge and not judge. I think it will be very helpful going forward as we live in this paradoxical world where at one moment we are judged while at the same time people are calling for tolerance. May we never tolerate sin in our own lives and yet have grace for those outside the faith.
Maybe not all of us don a robe and pick up a gavel, but we often play the role of judge. We judge people’s appearances, their actions, their attitudes, and their aptitudes. Why do we do that? Is it because God gave us human beings the responsibility to take dominion over the earth as Genesis 1:26-28 describes? Or is it because when we humans ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that we have wrongly seen ourselves as being a pretty good judge of character and other people’s actions? However, have you ever made the wrong judgment? I have! Too many times to count. How embarrassing. Ministry is a particular easy target for our judgments. Maybe because ministry is so public that it is open to greater scrutiny? In 1 Corinthians 4, we find Paul’s plea to wait until God judges a ministry. In fact, Paul didn’t even judge his own ministry’s effectiveness. Come this Sunday to learn how to delay your judgments for the Ultimate Judge to speak first. Someday we will even judge angels. But until that day, do what my grandfather taught his family, “Wait for the Judgment!”
Are you building your life on what will last? There is going to come a Day when each person’s work will be shown for whether it has lasting value. That Day will be when we see Jesus. Are you building what will last? Is that building contributing to God’s construction project called the Church? This is what we learn about from 1 Corinthians 3:1:18 this Sunday. I leave you with an awesome promise by God from 1 Corinthians 3:22, “ … all are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” All is yours if you are building on the right foundation with the right materials.
Where do you get wisdom? Want to know the secret to getting wisdom? Well, I’m not telling! Pastor Aaron will be this Sunday as he preaches from 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. See you Sunday!
Ever struggled with not being able to say the right thing or you feel you stumble over your words, especially when you are trying to tell others about Jesus? Join the club! Moses, Jeremiah and even the Apostle Paul struggled with not being able to speak God’s Word eloquently. I too feel this way when I am speaking and preaching. However, there is great encouragement because not only does God make up for our weaknesses, but we only need to preach one thing - Christ crucified. We don’t need to try to be fancy. We need to keep the main thing, the main thing - Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life! This is what we will learn this Sunday as Pastor Kyle preaches from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Have a great Family Day weekend!
Did you know that the Bible says it is okay to boast? I know most of the boasting that we encounter is an immediate turn off. The exception may be grandparents who get away with boasting about their grandkids as long as it is not overdone. However, there is one type of boasting that is good, godly, and permitted in Scripture - boasting in the Lord for what He has done for us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can boast of God’s wisdom and grace. Let’s boast about what Christ has done. This is what we will learn this Sunday as we study 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. See you there!
Do you recall when you were old enough to be left alone at home not needing a babysitter? Your parents might go out to run an errand or go out on a long-awaited date without the extra cost of babysitting fees. What did your parents tell you before leaving you alone? Probably they gave a lot of instructions including phone numbers to call. I don’t remember all the instructions, but I recall my parents telling my sister and I not to fight with each other. It is at the heart of every parent - love and unity amongst their children. This was true of the Apostle Paul who planted the church at Corinth and was a father to them. He had since heard that the church was divided over their following their favourite preachers/leaders. This Sunday we learn more about the need to stay united from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. The key phrase, “There should be no divisions among you.” May that be true of us as well!
We tend to lack lots of things - friends, money, time, and affection - to name a few. However, do you realize that we as a church do lack any gift to do the assignments God has given us? Everything we need to complete the task before us, God has empowered us to do. This is what we will discover in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 this Sunday. Now whether we use those gifts in another question altogether, but we lack no gift.
Who owns the church? As much it may seem that we have ownership, the church belongs to her Husband who won her hand by shedding His own blood. The church belongs to Jesus Christ. This is what we will learn this Sunday as we begin a new series in 1 Corinthians entitled Holy Together in the Gospel. Our leadership team has had a desire to teach on 1 Corinthians and particularly spiritual gifts for years, but other pressing matters like COVID took precedence. We are excited to study this letter as it tackles so many issues in life and in the church. Come prayed up and expect Jesus to meet you in a profound way!
How are you discipling your family? Don’t know how? This Sunday Pastor Kyle will help us learn how to live wisely by discipling our family.
We are called to be like Jesus! That is what Christian means “little Christs.” We become like Christ as we are united to Christ, but also by living like Christ. This Sunday Pastor Jason will unpack how to live like Christ through the spiritual disciplines.
Happy New Year! Let’s conclude this year by coming and telling some stories of how God worked in our lives this year. Come ready to tell your God story! We will conclude the service looking ahead to 2024 with our theme of living wisely.
Merry Christmas! We have two services this Sunday with different themes. The first theme will be serving the need of others in the morning service at 10:30 am. Jesus came to serve our ultimate need as we will learn from Luke 2:8-14. Then come back at night to our Christmas Eve service at 6 PM as we share the story of Jesus from Luke 2:15-20. It will be a great time with special music from our choir and end with a candlelight musical reflection on Christ. Please invite a friend to share the story of Jesus.
Merry Christmas! We have two services this Sunday with different themes. The first theme will be serving the need of others in the morning service at 10:30 am. Jesus came to serve our ultimate need as we will learn from Luke 2:8-14. Then come back at night to our Christmas Eve service at 6 PM as we share the story of Jesus from Luke 2:15-20. It will be a great time with special music from our choir and end with a candlelight musical reflection on Christ. Please invite a friend to share the story of Jesus.
One of our strengths is that we like to eat. This is a great strength because people feel loved when you eat their food with them. As we continue our Advent theme of B.L.E.S.S. (Begin with prayer, Listen to the need, Eat with others, Serve the need, Share the story of Jesus), we will be focusing on eating with others. Now, eating with others has a broader context of hospitality. What does this have to do with Christmas? Remember, Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem (lit. “The house of bread”) and there was no room for them in the inn. Hospitality was not afforded the holy family. And yet, Jesus was hospitable to the point of making us God’s forever family if we believe in him. He will even host a supper someday called the Supper of the Lamb. But for now, if we eat with others, this may lead to a gospel conversation about Jesus. Christmas dinners can turn into Christ-focused dinners, which if people come to faith in Christ may result in them attending the greatest dinner of all time - the Supper of the Lamb.
Hearing aids are amazing inventions. They enable people to hear things that they wouldn’t otherwise. My son-in-law recently got hearing aids because he had experienced hearing loss from birth. At first, it was mind-blowing as he heard so many sounds. It took him a while to filter out some of those sounds. In fact, they only put his hearing aids at 80% capacity because it was too overwhelming. This reminds me of how loud and noisy our lives are and begs the question - are you able to truly listen to the needs of others? This is part two of our advent series on B.L.E.S.S. (Begin with prayer, Listen for the need, Eat with others, Serve the need, Share the story of Jesus). After prayer, listening to the need requires being present and listening to what people really need. We are going to discover what the ultimate need of others is through the prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1:67-80 this Sunday. Our missionaries with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in B.C. Denis and Pauline Quinn are retiring and they will be joining us this Sunday as well to thank us for many years of support. I hope to see you on Sunday.
As we begin the advent season, our aim is to B.L.E.S.S. (Begin with prayer, Listen for the need, Eat with one another, Serve the need and Share of the story of Jesus) others. We think B.L.E.S.S. fits perfectly with advent because advent has the idea of "the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.” The notable person was Jesus, the thing was the Kingdom of God and the event was Christ's birth. Jesus was sent by God for us. Jesus was God’s ultimate missionary. And we are called to be missionaries to our neighbourhoods, workplaces and schools. How? Our mission always begins with prayer as we will discover from Luke 1:17-25 this Sunday. We are also going to introduce you to a new friend of Temple who is trying to reach our Samaria of Quebec with the gospel. May God bless you in every way!
What is in your hand? A ball? A tool? A pen? A phone? How are you using what God has given you? How are you loving God with your talents and abilities? God gives some of us more talents than others, but He gives each of us at least one talent as we will discover from Exodus 17. This Sunday I want you to bring that object to church if you can, as an act of surrender and dedication. Trust me, you will get it back! See you Sunday!
God is going to give you 168 of these this week. What are “these”? Hours! You have 168 hours. How are you going to spend these 168 hours this week serving and loving God? When you go to work and provide for your family with integrity by not overworking or underworking - you love God! When you work hard on your school assignments - you love God! When there is a blessed interruption and you stop and help someone - you love God. When you read your Bible, spend less time looking at a screen and pray for others - you love God. This is what we will unpack as Pastor Kyle leads us from Matthew 12:1-8 as we learn to work from rest and love God with our souls and our time.
Did you know that your mind and intellect is a gift from God? Some of you might be worried because like me, you feel like at times you are losing your mind and cannot keep track of everything. However, your minds are a gift from God and one of the main ways we can love God. We steward our minds for God as we study, thank and praise Him. When we use our minds in our lives to serve God and our families as workers and students that too is good stewardship. This Sunday Duane Friesen will be preaching on how to love God with our minds. Come ready to love God with your minds.
Have you ever gone to one of those blood pressure machines at a pharmacy to check how your heart is doing? You have sit there perfectly still while the cuff seems to cut off all circulation to the lower half of your arm and just before your arm dies from lack of blood flow, you are rewarded with seeing if your blood pressure and heart rate are normal or not. Though annoying for a moment, the information is helpful. This Sunday we will NOT be asking you to put on blood pressure cuffs. However, we will be doing a spiritual heart check. If you want to know how your spiritual heart is, then one of the great indicators will be to look at your cheque book or transactions on your online banking. This is what we discover from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:19-21 as we begin a one month Stewardship Series from the Gospels. We hope to learn how to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strengths. Someday we will stand before Jesus and give an account for what we did with what He gave us. The good thing is that if we are having spiritual heart problems now, God can do spiritual heart surgery, even a heart transplant, where we exchange our misery hearts for His generous one! What an amazing God!
Welcome to our Global Outreach Weekend! This is one of my favorite weekends of the year when we have a concentrated time on what God is doing around the world. This year's theme is Gospel Boldness for the nations and our speaker is the Fellowship president Steve Jones. I can't wait for you to hear all that God is doing through our Fellowship ministries both nationally and globally. Many are becoming saved and baptized! Don't forget the weekend starts at 5:30pm on Saturday with our International Supper. It concludes on Sunday night at 6:00pm with our breakout sessions hearing from multiple missionaries. Ask God to enlarge your heart and give you a Gospel Boldness for the world!
How much time do we have left? As a time-oriented person, this has always been a question in my mind. I would want to know the answer to that question when it came to test, “How much time do we have left to take the test?” Or I would want to know how much time we had left until work was done when I worked as a young man in the cornfields. Aged Daniel in Daniel 12 wanted to know how much there was left until the end of the world? As we will find out from Daniel 12, he got a heavenly and friendly redirect without a concrete answer. Instead, Daniel is told what he should be focused on before the end. And this message is for us too. Let’s find out what God said about the end of the world and how we should prepare for it.
Are you amazed at the accuracy of the Bible? If not, open your minds and hearts to God’s Word this Sunday as Dr. Wayne Baxter preaches from Daniel 11. We will study and read a prophecy that is very precise about what would happen in Persia and Greece in the days after Daniel. It is a reminder that God is in control of history because it is His story. And if God is controlling history, we do not have to fear. We can take great comfort and have hope for the future. Jesus is reigning! See you Sunday as we worship our King Jesus and we see how He is changing people’s lives.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays because of its four “f’s” - family, fellowship, food, and football. And yet, I realize for some of you that another word can characterize Thanksgiving - fear. Fear of family having another fight. Fear of a lack of fellowship. Fear of the food not turning out right. Fear of getting hurt playing football in our Annual Turkey Bowl on Monday morning or fear of your football team losing once again. Fear was the experience of Daniel in Daniel 10. It caused him not to feast, but to fast. Fear caused Daniel to fall face on the ground. And yet God’s messenger strengthened him. I believe God wants to strengthen you and I this Thanksgiving weekend and beyond as we turn to the Lord and find comfort in Him. I hope to see you on Sunday, as we partake in Communion. There is much to be thankful for in Jesus Christ.
I have to confess that when I was young, I thought prayer was boring. I would much rather "do something" than sit around and talk to God about it. I have since learned that talking to God about a situation is doing something about it - it is joining Him in His work. This weekend, starting tonight at 7 PM is our Prayer Summit, will be a time where we praise God and seek what He wants to say to us personally and as a church. It is a can’t miss event. Tomorrow starting at 9 am, we will have an opportunity for children to lead us in prayer and to also make an impact on the world by praying global prayers. On Sunday, we will actually see how our prayers are being answered in the west African country of Togo as we will hear from Global Aid Network and Togo's country leader Patrice. (We have been praying and partnering ministry in Togo for years with Kwashie and Davi Amenudzie and now have intensified that in praying for the engaged people groups of the Bago, Basil, Tchamba and Tamberma peoples since 2017.) Finally on Sunday, we will learn how to pray identificational prayers for our families and church family like Daniel did in Daniel 9 for his people. God uses prayer as the first step in completing His mission. Let’s pray! Let’s continue to be a house of prayer!
What bad news would make you sick to your stomach and overwhelm you so that you would not be able to get out of bed? Would it have to do with family? Would it have to do with your financial portfolio? Would it have to do with losing all of your save work on your computer? Or maybe something to do with your house you have been working so hard to fix up to become your dream house? This Sunday we will be studying Daniel 8 and find out what made the prophet Daniel sick to the point that he lay sick for some days. It was something that wouldn't affect him personally, but his people. What a reminder that our first concern should be for God's people and not ourselves. Come and find out how bad news is not the end. You will see this especially as we have a baptism this Sunday.
Do you feel burdened, heavy, tired, or worn out? Caught in a cycle of busyness? Are the demands of life getting you down? We live in a fast paced culture, that at times, can feel overwhelming. This can be true of our relationship with Jesus as well. If we are not careful, our walk with Jesus can quickly turn into a list of do’s and don'ts. This Sunday we will receive an invitation from Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 to find rest for our souls. Come prepared to RSVP to his invitation.
What legacy will you leave behind? A good legacy? A bad legacy? It is an important question, especially since none of us know when we will see Jesus. This Sunday as we wrap up our summer series on Esther, we are going to not only see the legacies of King Ahasuerus and Mordecai, but also discover the Lord’s legacy for us, which at first is not apparent. Come, find out the Lord’s legacy for us in the morning and then come back at 6:00pm as we will have an information night on the End Times followed by a Q & A.
God is at war with evil. It has been a dragged-out war for millennia, not because God doesn’t have the superior power to win, but because He is winning hearts one-by-one at the same time. It is also part of reversing the curse that occurred at the Fall. Esther 8 is a snapshot of God overcoming evil whereby the roles have been reversed. The violence and impending genocide proclaimed against God’s people in Esther 3 is now turned and God’s people can defend themselves. This was not a case of violence begetting violence, but the building of a line of defense and deterrence against evil. Peace prevailed! May that be true in our day. And remember, God is still winning hearts one-by-one. He replaces hearts of fear with hearts of joy.
Will we ever fully have justice on the earth? Probably not! But there are times when we come close. Esther 7 is one of those times. We love those times because it seems evil wins so often. Pastor Kyle will unpack this passage and remind us once again that God is always working, even if it is behind the scenes and seemingly at the last minute to rescue the oppressed.
Ever had trouble sleeping? What if that troubled sleep is for a divine purpose? Maybe to pray? Maybe to recall a task or situation that you forgot about and now it is God’s timing for you to act upon? This is what happened to King Ahasuerus (aka King Xerxes). He forgot to reward someone. The timing wasn’t right when the righteous act was performed. Now it is. Often rewards are deferred for a divine purpose. That is certainly true of our heavenly rewards. So, whether you are having insomnia and God wants to use it for His purpose, or whether you are on the other end of the stick waiting for that reward, God’s timing is perfect. Rest in that truth! This is what we will learn from Esther 6 and more, as Pastor Jason Elliotson preaches this Sunday.
Imagine you are at a feast with lavish decorations and your favourite food. For some of you who have the gift of hospitality and love to cook, maybe you prepared some of your favourite dishes? Can you picture it? Now imagine that a king is there and he loves all the food and wants to show his gratitude. He promptly asks you this question, “What can I do for you? I will give it to you, even if it is up to half my kingdom?” What would you ask for? This is the situation Esther finds herself in except she was the one throwing the banquet. Come this Sunday and learn from Pastor Steve Limmer what is happening in Esther’s reply in Esther 5.
"For such a time as this..."
We do not want to create and overinflated sense of self, but God has you in that workplace, that home, that community, or that challenging relationship to complete the assignment He has for you. Would that help you persevere? Would that give you an extra sense of courage? Would it cause you to be bold in your faith and share the gospel? This week as we study Esther 4, we will be reminded that God has given us each an assignment and we are to do it completely in His strength.
Ever been bullied? Ever felt attacked like there was a plot against you? It seems that the most peaceful course of action is to do what they say and bow to their wishes. Esther 3 teaches us the exact opposite. Come this Sunday and hear one of our Elders Dr. Wayne Baxter explain further what our response should be to when there are evil plots against us. And remember, your Heavenly Father can beat up a bully any time of the day if you just call out to Him!
Have you ever been selected for a job, task, or assignment that you didn’t want to do? Probably we all have. However, none of us have experienced what Mordecai did when he was captured, taken to Babylon, lost his uncle, and then had to take care of his cousin in a hostile environment. Also, none of us have experienced the assignment of being forced to marry an evil king and become part of his harem. That is what Mordecai’s cousin Esther had to do after the former queen, Vashti, refused to be exploited. And yet, God used Esther’s selection by the king for a greater purpose and service. Often, we cannot see it, but God is doing something behind the scenes as part of His redemption plan that is amazing. Pastor Jason will help point us back to God from Esther 2 when we receive those unwanted assignments. Look to Jesus!
Happy Canada Day weekend! One of the freedoms I cherish in our country is the freedom of speech that we can peacefully disagree and not have reprisals by those in government (at least for now.) This was not true for Queen Vashti in the days of Persian Empire. As we begin our summer series through the Book of Esther, we are going to learn about refusing the powerful and sticking to our convictions. May God give us great wisdom and be faithful as we live in an ever increasing culture!
This week we will be studying Daniel and the Lion’s Den from Daniel 6. This is one of the most beloved stories in the Bible, but let’s remember that it probably wasn’t for Daniel. This 80+ year old man getting to spend a night in lion’s den would not have been on or completed his bucket list. And yet, it shows a cyclical nature of prayer and courage - prayer builds courage and courage invokes more prayer. As we continue to lose our religious freedoms here in Canada, it may not be lions that we get thrown to, but persecution is on its way. The ire of authorities may cause us to choose between abandoning our spiritual disciplines or continuing our commitment to pray come what may. May we obey God and find courage from Him!
Happy Father’s Day! As a dad, I confess I worry about the future. I worry and wonder whether my children will walk with God. To fight this worry I need to remember that God is in control of the future and has a plan for my family’s life. We see how God was in control of the future in Daniel 5. He even writes it on a wall. What do you think God would write on the wall to you?
Have you ever been on top? Top of the class? Top of the standings? Top of the heap? Have you noticed how high it is up there and how long the fall is? This Sunday we are going to learn from Daniel 4 about how King Nebuchadnezzar was on top of the world and how God brought him low. Remember, God can quickly humble those with the biggest egos! May those egos never be ours! No wonder the Bible often repeats God gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud.
What are your convictions? Do you know them? Have you written them? There will come a time when you will be pressed to compromise your convictions as we will learn from Daniel 3. Daniel’s 3 friends Hananiah (aka Shadrach), Mishael (aka Meshach) and Azariah (aka Abednego) had to bow to a king’s idol or face the fiery furnace. What will do you when you face your fiery furnace? Will you trust God for rescue or reward?
What is your dream? As we will learn from studying Daniel 2 this week, God has used dreams like the one He gave King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to show His power over the powerful. I find this very encouraging because there are many in power today who are opposed to God and His ways. They are confusing many about their God-given identity.
Happy Victoria Day weekend! This is the unofficial kickoff for summer and we thought it would be a great time to kickoff a new sermon series that we are very excited about. We are entitling it Bold in Babylon and will be studying the Book of Daniel. Studying Daniel will continue to help in our goal of keeping our eyes locked on the Lord and remaining faithful to Him in an ever-increasing hostile world. In order to help you understand Daniel, please find this attached Background to Daniel. We are also recommending three study resources that will supplement our study in Daniel. Please come pray up for this series!
Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you to all our mothers for giving us life and all you have done good in our lives. Though we can be thankful for our mothers and biological family, God has adopted us to become a part of His forever family. As we conclude our study in 1 Peter, we will be remembering our spiritual family all around this hostile world. Praise be to Jesus our Saviour and Brother!
Who do you cast your cares upon? Your friends? Your family? Your social media “friends”?
1 Peter 5:6-11 reminds us that we should be seeking to cast our cares upon God. Why? Because He cares for you. I feel that I need to say that again. Cast all your cares upon God because He cares for you! We need to cast our cares upon God because He cares for us, especially when we are under attack by the Evil One. We will learn more this Sunday about how to cast our cares upon God. See you then!
What do you look for in a leader? Is it different that your expectations for you as a follower? This Sunday we are going open God’s Word and learn from 1 Peter 5:1-5 what God expects of both Elders and young alike and what we should expect from a leader. In a world, when we are so often disappointed with our leaders, God has given us the characteristics of leaders and followers.
The most dangerous creature on the planet is the white Christian male.” Who said this? A communist party member? An ISIS fighter? No! It was written by a present Waterloo Region Catholic School Board Trustee and Registered Psychotherapist Wendy Ashby. As reported by Jonathan Kay on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jonkay/status/1641778329031254017), Ashby goes on to attack Christian women as well , “White women make obedient soldiers for the christofascist patriarchy.” Why would a white Catholic woman say such hurtful things? Seems peculiar, but I’ll let you the voters ask her yourself. However, we can know the answer why we Christians are being attacked. We serve a Saviour who was crucified and since we follow Him, we should expect to suffer. What should our response be? 1 Peter 4:12-19 tells us: Rejoice! Consider ourselves blessed and praise God for being worthy enough to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.
Now that Christ has died for our sins and risen from the grave, how are we to best steward God’s grace to us? How should we best spend our time living out the gospel rather than living for our flesh? (NOTE: Be vigilant as the devil loves to attack after a spiritual high like Easter!) How do we use the gifts God has given us to glorify God and serve one another? These are some of the questions we will be seeking to address this Sunday from 1 Peter 4:1-11 as Pastor Jason opens up God’s Word for us.
Do you speak before thinking? Are you action-oriented? Then you probably can relate to the Apostle Peter. This week we are going to hit the pause button on our study of 1 Peter and actually study the life of Peter in the Gospel John and how he went from a disciple to a denier to a disciple-maker of Jesus. I think you will find it super-encouraging.
How you ever suffered for doing good? It could be a kind deed that was rejected. It could be telling the truth and people didn’t appreciate the truth. It could be doing the right thing and getting mocked for it. Maybe you have never seen a positive outcome for doing good. Hang on! Come this Sunday morning as we will learn from 1 Peter 3:13-17 that there is a purpose that God in suffering for doing good.
Maybe you know someone married to a beloved unbeliever or you find yourself married to a beloved unbeliever? It is challenging! When our number one affection - Jesus Christ - is not shared by our other half, it can feel like you are pulled in two different directions. From 1 Peter 3:1-7, we are going to find hope - a living hope. This is true for those married to believers as well because rarely are spouses growing spiritually at the same rate. In fact, whether you are married or not, you will find hope. Pastor Kyle will help us understand the importance of beauty from the inside out and remind us husbands that how we treat our wives affects our prayer life. God gets really practical with our family life and wants us to remain faithful to Him.
Are you serving and suffering like Jesus? Maybe you are being mistreated at work or some other area of your life? How should you respond? Peter makes it clear how we are to respond in 1 Peter 2:18-25 - look to Jesus! He suffered at the hands of wicked men. Pastor Jason will unpack this further for us.
How do you use your freedom? You are free, right? I am not just talking about the freedom we enjoy under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have been ransomed and bought by His precious blood so you are free from the law of sin, from death’s grip and Satan grip. You are free! You are free to live as servants of God. And out of that freedom you can honour everyone, love God’s family, fear Him appropriately and even honour those in authority. In fact, we are submit to them because this is God’s will. This is what we will learn from 1 Peter 2:13-17 as Pastor Aaron Naismith preaches this Sunday. Use your freedom to serve God!
On this Family Day weekend, one of the questions we should be asking ourselves is how do we build a spiritual household? Pastor Kyle will walk us through 1 Peter 2:1-12 and show us how from God’s Word. This is important not just for our biological families, but our spiritual family - the church. It is especially true as we see new people saved and baptized like we will witness this Sunday. Let’s build into their lives with the love and truth of Christ. And let’s put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander and passions of the flesh so that we can build a spiritual house for the world to even glorify God.
Be holy as God is holy! When I was growing up, other people would sometimes confuse holiness with separation from the world or keeping their man-made rules. There has been a shift from legalism (though legalism is still alive and well) to license. We think we can do what we want now that we have experienced “freedom” from the man-made rules. Neither legalism nor license are God’s plan for you. Instead, the living hope He has for us is a living holiness. That we can different than the world. That we can be holy like God. Sound impossible? Not if we have a spirit that is holy, which transforms us from the inside out. And the good news is that we have just that - the Holy Spirit gives us living hope so we can holy live. This is what we learn from 1 Peter 1:13-21!
Building a good foundation is critical for a structure to last. Recall as we recreated our building and the rebar our crew pounded into the hard soil. Who did God use to pound into the soil of people’s hard hearts and lay the foundation for the gospel? The prophets! Think about early prophets and prophetesses - Moses, Deborah, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah and Elisha; the major prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and then the minor prophets of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah Malachi and John the Baptist. That is a lot of prophets pounding into people’s hearts the need to repent! They all laid the groundwork for Jesus and His gospel. This gospel that has brought about salvation for the past nearly 2000 years and is continuing to do so. This is what we will learn from 1 Peter 1:10-12 this week.
One of the things that I am convinced of and I sure hope doctors and medical personnel believe this too, “While there’s life, there’s hope.” It was a phrase from Roman times. If a person still has breath, they still can be saved. This is what Peter talks about at a spiritual level in verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” It is this living hope from God that will keep our eyes locked on Jesus as elect exiles. Do you have this living hope?
Have you ever felt like you have been exiled? That you are an outcast for your belief in Jesus? If so, then you belong to a kingdom in this world, but not of this world. You are exactly where God wants you. It begs the question, how should we live in this hostile world where we no longer belong? With hope! A living hope! A hope in Jesus Christ! This is what we will find as we begin a new series in the book of 1 Peter. I would encourage you to read the book this week. It is only 5 short chapters.
Every year our leadership team gathers in the summer to seek the Lord as to what God would have us to learn in the coming year. We talk about what texts and topics to study. We do this because we believe that we want to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to make disciples. This is the mission: to make disciples. To make disciples we have studied the Scriptures and determined what are the core competencies of a fully mature disciple of Jesus. Remember, a fully mature disciple of Jesus is someone who is like Jesus in attitude and action. It begs the question, what are we focusing on in 2023? In an increasingly hostile culture, keeping our eyes on Christ will keep us faithful! We want to live for Christ, being bold witnesses for Him because of His provision and protection. This Sunday we kick off that theme from Hebrews 12:1-2.
Happy New Year! This Sunday, we are doing something different. Pastor Steve Limmer will be leading us from Philippians 4:7 and we will be sharing our God Stories. We want you to come ready to share how God blessed you in 2022. This will help us look forward to 2023 to how we can live for Christ with boldness and witness because of His provision and promise to return! This is our theme and goal for 2023!
Merry Christmas! As we conclude our Advent series this week with Peace from Micah 5:1-6, we are reminded that peace is personal. We often think peace is just the absence of conflict, but peace is way more personal. Peace comes from a person. For example, maybe you are not at peace until all your family is at home for Christmas? It bears repeating peace is personal. This means that peace is not a treaty or truce. It is not just avoiding conflict. It comes down people using their power not to conflict but comfort, not to make war but warm people with love. That person in authority therefore protects the peace. There is an authority behind the peace. And this is what we find in Micah 5:2 in the Ruler from Bethlehem. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has come and He is the source of peace. People need to find His peace this Christmas after such a difficult year.
One of my big prayers this Christmas for you is, "God, please rest Your merry gentlemen and gentlewomen! Would You please bring tidings (news) of comfort and joy to Your people through Your Son Jesus? In Jesus’ name, Amen!” Rest, comfort and joy fit with what our leadership team set out to teach you this year: how to be content, persevere, and have hope. This is why we tried to teach you a theology of suffering through Job and teach you a theology of perseverance through the Book of Jude and find hope in disturbing times through the Book of Micah. Now as we continue in our Advent Season and focus this Sunday on Joy from Luke 2:8-20, we learn that an announcement can bring us joy. Maybe you are bored with life? Maybe you are in the depths of despair? What if you are an announcement away from being lifted from the doldrums to the heights of joy? That is what can happen when you hear the good news of Jesus. That is what those who are getting baptized this Sunday will experience. You are only one announcement and tiding from joy!
Do you like white or coloured Christmas lights more? My wife loves white lights. She likes clean and pure. It is reminder that God is the light of the world. I prefer the coloured lights. Maybe that was because it was what I grew up with? Coloured lights are catchy. It reminds me of another coloured catchy display that you don’t see as much anymore. When I was growing up, there was a guy who would wear a rainbow multicoloured wig and would sit behind the field goal posts at professional football games. He would then hold a large white cardboard sign with the words John 3:16. This week we are going to find out what those words mean. Bring a friend who doesn’t know Jesus!
I am not sure if you consider this to be the most wonderful time of the year, but it can be. Why? Simply, because of hope found in God. As we begin this advent season, we are going to find our hope in Jesus from Luke 1:26-38. Maybe you are on the verge of losing hope? You are now a prime target for your hope being restored this Christmas! Don’t give up!
“It’s not personal; it’s just business!” Probably none of you work for the mafia, but the mindset can easily creep into our work life. We may be tempted to think that business isn’t God’s business. However, as we will find out from Micah 6:9-16 that God cares a lot about business practices and ethics. Do we?
What does the Lord require of you? To serve Him? Yes, but ... To give to Him and His local church? Yes, but ... To attend church? Yes, but … To keep His commands? Yes, but … The “but” was added because we can serve, give, assemble and obey, but still miss what the Lord requires of us. The answer is found in Micah 6:1-8 that Pastor Kyle Rhora will be preaching on this Sunday and particularly verse 8, “To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” Notice that what the Lord requires, He also empowers! We do not act justly or love mercy without Him helping us as we walk with Him. I picture Jesus as the One walking beside us because He was the perfect balance of justice and mercy. This is why it is crucial to be talking as we are walking with Jesus and asking Him to help us do justice and love mercy.
How do you retain your most important relationships? This is especially true when there are so many temptations to avoid and hostilities to overcome in the world. This week we are going to learn how God retains His relationship with us. He is calling out His remnant and removing our idols. It is also our Communion Sunday. We hope to make the Lord’s Supper a richer encounter with the Lord, but this requires you getting ready for the “meal.” How do you get ready to eat with Christ and His church? It is not like a Christmas dinner when you do not eat ahead of time and come hungry. The Lord’s supper is best served when you have been reading God’s Word ahead of time. Please read 1 Corinthians 11 this week! Then pray that if any one is AWOL or missing from the Lord’s Table that they would come. Finally, you should not eat the Lord’s supper if you have some known sin in your life. Ask God to show you all your sins so you can confess them. If there is any command you are not obeying, including you not being baptized, then you should obey first. Talk to one of the pastors if you want to be baptized.
One of my wife’s favourite hobbies is to restore old furniture. She loves taking what somebody considers rubbish and restoring it to its former glory or better. She will strip off the paint or varnish, sand it down and then apply a new stain or paint. It is so redemptive. It is a picture of what God does with us and will do with the nations. This is what we will learn this week from Micah 4:8-13. Jerusalem will be restored as the seat of God’s power and reign. Right now, Jerusalem is known to be a tourist destination for the nations and especially for those who follow Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But someday Jerusalem will go through a painful transformation and be redeemed. The nations won’t come as sight-seers, but subjects to the King of kings Jesus Christ. Are you looking forward to, and ready for that day? God loves to make treasure from what others have trashed!
A few weeks ago, we said good-bye to our beloved Queen and sister-in-Christ Elizabeth. It was a huge answer to prayer to see the gospel clearly presented at her funeral. Though the formal mourning for our Queen is over, there is a still time for grief before we celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Can you imagine if nobody showed up to King Charle’s coronation? No way! The coronation of King Charles will be a must-see event. He will invite and gather his subjects. How much more the King of kings Jesus Christ is gathering His kingdom’s subjects as we will learn from Micah 4:6-7 this Sunday. You don’t want to miss the greatest coronation of all time!
What is your favourite movie? One of my favourites is The Return of the King! I love when Aragorn comes to fight and reclaim the Kingdom of Gondor when all seemed lost. Maybe today you feel all is lost? It isn’t! The King is Coming! Jesus will come and end all war. As Pastor Jason Elliotson will unpack Micah 4:15, swords will be no longer needed. They will be turned into plowshares. Only King Jesus could do this!
This weekend is one of the highlights of our year. It is our Global Outreach (GO) weekend where we seek God to expand our hearts for His work around the world. The theme this year is HOPE - Christ for a world in crisis! Our long-time missionaries John & Jackie Taylor will be with us to speak. John is now the President of ABWE Canada. The kids will be having a missions emphasis today. Plan to come at 6 PM as you will be hearing in our breakout session from the Dawn Centre, the Taylor’s and a missionary on his way to Japan by the name of Andrew Rokeby. May God expand our hearts and love for the nations across the street and across the seas!
Do you need a breakthrough? Maybe a financial breakthrough from debt and worry? Maybe a relational breakthrough from an estranged loved one? Maybe a breakthrough from a delimitating disease? Maybe you need a breakthrough from a stubborn habit? Meet the One who breaks through - the Lord God! This is what we learn from Micah 2:12-13! And don’t forget to join us at 9 am for the kickoff class of our Freed Up financial series.
What is wrong with wanting things? Nothing, unless we are coveting other people’s stuff. This could be as simple as looking at reels on Social Media for ideas to fix up our homes or wardrobes. Or maybe it could be looking at a flyer and discover something that we didn’t know we “needed.” In the prophet Micah’s day, people “cancelled" prophets who were all doom and gloom. The problem with the “positive" prophets was that they were all about profits and those profits came on the backs of others by exploiting them. Have things changed? Aren’t there still modern “prophets” and podcasters that preach positivity and prosperity here on earth at the expense of others. This is what we will learn about this coming Sunday from Micah 2:6-11 with an aim to align our desires with God’s.
Everything you and I have comes from God. This is hard to remember at times because a lot of our life is spent working and therefore, we think that we have earned what we have. However, God gives us the very breath and strength to work. So what are you doing with what God has given you? This question is always relevant, but it feels like it has a sense of urgency with our high inflation, high interest rates, unaffordable housing and economic uncertainty. And then there is the ever-present threat of wealthy oppressors as we will learn about in Micah 2:1-5. This is why we think it is so timely to launch a 6 week financial discipleship series starting on October 2 at 9 am with classes and child care provided. You will need to download the app to participate. If you would like a discount, please find all the information and discount code at https://www.templebaptistchurch.ca/freedup. This app will help you daily and lead to family discussions as well as weekly discussions with your small group. I believe God is going to use this series to bless you individually, as well as make a generational difference in your family and in our church family. It all starts with understanding that everything comes from God.
Do you remember where you were when 9/11 happened? For those of us who were alive, it is one of those days imprinted on our brains because of the shocking tragedy. (I know some of you were not alive 21 years ago, but the world you experience now has been a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. This is most evident when go to the airport and experience extra security measures.) I vividly recall where we were on 9/11. I’ll tell you more of the story this Sunday as we study how to mourn for people from Micah 1:8-16. I also want to take the time to share some of my reflections of the past decade as your lead pastor and give you some of my big prayers for the future. God is good!
Happy Labour Day Weekend! For many, it is one last taste of summer before the crazy busyness of fall kicks in. Did you have a good summer? What were the highlights? Please email info@templebaptistchurch.ca and let me know some your highlights. Maybe you are carrying around some injustices from the summer? God has been watching and wants to make those right! This is the message we will learn as we start a new series in the Book of Micah on this special outdoor service we are calling Church on the Lawn. Bring a lawn chair and more importantly, a friend! See you then!
I have to confess something to you and I know some of you will think less of me! I am afraid of heights! However, others in my family have no such fear and so on occasion, as a dad, I have had to try to overcome that fear so that a fearless child of mine can go on a roller coaster with age and height requirements. One occasion I had to overcome my fear of heights was when most of our family went ziplining from tree to tree. What helped me overcome my fear in order to survive the zipline course high up in the tree? Three things: 1) praying to God (and lots of it!); 2) my love for my family; 3) a harness. The harness reminds me of how God works in our lives. He securely fastens us to Himself and keeps us from falling. Pastor Kyle will unpack this further this coming Sunday when he preaches from Jude 24-25. It is such a reminder to cling to Jesus who is able to do more in our lives than we ever thought possible.
How often do you think about the coming judgment? If you are a believer, you have nothing to fear (Romans 8:1). It will be a reward ceremony for you (2 Corinthians 5:10). It will better than any Olympic medal podium ceremony or a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony when we stand before God. (I find it personally mind-blowing that God saves us by His grace after we have rebelled against Him, we then live life by His strength doing good works and yet we still get rewarded. What a God we serve!) However, as we will learn from Jude 14-16 as Pastor Jason preaches is that there is coming judgment for all those who don’t follow Christ. Read Jude 14-16! Grumblers and fault-finders are part of the lot that will be condemned. This is a reminder that as Christians, we ultimately have nothing to grumble or find fault with because we have God as home (Psalm 90:1) and will be with Him forever. I feel convicted to ruthlessly eliminate grumbling and fault-finding from my life. How about you?
Do you think we learn more from good examples or bad examples? It would be an interesting survey. I would guess that most of us learn more from bad examples than good examples because we would dismiss the good examples as setting a standard that we could not achieve or we learn that those “good examples” often have done some bad things. As they say, “Don’t meet your heroes, you will only be disappointed." This Sunday, Pastor Aaron Naismith, is going to walk us through the bad examples from Jude 5-13 as warnings for us not to follow. The good thing is that we have the ultimate hero who does not disappoint and who remained always good. His name is Jesus! Keep your eyes on Him!
Do you ever have control issues? You try your best to control your life! I have found that when I try to control my life, it seems it gets more out of control. And then I wonder if God is in control, especially when I look around and see so much chaos around the world. Job has the same thoughts at times as we have journeyed with him through his story of suffering. God has pretty much stayed silent throughout the story, while everybody has been talking for Him from chapters 3-37 of Job. But now God speaks and we see He is still in control. In fact, the control of the universe was never in doubt and it is evident in creation if we have eyes to see. This is what we will learn as we dig into Job 38:1-40:2. I take great comfort in God’s sovereignty. Do you?
This service we learn from Job 32-37 how to respond to those who think they are self-righteous.
How do you live righteously in the midst of suffering? All of us have been given this gift these past few years. How have we done? Did we live righteously before God or did we turn to lesser comforts and escapes? Living righteously in the midst of suffering is a gift because it gets to showcase the transforming work of God in our lives. Job lived righteously in the midst of suffering. In Job 31, he describes how he became resolute and defends himself against his attackers by declaring the things he avoided. He talks about the covenants he had made to live righteously. Often we can avoid self-inflicted trouble by looking ahead and making a resolute path of righteousness as guided by God’s Word. These resolutions take such forms as accountability against lust (i.e. porn), making specific efforts to care for those in need, being intentional about keeping short accounts with others, and being a good steward of the things God has entrusted to us. Of course, all of this must be done with the motivation and strength of Christ. Beloved, you can live righteously in the midst of suffering because you have the Holy Spirit living inside you.
January 2020 seems like ages ago, but that is when I was able to visit on your behalf a Compassion Centre in Togo, West Africa. I was super-impressed with how Compassion partners with local churches to help alleviate poverty in Jesus name. They do so through education, food and most of all, teaching the Bible. This Sunday we are privileged to have Jay Calder come and minister to us in both word and music while raising the banner of sponsoring children.
LOVE GOD CONNECT with others SERVE in the Community Our core values help us live out FOR CAMBRIDGE. Matthew 22:34-40
Integrity! Do we have it? It has been said, “Integrity is being the same person in private as public; we are inwardly what we are outwardly.” Of course, integrity isn’t just about having morals. Integrity has the idea that there are no cracks in one’s character. For inanimate objects, integrity means having no cracks in the materials that comprise the object. Those cracks will be exposed under intense pressure or heat. Job was under intense pressure. He was suffering a lot. And as we find out in Job 27 this Sunday, Job resolved to have integrity during that intense pressure. It reminds me of a favourite quote my dad would use of Bob Jones Sr., “A crisis does not make a man; it reveals a man.” What is pressure revealing about you? If there are some cracks, Jesus knows how to fill them!
Remember the Silent Sufferers. This Mother's Day we take a look at Job to learn about the Silent Sufferers.
I bet that if you asked many of your neighbours, co-workers, and classmates if they believed that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people, they would agree.
If people add a belief of God into the equation, then you can see why many people hold to the concept of the divine retribution principle - God blesses the righteous and afflicts the unrighteous. We reinforce this concept to our kids when we teach that there are rewards for good behaviour and discipline for bad behaviour. And reality is that there are natural consequences for bad behaviour. Like the time I almost burned down the house by playing with fire after being taught that fire was not to be played with. A hint for all you kids out there reading this... Moms notice when you cut out the carpet because a portion of it was burned.
We know bad things happen when we are bad. But how do we explain when bad things happen to good people? This was the question of Rabbi Harold Kushner. His conclusion was that God is good, but not all-powerful enough to stop evil.
How would you answer the question if asked, why do bad things happen to good people? This is part of the dialogue between Job and his counsellor Zophar in Job 20-21. May you find answers in both your suffering and witnessing.
Did you know that at one time students in Ontario would recite the Lord’s Pray to begin each day at school? I told my kids this and they had a hard time imagining this happening in their schools today. The Lord’s Prayer may not be recited in school, but how often do we recite it in church? I feel convicted by this neglect. Of all the things that Jesus’ disciples wanted Jesus to teach them, prayer was foremost. They observed Jesus’ prayer life and concluded it was the key to His ministry. Jesus stayed constantly connected to the Father and they wanted that connection for themselves. Do we?
Have you ever felt somebody try to shame you? It is like putting an unwelcome weighted blanket on you. They heap shame upon shame, guilt upon guilt. The worst shaming is probably religious shaming because it makes you question your relationship with God. Trying to give you a guilt complex is not helpful and is ultimately not motivating to bring lasting change. This is why this Sunday we are going to learn from the Book of Job 11-14 how to respond to those who try to shame you.
This week we are privileged to have Dr. Rick Reed, President of Heritage College & Seminary, come and teach us from Job 8:1-9:35. Please have your hearts open to hear from God on Making Sense of Suffering.
Don’t you just love a good proverb? “Do good things and you’ll get good stuff; do bad things and you’ll get bad stuff”. We tend to gravitate toward the formulas for getting what we want. But what are we to do when things don’t work out quite that simply? Maybe more importantly, how are we to walk with those who are suffering when there seems to be no reason for it? How do we ourselves approach life when it feels like we’re suffering without cause? We may need to challenge some assumptions. Tune in this Sunday where we’ll dive into an interaction between Job and his gentle but simplistic counsellor, Eliphaz, to see the need for a humble and nuanced theology.
As news of Russia invading Ukraine hits the headlines on our newsfeeds, we begin to see suffering Ukrainians lament their losses. Sadly, more lament is coming as this affects us all at least economically. Lament is a vent for people to tell their stories of suffering. As we continue in our study of Job 2:11-3:26, we will find two responses to suffering. One is for the comforter and that is to simply listen and pray. The other is for the sufferer and that is to lament to God. Listening and lamenting should be our common responses to suffering. Do you need to listen to somebody suffering? Ask the Lord for strength to do so. Do you need to lament to God in your suffering? He Himself is listening! Which is why we need to lift up in prayer our brothers and sisters in Christ in both Ukraine and Russia and other neighbouring states. Pray for our Ukrainian missionaries, Oleg Stretovich and Ruslan Murataev, to be protected and to be strong witnesses for Christ.
What do you do when your family is suffering? I confess, I get very protective and sometimes angry. In our passage In Job 1:13-2:10 for this Sunday, Pastor Kyle will help us know how to respond when our family is suffering.
Have you ever gone to the doctor with an ailment and the doctor starts asking all sorts of questions? Maybe it was a sore patch of skin or a cough that wouldn’t go away? You were hoping for a quick fix after a few days of following the doctor’s orders and taking the prescribed medicine. However, as the doctor probed further, he or she found an underlying cause of the problem. This Sunday we are going to start a new series on the Book of Job to gain a theology of suffering and we will specifically learn the underlying cause of most of our problems. May our eyes be open to the reality of our situation as we study Job 1:1-12!
Have you ever been walking almost mindlessly and then you realize that you are uncertain of where you are? Maybe you had a lot on your mind or were distracted? Walking and not paying attention is dangerous, especially if the distraction is our phones. In one U.S. study it was discovered that on average, 11,000 pedestrians are injured with 5000 of them dying every year just by texting and walking. What is the problem? Were those injured and died new to walking? No, most of these people had learned to walk a long time ago! Were they unfamiliar to their surroundings? No, just the opposite! They were so familiar that they didn’t think they needed to pay attention to where they were going. So what was the problem? They were distracted! We too can get distracted in the spiritual life. Or sometimes we don’t even know where to begin. This is why this Sunday, Pastor Jason and I are going to walk us through our revamped discipleship pathway entitled Our Walk with Jesus. This will not only help you personally in your walk with Jesus, but help you as you walk with others and Jesus in making disciples.
Without the story of Jesus and His salvation work for us, we don’t have much to BLESS others with. Sure, we can help alleviate some of the physical needs, but the story of Jesus is what people really need. This Sunday we plan to conclude our BLESS series through Luke 10 with a study in verses 9-16 on telling the story of Jesus as well as knowing what to do when people respond positively or negatively to the gospel. My challenge for you is to think about how much your life story has changed because of Jesus. This is the story you need to tell and a world is literally dying to hear.
Our goal is to B.L.E.S.S. those around us so they know Jesus by Beginning with Prayer, Listening for a need, Eating with others, Serving the Need and sharing the Story of Jesus. We will learn more about serving the needs of others as we study Luke 10:9. You can get a head start by answering this question: how can you serve the needs of others this week in the power and name of Jesus?
What is your favourite food? That is often a question asked as people seek to know others. We might vary what we like to eat, but we all have eating in common. Eating is one of my favourite things to do and I dare say that I am joined by billions of others on the planets as one of their favourite things to do too. Just check out the food markets across the globe or restaurants or even family gatherings as prove of our love for food. Eating though is not just for replenishment. Eating is meant to be a communal event. You often see how one is uncomfortable when they eat alone in a restaurant. Maybe this is one of the reasons why we are called by Jesus to eat with others as we intend to spend the news of His Kingdom? This is what we see in Luke 10:7-8! I know that eating together has become more challenging during the pandemic, but ask God to help you be creative in having a meal with somebody (maybe using a video conference). Redeem the time you spend eating to do it with someone else for the sake of the gospel. You will BLESS them!
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The old Irish proverb is true, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we ought to listen twice as much as we speak.” However, I admit, listening, true listening, is difficult. True listening is when we are 100% attentive to the one talking and not distracted by our tech, our next task or our next response. I’m guilty of all three of these too frequently. Ask yourself, do people really feel heard by me? Jesus truly listens to us and as His followers, we must listen to others. And if we are truly going to B.L.E.S.S. people, we must Begin with prayer and then Listen to others’ needs. In other words, if prayer is talking and listening to God, then that is to be followed up by truly listening to others’ needs. Such listening is not passive. It is active and requires us asking clarifying questions to confirm what we heard is true. This is what we will learn from Matthew 10:8 in Jesus’ call to His disciples to BLESS others with His kingdom.
BLESS is five missional practices that help us introduce people to Jesus as we learn to walk like HIM. We often engage with these practices every day with our friends and family. By using these practices to include people who may be far from God, we can bless and bring people to new life in Christ. Every one of us can easily and naturally live out the five BLESS missional practices with the people we rub shoulders with.
Merry Christmas! We look forward to seeing you tonight at one of our Christmas Eve services. We hope you are filled with the joy of Jesus this Christmas season. As we look ahead to Sunday and Boxing Day, my American friends and family always find it odd that we have a holiday the day after Christmas. They wonder whether we need time to box up all our gifts or maybe fight (box) over those gifts. (Let’s just admit it - we like holidays up here!)
Boxing Day can be traced back to the Middle Ages. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Boxing Day’s purpose in 1830s Britain was designated as "the first weekday after Christmas day, observed as a holiday on which postmen, errand boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas box.” This tradition was carried over in Canada as we were part of the British Empire and the Christmas bonus at our workplaces was born. The irony is that while Boxing Day often provides the greatest single day revenue for retailers and when we consumers spend Boxing Day trying to get discounted items for ourselves, the poor may be forgotten. Instead, we may tune into all the football matches both in the U.S. and U.K. or we may join Pastor Kyle in cheering on Team Canada at the World Junior hockey tournament. Pastor Kyle will have to break away from cheering on Team Canada’s breakaways as he will be preaching on 1 John 5:5-7. This will conclude our One Another series with the focus on having fellowship with God and each other. Maybe that focus on having fellowship with one another will encourage you to join a small group this year if you haven’t already? Maybe if you are already part of a small group you will want to band together to help the poor in some way? Fellowship with one another requires our time, talents, treasures and thoughts and these gifts don’t stop on Christmas Day, but extend throughout the year.
Have you read the Christmas birth narratives? Nothing will prepare your heart more for celebrating Christ’s birth than reading and reflecting on the record of His birth. Here is a suggested timeline to immerse yourself in the early accounts of Jesus: Monday - Isaiah 9:1-7 and Galatians 4:4-5 Tuesday - Matthew 1-3 Wednesday - Luke 1 Thursday - Luke 2-3 Friday - John 1
What are you wearing? Your favourite crazy Christmas sweater? How about something cozy? Or maybe you are tired of slumming it and have finally decided to wear pants that don’t have an elastic waistband or drawstring? It’s finally time to pull out some of your more formal attire. My family can attest that I’m hard to shop for because I don’t like buying clothes. In fact, when I get some new apparel item, I wear it over and over and over again. Clothes can be the focus of our lives. They may make a statement, help us to show off or try to cover up our shame. Remember, we came into this world naked and then through the loss of innocence we realize as our first parents did, Adam & Eve, that we are naked and sinful. Thank the Lord that God sent Jesus to wrap us with His righteousness. And now we are to clothe ourselves in something new - humility as 1 Peter 5:5 tells us. As we will explore this Sunday, clothing ourselves with humility, may I challenge you as you wake up each morning and you try to decide what to wear. Put on humility first!
God sometimes changes our plans so that we might have a part in His plans to change the world.
Matt 1:18-25
Have you ever carried guilt around and it just feels like a huge weight on your soul? Maybe you know in your mind that you have been forgiven by God but it sure doesn’t feel like it? One of the ways to be free from that weight and feeling is to confess your sins to other believers. This is what we will learn from James 5:16 this Sunday as it declares, “Confess your sins one to another and you will be healed.” Our Catholic friends think that only a priest can give absolution for one’s sins whereas we believe we are to listen and not make declarations about the eternal state of somebody. Instead, we can be the voice of God in a person’s life and remind those heavy laden in guilt, “According to God’s Word, He says, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'”(1 John 1:9) This reminder by a human voice can be life-giving and healing!
Confess and be healed,
Pastor Jon
What is your love language? Nearly 30 years ago, Gary Chapman wrote the book The 5 Love Languages that proposes the way we like to receive love is how we also give love. Those love languages are acts of service, words of affirmation, gift-giving, physical touch and quality time. My love language is words of affirmation. You may think I’m weird, but I actually have kept every one of the encouragement cards that I have received in my 25 years of ministry. I pull those out when I am going through a hard time and remember those who sought to build courage into me as that is the definition of “encourage.”
You might think, “Jon, that may work for you but words of affirmation are not my love language. Do I need to spend much time encouraging others?” Regardless of whether it is your love language or not, Hebrews 3:13 commands us to “encourage one another.” Come and find out why this Sunday when we study this verse!
Is the word of Christ dwelling in your richly? There are a lot of concerns about money, inflation, debt and the economy. What transcends all of this is that you can be rich as the words of Jesus make a home in your life. Christ’s words affect what we talk about, what we eat, what we wear, what we watch, and what we listen to. And they affect our relationships. When Jesus’ words make a home in our lives they affect our neighbours, particularly those in the household of God. Christ’s words living in us will help us to teach one another not only the truth, but also with the right tone. We don’t want to just be a “sage on the stage,” but help people to discover Christ’s words for themselves. Christ’s words will help us to correct one another in a spirit that is not fault-finding and nit-picky, but restorative. This is what we will learn from Colossians 3:16 and discover riches that will last for all eternity.
We are in for a special treat this week that I believe will go beyond the treats everybody will be canvassing for in our neighbourhoods on Sunday night. Yes, October 31st is Halloween, but more importantly, it is Global Outreach (GO) Sunday. This year we have as our guest speaker Bechara Karkafi who is an ambassador for the gospel to the Arab World. He has been used by God as a catalyst for planting churches in the Middle East as well as here in Canada. I can’t wait for you to hear what God is doing amongst Muslims. Please come out this Sunday and have your hearts enlarged for mission.
In the evening, we are asking you to take this enlarged heart for God’s mission and use your hands to help serve our community by participating and praying for our Trunk or Treat outreach from 5-7 PM. I am praying that you would get into a gospel conversation with those who come, especially those you invite. Just talking about how Jesus brings light into the darkness may change somebody’s eternity.
What song(s) has God used to speak deeply into your life? Maybe it was a song when you came to faith in Christ or were baptized that has deep meaning for you? Maybe it was a song that spoke to you when you were returning to the Lord? Maybe it was a song when you celebrated with others what God had amazingly done in your lives? Or maybe it was a song that ministered to you when you were in life’s valley and experiencing loss? God uses songs to imprint on our hearts life’s events and spiritual mile markers. And since songs run deep into the interior of our lives, we have opinions about what songs are best for us and the community we belong to. This Sunday, Pastor Jason will open us to Ephesians 5:14-19 and how we are commanded to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and songs all led by the Holy Spirit. This is part of living in such a way to make the most of every opportunity God has given us, since the days are evil. Let’s make melody in our hearts together to our great God!
Here’s a quiz question: what is the distinguishing mark of Christ-followers? ANSWER: According to John 13:35 (NLT), “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Our love for another is what marks us as followers of Jesus and this is what we will be studying this Sunday.
Happy Thanksgiving! Have you ever felt like you were going to drown? It’s hard to give thanks when you are drowning. Picture it! You are alone, miles from shore, yelling “thanks” in between the bobs and gulps for air. Probably not! Expressions of gratitude are usually not the words coming out of a drowning person’s lips. Words of thanksgiving come AFTER somebody who is drowning is rescued. This Sunday we are going to look at Psalm 69 and find help! Some of us may feel like we are drowning with the waves of life overwhelming us. However, I want to remind you that Jesus can turn your trouble into thanksgiving.
Think back to a time when someone was kind to you. I bet it made a lasting impression on you. You and I have the daily opportunity to be kind as well. Kindness and compassion should always be our response to others because Jesus has been and is so kind and compassionate to us. This is what we will learn and be reminded of from Ephesians 4:32 as Steve Adams will be here to preach this Sunday.
Hospitality! Maybe you have read the news on how the “Hospitality Industry” has taken a massive hit during the pandemic? Certainly travel, hotels, restaurants and all the cottage industries that go with it have experienced financial hardship during these past couple of years. But what about our own practice of hospitality? It probably has been struggling too. Maybe you are out of practice with your hospitality? Keep it simple! This is what we will learn from 1 Peter 4:9 this coming Sunday. We don’t have to be the host with the most or "hostess with the mostest”! There is not a need to impress people. We just need to be hospitable without grumbling.
Jonathan Stairs | Temple Baptist Church
Greetings! It might sound rather simple but how we welcome and greet one another is extremely important. I apologize in advance to bring up any painful past but just think back to a time when you weren’t greeted. It sort of feels like you are invisible to people. Steve Adams will help us learn the skill of greeting one another from Romans 16:16. Jesus welcomed us into God’s forever family so let us excel at welcoming others.
Live in Harmony with One Another. Romans 12:16
Harmony! Why do our ears so appreciate when people sing in unison and create harmony? I think we appreciate harmony because it points us to a greater harmony when people live in unison and ultimately the greatest harmony when we will live together with God and His people forever in the new heavens and new earth in unison. Maybe this is why we are commanded to live in harmony with one another? Pastor Kyle Rhora will guide us through Romans 12:16 as we try to build the gospel skill of living in harmony with one another.
You are worthy of honour! Why? You are worthy of honour because you belong to Jesus Christ. I love how the ESV commands us in Romans 12:10, “Outdo one another in showing honour.” Can you imagine if we had a competition in our church in trying to honour each other? That would be more fun than winning the Stanley Cup! How can you outdo one another in showing honour? Church Coach Steve Adams will be unpacking this important practice for us this week.
Do you feel accepted? I think this is the longing of every heart - to feel like you belong to another or a group. This week, Pastor Jason will teach us from Romans 15:7 that welcoming and accepting those who are followers of Jesus Christ is a command of God. I love what I heard someone say, “We accept you as you are, but love you enough to want to see you change.”
This Sunday we are starting a new series entitled “One Anothers.” There are a number of practical instructions in the New Testament on how we are to live in relationship with one another and so, Lord willing, for the remainder of the year we hope to learn about and live out these one anothers. This week we will learn how to instruct one another from Romans 15:14.
What does it mean to “pray in the Spirit”? Are we just praying in our spirit rather than out loud? Or are we cooperating in our inner being to pray with the Holy Spirit the prayers He wants us to pray? And how do we know if we are effectively praying in the Spirit? Is this simply a matter of being prompted to pray for a fellow believer? Is “praying in the Spirit” a matter of being given words to share the gospel when we otherwise might be hesitant, even afraid? One of our Elders, Dr. Wayne Baxter, will examine some of these questions and unpack this important practice from Ephesians 6:18-24.