From the Pulpit

Expectations can dictate experiences. If our expectations of a relationship or situation are inaccurate, unrealistic, or misguided then disappointment,  disillusionment, and discouragement often result. To expect your spouse to meet all your needs, your job provide unwavering purpose, your education to secure sustained credibility, or your children to bring unblemished pride is a fool’s errand. This type of anticipation, rooted in nothing more than wishful thinking, is a recipe for tragedy because expectations can dictate experiences. And it’s much the same with our relationship with God and the life of following Jesus. Behind every disappointment with God, every frustration with Christianity, and every disillusionment with the church lurks unbiblical expectations. Why? Because expectations can dictate experiences.

Key Passage: Matthew 11:2–19

Series: Matthew: Of King and Kingdom

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

Without doubt, other than creation, The Exodus is the single greatest  event in the Old Testament. It is an incredible story. It is a story of  rescue and release. It is a story of God rescuing Israel from Egypt. He  not only rescues them from Egypt he leads them through the desert to the  Promised Land. It is a story full of the miraculous work of God on  behalf of his people. They are on their way from slavery to freedom. They are on a journey! It is a story that is lived not only by Israelites but by every person  who has ever sought to follow God. In this sense, the Exodus is a New Testament story as well.

Selected Scriptures

Speaker: Lew Worrad

The Gospel according to Matthew is written in such a way that it oscillates between stories about Jesus and the teachings of Jesus. All in all, there are five major sections of discourse in this particular book, the first of which is the oft-labelled Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7). The second, our text of study today, is an instructional passage often referred to as the Commissioning of the Twelve. As we take in the entirety of this discourse, we’re going to experience the full force of what Jesus was asking of his first-century disciples and, by extension, what he’s asking of disciples today.

Key Passage: Matthew 9:35–11:1

Series: Matthew: Of King and Kingdom

Most  are familiar with this cinematic scene: A bomb with a visible timer is counting down to detonation and, apparently, the only way to disarm it  is to cut one of its two exposed wires. One, if snipped, will shut the bomb off while the other will set it off. It’s a binary choice with life at stake and time running out.

In  many ways, that’s the situation Israel was facing in Matthew 9. They had a decision to make about Jesus: Is he the Messiah or not? It was a  binary choice with life at stake and the clock ticking. Now, unlike in the movies where the choice is often guesswork, Israel’s is not. In addition to national expectation and scriptural prediction, since 8:1, Jesus has been providing evidence, authenticating his authority through healings, exorcisms, and fulfilled prophecies. Which wire will the  nation cut? Which choice will you and I make?

Key Scripture: Matthew 9:18–34

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

While Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is arguably one of the world’s most famous works of art, if you’ve ever  seen it (whether in-person at the Louvre in Paris or in photos online)  you’ll know that it hangs on a plain, tan wall in a large, mostly-empty  room. The original rationale for such simplicity of presentation was to  help patrons avoid “museum fatigue” caused by over-stimulation. But a  2017 study vindicated the decision as it found that “appreciating beauty  takes conscious thought—and therefore, distracting a person can prevent  them from fully taking in the work of art before them.” Simply stated:  Beauty is best appreciated when undistracted. The same is true of  following Jesus. The Christian life is a beautiful thing, but when we’re  distracted—by sin, tradition, culture, or preferences—its enjoyment and  effectiveness can be diminished.

Key Passage: Matthew 9:9–17

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

As Christians, we have been saved unto eternal life. We have been moved  from darkness to light, from death to life. We have, by God's grace,  been raised with Jesus Christ and are seated with with him in the  heavenly places. We are forgiven of all sins—past, present, and  future—and are free from our deserved condemnation. Honestly, this list  could get very long if we simply continued to list all the beautiful,  wonderful blessings the believer has through faith in Jesus Christ, the  Son of God, the resurrected Messiah.

The question is, though, since all that is true, how now shall we live?  How do these marvellous realities move us into action? How does what we  have in Christ propel us into this world? How does the knowledge of what  we've been freed from and freed toward motivate our pursuit of  holiness? How does the good news we've received send us into the world  to those who haven't heard?

Key Passage: Matthew 28:1-20

Speaker: Stephen Hawkins

Current news headlines suggest that we have a lot to be afraid of. A spreading virus, a falling economy, government overreach, climate change, creeping totalitarianism, the disintegration of the family,  attacks on freedom of speech, and accusations of hate speech. It's like  we’re in a house of mirrors that, instead of seeing our own reflection  everywhere we turn, we see the reflection of something that could kill  us, hurt us, or take something from us. We’re surrounded! Yet, at the  same time, fearful Christians are bad advertisement for the God of all  comfort and peace. In other words, Christ-followers should respond  differently than others to all the fearful happenings around us. But how? Matthew’s helps us answer that question and encourages us in taking small steps away from fear and toward faith.

Key Passage: Matthew 8:23–9:8

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

They say "seeing is believing". While human beings have always sought to  understand and explain things that are confusing to them, now, more  than ever perhaps, the world is very skeptical of things that don't make sense. And while there are parts of Christianity that are agreeable to  most, the reality is that Christians worship a supernatural God whose  actions can't always be explained or understood in a natural way.

Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:1-19

Speaker: Andrew Longmire

In Hebrews 11:1 we see that hope is another aspect of faith in the unseen or the future. Hope is faith directed to the future.

Hope in the secular sense is the expectation of good. Christian hope  goes beyond that to the expectation of God and Christ. I believe that  God not only worked in the past and is working in the present, but will  work in the future for his glory and my blessing. He has made promises  to that effect. Believing in those promises and having a sureness that  they will unfold, and that I choose to invest in them is what the Bible  calls hope.

Key Passage: Hebrews 11:1

Speaker: Dr. Jim Rennie

Suppose today Jesus was to ask you, “What are you seeking?” What would you say? What would you tell him? Could you tell him that you were seeking God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength and all of your mind? Could you even tell him that mostly you were trying to seek him but you slip just a little now and then? Could you say that?

While world leaders today are busy talking about the Great Reset, a new start, a new beginning for humanity, (really, the humanistic new creation is what they're talking about!), I want us to consider today a Great Spiritual Reset! That is, us getting our lives reoriented to True North, where True North means Jesus.

Text: Selected Scriptures

Speaker: Lew Worrad