Three members of our congregation shared today on what they've been learning from the series of sermons on Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness.

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2 Samuel 24:1-15

David wanted to find out how great he was at the end of his life so he asked for his army to be counted. If we have a Lone Ranger Christianity we are doomed for destruction. David realized that counting his army was a sinful thing to do. David was told by God that he was not going to build the temple of God because of his sins. David rather to fall under the hands of God rather than the hands of men. When we are in great distress why do we turn away from God? We run away from God when we needed him the most.

2 Samuel 24:18-23

David’s heart was he will not make a sacrifice to God that cost him nothing. What does your worship of God cost you? How far are we willing to go? We all have to take responsibility for our actions.

Exodus 34:6-11

We need to come to church with a heart of repentance. Some of us feel like we are so bad that God wants nothing to do with us.

Matthew 1:6-10

God is not done with us even though we may not have a great family life or background. Only when we entrust ourselves into God’s merciful hands is the only way our lives can be changed. Our identity needs to be found in God and not our job titles or anything else.

Lamentations 3:19-25

God never stop loving us no matter how bad things may seems. Some of us feel like God mercy cannot reach us. We can often feel like God is absent but he is always there.

Romans 15:8-10

Coming to church is about glorifying God for his mercy.

Beyond the unlimited grace, mercy, and forgiveness that God promises, there is sometimes the false hope that occurs when we misunderstand these great gifts.

Ephesians 2:4-6;8-9

The mercy of God is gentle. There is no limit to God mercy, it is infinite and unending. God does not only show mercy, he is mercy. God does not only show love he is love. God mercy does not run out.

* A False Hope

We take this mercy to a level that the Bible does not talk about. People feel like God is so merciful that he will not send anyone to hell. Trust in God should create a new hope and to follow in God’s footsteps, if not it’s false hope.

Romans 12:1- 5

* A Proper Hope

God desires a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Recognizing that we are sinful and we need God. To be willing to make a decision to surrender our lives to God. How we live our lives matters. We’ve got to make sure that our hearts area in the right place. We can only count on God because everything else in our lives is temporary. It is not the hungering and thirsting in God that saves us but our trust in God.

Jesus came on the earth and became sin for us so that we could be save.

God call us to imitate him and to be merciful like he is. Will you surrender to Christ this morning?

Good morning. Thank you for having us. Dominique and I have two adult children who are back in Montreal-they have their own lives now and if we want to see them, we have to schedule it-we’re having dinner tomorrow night.

Dominique and I came to faith when we lived in NY while we were college students. I graduated (many years ago) as a mechanical engineer (later on I went and got an MBA) but, I have found that my passion is working with people and that is why I have worked in the ministry as an evangelist for the last 25 years-in the Caribbean, New York/ New Jersey area and now in Quebec.

We love working with the congregation in Montreal. It’s a church of 140 members. People are warm, hospitable and very direct (and can be emotional especially when it comes to their language and culture-but it’s been rewarding and faith building. In fact, we started 2019 with a 21-day fast followed by a 5 hr Saturday evening service that set us on the course of a transformation in our church. Tony came to speak at that service…that’s why it lasted 5 hrs...no, in fact, Tony really challenged us to look inward and to make changes. So, at a result the church is growing in maturity, love and in numbers. It’s a church of 140 members.

You are blessed to have Tony and Melanie leading the church here. It is simply amazing to see how God has used them in the past year. We have so much respect for them.

Before I get into my topic for today, I want to give you some context. This past March, I was invited to go to the Vatican to participate in a conference Religions and the United Nations Sustainable development goals. There has been a lot of talk, increasingly more, over the last few years about CLIMATE CHANGE and how it is affecting the planet (rise in average temperature; endanger of certain species, destruction of habitats, rise of sea level causing flooding etc.) Why is this an important topic and why are so many people talking about it? Well, for one, these changes are affecting many lives around the globe!

HERE ARE SOME FACTS that you may or may not know:

IN THE WORLD TODAY, there are 815 million people go hungry; that number will increase to 2 billion by 2050. Yet, 33% of the global food production goes to waste. 783 million live below the poverty line-set at $1.90 USD per day and 428 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.  7 million people die each year as a result of pollution.

Since the Montreal Protocol was signed in September 1987, there has been quite a few conferences around the world to address this issue. Today, some scientists are saying that we have a window of 10-12 years to change our way of life drastically if we are to avoid catastrophe.

Recently, we had the passage in Canada of a bright and passionate young lady from Sweden, Greta Thundberg, who started inspiring people all over the world by her words and actions in the fight against climate change. This is a hot political issue; sometimes seen as a left vs right or liberal vs conservative issue. Today, I would like to bring you a biblical perspective which is one of real hope and stewardship. In fact, there are three things I would like to say about the environment and our role as Christians.

* It was designed to work perfectly. Gen 1: 27-28, 31. God created the world and it was good! The earth was a gift from God and as such it showed God’s love and care.

* Look at the beauty and variety. Dominique and I went for a hike a few days ago to the Laurentian Mountains in Quebec, it was breathtaking.

* Some scientists say there are 26 physical constants that make life (as we know it possible.) Were they to be slightly different, life ( as we know it) in its complexity, would simply, not be possible.

* We must understand that WE broke it and understand HOW we broke it!

Grace is sometimes an elusive concept, but it is the salvation on which we solidify our Christian faith in the salvation that is Jesus Christ’s. This week’s message taught is that grace is unmerited and given to us “because of God’s great love for us”. We cannot earn grace, but access it through continuous restoration, revival and redemption in Christ. In the knowledge that Christ died for our sin, we treasure the grace that is so mercifully bestowed.

Grace is an unmerited favour. Justification is having our sins forgiven just as if we have not sin. Sanctification is the restoration into the image of God. Glorification is when we are in heaven with God.

Ephesians 2:1-10

We cannot boast about anything we have done for our salvation because it was all about God’s Grace.

Romans 3:21-30

Romans 5:1-2; 9

We have access to this grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

*We have knowledge that Jesus was sacrificed for our sins.

*Do we believe that Jesus died for our sins?

*Do we trust in the blood that was shed for our sins?

We cannot do anything to save ourselves, it’s all through God’s grace.

When we surrender to Jesus by faith we are saying that we trust him.

Heb. 12:14

When we don’t get along with others we are not being obedient to God.

What do we treasure? Is Christ our treasure?

Grace- it means unmerited favour. Grace is giving us something that we don’t deserve. There is nothing we can do to earn grace.

Mercy- is getting something that we don’t deserve. If love is a coin on one side is mercy and on the other is grace. There is nothing that we can ever do to deserve God’s love. We feel like if we  pray more, read our Bible more, or give more money then God will love us more. God has given us salvation freely. Salvation is not a one time event. It is the forgiveness of sin and the restoration of our souls. There is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation. If you are a follower of Christ do you believe that your sins are forgiven?

*God chose us by choice and it has nothing to do with what we have done.

2Tim 1:9-10

Romans 11: 5-10

When we are saved and our sins has been forgiven, that is justification.

Eph 2:4-8

*God made us new when we were dead in our transgressions.

Romans 3:24- 28

*We are justified by God’s Grace. Our salvation is not dependent upon us.

We don't attend the church. We are the Church! This last sermon in The Church series talked about importance of becoming a body of Christ and a family of believers in a true meaning of this word.

Several times in the Bible the community of believers is compared to an army and the spiritual struggle to war. What lessons for our lives can we draw from these parallels?

When the Bible talks about the church, it is talking about the people.  When we meet together as a church is to talk about the word of God. The church is often times referred to as a human body. All parts of the human body is important, we are not more important than others before God we are the same. The church Is also referred to as a temple and an army.

Romans 13: 11-14:20

As disciples we are called to put on an armour of light, so now we have to live differently and make godly choices. This is demonstrated in how we act towards one another. Do we scheme and think about how we can gratify the sinful nature in our alone moments?

1Thes 5:8-15

Faith, hope, and love is what we need to put on because we are in a spiritual battle. When we are living in the light we see things differently. We’ve got to ask ourselves what God wants us to wear?

2 Cor 10:3- 10

How do we continue to exist and exercise our faith when the world view is becoming more secular? Are we able to distinguish between what is good and what is evil? We don’t fight as the world does, we fight with the weapon of love, faith, righteousness, hope , and peace. We are not trying to build a crowd but a church, so we need to ensure that we are using the right weapons.

Ephesians 6:10-20

We are in a war for our souls. We have to say no to peer pressure. Satan try to attacks us in different ways and he tries to way you down. We have to fight Satan through relationships and prayer. We all need people in our lives to help us to see the truth. In this war for our souls are you armed? What are you armed with?

We can try to control the behaviour of our children. What does the  Bible have to say about a family?

Ephesians 2:19-2:25

We are no longer a foreigner or an alien but members of God household. There is a family  within the church we call each other brothers or sisters. More than 65% of people in  America and Canada are born out of wedlock. We cannot use our experience as the perfect examples of how things should be because we have all gone through different experiences. When something happens in the family we need to be excited and celebrate with them.

Think about how awesome it would be if you are all thinking how we can help each other? We cannot want to be in a family and take on a spectator role, that would not be helpful to anyone. When there is a struggle in our family we should not ask what is wrong with you but how can I help you? We need to make it our responsibility to know what is happening with each other.

Do we only fellowship the people that we are most comfortable with? It does not matter where we are in our lives there is always something that we can do for someone else.

Challenge:

God designed the family exactly how he wanted it to be. When you think about the church as a family how does it resonate with you? How can you help? How can you use what God has given you to build a family? Don’t be a family where only a few are doing the work. In this family we all need Christ equally.

How has Biblical understanding of temple changed? What did Jesus mean when he was saying about destruction of the temple and what can modern-day disciples learn from His words?