Sunrise Community Church

Here Jesus tells another parable again based on the world of agriculture. A farmer sows good seed in his field but an enemy sabotages things, sowing weeds. Jesus story makes the point that, though the kingdom of God has indeed broken into this world in his coming, the kingdom is not fully consumated. Until the end finally comes, the world will persist in being a place in which there are both the righteous and the wicked, both goodness and evil. This reality has a lot to say to those of us who are citizens of the kingdom of God, pointing us to our mission and giving us peace in the midst of a world that is currently far from ideal.

Here we come to the first parable proper recorded by Matthew in his gospel. It comes near the mid-point of the gospel story as Jesus people are finding themselves faced with a question What will I do with Jesus? That is what this parable is ultimately all about ones response to Jesus and his proclamation of the in-breaking kingdom of God.

In this text we come to another parabolic saying of Jesus. What we discover as we explore the story that provides the context of that saying is that there is a clash of kingdoms taking place right now, a clash between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. Though we are called to spiritual vigilance and resistance to Satan, we need not live with fear because, as Jesus makes very clear in this parabolic saying, the end is not in question. The clash is not between equals. Jesus is the stronger man.

As we celebrate Easter we examine Pauls words to the Corinthians who failed to see the importance or significance of Jesus resurrection for their lives. But as Paul makes clear, Jesus' resurrection impacts our lives massively. Without it, our whole faith crumbles but if it did happen and it did everything changes. Sin has been dealt with, death has been defeated, and we have entered into the life of the future in the present!

In this message, we begin a new sermon series on the parables of Jesus found in Matthews gospel. The first one we come to is found in Matthew chapter 9. Jesus speaks about patching an old garment and about wine and wineskins but what is he getting at what is the reality to which he is pointing? Himself! His coming changes everything and demands that each of us make him the very centre of our lives as his disciples.

In this message we look to Peters first epistle as we reflect on our mission as a local church, the thing we are all about. What Peter helps us see is that our identity in Christ shapes how we live for Christ in a world that needs Christ. There is nothing more important that we can do than to Make Jesus Known.

What we discover in this passage serves to encourage us and embolden us as we step into the mission to which Jesus has called us as his people. All around us are those who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Christ wants to fill our hearts with his compassion for those people, move us to pray for workers for the harvest, and then show us that we are part of the answer to that prayer. And we step out into that harvesting work with confidence because of what Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, will do.

As we move to the second part of our Sunrise vision statement, we are turning to Pauls letter to the Colossians. In this passage Paul calls the believers in Colossae to put on a list of qualities and practices, and what becomes clear when we pause to consider his list, we recognize that each by its nature requires us to be in community with others. This passage reveals to us what is clear throughout the New Testament, namely, that when we enter into relationship with Jesus we also necessarily enter into relationship with others who are in Christ too. Christian community is a necessary and essential entailment of a life of faith in Jesus.

In this message we begin walking through our vision and mission statements. Our vision is a picture of the ways in which Christ is wanting us to grow and that begins with growing in our walk with Him. As Jesus asserts in this interchange recording in Marks gospel, there is nothing more important for us to do in response to Gods amazing grace and redemptive work of the cross than to love Him with the whole of who we are.

"Reading with the Romans

Here we come to Pauls last words in his correspondence to the church in Rome. After some final greetings from those with him to the recipients of the letter, Paul draws together some of the key threads from the letter and exhorts readers to give glory to God who has saved them. By His power and through His wisdom the good news of has been made known by which all who call upon Jesus will be saved. He alone deserves our worship and praise!

Just before Paul wraps up his letter to the Romans, he shares with them an important word of warning about false teachers. Wrong doctrine poses a threat to their spiritual well-being thus they are to be vigilant. Paul calls them to rigorous, careful thinking ensuring that they remain faithful to what they have been taught and avoiding those who distort that message.

"Chutzpah! Gravel and Grace"

This passage might seem like little more than a list of names that we can skim over or skip altogether but there is more here than we might at first recognize. Though there are many things not revealed to us about most of these individuals, there are some things that we can know, and there are things for us to learn and take away. Perhaps chief among them is this that in Christ each one of us with our different histories and different stories has been swept up into Gods grand story of redemption and within that story, we each have a role to play.

As Paul continues wrapping up his letter to the Romans, he speaks of his travel plans but there is more going on here than we might at first recognize. We see in what Paul writes here, what is true of those who are in Christ. We are deeply connected with one another, called to care for one another and urged to contend in prayer for one another. The Christian life is not a solitary exercise but a life together.

Here Paul begins to wrap up his letter to the Romans and in this section he affirms the believers in Rome while at the same time explaining to them the right he has to speak into their lives as he has. In all he writes what is abundantly clear is that Paul is not doing his own thing for his own purposes. Rather he is simply living out that to which Christ has called him and in everything. What is clear to us as readers is the Christ-centredness of Pauls life and ministry. Though some of the particulars will be different, we are each called into this same kind of life, fully centred upon Christ.

Too often time and familiarity dull our sense of wonder when it comes to what it is we are celebrating at Christmas. In this message we walk through several amazing truths asserted by John in a single verse early in his gospel. Without reference to Mary or Joseph, angels or shepherds, magi or gifts or a mad king, John leads us in reflection on the wonder of Christs coming! Listen and let John lead you to marvel at the amazing gift of Immanuel, God with us!

This story and song precede what we call the Christmas story but they play a vital role in preparing us for what is to come in the birth and ultimately life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Through the Spirit, a priest named Zechariah sees something of what God is doing and he bursts into joyful praise. Through his story and song, we are beckoned into joyful praise with him. God has come to bring redemption!

Here Paul brings to conclusion his address of the situation of conflict in the Roman church between the weak and the strong. He does so by drawing their eyes up from the disputable matters that have their attention calling them instead to look and behold the glorious panorama of Gods redemptive work in the world. God through Christ is saving both Jew and Gentile so that they might together worship Him.

Here Paul continues addressing the issue of divisions in the church in Rome. What becomes clear is that, not only are we not to exercise our freedoms in a way that harms others spiritually. We are, in fact, called to use our strength for the spiritual benefit of others. And as we find strength to live this way from God through His Word, our lives together bring Him glory.

In this passage Paul continues to address the issues he began speaking to in verse one of this chapter. There is division and disunity in the church, with two distinct groups of believers who have differing convictions standing in judgment over one another. Here Paul calls them to stop judging and to walk in the way of love. And as we will discover, loving one another as Christ calls them to do, will necessarily impact the exercise of some of the very real freedoms that are theirs in Christ. We need to grasp that same truth in our lives together as well.

In this message we move into the situation on the ground in the church in Rome. Evidently there are two groups of Christians in this church who see a number of matters differently. In this passage Paul speaks into that tension, addressing how these believers are to navigate their situation. What Paul says to them, readily applies to our lives today whenever we encounter similar differences with other believers.

In this message, Marcus Neufeld helps us reflect on Jesus experience in the wilderness when he was tempted by Satan and shows us how Gods will is more important that our perceived needs.

In these verses Paul sums up and reiterates all that he has been teachings us since the beginning of chapter 12. As those who are now in Christ, we have entered into the life of the future and are to live in a manner that is fitting to that reality. This involves actively putting off all that is rooted in our past life in Adam and putting on Christ, so that we look like him.

Here once more Paul reiterates and emphasizes the central place loving others has in the lives of all who are in Christ. It is a debt we all have because of all Christ has done for us, and we, who have received Christs love and grace so abundantly, are now called to pour out his love to all we encounter, for all our days.

In this passage the Apostle Paul speaks to our relationship as those who are in Christ with civil authorities. How are we to understand political authority? How are we to live under authorities who often do not share our commitment to Jesus? These are questions that we seek to answer as we explore this scripture text. Though not always simple, Gods Word is clear on much when it comes to this topic. As Christians we will be helped and further equipped for faithful discipleship in whatever earthly political realm we find ourselves today.

In this message we explore the final five verses of this section of Pauls letter, a section of ethical exhortations. Here Paul speaks to how we, as those who are in Christ, are to respond to those who do evil towards us. As followers of a crucified king, we are free to trust Christ and endure evil without responding in kind. Instead, by the power of God we are exhorted to respond with love and grace, doing good to those who are against us.

What does the world around us hear when they listen to our lives as the church? Do they hear the harmony to which Christ calls us? In this message we explore yet another ethical exhortation to us as those in Christ and though it centres on our relationships with one another, in context, the focus is on the impact of our lives on others. We are called to live in harmony which will require the banishment of pride and conceit from our hearts, and learning the humility of Christ who humbled himself and gave himself for our redemption.

Here we come to another imperative from Christ. As his disciples we are to bless those who persecute [us]. This is hard word that runs contrary to the way of this world and the way of our bent hearts but it is the way of Christ and his kingdom. How can we hope to obey this command? Though we will not always get this right, by remembering first, that Jesus blessed us when we were his enemies and second, that Jesus now lives in us, we can lean into this command as his redeemed people, resisting what is most natural and learning to walk in the new way of his kingdom.

Blake Wagner

Clay Bitner shared a message about The Good Samaritan

Jerry Shepherd

Brad Wright shared a message with us.

Here we encounter two related but distinct exhortations, both of which call for generosity. As those who are in Christ, saved by His mercy, we now strive to reflect His character. And it is through looking at Jesus and His redemptive work for us that we are moved to generously give to both fellow saints and strangers.

This triad of exhortations hangs together tightly with Christian hope at its core. The grand arch of the Biblical story is one that moves us to look to the future with tremendous hope not wishfully but with utter confidence because of what God in Christ has done and what God will yet bring to its appointed end. This hope gives us joy, motivates endurance in the inevitable tribulations we face, and moves us to lean into our dependence on God through prayer.

Here we come to the next exhortation in this unit of Romans. We are warned of the danger we all face and called to intentionally and enthusiastically engage in our life with Christ. But as we discover, this is not about digging deep within ourselves but learning to live and serve in the new way of the Spirit. The power we need to give our all in following Jesus comes from Jesus who has already given his all to make us his own.

Here we are exhorted to honour one another above ourselves, but what exactly does that mean? Delving into the culture realities of the first century greco-Roman world opens our understanding to the heart of this call. Looking to Jesus and understanding how he has honoured us, will give us the power to obey this exhortation which will, in turn, transform our community.

In this message we continue to make our way through this list of exhortations for us as those redeemed by Jesus. Here we are confronted by the call to love one another like family because now in Jesus, we are family. The redemption Christ has achieved in our lives individually, impacts not only our relationship with God but also with one another. And as Christ, our brother, has loved us, so too we are now to love one another.

In this message we continue to make our way through this thirteen verse unit of ethical injunctions. Immediately on the heals of an exhortation to ensure our love is genuine, we are implored to hate what is evil and to cling to what is good. Unpacking what this requires and what it will mean for us as disciples shines a light on another vital aspect of our lives in Christ. In light of what Christ has already done, we are called to give ourselves fully to him and a life committed to His will.

Here we enter into a unit of 13 verses in which Paul asserts an assortment of ethical commands. How are we to view it and how does it fit with the larger context? Is it simply a grab bag of Christian teaching or is there more going on here? In this message we discover that what Paul shares here is the fleshing out of Gods good, pleasing and perfect will mentioned back in v.2. And this list of ethical imperatives begins with love a love that must be genuine, that undergirds all that follows.

Here Paul continues to unpack the implications of the gospel in our lives as disciples of Jesus. As Paul makes clear, discipleship impacts both how we think about ourselves in relationship to one another AND how we relate to one another. We are called to humbly serve one another with the gifts God has given to each of us. At the heart of this call is the new reality that in Christ we belong to one another. Our life in Christ is life TOGETHER!

Here we enter into a new part of Pauls letter, but one that is deeply and vitally anchored to all that he has contended to this point. Here he shifts our focus from theology to application and what he makes clear right from the start is that our lives what God has done through Christ has massive implications for how we are to live now as his disciples. Life in Christ will set us on a collision course with the world around us who remain in Adam and in rebellion against God.

In these verses Paul pauses. Over eleven chapters he has delineated the good news, showing readers their need for redemption and then Gods gracious provision of that redemption through Jesus, and the new life in the Spirit that follows. He is about to lead us into the implications of the gospel on our lives the practical living out of these theological realities. But first he pauses in worship. Theological truth reflexively leads to doxological response to worship!

Here Paul speaks of this mystery that he wants to make certain his readers understand. But the mystery is not actually anything new or hidden. It is the message he has been sharing throughout this letter that on the basis of Gods mercy, God is at work saving people both Jews and Gentiles both on that same basis. And this remains true today. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved on precisely that same basis, the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus.

All theology is ultimately practical it is about real life so how does what Paul write here, speak into how we are to live? That is the question we need to consider as we explore this text. And what we discover is that God is forming one, unified people for His name, comprised of both Jew and non-Jew saved by grace alone through faith alone. This truth has all kinds of implications for how we ought to live in relationship with others, both within and outside of the church.

Paul begins this passage with a question which is critical to the letter of Romans as a whole and to the situation of his original recipients; Has God rejected Israel? And his answer is an unequivocal No! Even though at that time the majority of Gods people have rejected God, God has not rejected Israel. God in His grace has saved a remnant from among them. And Paul goes on to make clear that this is how God has always worked in the past and that it is how God is working now in the present. By grace He saves a remnant.

Bryan Clarke was our guest speaker.