Sutherland Church Sermons

Are you saved? That question used to be more familiar in some church circles than it is now. The idea of salvation being about "who is saved" and "who is not", begs other questions, such as, "what does salvation mean?" "how can the Gospel be good news if most people are 'unsaved'?". We look a the biblical concept of salvation and how it is much larger than individual.

The concept of sin has been one of the most misunderstood and improperly employed ideas in Christian Theology. Why is the idea important in our world, our lives? How can we begin to see the truth of knowing that we are all sinners as part of God's revelatory grace?

Leaders of the early church are forced to change their plans on multiple occasions. Is this chance or God's direction? In most cultures, through all of history people have held on to certain artifacts or finds as evidence of divine presence, blessing or as hope for "good luck" or fateful blessing. You find something in the junk drawer that at one time you held on to in such a way. How do we project meaning into objects? What might it mean that God is "watching over us?"

What does the New Testament say about social status and gender roles? How are we to be directed in Christian faith in terms of these questions?

Canada Day: Gratitude, Confession and Mission” What does it mean to be grateful for nation? How ought we to rightly celebrate the national holiday? Christians are called to have no allegiance higher than that to Christ.

This is one of the best sounding of all the Psalms, a promise of God's protection and provision. But is it true? Or is it like finding something in the junk drawer that carries with it a nostalgia for how innocent you thought things once were? Does it hurt to consider such a Psalm in the often hard reality of life?

We consider what our faith calls us to in terms of relating to governing authorities. Are passages like Romans 13 (be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God) things that we can "get rid of"? Do these directions matter, and if so, how so?

We consider what it means that "All Scripture is God-Breathed" (2 Timothy). What do our lives imply about our view of the Bible? What things are of utmost importance in Scripture? What things might be considered secondary? How do we relate to people who answer these questions differently than we do?

Nicodemus goes to speak to Jesus while it is dark. He does not know what he is seeking. In the darkness, Jesus speaks about light and love and freedom. Jesus mentions new life found only in God. Physical life is not enough. We must be "born of Spirit". And yet we can find ourselves seeing the world through darkness rather than light. We can seem to be weighed down by fear and death. What will lead us out of the darkness into living the full light of Christ?

Think for a moment about the ways in which arguments end. Does one side win? Is true reconciliation possible? Christian faith, in its view of how things end, gives us a positive and hopeful way of seeing humanity that can entirely change how we view argument.

We live in a community among people of different faiths, worldview and perspecties. How are we all to get along? What is our responsibility to one another in this community? We consider how Jesus related to people of different faiths. While we can be very different than others in terms of faith, believe and worldview, the longing of the human heart is often common across faiths. How does our faith in Jesus address this longing?

We turn to the book of Corinthians to hear about divisions in the early church. What were the occasions of these divisions and how did the call of faith in Christ demonstrate diversity within unity?

We consider the argument that God and the Bible promote violence. Have most wars in history been fought in the name of religion? How does Jesus bring love and justice together? Today we look at one of the most difficult passages in Scripture. 1 Samuel 15 describes the rejection of Saul by God. It appears that God is rejecting Saul as king because he did not kill all of the people according to God's instruction.

It can seem the world is awash in argument, conflict and disagreement. The history of the Christian church has at times regrettably added to this discord. One of the areas our faith ought to be evident is in how we argue.