Who is Jesus and what does he have to do with the God of Israel?  Let’s not be too quick to answer that question.  Sometimes being able to quickly answer a question has drawbacks. It could means that we are no longer reflecting deeply on what the question is asking.  T...

Did you mean it?  I just read about the capital punishment of two individuals, said “This is the Word of the Lord,” and you responded “Thanks be to God.  Did you mean it?  This story doesn’t end with happily ever after.  No, rather we have two dead bodies on our hands....

In recent weeks as we’ve been reflecting on Scripture, we’ve been noting how often it’s possible to view Scripture through different perspectives or angles.  In any given passage, God can communicate to us on many different levels.  Often there is a main level on which...

Last week, we talked about people wearing multiple hats, and how its important to understand which hat someone’s wearing when you’re talking to them.  You might be talking to a person and their wearing their doctor hat one minute and their concerned parent hat the next...

Come and Die Matthew 24:36-44
Joe Ellis — December 1, 2019

I’d like to tell you something that’s good to keep in mind when you’re talking with Rayner. Like a lot of us in a small church, he wears a lot of different hats. So when you’re talking to Rayner, he might be wea...

You know, I’ve got most of this text that we read for today memorized. I never sat down and tried to memorize it. But I know it because when I was growing up, this chapter was read every week by our pastor at church. Each week, he would read out the ten commandments fr...

This story is one of the greatest moments in the Old Testament.  God shows himself as a freer of slaves, a protector of the helpless, an oppressor of tyrants.  Certainly this is good news, wonderful news!  For this is how we can anticipate how God will work in the worl...

As I was trying to put together this sermon, I was having a very difficult time finding my way into the story.  On the face of it, the passover story is so very different from everything I know.  At the time of writing, I was sitting in the Vancouver Airport at the int...

Now it starts.  For the people of God, this 3000 year old story of the Exodus is one of the most defining stories in Scripture.  The story of the Exodus is the story of God liberating his people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt, so that He might lead them into th...

Consider the fire that first caught Moses’ attention.  The bush is on fire, yet the fire does not consume it.  God draws Moses to come closer through fire.  Throughout his whole life, Moses is associated with water.  Moses was drawn out from the Nile.  Moses led His pe...