Sermons – Kemptville Christian Reformed Church

Waiting Forward

What do you think about WAITING?

How does it work for you?
Do you mind it?
Does it drive you mad?

Are you a fidgety kind of wait-er?
Or can you sit quietly?

Can you focus on that for which you are waiting?
Or does you mind go to a million very strange and unrelated places?

How does waiting work for you?

Just before Jesus returned to heaven he told his apprentices to head back to Jerusalem and ……….. wait.
So we went to Acts 1:1-11, and thought a bit about that.
What does Jesus ask them (and us) to wait for?
How might we best do that waiting?
When will the waiting be over?

You’re invited to wonder with us about all of that.
Grab a bible, download the podcast and study guide, and join us for the message titled, Forward Waiting.

Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

Forward Waiting

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

Forward Waiting – Study Notes

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

We’d also love to have you join us live for worship.
We gather each Sunday at 10am.
Don’t worry about getting all gussied up. Just come as you are – we’re a church full of imperfect people.
And we’d be glad to have other imperfect people, like you, along for the ride!

The Effects Of Easter: At The End Of Our Line

It’s a crazy story – true, but sort of crazy. We get to watch Jesus messin’ with his disciples in the days following his resurrection. The boys had gone fishing on a lake that normally was teeming with fish. Nobody EVER got skunked out there….. except them, this time.

And Jesus meets these frustrated fishers at the end of their futile night. GRRRR! Wonder what they really muttered under their breath.

Anyway, it all turned out WAY different than any of them could have expected in their wildest dreams. Totally wonderful. Empowering. Freeing.

And completely amazing for us who get to watch from the sidelines!

Grab a bible, download the podcast and study guide, and join in this next in our post-Easter series, “The Effects Of Easter.”

Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

At The End Of Our Line

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

At The End Of Our Line – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

In His Steps – GEMS Sunday message

We all learn by imitating, and just about all of us end up shaping at least part of our lives based on the lives of people we admire. We call them “role models” or “mentors” or “coaches” or “mom.” It’s a great way to learn, and to live – find a strong, safe, healthy, productive person and follow in their footsteps.

The bible calls us to do exactly that with Jesus.
Watch him. Listen to him. What you see? Go do it.
Simple as that.

KCRC’s girls club – GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour) – explored this idea under the theme “In His Steps”, taken from 1 John 2:6.

So we explored the same theme on GEMS Sunday at KCRC yesterday, April 29.
We found all sorts of other scriptures that call us towards the same thing – imitating Jesus.
And then we thought about three steps that guide us towards successfully following in Jesus’ footsteps:
A/ receive his love
B/ receive the Spirit
C/ practice sharing his love

You’re invited to track with us. Grab a bible, download the podcast and study guide, and join in.

Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

In His Steps

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

In His Steps – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

The Effects Of Easter: Seeing And Believing

I’d like to introduce you to someone that, I think, has gotten a bad rap in the Church. Everyone thinks of him as a quivering, unsure, back-of-the-bus follower of Jesus; the guy with wee-tiny faith; full of doubt disciple(ish)….. Thomas.

Reality is – the guy was one of the most courageous and upfront friends of Jesus (check out how he responds to challenging and uncertain situations in John 11 and 14).

But then there’s the time that he wasn’t around. And, of course, THAT’S the moment when the most unbelievable event in history occurs. Guess what Thomas does – he doesn’t believe it. Because it is unbelievable. In that way I think he’s a lot like you and me. There’s more of Thomas in us than perhaps we first care to admit.

So – join us as we come alongside this disciple, and in doing so reexamine our own attitudes while following the Risen Jesus.

Grab a bible, download the podcast and study guide, and join in.
Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

Seeing And Believing

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

Seeing And Believing – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

The Effects Of Easter: When Jesus Calls Your Name

Every once in a while something big happens, something really big – so big that it changes absolutely EVERYTHING!

And, no, I’m not referencing the latest home-based income “opportunity” or the latest flavor in ice cream.

I mean REAL big – where really EVERYTHING changes.

Perhaps you think of a few world changing events – like D-Day, and how it changed everything about World War II.
Or you think of an election, where the winning candidate stands up and claims (s)he is now changing everything – only nothing changes at all.

To say something really changes, let alone EVERYTHING, is a huge big hairy claim to make.

So I don’t want to say it lightly – but the Resurrection of Jesus really DOES do that. It really DOES change everything. Over the next few weeks we’ll test drive how true this statement really is. We’ll drop in and ask Mary and Thomas and…..
No, wait – now I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s just start with Mary – Mary Magdalene. Let’s ask her how the resurrection of Jesus changed everything for her

That’s what we did at KCRC on April 15 in our teaching time.
You’re invited to listen in, as well as to stay with us for the next few weeks where we put the same question to other friends of Jesus.

When Jesus Calls Your Name

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

When Jesus Calls Your Name – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

Questioning God: “How long, Lord?” – sermon podcast

Ever had times when you threw up your hands in frustration, or perhaps in distress?
You were struggling with another person whose behaviour didn’t change, didn’t improve, didn’t help whatever situation you were at the time. You flung out your hands and blurted out, “How long are you going to carry on like this?”

Ever had times when you did, or wanted to do, this to God?
You had questions about what was going on – How long will it happen this way? Why must it be so? When will things ever change for the better? And perhaps more.

(image by B. Steele Halstead
Grand Rapids, MI)

Sometimes we may feel as if this is inappropriate behaviour. Irreverent. Not respectful of the Almighty Creator. One simply ought not do such things.

Which can leave us burdened and bursting with pain. Like a soft drink bottle shaken and shaken and shaken, in the heat….. just waiting to explode.

Thank God for the Bible – and sections of it like the book of Habakkuk.
Which is a running dialogue between the man and his Maker.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to track along with that dialogue / argument and see what we can learn about how to speak to the Lord when we struggle. What’s in bounds? What’s out?

You’re invited to track through this sermon series with us.
This week’s reading came from Habakkuk 1:1-4, Revelation 6:1-11 and Psalm 77.

Questioning God: “How Long, Lord?”

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

How Long, Lord – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

God Seeking Us – a sermon podcast

Ever tried hiding something from your spouse. Did it ever go well?
Ever tried hiding yourself from someone – maybe in fear? How’d that work out for you?

Could you imagine trying to hide from God?
Why would you possibly want to do that? How do you imagine that might turn out? And what if/when you get found out? Then what?

This past Sunday at Kemptville Christian Reformed Church we took time to wonder about hiding, getting found, and doing that with God.

What happens when God finds us? What incentive does he have to go looking, anyway?

It was our annual service to celebrate the ministry of “Cadets” – the club for boys in gr.4-8, where Christian men connect with them, mentoring them in a life of friendship with Jesus. “God seeking us” was the theme of their year.

You’re invited to listen in as we bat that theme around a bit.
Our bible readings were from Ezekiel 34:11, and John 10:16.
Grab a bible, download the podcast and study guide, and join in.
Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

God Seeking Us

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

God Seeking Us – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

Divine Restraint: a KCRC sermon podcast

What if an angel suddenly showed up at your church – right smack dab in the middle of a worship service; if the glory of heaven was unveiled / unleashed just as the band began the intro to the third song? How might that change things?

That’s the question we wondered about as we thought about Jesus walking into a church in his community. We’ll be watching Jesus a lot this year – 2018 is going to be a year with Jesus at KCRC – in many of our worship services we’ll be focusing on interactions that Jesus has with needy people, power structures & authorities, skeptics, and more.

Like what happened in Mark 1:21-28 as Jesus went to a local synagogue. He’s met by a gang of head-scratching worshipers, amazed at what he says and does, and one very sick man, plagued by a demon.

His response is both powerful and very restrained – at the same time.
And in that mix of power and restraint we catch a glimpse of how God deals with us, and how we are called to deal with each other.

Supporting the study of Mark 1 were readings from Deuteronomy 18 and 1 Corinthians 8:1-13.

So….. how did it all go down that Sabbath in the Synagogue?
Download the study guide, and grab a bible.
Then follow along with the message via the online audio player – or download it to your favorite device to catch again later.
Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

Divine Restraint

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

Divine Restraint – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”

Join us in 2018 as we journey with Jesus!

2017 Christmas Eve Service – the podcast

Due to popular demand here’s the podcast of the 2017 Christmas Eve service – the whole thing. Not just a snippet or two.

It was titled “A Puzzling Blue Christmas” – and, as you’ll hear, we wanted to make space for people who were struggling, puzzled over what to do with all the jolly and holly, when life had been hard and they weren’t feeling so merry; when they were experiencing hard emotions and memories. What to do with Christmas? Would there be anything in it for them? Or best to just run and hide. Whether that be you, or someone you love – if you weren’t able to be with us, please join in via the podcast. There’s a message of real hope waiting for you!

You can follow along with the message via the online audio player – or download it to your favourite device to catch again later.
Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

A Puzzling, Blue Christmas?

May you be blessed as you listen.
And, hey – please know that we’d love to have you join us live for worship in 2018.
We gather each Sunday at 10am.
Don’t worry about getting all gussied up. Just come as you are – we’re a church full of imperfect people.
And we’d be glad to have other imperfect people, like you, along for the ride!

And if you can’t join us live, keep an eye on the website for future podcasts. Better yet, subscribe, and you’ll be automatically kept up to date.

God bless!!

The Peacemaker: Peace In Community

Want some peace in your life?
Maybe, especially, the sort of peace that Jesus came to bring?
Which, as we learned last week, is that sense of life being whole, complete, rolling out the way God intended it to be for you…. or me.
If you do – where is the best place that you might find it? Be able to test drive it, check it out, and then fill your life with it?

Welcome to the Christmas season teaching series at Kemptville Christian Reformed Church.
It’s titled “The Peacemaker” – and here at KCRC we truly believe that the absolute BEST way to experience peace is through getting connected to Jesus. We believe that the Bible promises Jesus to be the link to peace – for us, for our community, for the world.

Our theme bible passage for the series is Isaiah 9:6. And this week we also checked into Mark 3:13-35.
We’d love to have you track with us for this, and others, in our series. All of which will show up here on the KCRC.CA website.

So, download the study guide, and grab a bible.
Then follow along with the message via the online audio player – or download it to your favorite device to catch again later.
Please note – those of you using a mobile device may have to set your browser to “desktop mode” to access the download button (a glitch with our site – sorry about that).

The Peacemaker (3): Peace In Community

You are also invited to download the study guide…..

Peace In Community – Study Guide

As always, feel free to pass this stuff around. You can also find this, and other messages online at the KCRC website under the tab “Sermons And Stuff.”