CT Brandon

#SpaceToBreathe

“And that has been the heart of our annual focus on mental health every year in November. And this year, the theme is space to breathe because with Jesus, we can find rest. In the midst of anxiety, in the midst of exhaustion, in a world where mental health struggles are increasingly common, many are searching for healing. Many are searching for peace, a space to breathe. And this series explores how our relationship with Jesus and with authentic community can transform our souls.”

#HealingInCommunity

“Yes, and I've said it before, yes, we need Jesus first and foremost. That's where we go first, but we also need community. And so as I leaned on my community, I was able to hold on to both the loss and the hope. The grief, the gratitude, and hope all at the same time, which I believe is a more honest description of our journey. Even though our western idea seems to be that healing implies that we let go, that we forget, we move on. But ask those who have lost a loved one. We do not just move on, their memory moves with us.”

#WorshipResponse

“God acts. He saves them, and then they respond to what God has done. And that is what we do when we gather together to worship is we are responding to something God has already done. It's not as though if we sing the song enough times or do things all in the right way that we somehow bend God's arm to do what it is that we want. No. Instead, God acts and we respond.”

#FaithJourney

“Is it gonna be easy? Is there gonna be detours, roadblocks, construction along the way? A 100%. I can guarantee you that. I'm not gonna sell you some false gospel and say that it's gonna be easy peasy. Just pray pray three times a day and everything will be fine. No. That's not the truth. It's tough some days, but I can tell you right now, it's a 110% worth it. A 110% worth it because we're called the people that transform. We're called to be people that go.”

#PeaceInTheStorm

“And in the midst of that chaos, I can trust in that peace while everything around me still continues to be a storm. Absolutely would I love for that storm to stop? Many times it does, but I'm here to tell you in my forty some years of following Jesus, not every storm stops. But yet, I can trust that the prince of peace is with me. And I can rely on that peace in the midst of any storm to know that I will be able to make it through.”

#DiscoverYourGifts

“But this statement is I dream of a church where people are nurtured to discover their gifts and purpose, are appreciated and equipped for all they do. People are nurtured that we don't use people to accomplish tasks. We use tasks to develop people. We don't try to use people just because they can do things. We all get to work together to fulfill God's purpose for this community and it is absolutely beautiful. A place that where people get to discover their gifts, the things that God has given you as a talent or an ability and equipped you to do.”

#RuptureAndRepair

“But the important thing is, this is in fact what relationships are. I I just heard this term in the last few weeks, is the definition of relationship is rupture and repair. Rupture and repair. Has anyone been in a relationship for longer than a week with a friend, a significant other, anything like that? Right? A boss, anything like rupture and repair. Right? Rupture and repair. If anybody has one that doesn't have rupture and repair, let me know because I'm pretty sure you're making it up. But but this is what relationships are. They're full of rupture and repair.”

#JesusIsLord

“This is the confession of this story. Jesus, you are the son of God, and this is a perfectly good boat. The life you've given me, I don't need to walk on water. I have no one to impress. My attention is on you, and when you say take heart, my heart will respond. So this morning as we as we've gathered today, we've looked at your word, Lord. We've worshiped you. We've discussed you. We've wrestled with you. We say thank you for who you are.”

#DreamAndTransform

“Jesus, help us to see you in every situation. Help us to dream again if we feel like we stopped dreaming. Help us to understand we have a purpose if we feel like there is none. And as we gather as a community of faith, may our lives be transformed so that we can transform our community, so that we can share, so that we can be here for each other, so that we can help one another grow in our relationship with you, so that we can serve you in everything that we do, that we may continue to respond to your story in everything we do.”

#CareBeforeCorrection

“And remember, accountability is holding people account to their ability. I know they're they're better than this. Something must be going on. So I went up to them and I was like, hey, you know, are you okay? Oh, what do you mean? Well, I saw I saw how you were talking to that person. Like, that's not like, are you okay? And you could just see their demeanor shifted. Because their their back was up because they're kinda wondering, am I about to get called out on something? But they could see that, and this was the grace of God in this situation, that I was more concerned about what was going on in their life. And we'll deal with the situation, but let's deal with the person first.”

#DeathDefeated

“How much is the blood of god worth? How much are you worth? I can tell you for sure it's not your monthly paycheck. The story doesn't end there. Three days later, after Jesus died, he walked out of his grave. He walked out of his grave. He came back from the dead to tell us, my story is true, and death has been defeated. and death have been defeated by his actions, not by ours.”

#TrustInJesus

“We can trust in Jesus. He knows each one of us, and he reveals to each of us where we are in the body of Christ. we need to understand is that we can't do this alone. We need each other. Where one person is weak, another person is strong. Our responsibility is to live our own lives as a living sacrifice, one that is holy and pleasing to God, but we also need to let others live out their purpose as well.”

#CalledToBigger

“``if you're here, if you follow Jesus, you said yes to Jesus, I wanna challenge you today. What are you insisting on because it's comfortable? What are you insisting on because it's comfortable? Let's remember we're called to something bigger than ourselves. And if you're here and you're curious about Jesus, maybe you're here in the right place. There's many people here that they aren't quite sure about this Jesus thing, church thing. Great. I'm glad you're here. Thank you so much for taking that step to show up here in this church this morning. Or maybe you're watching online. Jesus loves you and is calling you to something bigger than yourself, something amazing, a transformed life that transforms a community around you. It's not gonna be easy, but it will be better than anything you can dream of full of purpose and adventure.”

#JesusAtTheWheel

“``Paul is saying, listen. None of you should be at the wheel. Jesus is the one who's supposed to be driving this car, not you. Jesus is the one who is leading the church. As in Jesus is the one who should be leading his people, not you, not me, not anyone else other than Jesus. And when we start trying to do it our way, it's as though we're looking at our feet, and inevitably, we're gonna hit a fence. Instead of our opinion, the way we think we should do things, inevitably, we're gonna hit a fence.”

#LetGoTrustGod

“``All this time, I'm worrying, worrying, trying to make it work, trying to make it work. The moment I go, okay God, I'm gonna trust you with this. I'm gonna do my part. I'm gonna structure my finance, all the little practical things, and then I'm gonna remember I need to let you do your part and stop trying to do it myself, and it worked itself out in that moment. And that is what trusting God is like for me. Cause God is trustworthy. There is nothing in your life that you cannot trust God with. Nothing in your life.”

#LovedInDarkness

“``I was not handling life well, and I almost made a bad decision several times. And if I had made that decision, I would not be standing here in front of you guys today. I was a wreck. My mind was a mess. But through it all, I had this understanding that God loved me and that I wasn't alone, that the holy spirit was with me, that the holy spirit was with me in my darkness. That thought kept me going. I was loved. I didn't have to do anything, and I was loved. I didn't love myself, but God loved me. I didn't think I deserved that love, and God never stopped loving me because nothing could separate me from the love of God.”

#FaithJourneyAssurance

“``But the thing is is when we say yes to Jesus we can be assured that we are in right relationship with him. But then what about the sin thing? Well because we're being continually transformed. We're being continually transformed as we journey together with Jesus. This why I think I love to call it this faith journey because I'm walking together with Jesus and sometimes I mess up and I get off the path. But he's always faithful to help guide me back to that path. He's always faithful to be there to empower me, equip me, he gives me every opportunity and yes, I still mess up and he is there more than willing to forgive me and to help me do better.”

#ConvictedToChange

“That's what our lives with Jesus are like. Not that you're dodging calls from a guy and bouncing checks. No. It's the part where you recognize you've done something wrong. But not because I'm recognizing because I was doing everything under my power to say it's fine and justifying it. But thankfully, Jesus was like, Charles, you're better than that. That's not how I want you to live your life. Going going living up that. To that. And so Jesus convicted me through his spirit. I fixed my problem, and I'm not going to do that again.”

#InnerTransformation

“``Because a transformed life isn't on the outside. What happens on the outside is where we get to see the fruit. The result of a transformed life happens on the inside. That's where the work happens. And when I surrender those things to Jesus, when I realize that I'm going to struggle if I try to do it under my own strength in my own way, and I realize that he has given me a guidebook as well as a community here to help me along the way. And I don't have to do this alone. As I give those things up, that's where the transformation starts to happen on the inside. And on the outside, you stop breaking watches.”

#LiveForOthers

“``So church is a community, it connects. A church is a place where people can grow in their faith. A church is a place where people can serve, they can put what God has gifted them to do into practice. A church is a place where people go, because the beautiful thing about church is it's not for us, right? We live for others. Love God, love people. We follow Jesus not just for ourselves, but for others. We don't want to be like that Dead Sea where all we have is rivers and streams coming in, but we don't have any outflow.”

#ResurrectionAndHistory

“``He came to die and rise again for our sins, so that we could be in right relationship with him and it is absolutely beautiful. However, many of the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But those that did, they had those Jewish ties. So they were also suspect at the time since there was all this conflict going on. Then Rome, part of Rome burned. Nero was blamed, historians debate whether it was really him or what happened.”

#AskGodYourPart

“I want you to ask God what it is that you need to do in your part. Because in each story, God decides to work through people. He doesn't just always do it all himself. He works through us, and so maybe there's something that we need to do. So ask God, what is it that I need to do? What's my part? And then to follow God in his part. That's the important part, to follow him, to let him lead in his part because nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is too hard for God.”

#ImageOfChrist

“``We, as Christians, have a crucial labor, and that is in taking on the image of Christ that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices in the spirit to his missional purposes in the world. Genesis tells us that we are made in the image of who? God. We bear his image. As those who follow Christ, we are also bearers of more than his image. We are his people, covenant to him. And our labor in this season between when Christ was on earth and when Christ returns is to take on the image of Christ, become more like him, where we offer ourselves as what? Living sacrifices to God and God's missional purposes in the world.”

#FaithThatTransforms

“``Yes, it sounds a little bit weird, but there is an experience side to our faith, to ours following Jesus. There's a part of why we refer to it as a faith. We believe, but we don't always see. But we see the fruit of it. We experience something when we say yes to Jesus that we cannot fully describe. The experience or the sign such as here doesn't replace the fruit, the result of it. You see, when we follow Jesus and we say yes and choose to live the way that he says that we should, allow his spirit to empower us, we see life transformation.”

#ForgiveEveryHurt

“this is the reality of life is that there are going to be moments where we’re hurt, where people around us hurt it, whether it’s intentional or unintentional, whether it’s something they said, but they meant something else or whether they really meant what they said. We are going to get hurt in life, and Jesus shows us by example of what to do as he goes to them, and he tries to reconcile. Now I know from experience that not every relationship is reconcilable, but every hurt is forgivable. Not every relationship is reconcilable, but every hurt is forgivable. We must forgive. We must.”

#GiftOfTheSpirit

“And if you're struggling to love the Lord or to follow the Lord's commands or kids that are out there of all ages, if you're struggling to listen to your parents and what they are asking of you, please tell my kids downstairs, I said this too, that that we don't have to do that out of our own efforts, but we have the gift of the spirit to help guide and support us in that. Last slide. This love, this gift, it's the fountain from which all true obedience flows and the mark by which genuine discipleship is recognized.”

#JesusIsTheWay

“I am going and I'm coming back and I'll lead you to where I need you to go. Right? But we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? How are we supposed to do this, God? How are we supposed to do this? Jesus answers, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you know me, you'll know my father. And from now on, you do know him and you've seen him.”

#FocusOnJesus

“See, the beautiful thing church, here is that the church just got together. They put aside all their differences in this moment because they were focused on one thing, and that was Jesus. See, often, a lot of the problems we have around us is because we get our eyes off Jesus. We get our eyes off a point, a purpose. But once we keep get our eyes back on Jesus, beautiful things like this happen. So we don't know exactly how every moment worked out for them as a church began. But we do know that at the central focus of that, of them gathering together was devoting themselves to teaching, to fellowship, gathering together, to being there for each other, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”

#JesusWithUs

“You see, loneliness hits when dreams die, and Jesus feels absent. But you see, Jesus always walks beside us reframing pain through his word and presence at the table. In communion with Jesus, in relationship with him, he reframes our pain because pain is the byproduct of situations that make us feel lonely. It's often the factor that motivates us the most to isolate ourselves because, obviously, no one likes to be hurt by a friend or a loved one.”

#FaithOverFear

“We have the powerful god who loves us and protects us and takes care of us. You don't have to worry about that evil. All you have to say is no weapon formed against me will prosper. And as many threats have we as we've had to our lives, which we have, Janet, because we work on the sex trafficking and the human trafficking initiative. We don't fear. We have no fear because God is with us.”

#LoveOverHate

“But we get to go around and turn the world upside down in a very good way. That's exactly what Jesus did, and that's exactly what he's called us to do, to go and stand up for what's right, to speak love into situations where hate is at play, to act good when others are acting evil, to show love to those who are even acting wrong, who are being hurtful. That is the purpose that we have when we say yes to Jesus. And I am so glad that I said yes. And I hope that today, perhaps, there's that same pull on your heart.”

#ForgivenAndLoved

“He traveled through the crowds knowing that days later, they would be shouting, crucify him. And all of it just culminates in that moment of him on that cross. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. I am so glad because I don't always know what I'm doing either, and I'm so glad for his grace and his love. And that is the example we get to follow because we were in darkness, and God loves us too much to leave us there.”

#ResurrectionRevealed

“Jesus calls Lazarus come out, and I think it's neat on how it was four days because the culture at the time, they believed that the soul would actually hang around the dead body for about three days. So Jesus waited for to really show them, listen. No. I'm not resuscitating him, not doing anything. Lazarus was dead. He was dead dead, and he has the power of resurrection and life. Jesus does, And he raises him from the dead, foreshadowing to what was about to happen in a few days. Here was for the one. And in a few days, it was for all of us. Amen? Amen.”

#InspiredFaithNotFear

“Maybe what Jesus was saying is, hey, listen. I know that you're going to see a lot of darkness in the world. I know you're gonna see a lot of things that terrify you. But when you know who I am, when my people know who I am, They will live in such a way that all those who have yet to understand will be intrigued, inspired. We glorify the idea of people coming to their knees and repenting out of a fear of judgement. What if people were coming to the knowledge of Jesus out of a an inspired belief that I could be that. Amen. I could live like that.”

#SurrenderForEternalLife

“If you've never surrendered, if you've never confessed your sins before, If you've never asked him to be lord of my life, He's sitting on your well right now, and he wants to exchange your water pot that can only hold this amount for a well and a spring that has no end to it. He's offering you eternal life. Take a moment. If it's even two words, you say to him for yourself. He's asking, do you know who is here to meet you today?”

#HealTheHeart

“But in this case, Jesus came to reveal the greater purpose, the real reason behind what he was trying to do. See, the teachers of the law, like Nicodemus, they were they were trying to go about things, but they kept trying to deal with symptoms. They kept trying to deal with all the outside stuff, trying to get us to look good, do the right things, all of that thing. But Jesus came to deal with the real issue at hand. It's inside there's a brokenness. There's a brokenness, and he came to fix it. He came to fix it.”

“It goes like this. It's all about invitation and inviting people. It's just like this. Here it is. It's nine words. Would you like to come to church with me? Train is over. Okay. Now you're all evangelists. Get out there. Do it.”

#foundationalsteps

“This is life sometimes, isn't it? Where you don't follow the instructions and you just figure you can just wing it. And some things in life, maybe that works. Other things in life, like putting together a rocking swinging chair thing, not so much. Relationships, not always so much. Right? There are some foundational steps that are pretty important. Similar to our faith journey, there are some foundational steps that are really important that if we neglect or ignore them or think we know better, the further on down the road we get, we realize, wait a minute, this is not working out. Something's out of alignment.”

#InsideOutDiscipleship

“But if we miss the point, we miss the whole thing. Jesus isn't saying anything else other than what's the heart behind it. What's the heart behind his teachings? So draw you close to him, to allow you to tran be transformed from the inside out, and to lead other people back to him. That great commission, go make disciples. Go make disciples. Teach them what I taught you. Baptize them. Tell them the good news.”

#CherishedByGod

“I don't know if you've ever read through the gospels or you've been in a a service where you're singing a song and you're thinking about what you're going through or who you are and whatnot, and and you think of that in comparison to Jesus, and it's like, what have I got here in this moment? At the same time, it's beautiful because he says, bring me whatever you have because he cherishes it. But in comparison, I I I feel like I'm so small, obviously, because I'm looking at the creator of the universe.”

#disciplineAsConduit

“And it was through that fasting and prayer that Jesus connected to his father. It didn't bring the power. It was the avenue that delivered the empowerment. Later on, we see Jesus teaching on fasting in the sermon on the mount. And here he says, when you fast, do not look somber somber, sorry, as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil in your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your father who is unseen. And your father who sees what is done in secret will wart you. What does that mean?”

#PrayerIsRelationship

“``It's one thing for me to be praying for someone and for them to get healed. That's not necessarily a mark of my spiritual maturity. That is God at work. Right? It's not me. That's God at work. So that isn't necessarily a mark of spiritual maturity. The mark of spiritual maturity is what do I do when someone cuts in line in front of me at the gas pump, or cuts me off in traffic, or perhaps when one of my kids steals that last piece of chocolate cake that I was really looking forward to. That's a real life situation. I'm just bringing it up here. This is my free therapy session. But that's when the mark of spiritual maturity comes to play. Right? What is the fruit of the spirit actually looking like in my life?”

#PrayListen

“the fruit of the spirit, the love, joy, peace, patience. I love to make the joke about if you've gone and you spent time praying and you come out grumpy, you might want to find out who you were talking to because maybe it wasn't God. Or perhaps you were doing a lot of talking, and perhaps it was time to do some listening.”

#NextGenLeaders

“And as I look throughout this entire year of transitions, we saw these young leaders rise to the challenge. I think of our CT youth. Pastor Nikki resigned this year. She was the youth pastor here for over 13 years. And I know we were wondering, well, what's going to happen with the youth ministry? And these young leaders stepped up and said, hey, we got this. You know what? They talked about how the youth ministry had made such a difference in their lives. And they wanted to make sure other youth had that opportunity as well. And it is thriving. It's so exciting to see.”

#YouAreNotYourSin

“See, we've all sinned. In Romans, it says that all have sinned. All throughout scripture, you see that humanity continues to mess up. And we don't even need scripture. We can just look through our history books. And even our current times, we are living in a broken world. But inside of that brokenness, there is hope. And that hope is Jesus. And so when he sees us in our sinful state, his response is not, look at what you did. His response is, that is not you. That is not you. You are not designed nor created to carry that sin. Let me take it from you.”

#GodIsCallingYou

“Jesus wasn't afraid to get in the middle of it. Jesus wasn't afraid to show the love of God in situations that seemed pretty hopeless. Because Jesus came to fulfill a promise that he would be the one to save us. To be God with us. So if you're wondering this Christmas season if there is a purpose to your life, there is. God is calling us. Each and every single one of us.”

#ChosenByLove

“See Mary was there And she realized That God had chose her Not because of Anything she did Not because of Anything she said But God chose her Because of his Great love It's the same With us See God loves us Not because ofWhat we do Or don't do What we say Or don't say But he loves us Because he loves us Because we are His children”

#SeenAtJesusFeet

“see that woman wasmarginalized she was on the outskirts looked down upon maybe that's you here today maybe you feel like that woman it's like jesus i just want to be at your feet where you feel like everyonemaybe speaking against you or looking at you the wrong way or judging you you see your story is being told every time jesus's story is told because jesus sees you in that moment where all the disciples did was see what could have been jesus saw what was right in front of you”

#ServeWithFaithAndHumility

“``And if you want to be used by God, four things. Be faithful. Be available. Be courageous. And be humble. And if you will, God will use you. If you want Calvary Temple to be used by God in a great way in the coming days, Calvary, be faithful. Be available. Be courageous. Be humble. God’s speaking to some in this room, and he’s calling you towards ministry. Will you respond? I thank God for the ripples who have responded. And I can preach this message because I think they reflect what I’ve been saying.”

#FaithAndMentalHealth

“Part of the whole idea of having a mental health month is really just pulling back the curtain on mental health especially from a perspective of faith as a believer because often, let's just be honest, the church hasn't always done a great job. Maybe the answers have been typically, oh, I've got my back to you folks over here. Sorry. Has been just, you know, pray more, right? Just pray more, read your Bible more. And as I've worked with people who have been going through a deep cycle of depression, it's like even reading or listening to things is difficult. And so the whole idea of focusing more, it's like just setting them up for failure.”

#CalledToServe

“As we think about the churches in Manitoba that are without pastors, more than nine churches, no pastor. If I go wider to the other provinces, it looks even more of a gap and a need. And so for us to have someone that put their hand up and say, yes, Lord, I will do it, send me, is amazing.”

#HereIAmSendMe

“You see, in the comparison of God almighty, and you look at yourself, you're like, who am I in the midst of almighty God? And it says an angel touched his lips with a coal. So that he could be in the presence of God. And then God calls saying that he is looking for someone to deliver a message. And Isaiah's response, and this is in 6, verse 8. And this is the one that I've tried to live my life like, is here I am, Lord, send me. God, whatever it is, I'll say yes. I might struggle a little bit. I might wrestle a little bit. I'm like, are you sure? I'm just trying to be fully honest. I'm sure we all do it. Or maybe it's just me. Yeah. It's just me. It's just me. OK. Here I am, Lord, send me.”

#BeyondTheMask

“I'm so glad that he sees beyond our masks that we often wear and he sees into our minds and he sees into our hearts. Zacchaeus was in a crowd where he was being called out and sin comes in two ways—there is private sin and there's public sin—but the thing it has in common is sin is sin. So sometimes we do things that nobody knows about, and sometimes what we do is publicly known. Doesn't matter, God still sees us and he sees beyond the mask that we sometimes have to wear.”

#AllInForJesus

“Who are we going to serve? Are we going to kind of build their lives on the unshakable foundation of Jesus? Are we all in? Are we all in saying, yes, I'm going to serve you, Jesus. And when I notice I'm putting something else before him in my life, I'm going to repent. I'm going to say, I'm sorry. And I'm going to choose Jesus.”

#FullyFoundedInJesus

“But I can't half build my life on Jesus. Just one foot in Jesus and one foot somewhere else. That's not a thing. That doesn't work so well. Have you ever tried to build a house half on a foundation? I have not. I've never even tried to build a house. Thank goodness. But if you build it fully on the foundation, it's going to be strong. And so if we build our lives fully on Jesus, so he asks us to choose.”

#SozoWholeness

“``And that word there, well, is this word sozo. You see, there was more going on as the Greek word sozo, which. Which means whole and complete. There was more going on there than just a physical healing that this man received in that moment. Jesus was saying, by your faith, you've also received salvation. Not only was he physically healed, but he was also spiritually healed in that moment because Jesus is our healer.”

#SpiritualLiberationThroughJesus

“So many times Jesus repeats and teaches them how it is a spiritual one that he is setting up, that he didn't come to liberate them physically, but he came to liberate us spiritually. And I am so grateful for that. He reconciled us to him. He reconciled us. He gave us away from a life of sin, sin to a life of fullness, of goodness. As we follow Jesus, we get to follow his example.”

#FaithShapesTrust

“Because following Jesus really depends upon trust. I have to trust him. But you see, my trust in Jesus is directly connected to what I believe about Jesus. Right? Who do I believe Jesus to be?”

#TrustInJesusCharacter

“Because my trust in Jesus is very important, because that determines how I walk out my faith, how I do in my faith journey, my trust in Jesus. But my trust in Jesus is directly connected to my understanding and my beliefs about the character of Jesus. And so that is why we've been finding out that Jesus is good. That Jesus is good and loves us. That Jesus is good and loves us and wants good things for our lives.”

#UnshakableInChrist

“We started this series last week called Foundation and it's a call to build our lives on the unshakable foundation of Jesus because we live in a time much like the rest of history where there seems to be shifting values and uncertain ground and we need an unshakable foundation. And when Jesus is our foundation every part of our lives will find a strength and we'll find a purpose.”