Granville Chapel

#GodHasTheFinalWord

“You see, for Ecclesiastes as a book, the end of life is not the end. Death will happen, and judgment also will happen. Everything that's hidden will be brought to light, and he doesn't say for what purpose yet. It's not so clear to him at this point in revelation, of the revelation of God in history, it wasn't so clear what happens after death. But he knows that the ultimate word is not death. The ultimate word is God.”

#KeepGodInYourLife

“So the influence of Coalet's teaching is being brought to bear on us all day and every day wherever we go. We would be wise as followers followers of God to become much more aware of how its power not only can, influence our own thinking. Let's think about that for a moment. If we exclude God from our thinking, we exclude or at least are unaware of all that God is and all that he offers us. Love, light, good, truth, life, and we go on and on. If we exclude we become very much the losers.”

#PurposeInJesus

“So this is where I wanna end today is asking us to reflect on our own lives, our work, our leisure, our accomplishments, our time. To what end? To what end are all of these things? So let kohellet be our guide as we reflect on that. To what greater purpose are we living our lives? And Ecclesiastes doesn't just leave us hanging. He will provide something of an answer or the book will provide something of an answer in a couple of weeks. And for those of us who are followers of Jesus, we know ultimately that all of it all of it under the sun is pointing to Jesus, Jesus our Lord. And in him, we find that fulfillment. He is the one through whom God now brings us back to himself.”

#GraceAndForgiveness

“Now if this morning I've talked about something that's brought up something for you in the past, something that you can't undo, something that you're not proud of in your past, there is mercy, there is grace, there is forgiveness, there is restoration, there's always the hope of forgiveness life with Christ. I invite you to not simply live with the burden of the past, but to bring whatever it is that's on your heart to the Lord. Bring it to a trusted friend, a counselor, a pastor. There's freedom from what has burdened you in the past.”

#JesusIsWisdom

“in the New Testament, Jesus is God's wisdom. He is the one we see in his life, a life that's so beautiful, that's so ordered, that's so good, loving, sacrificial, giving of himself, truthful, full of grace. That's the kind of life that we want, and he calls out to us to follow him. That's the same kind of relationship that we're talking about here. Old testament wisdom, a life of order and goodness. New testament Jesus, the person in history calling out to us to follow him.”

#TrustGod

“That's the whole invitation of this chapter, to trust God with everything, our decisions, our plans, even what we say, rather than leaning on our own understanding. And he promises to lead us and bless us. Trust isn't the last step that we're supposed to take after we've already figured it out. It's supposed to be the first step. So may we trust him with everything, knowing that we were never meant to have it all figured out or carry everything alone. We're not supposed to already know how to do everything. He is walking with us. He is by our side, and he is for us.”

#OpenToCorrection

“See, there's someone in the book of Proverbs who's worse off than a fool. It's a person who thinks that they don't need any correction at all. It's the wise person who thinks they got it all together, and they don't need anything else. See, the fool at least has the opportunity to kinda realize that they're foolish, and they're making mistakes, and they can turn and change, and they can be corrected. But it's the one who thinks that they got everything right and together, that in the end, they actually don't change.”

#intimacyRestoration

“God wants to, desires to, longs to search through our deepest places. It is not a burden to him. His great delight is intimacy and restoration. It matters who is searching us, and it makes the biggest difference that God is not exposing brokenness to condemn us, to heal us. He does not come towards us with an ax to harm, but with a scalpel to gently and carefully remove the disease that plagues us.”

#GodSearchesToHeal

“God wants to, desires to, longs to search through our deepest places. It is not a burden to him. His great delight, his intimacy and restoration. It matters who is searching us, and it makes the biggest difference that God is not exposing brokenness to condemn us, but to heal us. He does not come towards us with an axe to harm, but with a scalpel to gently and carefully remove the disease that plagues us.”

#YesToJesus

“Baptism above all is this declaration, isn't it? A saying yes, yes to God. What is the core of the gospel? We've gone through this, and we'll probably go through it again for those of you who have forgotten. What is the core of the good news of Jesus? Anyone, shout it out. He's king. Jesus is lord. Jesus is messiah. Good on you guys. And that good news, that Jesus is king, demands a kind of response from those who hear it. That response is a willing surrender, a giving up of our agenda, our lives, a following in some parts of the New Testament, a dying, a dying to ourselves. Baptism is the outward sign of that response, that pledge of loyalty to the Lord Jesus who is now king.”

#FaithNotTransaction

“Well, let's be honest, and I really am going to ask you to be honest to yourself. You don't have to call out. But let's be honest that as Christians, isn't that thought behind some of our thinking? We live for God, by which we mean we go to church, we read our Bibles, we offer prayers, we do good deeds. And in return, we expect God blesses us by keeping us healthy and financially secure. Okay. Well, here's a test. When something bad happens, is your first reaction, why is this happening to me? Think about it. If so, maybe, just maybe, underneath, you think God owes you something.”

#LoveGodWholeHeart

“``The focus here is on our relationship with God, not on what we do for God. There's no doubt about what that relationship should be like, and here is the challenge. Jesus made it crystal clear when he said that the greatest commandment was to love the lord our god with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength.”

#PrayAnyway

“``That that's not what David does. He does frankly, when someone has pursued you into a cave to kill you, thinking about your favorite things just doesn't work. David is still feeling rotten, and his sense of the presence of God isn't there, but he prays. I mean, he prays anyway. He doesn't feel like God's there, but he prays. He keeps on calling out to God. He says, God, pay attention to me. Look on me. It's the next slide. He says, god, answer me. Answer, lord my god. David prays. The the whole prayer is a psalm. And the prayer isn't just give me some attention. It's a it's a desperate cry for help. Give light to my eyes or I'll sleep in death. Listen to me and answer me or I'll die, David says. This is strong stuff. He's crying out to God desperately just like we're supposed to do.”

#DeathDidntWin

“``the worst thing that evil tried to do to Jesus, death, didn't stick. Like, death did not win over Jesus. And I felt like that's an important thing to say because oftentimes we feel like God's not with us in in that dark place or in that room, or he shows up after the suffering, but he actually is there in the middle of our suffering. And the way that we know that to be true is because unlike any spiritual leader or deity or god, lower g, Jesus came into this world as a human. He came into this world to walk as we walk. He came into this world in a body that could bleed and a heart that could break. even though he had it, all the power in himself to rescue himself from death, he chose to die on the cross for us. And he very much embodies the story that all of us experience when we go through suffering in our lives.”

#WorkOfTheCrossEstablished

“``Jesus asks the father to direct his work, and he obeys even to the point of death on a cross. Now, crucifixion was actually not rare, and it was not noble. It was actually rather common, and the Romans used it to erase people. There were many people who died on Roman crosses, and yet we do not know their names. And Jesus' death on the cross could have been swallowed up in the same anonymity. And while Jesus could perform the work of dying on the cross, he wholly entrusted the future to the father to establish the work. And the father delivers. raises Jesus. He vindicates Jesus. He gives Jesus the name above every other name, and he establishes the work of the cross forever.”

#LookToTheCross

“``If we can't even find evidence at all of God's faithfulness to us, Look at the cross. This is the most beautiful evidence of the faithfulness and love of God in the entire universe. Love poured out for us. So if you can't look anywhere while you're praying, look at the cross. And then finally, I would say we need to make a choice. We start by examining our hearts, questioning our feelings, looking for the truth, and then we're left with a decision to make.”

#SpiritualDisciplines

“``Sometimes we get into this mode of thinking that the Christian life is all about what we shouldn't do or what we ought not to do, about deprivation or not having fun, just following the rules. I think if we think that way predominantly, then something is wrong with our understanding of God, with our theology. Because the goal in Christian life is not to not do things. We say no to certain things so that we can say yes to better things. That's the whole point of spiritual disciplines.”

#SurrenderControl

“``In this question, Jesus wants us to examine our attention, logically showing the the absurdity of placing our attention into that which we cannot control, and to surrender control of the things we can't control to who really is in control. He asked it with a little bit of humor as well. Picture the futility of someone exerting time and effort to get taller, to add a cubit to their height. It's like, sorry, I can't come to the family dinner. I need to increase my height today. I'll I'll just take a little while to do that. The root causes of our our worry, which is anxiety about the future, is a misapplication or a misunderstanding of who God is and what he can do. Let me repeat that again. The root cause of our worry, which is anxiety about the future, is a misapplication or a misunderstanding of who God is and what he can do.”

#GodIsAFinisher

“``instead of thinking, oh, this is never gonna be you know, God is never gonna be able to work in this space, I wanna encourage you to say, God is a finisher. So you look at that world out there. God is a finisher. He's going to judge evil one day. And then as you encounter in yourself those places in your own heart that you go, oh, I did it again. God is a finisher. He's gonna finish you. He's gonna complete you. He's gonna complete me.”

#ReorderYourLoves

“then, how do you and I deal with the Babylon in our lives when it is so powerful, when it entices us so much? Well, not guilt, that's not gonna do it, not just simple human determination to pull up our socks and stop going after that thing. I am not going shopping. You know what is really ultimately going to get us to want to leave Babylon is to reorder our loves. By spending time with our God, as we did this morning in singing worship, focusing on him.”

#SpiritualGlassesOn

“There is a battle going on. So when you're stepping out that door, beautiful Vancouver, but there is a battle going on. K? Put on your spiritual glasses. Wherever it is in your life, there is a battle. Number two, remind yourself, there's an enemy. There's an enemy of God who is not for your flourishing, who is not for your good, who wants to destroy you and discourage you and, in some sense, kill you. There is an enemy of God. And that enemy may not be that person in front of you that sometimes we think these people are our enemies. There's a much greater enemy who uses circumstances and people around us to to discourage us. But there is an enemy. And then third, just to remind yourself, this enemy is defeated. This enemy is defeated. There is a battle. There is an enemy. This enemy has been defeated.”

#LambOfGodVictory

“The most crucial of all symbols in Revelation is the symbol of Jesus as the slain lamb. The Old Testament promise of God's future victorious kingdom was inaugurated through the crucified Messiah, the true Passover lamb. His death was not a defeat, but it was his enthronement as the king of kings who lives forever and ever. By his wounds, we are healed, dry bones raised to life, infused by the spirit to enter the new creation. And it is our great privilege and responsibility to be his witnesses in the world until he comes.”

#GodInControl

“Who is it that is calling out to these riders? Come. It's the creatures before the heavenly throne. It's the angels. In other words, the origin calling of these forces of destruction is not outside of heaven. It's not outside of God's control. It actually comes from this throne room that we had talked about in Revelation chapter four and five. So, the first thing I wanna notice is that even though there is destruction, and even though there is chaos and disorder, what John is telling us is that this is not outside God's control.”

#GodIsTheAuthor

“The birth of Samuel was not random, it didn't just happen, it was a gift from God. It was an answer to prayer and it shows us that God will remember us and honor what we surrender. God is faithful. Hannah petitioned her request and submitted to the Lord. And Samuel was born because God remembered her. He is the key actor here in the story. Not Hannah's persistence, not Eli's blessing. It was God who moved and made something happen.”

#WeepForTheWorld

“The scroll is locked. And he weeps. He weeps for the brokenness of what he experiences, for the brokenness of the world. Have you ever felt like that? I think if we're honest with with this world and with our own lives, we'll have that sense of weeping, of mourning, of grieving the things that should not be, and yet seem to have no resolution, no solution. And then and then one of the elders says, look. Look, and what do you see? The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. The root of David has conquered. This is imagery. This is language of the king of Israel. He has conquered. And when John looks, what does he see? Not a lion, but a lamb.”

#OpenTheDoorToLove

“The answer to loss of love or lukewarmness is not to somehow try harder, to put a long to put a list together, I will do this and this. It is simply to answer the knock on the door and let him in, to spend time with him, talk to him, love him like you would in any human relationship, gaze upon him. And I will tell you that as we do that, gazing on the absolute beauty and magnificence of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, how can we not fall in love with him?”

#RevelationUnveiled

“He doesn't God doesn't keep us in suspense. Especially the book of Revelation does not leave us hanging about how things unfold in this world and in history and in God's purposes, God's plan. In fact, that's what the book the title of this book, Revelation, is all about. The revelation of Jesus Christ. The Greek word apokalupsis just means the unveiling, the revealing of what things are not physically seen but are actually true, what is beneath the surface of what we actually see. And so the very first verse of this book begins, a revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.”

#GodAlwaysAtWork

“God is always awake, even when we sleep. And not only awake, he's at work, redemptive work. Do we trust that? Fully trust that? Or are we thinking, even subconsciously, that God might be distracted with bigger situations, or just needed some rest himself? Or maybe there is that little voice inside us saying that what I'm facing is my own fault, and I better pull up myself by my own bootstraps. Or what I'm facing is too small to get God's attention. I might stubbornly want to do it myself, almost like a little child insisting, I want to do it myself. We can lie down and rest while God works for us.”

#OneWordGrace

“When CS Lewis, who is probably my favorite theologian of the last century, when he attended the World Congress of Religions, he was being asked by somebody, can you describe briefly what the difference is between other religions and Christianity? He said, one word. Which one? Grace. Come on. Help me. Grace. Of course, it's grace. When the translators who translated scripture into Nepalese only seventy years ago, the church is young in Nepal, only seventy years ago, when they translated scripture, you know what what problem they had? There is no word for grace in Nepalese.”

#AnyoneButThem

“But maybe we can try a little thought experiment. I want you to think, I wonder who to you are the slimiest of sinners. The ones that hold this or that stance, who vote for him or her, who commit this or that wrong, or live this or that lifestyle, work in this or that job? What category of people do you find most off putting? I want you to just take a moment to think about that. Bring those people to mind. Now imagine pulling up on Jesus at a dinner party, laughing, surrounded by those kind of people. Can imagine yourself murmuring now how this would be disorienting, mumbling along to yourself and those around you, Jesus, I get it, but like him? Anyone but them.”

#CrossAndResurrectionPattern

“The cross and resurrection are not two separate events because we, our lives, are meant to look like and pay be patterned after Jesus' life. And insofar as we follow this pattern of death, of baptism, of dying to ourselves, then we are shaped after Jesus' life. And then and then because we are, Jesus' life didn't end in the grave, did it? It didn't end on the cross, but he was raised, he was exalted.”

#LawOfChristLove

“All of that Jesus took on the cross. That is what he did on the cross for the world, for us, for you and me, bearing away our burden. He didn't have to. He was God's son, but he came into this world, died even to death on a cross to take that sin, to enter into our brokenness, and carry our burden. This is the law of Christ. And so he's talking to the church in Galatia. When you restore one another in gentleness, when you forgive one another, when you're patient and loving and kind to each other, when you persevere with each other, that is fulfilling the law of Christ.”

#LovePerseveres

“But okay, you might be thinking, well, I have tried to love people and I have been rejected or even I have been abused in seeking to love. So Paul says in verse seven that love keeps going. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes, and it always perseveres. Jesus was rejected and Jesus was abused and indeed, Jesus died for our benefit and he calls us to take up our cross and to follow him. Yes, there will be rejection and yes, there will be abuse But that should not stop us loving.”

#WeaknessToGlory

“When you feel like you do not have what it takes, you are in the perfect position for God to show that he does. Your limitations are not a liability in his hands. They are the exact space where his power shows up the clearest. That is where your story stops being about your ability and starts becoming about his glory.”

#CrossAndResurrection

“We are the people of the cross and we are the people of the resurrection. And what a joy that is. We are the people of the cross and the people of the resurrection. Here's an invitation to consider. Think about your own limitations, your own brokenness and suffering that you are experiencing right now. How is God using this to minister others? Or maybe think about what others have poured in you that you may receive life. And probably you are thinking like, I I don't know this life, it is it really worth it? I'm struggling with that question. Think about what others have done that for you so you may live. What is this treasure costing you? What can you put to death so others may live?”

#FaithfulMessiah

“And so for Paul, for the messiah to be obedient to death, that was just completely astounding. That just blew his mind. This was the love of God that he would send his son to be obedient, to be just and faithful to the end and die for us. That's the faith of Jesus Christ that Paul is talking about. That is the center of the gospel. It's all about the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and that faithfulness is reflected most clearly on the cross because he was willing to give his life, his whole life for me and for you.”

#LambAtTheCenter

“In other words, he's bracketing the whole of his gospel with his notion of sacrifice. It's not just an event at the end of the gospel. Beginning, ending, all throughout his gospel, it's what it's about. Every conversation, every discussion, every event, every sign is pointing to the cross and flows out from the cross. One of the most prominent scholars on the gospel of John, he calls this phrase, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He says, this is the entry gate, the entryway into John's understanding of Jesus. If you get this, then you get his whole gospel.”

#GrainOfWheatGlory

“So, the hour of glory has now arrived and Jesus defines it. How? Not in splendor, not in brilliance, not a mountaintop experience, but in a grain of wheat, a single grain of wheat falling to the earth and dying. And in dying, bursting forth, it brings life. And then notice that Jesus doesn't just say this about himself immediately. He says, if someone would serve me, they must follow me.”

#CrossRelevantToday

“And here's the question, is the cross of Jesus relevant for the generations today? It's an important question. I feel like it's one we need to know the answer to. I know that prior generations have found a relationship with God to be the most important aspect of their lives. We can see this in the bible certainly. We see generations who follow after God from Genesis to Revelation and they have given their lives to God and found a relevancy of daily faith.”

#comfortWithStrength

“Comfort. And the word comfort, just like the word confront, has two parts to it, calm, which means with, and fort with which means strength. Comfort in our world often means, oh, I hope you feel good. I hope you are happy. No. In biblically speaking, comfort means with strength. When you are with the cross, when you are with Jesus, you are with strength. You are with fortitude. Comfort. You are with fortitude when you are with Christ.”

#BelieveIsSurrender

“But I just wanna reiterate today for us that to believe is not just to agree with, is not just to say, oh, I think it's true. To believe is really to to follow and to lay your life down for, to bend the knee, to pledge your loyalty to. That's what John means when he says, believe, believe. I believe that Jesus is the Messiah means I surrender my life to that king. I recognize Jesus as my king. I submit to his authority. I commit my life to following him.”

#FeedLikeJesus

“``So when Jesus commands Peter to tend his sheep and feed his sheep, I don't think it's too much to say that Jesus is asking Peter to love his sheep the way that he loves the sheep. Peter's ministry is an extension of Jesus' ministry. And then when Peter in history gives ultimately his life for Jesus in obedience to Jesus, I don't think it's too much to say that Peter's death is a kind of participation in Jesus's death, the one who ultimately laid down his life for the sheep. For John, Peter's restoration and Peter's commission are linked together by the cross. So for Peter to love Jesus meant to feed his sheep. And to feed his sheep means to die for the sheep, the way that Jesus acted for the sheep, loved the sheep, and ultimately died for the sheep. Okay. So here's the question then for us. Most of us are not going to literally die.”

#CrossShapesLife

“``But in the series, I wanna think not just about the cross as an event that happened in history, not just as something that Jesus did on our behalf, but as something that changes the way that we live our lives today or at least it should. It should be the basic pattern of the Christian life, something that shapes our everyday following of Jesus.”

#GodOnTheThrone

“``It symbolizes God's absolute sovereignty, majesty, and power. And this throne is occupied. God is sitting on his throne. He's not running around worried and scared and trying to figure out what to do next. He is sitting on his throne. He is firmly seated as the far the sovereign ruler of the universe. The message is clear. God is king and he is in control of everything and everyone.”

#JesusLambOfGod

“``This is Jesus, the son of God who is fully God, all knowing, all seeing, all powerful, who became a man and became the lamb, who died to buy us, you and me, people of every nation, people, group, and language. Look around this room. We are those people. He died for us. This is the sacrifice it took. This is how much he loves us. This is the one who opened the throne so we can come to our God.”

#ParticipateNotJustRemember

“Notice that he doesn't say remembrance of Christ, but a participation. As good as it is to remember the great sacrifice Jesus made for us, only doing that is like looking at the photograph of a meal. Now, it's an accurate representation to be sure, but it lacks the texture, the flavors, the experience of the true meal. It won't provide the nutrition that it was made for.”

#GodMovesTowardUs

“You don't need the right words. You don't need strong faith. You don't need to know what comes next. This story of arrival Luke tells is not one about people reaching up to God. Or climbing a mountain up to God. It's about God moving toward people in pursuing love. The only kind of love that can truly make a difference.”

#ItWasLove

“``For all the people he was going to save, he thought of you and me when he was hanging on that cross and dying for us. It was not the nails that held him on the cross. It was love. He is God. He could have come down any moment. Imagine how much strength it took to stay.”

#ParentingParable

“``We know that. Our kids know that, right? We need people who care about us and who know better than us to take care of us even if there's that kind of rebellious nature within us. And that balance is the beautiful thing of parenting, right? Try to understand what your kids want and desire and yet also guide them along life. Well, that is a parable of humanity in its posture towards God. Christ the Lord has come to take His rightful place as the King over our lives. This is the gospel message.”

#ShadowOfTheCross

“And for those of us who know the gospel story in its entirety, there's also a resonance that is doubly ominous. Because we've heard this title the king of the Jews used in this story. And the next time that phrase will be used will be in the stories of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. And so, already at the birth of Jesus, the shadow of the cross has fallen across the story, which reminds us that the diabolical opposition to Jesus didn't start at Easter, but has already begun.”

#IdentityInChrist

“``But when Jesus came, something fundamentally shifted. Not just our circumstances. The ancient world, just like today, was full of brokenness. And that didn't necessarily overnight change when Jesus came. What changed was our status. What changed was our relationship with God. Our identity changed.”

#PresenceInTheFaceOfDeath

“Death has a way of stripping off layers, of exposing deeper truths, more vulnerable questions. Death is the starkest reminder of our limits, of our finite condition. Illusions of control fall away. Death changes us. This week, I sat with two dear friends who are dying, entering that sacred space of end of life. No more fixing it. In the presence of the dying, we are uncertain what to say. Being present. Listening. Whispering prayers. I love you. Thank you. And no words at all.”

#CenteredInChrist

“With Jesus at the center, our approach revolves about our heart attitude and motivations before God. Instead of asking how much good are we doing, or even are we doing the right thing? We need to ask first whether we are connected to God, to Jesus. We need to seek to feel what he is feeling, to do what he is doing. Our engagement with social justice has to originate in God's heart for the poor and marginalized.”

#BlessedInAdversity

“So God says, I'm going to bless you. You don't deserve it, but I made you, and I love you, so I'm going to bless you. And I want you to bless others around you. As they see that you are blessed, as they see that you know you are loved, even when things are going wrong, they will know that I am good, they will come to me. So I want to bless you. It doesn't mean everything's going to go smoothly. In the midst of adversity, I'm going to bless you and be with you. And as you live out that hope and that joy and that peace, others will see what it's like to be blessed and be drawn towards me. And you will be blessed as you share the blessing.”

#LiveAsIfPresent

“Well there's one phrase. That keeps coming up. In our passage today. It's. Stay awake. Stay awake. That's a phrase. Verse 33. Verse 35. Stay awake. For you do not know. You do not know when the master will come. In verse 37. What I say to you I say to all. Stay awake. That's the admonition. That's what he wants us to do. To stay awake. To keep alert.”

#GraceForAllSinners

“This, this must be our starting point as we engage. Though while there are certainly issues of morality and rightness in politics, we, not just they, are all sinners and in need of God's grace.”

#godsovereignty

“According to the text, God is sovereign over Babylon, right? Verse 2 says, Yes, exile happened, but guess what? That's not outside of God's will. It's not outside of God's purpose. In fact, it was God sending his own people into Babylon. So, it's not Nebuchadnezzar who is sovereign and all-powerful. It's not Nebuchadnezzar who is sovereign and all-powerful. And Babylon, which is eternal, it's God, Yahweh, the God of Israel who is sovereign. It's God's kingdom, which is eternal. That's the biblical perspective.”

#EmbraceComplexity

“We're complicated beings. The world's complicated. It's said another way. We're complex beings with emotions and wills and minds and histories and relationships, and the world is complex with powers and systems and states and jobs, and it's big. It's complicated.”

#JesusModelOfHumility

“First of all, there's someone else at the center of our faith who does something similar, right? Someone else who humbled himself to the point of death on a cross, became one of us, right? Jesus at the center of our faith is very, very Christian, isn't it? To understand the other, to become even like the other.”