Newmarket Alliance Sermon Podcast

When God Makes Us Laugh (part 4) When you hear the phrase "getting the last laugh" or the old axiom "he who laughs last, laughs best" there's something that sounds a little nefarious about it all. Is this the laugh of revenge? The laugh of comeuppance? Can you picture Snidely Whiplash twisting his moustache or Dr. Evil with his pinky to his mouth giving a "muwhahaha" villainous laugh? That's NOT the Jesus way. He never felt vindictive towards ANYONE. But, Jesus does talk about the pain of this life... how those who weep today are actually blessed because one day that weeping will be turned to great laughter (Luke 6:21) That's the "Last Laugh" Christians can look forward to!

April 28, 2024 THE LAUGH OF FEARLESS CONFIDENCE (** Podcast begins after the sermon had already started, simply setting up the Biblical context of David and Goliath **) When God Makes Us Laugh (part 3) Want to know what bullies absolutely cannot stand? Laughing at them. Bullies thrive off fear and intimidation. Do you realize how Satan wants to bully you with lies and fear? With the God of angel armies standing behind you, sometimes the best thing you can do is look directly at your enemy, throw your head back and laugh in defiance.

A sincere laugh, by its very nature, is from something that catches us off guard. A punchline should be surprising in that way. But sometimes the laugh comes not from having your funny bone tickled, but from sheer audacity. Those "you gotta be kidding me" moments. The laugh when someone predicts or even pulls off the seemingly impossible. Turns out God LOVES pulling off those "you gotta be kidding me" moments. Join us for the Laugh of Disbelief

We don't typically associate "laughter" with God, Jesus and the Bible. Maybe that's our first blindspot - ascribing maximum solemnity to the God who created joy, humour and ROFL moments. We'll look at the humour of Jesus (even when you might not have known He was telling jokes). It might radically change the way you view Jesus and His teaching. We’ll dive into every instance and mention of the word "laughter" in the Bible. Even the laugh you definitely don't want to hear.

We may notice subtle shifts in the acceptance of Christianity in Canada, but it's not the same category of what the majority-world Christian faces. 317 million Christians worldwide currently face "very high" or "extreme" levels of persecution. Tomorrow we have a unique service planned for you as our friends from Open Doors Canada, the organization begun by Brother Lawrence, will be presenting the incredible stories of faithful believers in North Korea and around the world who are choosing to follow Jesus no matter the cost. You won't want to miss it! opendoorscanada.org

Welcome to the Family. As we come to the finale of this series, there's one more piece that might just be game-changer for you. Indeed "God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) and He does this in various ways, but the most significant is the adoption of His Children into a new Spiritual Family. You are not an orphan. You are not alone. You are not un-parented. You. Are. Adopted!

THE POWER OF A BLESSING The subtitle of this series has been "Breaking generational patterns of dysfunction" but another way of putting it might be "Breaking the generational curse" I'm not necessarily talking about witchcraft or that sort of thing, but many of you have in essence had curses spoken over you in your upbringing. Lies about your identity and destiny. What is the antidote to a curse? It's the power of a BLESSING!

The Way Forward It's time in this series to get serious about breaking the patterns of generational dysfunction. I believe God is asking us to play a role in our own healing. There are steps forward - steps AWAY from our unhealthy past that we can take, but it will require some courage. Courage to LEAVE, to OWN, and to CREATE

"I can forgive my Mom for what she did, but I will NEVER forget the hurt she caused" That sentiment sounds about right to me. It sounds righteous and just. There are even times in our history when it has been noble to say "Never Forget" What IF there are times when it is MOST healing... MOST righteous to actually forget? Are there times when even the God of the universe - the one who promises that He will not forget us - actually CHOOSES to forget? Are there times we ought to as well?

The Bible speaks about the "sins of the fathers" being visited upon their children. What has our family of origin done to us? Are we doomed to repeat those same "sins"? How can we break generational patterns of dysfunction? This week begins the HOW part of the series.. You may not like the prescription the Bible offers, but it's one we all need to hear! #siblings #parenting #parents #forgiveness

A New Series Begins! You're talking to your son and realize you just said that triggering thing your mom always said to you as a child... When thinking about getting married, fear paralyzes you because you see how your parents ended up... The words spoken to you as a child continue to echo through your spirit, affecting your self-esteem and relationships with others... The dark, unspoken abuse, the pain of abandonment, the substance abuse... The Bible speaks about the "sins of the fathers" being visited upon their children. What has our family of origin done to us? Are we doomed to repeat those same "sins"? How can we break generational patterns of dysfunction?

We promised a Part 2 that included some practical, wise steps to begin getting our finances under control - and those will certainly be part of this Sunday's presentation - but practical steps without a realignment of mindset... without a restructuring of our PRIORITIES won't be enough for the kind of financial freedom we're talking about. So be prepared to be challenged, and God-willing, be prepared to be set free from a toxic relationship with money.

The most recent Canadian stats say that 47% of you who open this email are living paycheque to paycheque AND a great deal of your disposable income is going to consumer debt. That means for half of you, if for some reason you lose your job, you're facing real trouble. Whether we got this way from our bad decisions or circumstances beyond our control, we want you to know there is hope and there is help, and in this practical series you may just find both.

We all have ups and downs in life and this is also true of our love for Jesus. There are times we love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and other times we love Him as an afterthought. How can we cultivate a habit of the heart where we regularly and joyfully live in obedience and worship of Jesus? I believe we can learn from the saints and spiritual fathers in the contemplative tradition. We will look at two sisters in the Bible who are often pitted against each other as one being better than the other; but the saints and spiritual fathers teach that it is better to learn a little bit from Mary, and a little bit from Martha.

If you’re a follower of Jesus and have kids or grandkids, or even nieces and nephews, I bet that one of your biggest hopes for these kids’ lives is that they too would choose to give their life to Jesus. Unfortunately the stats are revealing the opposite – that more and more of the next generation are choosing to walk AWAY from their faith as they become adults. Is there anything we can do to reverse the trends? To help the next generation in their journey with Jesus? While there’s no guarantees, I do believe that the Bible offers us hope and practical wisdom on how to disciple the next generation.

As we wrap up this series on the differences between the major religions it only makes sense that we would give the final say to the case for Christianity. There are so many ways we could present this; Showing how historically, scientifically and logically that (in my humble opinion) Christianity is the faith that just makes sense. We could present a Biblical overview and show God's redeeming work from the beginning of history or a book of Romans study on the path to salvation. Instead, let's give the last word(s) to Jesus Himself as he lays out the simple invitation to the Jesus way. How do we respond and what difference does it even make anyway?

Some of the nicest, kindest, most right-living people you've ever met might be Jehovah's Witnesses (Watchtower) or Mormons (LDS: Church of the latter day Saints). They may have the unique ability to show up at your door at the most inopportune time, but it's hard to slam the door on them when they're so darn nice. So why do they seem so intent on making converts? Isn't that a GOOD thing? Are they just like a different Christian denomination (like Baptists or Pentecostals or Presbyterians) wherein they do things a little different than us but ultimately worship the same God? So what's the difference anyways? It's my hope that knowing a little bit about what they believe will solidify and even encourage you in what a true Christ-follower believes.

For some of you reading this, your "love language" is giving and receiving gifts. This is a beautiful and legitimate expression of love that actually reflects a God who LOVES giving good gifts. Christmas itself is really the story of God giving the ULTIMATE gift - the gift of HIMSELF to the world. So this won't be some message on making anyone feel shame about the Christmas tradition of gift-giving. We're not about to "throw the baby out with the bathwater". But I'll bet many of you are feeling the same discomfort that I am. This growing sense that Christmas has been co-opted somehow by our culture's obsession with the gifts we give and receive. It's even contributing to a personal debt near crisis in our country. How can we maintain the heart of Christmas generosity without letting the culture dictate the terms?

This season you will most certainly have more gatherings than you're used to. Family gatherings, work parties, in-laws, socials... In other words, there's no shortage of opportunities for relational tension, conflict and outright annoyance. Would you be surprised to know there is Biblical wisdom on how to navigate these tricky relationship scenarios? This will be a particularly practical teaching that will hopefully make for more PEACEFUL and LOVING Christmas gatherings (and all the interactions that follow)

Does it feel like the beautiful, life-changing origin story of this Christmas season keeps getting increasingly watered down by our culture? Is Christmas really about gift-giving? Sneaky elves hiding on shelves? Even some nebulous, ill-defined "spirit of Christmas"? How about 3 ghosts helping us to become a better all-around person? Nothing inherently bad about any of those narratives EXCEPT when held in contrast to the greatest story ever told. Immanuel. God WITH us. This very practical series will share ideas on how to keep Christ in our Celebrating, our Gathering and our Giving