Our covenant, the New Covenant, is the final covenant that God will make with humanity before His triumphant return. It is perfect in its completeness and effectiveness because it was executed by a perfect mediator with a perfect sacrifice. What a perfect gift for Christmas!
Year: 2018
Breaking Bread 2018-12-23
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week Tim shares about the peace that Jesus came to this world to bring.
The Davidic Covenant
God’s covenant with King David initiated a long period of anticipation. A time when Israel longed for its fulfillment in a King who would sit on David’s throne and return Israel to its former glory. When Christ came as the fulfillment, there was great consternation concerning the actual role of the Messiah.
Breaking Bread 2018-11-25
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week Tim shares that Jesus come as a servant to live amongst us, to die and pay the price for our sin, and to overcome the grave for us.
The Mosaic Covenant: Part 2
The covenant that God made with Moses included not just His prescription for holy living but a means for addressing transgressions which were inevitable given humanity’s sin nature. The sacrificial system and the Day of Atonement foreshadowed the coming mission of Jesus Christ.
Breaking Bread 2018-11-18
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week Tim discusses why Jesus Christ had to die.
Breaking Bread 2018-11-04
This week’s “Breaking Bread” is a touching presentation by Ken Doiron. In preparation for communion Ken shares two stories of young men who were seeking to serve God and how their lives were impacted.
In Galatians 3 Paul writes that the Law served as a “Guardian” until Christ came. The Law is the centerpiece of God’s covenant with Moses. It taught Israel and the world God’s expectations for righteousness. But clearly and intentionally it was impossible to fulfill all of its requirements. As such, it left the world looking for help beyond itself.
Breaking Bread 2018-10-28
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. Jesus invites the weary and heavy laden to come to Him for rest. This Sunday Tim talks about the greatest angst that wearies our soul.
The Mosaic Covenant Part 1
The next major covenant God made with “man” was given through Moses on Mount Sinai. This was made possible by God choosing and sending Moses to deliver His people, Abraham’s expansive family, after 400 years of slavery in Egypt. As we look back on this great deliverance, we can see that Moses was “an evolutionary prototype” of a much greater deliverer who served an even higher calling.
Breaking Bread 2018-10-21
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This Sunday we remember that Jesus broke the power of sin and death over us. We can have victory over those sins that so easily beset us.
The Abrahamic Covenant-Part 2
We consider the role that Israel, Abraham’s descendant nation, was to play in blessing the whole world and present the quandary of whether or not Israel is still to expect the realization of God’s promises to Abraham.
Breaking Bread 2018-10-14
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This Sunday we remember Jesus’ gracious treatment of Thomas when He appeared to the disciples after His resurrection.
The Abrahamic Covenant
God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) continues to reveal His ultimate plan of redemption in Jesus Christ. A descendant of Abraham would bring blessing to the entire race.
Breaking Bread 2018-10-07
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This Thanksgiving Sunday we remember that Jesus, in giving us the ordinance of communion, took the bread and the wine and gave thanks.
The Noahic Covenant
As we continue to see God’s unfolding plan of redemption through His covenants, we are challenged to understand the justification for Noah’s salvation from the flood and introduced to the key concept in the gospel of Jesus Christ…righteousness by faith
Breaking Bread 2018-09-30
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about the great exchange. Jesus was imputed our sin and we were imputed His righteousness. God made Him who had no sin to be sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God
The Adamic Covenant
After Adam and Eve broke God’s first covenant with them, a new covenant was required, the terms of which recognized that paradise was lost. Despite the devastating consequences brought on by their disobedience, we still see a gracious God giving hope for the eventual redemption of humanity
Breaking Bread 2018-09-23
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is how we tend to trivialize and even celebrate and be entertained by sin. Jesus left us with a reminder of how much it cost to pay the penalty for our sin, His very life.
The Edenic Covenant
This covenant between God and Man occurred before the fall of man and reveals God’s desire to lavish His creation with all that he could ever need. It was a conditional covenant that required man to submit to His authority or pay the ultimate penalty of death. We all know how that went! Even in the judgement of death we begin to see God’s ultimate plan of redemption through Christ.
Breaking Bread 2018-09-16
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about Jesus Christ as the High Priest, who entered the most holy place, once and for all, by his own blood shed as the perfect sacrifice to cleanse us from our sin.
Having spent the summer considering the depths and heights of God’s great love for us, we will now consider God’s great plan of bringing to fruition His great plan of salvation through His covenants.
Breaking Bread 2018-09-09
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about the old covenant of works and the new covenant of grace.
What God’s Love Means To Me
As a follow up to this summer’s series of lessons on God’s love, the congregation were challenged to share the implications of God’s love for them. Some of those comments are shared here
Breaking Bread 2018-09-02
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about righteousness and righteous acts.
Think of the implications of God’s love for you existing before time began and extending beyond the it will cease to exist.
As we mature, we realize that loving requires responsibility, not just pleasing. God’s love for us is not meant to win our favour but to help us become more like him. This is why He teaches us discipline and disciplines us
Breaking Bread 2018-08-19
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about being on death row and how we are condemned to die but Jesus came to give us life and life eternal.
By the grace of God, Joseph Toma brought his family out of war-torn Iraq just ahead of the ISIS takeover of his city. Joseph shares how God has been faithful in many ways, one of which was their sponsorship to move to Canada to begin a new life.
Breaking Bread – Aug 12, 2018
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about the legacy that we leave behind. Jesus asks us to remember His death until He comes again.
God’s Love For You Is Freeing
Just as many of the survivors of “Near Death Experiences” report a radically new perspective on life, those of us who daily encounter God’s profound love for us, are no longer bound by fear. If God is for us, who or what can pose a viable threat to us?
God’s Love For You Is Patient
The words of God through the prophet Jeremiah, telling Israel of His plans to prosper her, were given during a dark period in which Judah was being held captive in Babylon. This predicted captivity was God’s way of getting Israel to repent and return to the one true God. Those hopeful words are words that God has for us too. Unfortunately, we get in the way of them being realized when we pursue our own plans. It is wonderful to know that God’s love for us is patient!
Breaking Bread 2018-07-29
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about celebrating great events, in this case celebrating the triumph of Jesus over sin and death.
Bonnie Gardiner’s Journey
This Sunday morning Bonnie Gardiner shares her faith journey.
Breaking Bread 2018-07-22
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about the blood of Christ and how his ultimate sacrifice brings us salvation and freedom.
God’s Love For You Is Joyful
If you suffer with self esteem issues you need to listen to this encouraging message! God’s delight in you is not based on what you have done. It is based on what He has done for you and how you recognize your need for it.
God’s Love For You Is Costly
Not being able to fully appreciate the magnitude of God’s greatness, It is hard for us to understand the extent of Christ’s sacrifice in coming to save us. Looking at the surrender of His prerogatives gives us some understanding as to the lengths to which He was willing to go in loving each one of us. “His grace has no measure.”
Psalm 23 employs the imagery of ancient shepherding and hospitality practices to describe the exhaustive provision of our Lord. Truly we “lack nothing”.
In our world of limited warranties and voluminous fine print it is only natural to expect limits to commitment. Wonderfully, this does not apply to God’s love. His love for you is not limited by who you are, what you have done or even what He knows you will do. It is truly limitless!
Breaking Bread 2018-06-24
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion. This week is about the Samaritan woman at the well and living water. This also leads into this week’s message “God’s Love For You Is Limitless”.
Breaking Bread 2018-06-17
Breaking Bread is a touching weekly presentation by Tim Edwards in preparation for communion.
This week is a reminder of the tender reunion of the disciples with Jesus, His third appearance to them following the resurrection.
Psalm 139 presents David’s thoughts about his God. The degree to which David felt God’s love is unique to each one of us chaĺlenges the notion that God’s love is generic. This is the beauty of the new covenant in Christ.
God does not call His followers to a life of discipline, sacrifice and self-denial because they are virtuous pursuits in and of themselves. No, He knows better than anyone that pursuing holiness results in His best for us. Only a God who loves us would care enough to do everything that we need to enable us to become the people He designed us to be.
We conclude our study of Acts with Paul, under house arrest, still trying to help his people, devout Jews, recognize that Jesus Christ is their long anticipated Messiah. He tells them that the reason he is in chains is because of “the hope of Israel”. Israel’s only hope is our only hope…the redeeming work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Despite the opposition of most of his friends and colleagues, Paul finally makes it to Jerusalem committed to sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His experiences there could be described as a litany of seemingly fruitless distractions and yet he is not deterred and does not react out of frustration. He simply responds with integrity and grace.
Honoring our parents is a critical foundation of God’s perfect blueprint for a good life. There are implications for not just each observant family but for society as a whole.
Biased Spiritual Advice
Paul feels called of God to head to Jerusalem despite what he has been told by the Spirit will be trouble. His friends, his brothers and sisters in Christ, try to dissuade him, even by claiming that their opposition is compelled by the Spirit. Both can’t be the voice of God. Speaking into each others lives is “part and parcel” of being the Body of Christ however we need to guard against allowing our biases to influence our advice.
Our True Mission
Tom Marshall teaches that success and failure are not measured by how busy we are. Our mission needs to be the same as Jesus’ was.
The varying responses of the Ephesians to the gospel speaks to the different valuations they ascribed to it. Paul’s valuation was clear…”I consider my life worth nothing to me” compared to the gospel.
Planning For Succession
New Glasgow Christian Church has reached a place in its growth and development that requires planning for a gradual transition of leadership to the next generation. What better to place to look than God’s plan as He prepared Israel to enter its land of promise under new leadership.
Why Do We Seek Life In Death?
The angels questioned the women who had come early to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Of course they weren’t expecting Christ to be alive. They went to the tomb to find the dead. There is a larger question that comes to mind, one that speaks to the human condition, “Why do we look for life in death.” It was that instinctive orientation that Christ came to reverse. Since the Fall humanity has tried to find life in that which leads to death. Easter has the power to change all of that!
Powerless Faith
Is there a difference between John’s Baptism and Christian Baptism? Both are symbolic but of very different things as Acts 19 illustrates.
Maintaining Orthodoxy
The literal translation for “orthodox” is “right belief”. The idea that there could be an absolute truth is clearly at odds with out postmodern culture which advocates equality of belief and ideas. The early church was very concerned about maintaining orthodoxy as was demonstrated in Acts 8 by Priscilla and Aquila.
How’s The Fishin’
Paul’s experience in Corinth should challenge us to see evangelism in a different way. Although its seems our western culture has moved on from the gospel, we need not think that our efforts to spread the gospel are in vain. We need to remember that God is still at work in people’s lives. Our calling is to be faithful and give those thirsty for the Truth what they need to become children of God
So Simple It’s Genius
As Paul did some sightseeing in Athens he was distressed to see how lost in religions, superstitions, and philosophies the residents were. He couldn’t help but speak the simple truth of the gospel into this complex mosaic of ideas. His presentation to the philosophers is an excellent template for us as we seek to present truth within our own lost, pluralistic culture.
Can You Handle The Truth?
Jesus said that he was TRUTH. When we accept the TRUTH, we are given the Spirit of TRUTH. The Spirit of TRUTH transforms us, making us like Christ. All of this is, of course, contingent on our response to TRUTH. In Acts 17, we have a record of the very different responses of those exposed to the TRUTH in Thessalonica and Berea. Oh that we would be like the Bereans!
A Love That Conquers Fear
A Rolling Stone article recently suggested that even though we are living in the safest time in human history we are living in an age of fear. God does not want His children to live this way and He has done everything to free us from that fear. In Philippi, Paul and Silas demonstrate the difference that this freedom can make.
A Fresh Perspective on Plan B
In Acts 16 we see that Paul’s plans to spread the gospel in “Asia” were prevented by “the Spirit of Jesus”. He must have wondered why he was not being allowed to do what he figured he was called to do. How are we to respond when our plans are replaced by God’s Plan B?
Paul’s guidance around the question of circumcision seems puzzling until we consider it in the light of the paradox of Christian freedom.
On this Fellowship Sunday John & Timea Patterson share their journey from pastoring in Christian Missionary Alliance church in Saskatchewan to becoming a part of the family at New Glasgow Christian Church.
When We Disagree
In this life, there will be disagreements, as was evident in the early church. Our aversion to confrontation and our natural propensity to react by employing “fight or flight” can be overcome as we learn how to manage disagreements in a Godly and constructive manner.
In Acts 15 we read of a conflict that would ultimately result in a clear defining of two distinct covenant communities, the old covenant community of the Jews and the new covenant community of Christians. The question that arose was whether or not Gentile believers needed to be circumcised and be part of the old covenant community. The decision that resulted from the Council of Jerusalem would be the defining moment of the church.
John’s words about Jesus…”I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”, are indicative of the vast difference between those awaiting the arrival of the Messiah in the first Advent and those of us living in the second Advent. The incredible effects of Christ’s baptism make our experience so much more purposeful.