Welcome to the Pastoral Corner! Here you will find updated thoughts from our lead pastors that are intended to be meaningful and relevant for you.
Mississauga
See all Mississauga Sermon Outlines, Bible Reading Columns or Pastoral Blog Archives
Following Jesus With Brokenness In Our Families
Passage: Mark 10:1-16
Speaker: Rev. Charles Lee
The Good Neighbour
Passage: Luke 10:25-37
Speaker: Prof. Sarah Han
Following Jesus With Wide Vision On The Narrow Path
Passage: Mark 9:38-50
Speaker: Rev. Charles Lee
Following Jesus In The Way Of True Greatness
Passage: Mark 9:30-37
Speaker: Rev. Charles Lee
God’s Kingdom Marriage
Passage: Mark 10:1-8
Speaker: Rev. Jason Noh
The Resurrection Power of Removing the Stone
Passage: Mark 16:1-8
Speaker: Rev. Jason Noh
Title: Jesus’ Fiercest Struggle at the End of the Tunnel
Passage: Mark 14:32-42
Speaker: Rev. Brian Moon
Title: Following Jesus In Our Weakness
Passage: Mark 9:14-29
Speaker: Rev. Charles Lee
Title: Following God: You In or Out?
Passage: Mark 8:27-38
Speaker: Rev. Jonathan Hong
Title: The Gospel that Goes After the Heart
Passage: Mark 7:1-23
Speaker: Rev. Charles Lee
Title: Multiplying Power Of The Gospel
Passage: Mark 6:30-44
Speaker: Rev. Jason Noh
Title: The Faith Of The Kingdom
Passage: Mark 5:21-43
Speaker: Rev. Jonathan Hong
Downtown
Check out our archive of Downtown Pastoral Blogs here.
Introduction: Mark’s Gospel chronicles the extraordinary ministry of Jesus Christ, who boldly proclaims the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15) and demonstrates its reality through miraculous healings and deliverances. As multitudes flock to witness these remarkable acts, Jesus seizes the opportunity to impart profound spiritual truths through the medium of parables—engaging stories that convey heavenly realities through earthly analogies. In this context, Jesus introduces the Parable of the Sower, laying the groundwork for deeper understanding of the mysteries of God's kingdom and discerning the receptivity of human hearts.
Introduction - Recap of Part 1
Last week, we began to explore the question: Why did Jesus teach in parables? Jesus’ sudden change in teaching method of parables without the explanations left many people including his disciples confused. His disciples questioned Jesus’ method, which reflects how we also question God and His methods when we don’t’ understand His ways. We learned last week that we must accept that God does not owe us an answer. However, God can choose to reveal the answer to us immediately or at a later time in retrospect, or He can choose not to reveal the answer within this lift time. We must also acknowledge that there are some things God chooses not to reveal to us because we would simply not understand. Accepting this is part of submitting ourselves humbly to God. Therefore, the first reason why Jesus taught in parables was to use it as an instrument of judgement against stubborn unbelievers who refused to believe and rejected the gospel by concealing the truth from them. Jesus was giving them over to their hardened hearts that trampled over the gospel.
Introduction
Is there significance to understanding why Jesus taught in parables? Clearly there is because the Holy Spirit, through the authorship of Mark, records and preserves a conversation between Jesus and his disciples around that very question. Understanding this question will allow us to peek into the intricacies of God’s ways.
Introduction
Introduction
The biblical understanding of Holy Communion (Lord’s Supper) entails 4 parts: 1) the Historical Context of Communion; 2) Who should take the Communion? 3) What are we doing in Communion? and 4) How (with what attitude) should we take it?
Introduction
“For Christ also suffered[a] once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit (v.18).”
Today’s passage fixes our gaze to the pivotal moment in human history, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. On Good Friday, we celebrated his selfless act of sacrifice, Jesus Christ the sinless Son of God, bore the weight of our sins and he has paved the way for our reconciliation with God. However, Easter is the ultimate triumph of love over darkness. It is the ultimate triumph of redemption over sin because Jesus emerges victorious from the tomb, opening up a new reality of hope and salvation for all humanity. Jesus’ resurrection extends beyond a mere historical event and has practical implications for us today – one of them being our baptism.
Introduction
The core message of Palm Sunday is about our inability to solve our problems. We consistently have to face the reality of our powerlessness and our inability to change our situations that bring us harm, suffering and pain. Our powerlessness becomes even more evident when it comes to global issues such as wars or cultural and political agendas that attempt to sexualize and indoctrinate our children. In our powerlessness, our only response is anger and grief and despair. Another thing Palm Sunday does is to help us recognize our tendency to seek control of the world around us.
Introduction
A leper, a paralytic, and Jewish scribes encountered Jesus, but what was their response to their encounter with Jesus? The leper and the paralytic responded with happiness, but the Jewish scribes and Pharisees with anger. As modern readers, this is a reasonable response, but for the first century readers, the encounter with the leper and the paralytic was scandalous. These were the outcasts of the community, and you were not to touch nor be around them (especially the leper). It was the scribes and Pharisees who were highly honoured and respected and the elite of Jewish society. What’s surprising is that it was not the so-called elite religious leaders, but the outcasts and marginalized who responded to the kingdom of God with happiness. Why is it so?
Introduction
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This opening statement of the gospel of Mark sets the tone for what we will discover in the book of Mark. The authorship of this gospel is credited to Mark, who is called John Mark in the book of Acts. This book is dated to around 65AD where severe Christian persecution took place under the rule of the Roman Emperor Nero. The Apostle Peter was martyred during this period which may have prompted Mark to write this gospel. Mark wrote this gospel in Roman, in the epicenter of Christian persecution, which challenges believers to stand firm in the face of persecution and difficulty.
Mark was not an apostle, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Mark is best known for abandoning Paul and Barnabas during their mission trip for unknown reasons, which became the source of sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas that led to them going separate ways; Barnabas took Mark and Paul took Silas. What led to this person to write one of the greatest books of the Bible?
Introduction
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This opening statement of the gospel of Mark sets the tone for what we will discover in the book of Mark. The authorship of this gospel is credited to Mark, who is called John Mark in the book of Acts. This book is dated to around 65AD where severe Christian persecution took place under the rule of the Roman Emperor Nero. The Apostle Peter was martyred during this period which may have prompted Mark to write this gospel. Mark wrote this gospel in Roman, in the epicenter of Christian persecution, which challenges believers to stand firm in the face of persecution and difficulty.
Mark was not an apostle, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Mark is best known for abandoning Paul and Barnabas during their mission trip for unknown reasons, which became the source of sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas that led to them going separate ways; Barnabas took Mark and Paul took Silas. What led to this person to write one of the greatest books of the Bible?
Introduction - Discipleship as the mission of the Church
The word “commission" refers to a special assignment or mission tasked to a person or group on behalf of another. The Great Commission is a special assignment given to the church on behalf of Jesus. It is the very purpose for the Church’s existence. The gospel writers emphasize the work of the cross and the resurrection to magnify God’s plan to redeem mankind, which was put into motion from the very beginning, and all of biblical history culminates in Jesus Christ who came to redeem us and restore our relationship with God. For many Christians, this is a familiar to you, but one thing many Christians fail to realize is that God’s redemptive plan continues on through the Church beyond the cross and resurrection. It continues with our transformation to be Christlike for our benefit and for the people of all nations. This is what discipleship is about.
Introduction
The topic of “money” can be a sensitive subject to talk about in the church, but the truth is it shouldn’t be. However, it does leave a bad taste in our mouth when we see so called televangelist boasting about how rich they became from the offerings that came in. Should we be surprised when non-believers accuse Christianity and the clergy of profiteering?
Introduction
Fasting is not a spiritual gift but a spiritual discipline that invites us to offer our full dependence upon God. Fasting is not about depriving yourself of something as a means of pleasing God, nor is it a practice reserved for “super” Christians. A simple definition of fasting is: the practice of fasting is the practice of abstaining from food or something else for spiritual purposes. We are called to fast in order to intentionally feast on God. In other words, fasting is about God. The secular world has reduced fasting to a healthy lifestyle, but fasting is about relying and depending upon God. In Zechariah 7:5, God scrutinizes this situation: “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?’ In today’s Bible passage, Jesus addresses our motivation behind fasting.
Uptown
Check out our archive of Uptown Pastoral Blogs here.
Based on the overwhelming feedback from last week's sermon, this sermon will expand on our identity in Jesus Christ. Our identity in Christ is important but often times we overlook it or have a superficial/vague understanding of it. In this sermon, we will reflect upon what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ and that Christ is the firstborn based on Romans 8.29-30.
Based on the overwhelming feedback from last week's sermon, this sermon will expand on our identity in Jesus Christ. Our identity in Christ is important but often times we overlook it or have a superficial/vague understanding of it. In this sermon, we will reflect upon what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ and that Christ is the firstborn based on Romans 8.29-30.
Based on the overwhelming feedback from last week's sermon, this sermon will expand on our identity in Jesus Christ. Our identity in Christ is important but often times we overlook it or have a superficial/vague understanding of it. In this sermon, we will reflect upon what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ and that Christ is the firstborn based on Romans 8.29-30.
The theme of this sermon series is the purpose, calling, and mission of God's people. But before we explore those ideas, we must first understand what our new identity in Jesus Christ is. We hear people refer to their identity in Christ all the time. But what does it actually mean?
Based on the overwhelming feedback from last week and as we prepare for this upcoming Passion week, we will continue the theme of submission through the life of Jesus Christ. Before we do that, we need to be reminded of Christ's preexistent form. That is, who is Christ even before the incarnation (i.e., being born as a baby) and his death and resurrection? …
This last sermon of the series will focus on Paul's command for us to submit to one another. Submission, especially in the light of church leaders abusing their authority, is even more controversial today. Nevertheless, Paul talks about submission in a way where it is the cause and/or effect of being filled with the Spirit. In other words, submission is indispensable for us to grow in the image of Jesus Christ and thereby glorify God …
When Paul warns against drunkenness (Eph 5.18), we often neglect the greater context of his warning (Eph 5.15-21). In fact, the passage has less to do with alcohol and more to do with living with a sense of awareness of the times: "make[ing] the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Eph 5.17) …
Contrary to the famous, yet misleading, adage, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me," words are extremely powerful and important in the eyes of God. It was through God's Word that all of the universe was created and it is through his Word that all of life is currently being sustained. As God's image bearers, our words also have a potency that we typically overlook …
The focus for this week's sermon will be on theft and stealing. On the one hand, the Bible speaks about theft frequently (Exod 20.15; Mark 10.19; Rom 13.9; 1 Cor 6.9-11); on the other hand, stealing is not nearly as common in our modern context. This sermon will explain how we should apply the warning against stealing today in the gospel of Jesus Christ as we focus on Ephesians 4.28 …
Anger, bitterness, or wrath can wreak havoc, especially in important relationships. Unlike the other issues that we've been reflecting upon over the past few months, anger is usually directed toward someone in a very traumatic way and can thus create gaping wounds that never fully heal. Sadly, anger has already shaped or is shaping many of us--whether we were exposed to an outburst during our formative years as children or whether our own anger has created open scars on our loved ones, such as our spouses or children …
We are often misled to think that Christian life is centrally about momentous events or circumstances. The truth, however, is that both our victories and failures are influenced more by the little moments that we typically overlook. This is partly what Paul has in mind when he says that our old way of living has been corrupt (or destroyed) by our deceitful desires. These desires might seem innocent, but they have the power to ruin our lives so they are doubly dangerous …
Now that we are a few sermons into this series, we will first revisit the intended outcomes and marvel at how we are already experiencing so much fruit from trusting and obeying God's Word thus far. The topic of this sermon will be covetousness. Although we hardly ever use the word, covetousness is one of the more dominating sins that we commit and is the motivation behind so much of our lives including work, how we engage in social media, how we view finances, etc. …