Sermons From Grace Baptist Church of Richmond Hill

Many people want Jesus to fit into their lives without rearranging their priorities. But eventually the call to faith conflicts with our comfort, expectations, or our relationships.This message looks at what it means to follow Jesus when it costs something.

It's easy to become frustrated by desperate circumstances. We wonder what God's doing and question His ways. This message looks at how embracing the cross can reshape our faith, our understanding of God's plan, and the way we treat others.

Familiarity can blind us to the majesty of Jesus. When that happens, the impact of His words is dulled. This message looks at Jesus' Transfiguration and what it teaches us about His identity and mission.

Young people grow up with a sea of voices that will shape their lives and steer their futures. Families and churches have an opportunity to make God's voice loud in their children's lives. This message looks at how we do that and why.

We often stubbornly hold onto the very things that are destroying us. This message looks at the life Jesus can give us and the things that stand in the way of it.

Jesus can be respected and admired without fully being understood. This message looks at the inadequate assumptions we make about Jesus and the reality of who He is.

When needs overwhelm, it can feel like life is out of control, and God's hands are off the wheel. This message looks at how to trust God when circumstances make it hard to do so.

We often demand proof from God while ignoring what He's already given. This message looks at the evidence Jesus offers for the divine regime change He is bringing about and challenges us to evaluate our response.

So much of what we hope in eventually disappears or disappoints. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus because it promises a secure anchor for our confidence. This message looks at the hope the resurrection makes possible.

Humans are wired to avoid the feeling of guilt, yet the sacrificial system was made to remind us of our need for God's forgiveness and transformation. Hebrews 9 reveals that Christ offered Himself as the greatest and final sacrifice for guilt and sin, and invites us to rest wholly in Him.

Assurance is ultimately found by looking to Christ. John points to faith in the Son of God as the basis of eternal life. This message looks at the faith that gives assurance of salvation and how to know that we have it.

Some people claim to believe in Jesus and think that they're going to heaven while denying truths that the Bible says are foundational to the faith. John warned about the danger of heretical beliefs—convictions that are so dangerous they represent a rejection of the true God. This message looks at what they are and how to discern them.

Our hearts can still accuse us even when we belong to Christ. John shows that the Spirit reassures believers of God's love and empowers obedience. This message looks at how the Spirit brings confidence and peace to those who walk with Him.

It's easy to claim faith in Christ while keeping His people at a distance. John teaches that true children of God stay connected to the family of God. This message looks at how love for the church confirms the reality of our relationship with God.

Many people want assurance of forgiveness without confronting the darkness of their own heart. John reminds us that those who walk in the light are honest about their failures and turn to Christ for cleansing. This message looks at the confession of sin that gives evidence to the reality of our faith.

Rules, leaders, and circumstances ultimately fail because they fail to fix the root problem. The new covenant promises something greater: a new heart. This message looks at how God's final covenant transforms us from the inside out.

People often look to parents, pastors, and presidents for hope, guidance, and a better life. King David was a man after God's own heart, but even he turned out to be a disappointment. This message looks at God's covenant with David and where our true hope must rest.

Whether it's in the home, the workplace, or the government, we're tempted to think that more rules will fix things. With Israel, the more God multiplied the laws, the more the people sinned. This message looks at God's covenant with Israel and the limitations of well-intentioned commands.

With Abraham, God started over with a plan to bless the world. This time, however, the fulfillment rested on God's faithfulness, not Abraham's performance. This message looks at God's covenant with Abraham and why our greatest need is to know that someone's on our side no matter what.

Christians are an “on-mission” people, but sometimes we get distracted from practical, everyday obedience because of the fear we feel, and the lies we believe about Jesus and the cost of following Him. This sermon in Luke 9 will explore the heart behind our mission, and what obedience of faith looks like.

The flood showed that sin runs deeper than outward behaviour. Even after terrifying judgment, the human heart remained corrupt. This message looks at the covenant with Noah and why tougher laws and punishments alone can't bring the change we need.

Not even paradise and a perfect Father could keep Adam from sinning. If Eden wasn't enough to keep him from disobedience, why do we place all of the blame on our past and all of our hope in better circumstances? This message looks at the covenant with Adam and why our hope must rest in something deeper than our environment.

How are our prayers shaped by the attitudes of our hearts? Are we self-sufficient, or reliant on Christ? As we prepare our hearts for the New Year, let's study Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to realign our heart posture with the good promise of the gospel.

Mary's song gives voice to those who long for change in the world. She celebrates a God who reverses the patterns that oppress. This message looks at how Christ's coming begins the revolution our hearts seek.

Mary's life was disrupted by an announcement that didn't make sense. She struggled to understand how God's promise could be good. This message looks at how God helps us to trust Him when we can't see the whole picture.

Zechariah and Elizabeth had lived faithfully, but it seemed like God had passed them by. Their experience speaks to those who feel overlooked or unheard. This message looks at how God remembers us even when we forget His mercy.

Christians sometimes assume that the Christmas stories should be believed. Luke's gospel begins by addressing those who need more convincing. This message looks at the evidence for the gospel accounts of the birth of Christ.

Hardship and repeated sin can leave us feeling as if God is done with us. But even when the Israelites seemed beyond hope, God remained committed to their blessing. This message looks at the hope that comes from realizing God's grace is more stubborn than our sin.

When we question God's goodness and grumble about His ways, the consequences can be disastrous. This message looks at how God used a bronze serpent to help His people confront their sin and His solution to it.

Even the most faithful leaders stumble when they stop trusting God's Word. Moses' failure at Meribah is a warning to us today. This message looks at what cost him the Promised Land and what it means to live by faith instead of frustration.

In this message, we will study our tendency to replace God with substitutes. The problem is that these substitutes are not neutral—they enslave us. Asking for great things can be either good or disastrous. We'll see the difference between these two outcomes and discover why Jesus as King is the better option for a life of freedom and new identity.

It's one thing to regret sin's consequences. It's another to truly turn back to God. Israel mourned God's discipline but moved ahead without His leading. This message looks at how false repentance can lead to even deeper problems.

We often want God's blessings without the risk of obedience. Fear can keep us from experiencing God's best. This message looks at how we respond when obedience feels impossible, and God's promises seem too good to be true.

There are times when the demands are overwhelming, and it feels like nothing we do is enough. This message looks at how God's wisdom and Spirit can bring relief in those moments.

Cravings can cloud our judgment and make us forget God's goodness, and when we give into them, it costs us spiritually. This message looks at how God exposes misplaced desires and teaches us to rest in His provision.

We tend to measure spirituality by the verses we read, the sermons we hear, and the meetings we attend. Jesus, instead, talked about foot washing. Humble service of one another in the body of Christ is at the heart of God's plan for the Christian life. This message looks at what happens when believers wash one another's feet.

Every believer has been given a gift to enable their unique contribution to the mission of the church in the world. But when we ignore those gifts, the church misses out and so do we. This message looks at the gifts that God has given us to serve Him.

One of the great privileges of the Christian life is serving our King. Often this service is categorized in three ways…delight, duty, or disregard. Where would you place yourself in light of these three descriptors? Today, we want to look through a lens that may help re-focus your service into one of delight.

The professional student is the person who finds comfort in the perpetual learning of the university but lacks the courage or direction to put their learning into practice. The same problem can easily take place in the church. This message looks at God's plan to equip believers to make an impact in the world.

Growth threatened the health of the early church. Overworked leaders were in danger of sacrificing what was most important for what felt most urgent. As they empowered others to join in the ministry, the priorities were preserved, and the needs were addressed. This message looks at how God invites people to join in the mission where they're needed most.

God has entrusted you with unique gifts, talents, and opportunities, but what you believe about His character determines what you'll do with them. Our view of God either paralyzes us with fear or propels us into faithful action. This message explores how understanding God's grace frees us from regret over missed opportunities and empowers us to invest our lives for His kingdom.

Our vision of God radically impacts every part of us; a distorted view of God leads to a distorted life. If we are to be all God wants us to be, we need to see Him for who He really is: our great and good God, who knows, sees, and loves us perfectly.

Most of us are dehydrated and don't know it. The same is true for our souls—we recognize our soul's need for wholeness, satisfaction, and relief, and often seek to find them in anything but God. Psalm 42 helps us seek out the real source of our soul's thirst, how we can satisfy that thirst, and how preaching to ourselves rejuvenates and invigorates our worship and spiritual life.

Anything we do regularly can lose its meaning. When that happens with church, our hearts can begin to drift from God. This message helps us recapture a vision of gathered worship that rekindles our desire and stirs our anticipation.

We so often allow our lives and priorities to be defined and shaped by all sorts of external phenomena; but what if God's design for worship was the method by which we are shaped into all that God has called us to be? David's Psalm 16 calls us to declare and rejoice in all that God is and what He's done for us—to be shaped by our worship of Him.

The Tenth Commandment is like the final exam. What is it about envy that grips us so strongly? Why does what you have make me feel worse about what I have? This message examines the contentment at the heart of God's command not to covet.

In an era many call “post-truth” because of the rise of alternative facts and the popularity of fake news, do lies matter anymore? This message examines God's passion for truth that underlines the Ninth Commandment.

In a world that's fixated on more, it's easy to gain for yourself at the expense of other people. Honouring God involves respecting what other people have and stewarding what you've been given. This message looks at the relationship to other people's property that's highlighted in the Eighth Commandment.

In a world where suffering is real and social justice is often reduced to slogans, Jesus calls us to something deeper. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we discover that true compassion pushes us to see, feel, and meet the needs of others. This Sunday, we explore what love really does.

In a culture that trivializes intimacy and blurs lines of morality, the sexual ideals that the Bible calls for can feel outdated and restrictive. This message looks at the purity and faithfulness emphasized in the Seventh Commandment.

When young is cool, and old is outdated, parents can easily be dismissed. When parents fail their children, the challenge to honour them is even greater. But God has designed parents to play a vital role in a child's growth and a society's formation. This message looks at the honour due to parents that underlies the Fifth Commandment.