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Make Covenant with the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 19, 2020
Would you be willing to sign a legal agreement with the Lord, committing to do what He tells you to do? The Children of Israel made covenants with the Lord and, if we want to make progress in our relationship with Him, then we need to as well. Part of us does not want to do that. Let's talk about the value of a covenant with the Lord and how we can get through our resistance to the idea and make that commitment in a meaningful way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (27m 15s)
"Teach Us to Number Our Days..."
Worship Service: Informal Family - January 05, 2020
It's a new decade (or not, depending on how you think about it) and it's a time when a lot of people are thinking about time and all that's happened in the past decade or two. People are also looking to the future and wondering what will happen in the 2020's. With these thoughts on our minds it seemed like it be useful, this Sunday evening, to reflect on Psalm 90 where it says, "teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 59s)
Grief and Gratitude
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 29, 2019
A different baby was born in Bethlehem, hundreds of years before Jesus was born there. The mother of that baby died in childbirth and soo named her son "son of my sorrow" before she died. Later the father renamed that baby, "son of the right hand" or "son of strength". This story offers an opportunity to reflect on our sorrows and the strength that the Lord has given us through our sorrows and also gives us another way of understanding why the Lord was born in Bethlehem. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (11m 22s)
Why Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 25, 2019
Jesus was birn in Bethlehem, a town that did not seem particularly interesting or exciting. And if we want to find our Savious we need to be willing to look in places that also don't seem particularly interesting or exciting. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 30s)
We Might Not Want the Lord to Come, But We Need Him To
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 01, 2019
As we approach Christmas we often talk about the Lord coming into the world and Him coming into our lives in a new way. At this Sunday’s evening service we will be talking about prophecies from Malachi about the Lord’s coming and why we might not actually want the Lord to come into our lives. That might sound strange but some of the prophecies about the Lord’s coming do not sound very pleasant. But we actually do need to go through those unpleasant things to really be ready for the Lord to come into our lives in a new way. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 39s)
Invitation
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 17, 2019
As a church we are focusing on invitation for the next couple of months. As we work on invitation I want our thinking and our actions to be informed by what the Lord teaches about it. And when you look for it, you can find teachings and stories about invitation and even direct invitations from the Lord throughout the His Word. Let’s learn from the Lord about how to invite. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 38s)
"Unless the Lord Builds the House...."
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 20, 2019
It's very easy to buy into the idea that if we just work hard enough we can make sure that things work out the way we want them to. But then sometimes the things that we put hours and hours of effort and energy into building still fall to pieces. And then it feels like it's not worth working on anything. But the Lord can help us to find a healthier motivation to keep on working hard, while also leaving the outcomes to Him. This sermon is based on a chapel talk by Thane Glenn. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 29s)
Life is Hard, Part 2, What Do We Do?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 29, 2019
A few weeks ago we talked about how to cope with how hard life in this world is. This Sunday we're going to focus on the question of what to do about it. What actions should we take in response to hard and terrible things that happen? It's easy to feel quite powerless in the face of tragedies or huge problems. Can we make a difference? What do we do if our best efforts seem to accomplish nothing? Life is hard; what do we do? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 25s)
Life is Hard, Part 1, How Do We Cope
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - September 08, 2019
There are a lot of hard aspects of life in this natural world—in our personal lives and also in the world around us. What do we do with it all? How do we cope? Is it better to try to ignore the hard stuff? If we don’t ignore the hard stuff, how do we keep from being flattened by it? This Sunday we’re going to try to learn from He who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” about how we can cope with life in this hard world. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 52s)
A New Name
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 25, 2019
We get to witness two baptisms as part of the service this Sunday. When someone gets baptised we talk about them being baptised in the Lord’s name. There’s a lot that’s contained in that simple idea. This Sunday we’ll talk about what it means to take on the name of being a Christian and how we can find a new sense of identity in the Lord. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 25s)
Memorial Service for Edward Palmer
Memorial Service - August 25, 2019
On the 18 August 2019, Edward Palmer peacefully passed away at the age of 86. It's always a hard adjustment when someone passes away, even when they've been sick for a long time like Ted had been. While we grieve his passing, we also are glad for him that he is no longer encumbered with a sick body but instead can enjoy the full use of his spiritual body and can again walk, run, talk easily with people, explore, and eat whatever he wants. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (34m 40s)
What Does it Take to Make Good Decisions in a Difficult Moment?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - August 11, 2019
There's a lot about life that is beyond our control and so it's easy to feel like life is just happening to us and we are being dragged along for the ride. Despite that we do still have choices to make--big ones and little, day-to-day ones. How do we make good choices? What things do we need to have in place in our lives to give us the best chance of making good decisions in the midst of our busy, stressful, or just overwhelming lives? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 45s)
Samuel, Part 1: Hearing the Lord's Call
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 21, 2019
This Sunday we’re starting a series on the story of Samuel. As an adult, Samuel becomes a pivotal figure in the history of the Children of Israel but his story begins in his childhood. The Lord calls out to him and at first he doesn’t know that it’s the Lord. We too can struggle to distinguish the Lord’s call in our lives from a lot of other inputs. With Samuel we can learn what it takes to recognise the Lord’s call and what sort of messages the Lord has for us. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (25m 44s)
We Need Times of Rest
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - July 07, 2019
This Sunday we will be looking at the spiritual significance of the year of Jubilee. This was a law that the Children of Israel had that, every fifty years, they had to let the ground lie fallow and not plant seeds or harvest. Also, any land that had been sold during those fifty years had to then revert to the original owner. What is the spiritual significance of all of this for our lives and our need for fallow times? | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 15s)
The Spiritual History of the Human Race, Part 3: Christianity and a New Church
Worship Service: Sermon only - June 30, 2019
This Sunday we will finish our series on the spiritual history of the human race by talking about the beginning of Christianity all the way until today. What happened that made it necessary for there to be a new church after the church started by Jesus Christ? And where do we go from here—what do we believe will happen in the next 500 years of the spiritual history of the human race. | By Rev. Malcolm G. Smith | Westville, RSA
See Event (20m 14s)