The thief who was crucified next to Jesus was a criminal, a villain. Yet through the loving sacrifice of Jesus, the hero, he was not condemned but given new life. (sermon by John McGregor)
Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Before the Throne” invites us to imagine what it will be like to come before the Throne of God, based on the imagery in the books of Isaiah and Revelation.
Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Love Begins at Home” teaches that loving one another, within the family of God, is the first thing that must happen before anything beyond that can be fully and truly realized. Also, since our love for others comes from our love for and in Christ, we must fill ourselves with God’s love above all.
The CBWC Heartland “Theology of the Ordinary” podcasts include a series by Ed Neufeld called “Not Improving On Our Instructions“. It deals with this topic of loving each other as Jesus’s primary instruction to the church.
Pastor Ryan’s sermon “What Governs the Grey” looks at how we can navigate differences in the church about which things are right and wrong for believers to participate in.
“Teach Someone to Fish…”, by Pastor Ryan, looks at what Jesus might have meant by that strange invitation to his first disciples to come and be “fishers of people”.
Pastor Ryan’s Fall 2023 sermon series “Generosity” is inspired by a series of videos put out by the CBWC Foundation on that topic. You can watch the videos there.
The key verse for the series, chosen by the Foundation, is the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38: “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
(Pastor Ryan notes that this is not an invitation to bargain with God by giving with the expectation of getting more financial return. It is an attitude of the heart and part of the larger principle of treating others with compassion, the way God treats us.)
This sermon was given by Rebecca Zhang on July 9, 2023. The recording is in Mandarin, but her sermon notes have an English translation. The slideshow below contains the Scripture passages in Mandarin and English as well as the photographs that Rebecca refers to in the Witness section of her sermon.
Argyle Road Baptist Church 