Southside Community Church - Milton

May 10, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Peter 3.1-9 Well - here we are on Mothers' Day weekend and as we work our way through 1 Peter we come to a passage to and about women. Maybe it's good that I am speaking to an empty room so that I won't need to duck the rotten tomatoes hurled at me! But seriously, does this passage speak with a relevant message for today? What is it?

May 3, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Peter 2.1-2 Do difficult times bring our the best or worst in us? Perhaps both? The Apostle Peter seems to worry that in very trying times his readers may need encouragement not to allow the worst of them to surface. Instead he has a strategy that will head them in the right direction - the sincere milk of the Word of God. If more time is possibly on our hands during these days Peter would suggest not allowing negative thoughts to dominate, but positive ones. And he says how!

April 26, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Peter 1.17-25 Have you ever heard someone ask "Who are you and what have you done with ..?" It's usually occasioned by a striking change in something that pertains to the person in question. Maybe it's a physical appearance thing or a behaviour. In the middle of troubling time Peter discusses such a question about Christians. We will let him guide us into the answers - "who are you? what have you done with? or "what has happened to you?" Fundamental aspects of our Living Hope are found here.

April 19 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Peter 1.3-9 During the Easter church calendar (until Pentecost Sunday May 31st) we will follow the Lectionary Epistle readings from the Book of Common Prayer. As we wait through the pandemic season this is one way we can join with the Church worldwide in the unity of Scripture. This may also direct your thoughts and prayers as you will find lots of resources on line in this vein. "Living Hope" is the way that Peter begins his letter to Christians who are going through a time of trial of some kind. This has both an objective and subjective meaning. We have a "living" hope and we also are called to "Live" out our hope. What a wonderful follow on from Resurrection Sunday!

April 12, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Corinthians 15.1-7 When everything around us seems to be changing or has changed the best thing to do is to find what has not changed and is not changing, nor will change. Let’s gather around the Gospel message that is that very thing in our lives and which we celebrate this weekend! The Lord is risen, He is risen indeed!

April 5, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Thessalonians 5:11 We should carry on encouraging one another and building up one another, says the Apostle, “just as you are doing.” These are to be our commitments in the midst of difficulties and trials. We must ask how we are doing these and how we can carry on doing these so that the same commendation would be made of us.

March 27, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Proverbs 14.31 Isn't it interesting that God has such strong feelings for the poor? We might moderate our concern for the poor but God identifies with them and is always "in their corner." They along with other groups in society, such as widows and orphans, have God's attention in a particular way. What can we do in these difficult times to pay attention to the poor?

March 20, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Proverbs 17.17 Can you think of someone you could phone at any time day or night? Someone who is there whenever needed, no questions asked? Someone who is loyal to the end? That is a good friend. In life with its ups and downs how wonderful good friends are. An important question is "are you that good friend?" We'll have a glimpse into the friendship between David and Jonathan and see the characteristics of loyal friends.

Sunday March 8 2020 Speaker: Mike Burns The video mentioned can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzmYV8GNAIM Proverbs urges us to resist the lure of worldly wisdom and resolutely seek out true wisdom. The biblical definition of wisdom is living in a way that honours and glorifies God. It is entirely unrelated to IQ, formal education or age, and it is given to anyone who seeks it: ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you’ (James 1:5). Join us this Sunday as we look at the subject of wisdom, and more importantly, seek to apply it to our lives.

Sunday March 1, 2020 Speaker: Bryan O'Gorman As we put 40 Acts of generosity into operation through the Lenten Season we will take 7 deep dives into the book of Proverbs and along with many other churches in the 40 Acts movement will talk about Humility, Wisdom, Friendship, Charity, Words, Money and Reconciliation and check our “readiness” gauge. Undoubtedly we will get some opportunity to put these teachings into practice as we act out our commitments. This Sunday Pastor Bryan O’Gorman will review some of the greatest acts of humility in the Bible and how they relate to us today. Come ready for some interaction and discussion with your brothers and sisters. The video referred to can be viewed at https://youtu.be/9OXRThtSbbY

February 23, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Corinthians 15.50-57 As we wind up our series on the Pilgrim's Progress we see Christian off into the "Celestial City." Many of us have seen loved ones off and none of us has been able to go across the chasm of death along with them. The Apostle Paul gives us insight as he is inspired by the Spirit so that we can begin to imagine how we are changed and transformed in the "Celestial City."

February 16, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 John 2.15-17 Pilgrim encounters a town which is full of fun and excitement, rather like a carnival! But it has a strange undercurrent that troubles him. We will think about the ambivalence we should feel about our own "vanity fair" as we hear the Apostle John's warning about loving the world.

February 11, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 4.1-32 A few weeks ago we considered the experience of conviction and the various ways we are drawn through its versions towards Jesus. In the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman we have a real life story of the struggles of religion and shame and meaning that prepared a woman to meet and trust in Jesus. This is one act of the drama of personal salvation.

Speaker: Ian Campbell John 17 The Great Dance we have been speaking about these few weeks is the living hope of Christians. We long to see the Kingdom come and heaven and earth be joined as one. In the meantime, however, as we wait and work we are invited into our part of the dance, that between the church and itself. In John 17 Jesus anticipates the way we will be one with the Trinity but prays for our oneness as the church. In Pilgrim's Progress we see the beauty of this in the "House Beautiful."

January 26, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Romans 8.15 Early in Christian's journey he meets a character named "worldly wiseman" and the village of morality. He seems to give good and sensible advice. Possibly the greatest error we still make as followers of Christ is to try to meet the requirements of morality by climbing Mt Sinai. It doesn't work! It's not the way to a relationship with God nor is at a way to please God as His children.

Sunday, January 19 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 16.8-10 John Bunyan introduces the graphic term "slough of despond" as one of the first places and experiences of Pilgrim. What is your life's version of this place of need or desperation on your spiritual journey? Did you have a sense of guilt, need or conviction? What do our friends go through that intensifies their spiritual need and may be used by God to bring them to start following Jesus?

January 12, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Genesis 12.1-3 The Pilgrim's Progress is very reminiscent of the story of Abraham and also prompts us to think of the Christian life as a kind of a journey. It involves leaving and travelling and finally arriving. This is a better way to think of ourselves than being and staying somewhere in a static sense. Did you start? Where are you on the journey? What is your destination? What are you encountering along the way?

Sunday, January 5, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Philippians 3.13-14 Ringing the Changes is a lovely but perhaps passing expression that describes the pattern of chiming church bells. Then comes the encouragement to "ring out the old" and "ring in the new" at the change of year and, indeed, decade. This rhymes well with St. Paul's exhortation to forget what is behind and to straining forward to what is ahead. Let's each think about the particular change that we need to ring in our lives in 2020.

Sunday December 29, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Luke 2.8-20 Shepherds have been brought into the limelight in nativity pageants worldwide. But notoriety would have been very surprising to the group referred to in Luke’s nativity account – the ones who were living out in the fields. Why were they the first to hear this news? Who were they anyway? What’s important about them for us?

Sunday December 22, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 41 As we walk through the journey of sorrow in our lives we face intense loneliness as a result of our losses and disappointment. Comfort is the severe mercy that we grasp perhaps tentatively. God is called the God of all comfort. We are comforted so that we can comfort others. As we emerge from the intensity of our sorrow we can look up and around.