Southside Community Church - Milton

July 28, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Samuel 9 Perhaps the two most staggering doctrines of the Bible are the Love of God and then the Grace of God. Our journey is into a deeper experience of both. We may more easily grasp our need for the love of God than that for His grace. But we are in desperate need for this incredible provision in our lives and relationships.

July 21st 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Ephesians 3.14-19 When the Apostle Paul thinks of his friends and what to pray for he is powerfully drawn to the matter of God's love. In fact he calls it Christ's love making it even more personal and experiential. He prays that they will explore the dimensions of Christ's love and will know it although it is beyond knowledge. How do we experience God's love in our daily lives?

July 14 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Timothy 3:16 The Holy Bible is the most popular, most read, most purchased book in the world. What an amazing fact this is. What is there about this book that has gained it such notoriety? Let's have a fresh look at its value in our lives and faith with a look back at what an early apostle said about its source and effect for us.

June 30, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Hebrews 11.8-12 What is the role of faith in Knowing God? Perhaps a different take on this subject would be that faith is believing that only God knows, understands and works out the backstory to our lives. Hebrews 11 gives us a whole cast of characters, not many of whom got the e-mail that explained everything God was organizing and arranging! Have you received yours yet?

June 23, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 8.1 & Psalm 93.1-5 Have you ever been "lost in wonder, love and praise" as Charles Wesley penned in his hymn "Love Divine"? Against our attempts to understand and explain God we are often much more suited for admiration and awe than grasping. In the words of the Band Sleeping at Last "The universe was made just to be seen by my eyes." Is that the end purpose of our existence perhaps?

Sunday, June 16, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 102.26-27 Here is a profound idea - that God does not ever change. So the One presented in the Old Testament and New Testament is still as described. What does that mean for us? We have some theological questions and some practical questions about this. Is the Old Testament God really still the same? Today there is a great rejection of that God as characterized in the Scriptures. So do we have the accurate caricature or does it need updating?

June 9, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 14.26 A recent author has titled his book The Forgotten God, referring to the Holy Spirit. We cannot get very far on the path of knowing God if we don't develop our balcony and traveler knowledge of the Holy Spirit. This Sunday we will focus on the third person of the Trinity.

June 2, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 1 Corinthians 15.47 Charles Wesley wonders "Tis mystery all! The Immortal Dies" in his hymn. As we gaze upon the Person of God and grasp that He is enormously beyond understanding or comparing but that He has indeed come close to His creation and creations so that the corrupting infection can be excised. Thus the incarnation is the most amazing of all theological notions.

May 26, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Isaiah 40.18 This chapter is a powerful expression of the incomparable Being that God is. We are left agreeing that God may not be compared, or explained by any human mind or attempt. Our failure is that we try to make a comparison or an image and thus insult our Creator. Rather we should find ourselves gazing with awe on His glorious works.

May 19, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 17.3; Jeremiah 9.23-24 Knowing God involves a two way relationship (or actually four plus ways - answer that riddle!) We will focus this weekend on the reality that God knows us. What does that mean for us? What does He think of us? What does He do with what He knows? What do we want Him to know, what would we rather He didn't know? Let's explore that.

May 12, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Daniel 11.32 On Mother's Day our thoughts are drawn to matters of the family. How many are the stories of those who look back upon the influence of moms who have raised, supported, prayed for and encouraged them over the distance of a lifetime. The Old Testament gives us the caricature of a young man who would be the envy of any prayerful, faithful mom. This young man was taken from his home and displaced into a whole new world. But he had been raised well and thus we have the story of heroic Daniel. Tucked away in the middle of the book is a verse that may well be his life motto: "the people who know their God will be strong and carry out great exploits"

May 5 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Proverbs 1:1-7 For many of us formal education consisted of classes, exams and required reading. We put aside reading for leisure in favour of the hundreds of pages that needed to be mastered in keeping with the calendar. We avoided our interest being captured by subjects and topics of interest that were calling to us like Odysseus' sirens because they would detract us from staying on course towards the completion of a diploma or degree or certification. But when the program was completed we were free to engage as we chose in matters of more interest! So a class taken for audit for pleasure was a treat. If you could choose a subject for study that was for personal profit and enjoyment - would you think of studying God? What would that be like? What would it yield? That's what's on offer for us in this study.

April 28, 2019, Speaker - Ian Campbell Knowing God This Sunday we commence a new study series called "Knowing God," based on the J.I. Packer book with the same title. We will track with the chapters and also encourage you to acquire the book and use the study questions personally or with some friends as weekly follow up discussions. Packer begins the book with the distinction between those on the path of life who are "balconeers" and those who are "travelers." The first are content with theory and observer status while the second - what we hope to be - are on the journey, needing to know what they need to know as a matter of daily direction and indeed survival. Let's join the journey. Knowing God: J. I. Packer is available for Kindle and as a published book, available from Amazon.ca Talking with God Exodus 33.11 In all of our study about who and how God is, one of the most startling statements of Scripture concerns the Ancient Moses that the Lord would talk to Moses face to face as a person does with a frie

April 21 2019, Speaker - Ian Campbell Luke 24.5 Two angels at the tomb of Jesus on Resurrection Sunday asked a great question of the women "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?" It seems we could meditate on that angelic question with powerful insights yielded. How much of our thinking and behaviour is with a graveyard rather than empty tomb perspective?

Speaker: Ian Campbell Acts 4:32-37 "What's yours is ours and what's mine is my own!" This variation on the saying "What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours" is perhaps more telling that we'd like to admit. Ask parents of youngsters about sharing toys and about how well that works out. Or take a field trip upstairs to the Nursery on Sunday morning to get a live view of little humans sharing. But this was a reality in the early church. They had everything in common and made sure no one was in need. How would that work for us in 2019?

Speaker: Ian Campbell Responsive Acts 8.26-40 A preacher was in an elevator and had his Bible in his hand. A person joined him in the lift and, noticing the Bible in his hand, asked "Is that a Bible?" "Yes", said the preacher, "have you read it?" "Of course," said the new friend. "What's your favourite part?" pressed the preacher. After some embarrassed hesitation the preacher pushed harder with "You've never read it have you?" "No" was the reply. "Why did you say you had read it then?" preacher persisted. "Because I guess I thought everybody should read the Bible at some time in their lifetime and I just haven't gotten around to it!" Acts 8 is the great story of an Ethiopian Royal official and his adventure in Bible reading.

Speaker: Ian Campbell Acts 6:1-7 In the church there are often two groups of leaders - elders and deacons. Acts 6 is the story of how a group of leaders we call deacons originated. The original tells us how church organization grows and develops and is a perfect model for starts and initiatives for the church through the centuries. Let's see how it applies at Southside@Main

March 24, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Acts 6:1-7 In the church there are often two groups of leaders - elders and deacons. Acts 6 is the story of how a group of leaders we call deacons originated. The original tells us how church organization grows and develops and is a perfect model for starts and initiatives for the church through the centuries. Let's see how it applies at Southside@Main

March 17, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Acts 2.42-47 The early followers of Jesus took very seriously the prayer of Jesus that we would be "one." He prayed that this would be so in order that the world would believe. Indeed the unity of the Jerusalem believers had a great impact on their neighbours. They were described as having favour with all the people. Wouldn't this be a great goal for us as we settle in to 200 Main - to have favour with all our neighbours and passers-by?

March 13, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell We are joining over 100,000 individuals and 1000s of churches around the world to spend Lent generously. What if rather than only giving something up for Lent we went all out and added some generosity and gave out kindness? Every day we will have a thought supplied by e-mail and every Sunday we will keep step with a study about some characteristics of the Acts church, a church that lived out generosity and grace in the heady and terrifying early days of Christianity. A Brave church Acts 5.40-42 Is "brave" an adjective that would be used of you? In what area of your life would you be called that? I imagine that it wouldn't be used often of us when it comes to our Christian faith or witness. However, for many of our brothers and sisters worldwide, this is precisely the word that comes to mind. Well in so many ways we are thankful for our freedoms and privileges in living our Christian lives here in the West. So we are not called to be brave very often, or are we? Let's thin