Pastor Percipia

     For full message, see link  at bottom   My church is a part of the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec . Last week I attended our annual assembly. This is a snapshot of some of what I carried home with me from that gathering and shared with my church on Sunday morning: Voices from the past. Voices from the future. Voices of today. These are the voices that define us. Voices from our past... You may have never heard of the Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association. I had never heard of it either. It's a group of primarily Black Baptist churches in western Ontario. Part of the reason it exists is that in 1834, it was declared across the British Empire that anyone who stood on British soil was free. Slavery was ended. But in Canada—in Baptist churches like ours—Black people were not accepted into membership. (Why? What would we thinking? I just... I don't know.) For decades after, Black people could not receive membership in Baptist churches, so...

   For full message, see link  at bottom   Today was Tuesday. For Jesus, Sunday and Monday had both been very, very busy days. Chaotic even. Days filled with anger and joy, and the tears that arose from both.   Wednesday was going to be a day when he could rest and spend time with friends in Bethany.   Thursday was going to be a day for sharing his last meal, his last teaching, his last moments with his disciples before his death.  Friday... He didn't even want to think about Friday. Not yet.  It was enough that today was Tuesday and he was in the Temple: the glorious, lively Temple, the soaring, golden tribute to the worship of Yahweh God by the people who loved him. The building that was the home to all the soul of Israel.   He'd been here yesterday as well. On Monday morning, he'd woken up early in Martha's house in Bethany. He'd walked down the hill and up the other side of the valley. Into the city, up the stairs, through ...

        For full message, see link  at bottom   Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20)  Baptism is part of the journey of the believer: coming to faith in Christ, becoming baptized, and then continuing on in that life of learning.   In Acts chapter 2, Peter says to the people in Jerusalem: “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you in the name of Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He's not saying that if you are baptized, you will be forgiven. He's saying, ‘Be baptized because you have been forgiven.’  For it is by grace you have been saved through faith,...