Sanctus Church Audio Sermons

Together: A Series on Marriage & Community  Speaker: Dave Adams Marriage matters. Since the very beginning, God has intended for it to serve as the blueprint for male-female relationships. It holds a special place in the human story—so why does it seem to be so difficult and confusing?Many voices have weighed in on the topic—some good, others bad. The Scriptures have a way of cutting through the noise.Using the story of Hosea as a touchstone, we focus in on the power of choice, the influence of beliefs, and God’s heart for marriage.

Speakers: Jon Thompson & Dave Adams Scripture: Nehemiah 4 Description: Twice a year at Sanctus Church, we stop to recap where we've been and where we're going. It's a chance for us to celebrate what God has done among us, building faith to move forward.

Speaker: Dave Adams Scripture: Luke 2 Sermon Description:  In preparation for the new year, we turn our attention toward the story of Simeon—which doesn't receive much attention since it appears in the Christmas story after the "big day". Simeon's life demonstrates what it looks like to walk by the Spirit as we: Wait. How do you wait with purpose and patience for God's promise to come true? Act. How do you remain ready and move when the Holy Spirit prompts you? and Respond. How do you respond when God reveals his faithfulness? Simeon shows us a better way forward. As we prepare to enter this new decade, let's follow Simeon's example and invite the Holy Spirit into the whole process—and walk with God throughout the entire journey.

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Genesis 2, Revelation 21, Colossians 1 Sermon Description:   When we look up at the stars, we can’t help but feel a sense of wonder. The cosmos were designed to reveal God’s glory—to point us back to the Creator of it all. Yet God is more than just the author of light. He is light. What does this reveal about His nature and character? When we circle back to the beginning, we see how the stories of both Creation and Christmas reveal the goodness of God's heart. It's there from the start: eternal and unwavering holiness. In Jesus, we see what happens when the light of the world invades the darkness. His life, death, and resurrection destroyed darkness and replaced it with everlasting light. From throne to cradle, God entered our story so that we may have salvation and eternal life. This light now shines in our hearts. The Holy Spirit empowers us live out a story of re-creation and victory. By walking in and with the light, we become children of light—and glorify the Fathe

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Galatians 6 Summary:Welcome to the eleventh and final week in our series on the book of Galatians. To conclude this incredible journey, we turn our attention to Paul's highly practical conclusion. Paul demonstrates his wisdom by translating knowledge into action; he preemptively answers the most likely question in the minds of his audience at this point: Now what? Paul crafts a series of verses to explain not only what Gospel freedom look like in action, but how we maintain our freedom in the real world while continuing to build our lives on the firm foundation that true freedom comes from a promise, not performance—and Jesus is the promised one. God set us free for a reason. Let's find out what it really means to be a new creation.

Speaker: Joel Penney Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26 Summary:  Welcome to Week Ten in our series on Galatians. There is a war inside each of us between the Spirit and our sinful nature. The Spirit wants us to be more like Christ and our flesh wants us back into slavery. According to Paul, to win this battle we must choose, every day, to be led by the Spirit. The way of the flesh (world) is a trap: living your own way looks like freedom, but it’s a lie. It’s actually slavery. Paul provides us with a hopeful list of all that we can experience when we choose a life in the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Speaker: Ben Hilson  Scripture: Galatians 5:1-15 Welcome to Week Nine in our series out of the book of Galatians.Paul opens Chapter 5 by driving home the central thesis of his letter to the Galatians: Freedom is at the core of the Gospel. We tend to insert ourselves into the grace equation. Our western culture emphasizes personal performance and achievement, so it's natural for us to let this mode of thinking distort the nature of the Gospel. Paul corrects this error by reminding us that neither religion nor irreligion have any power to establish us in relationship with God. Faith in Jesus is the only thing that counts. Inviting the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts with this truth enable us to love others with the proper motivation. When we internalize the fact that our freedom is not dependent on our works, we free ourselves from fear—and in turn move from self-obsession to selfless loving. 

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 4:21-28 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week Eight in our series out of the book of Galatians. Are we truly trusting in God’s promise or are we more committed to our performance? In these verses, Paul uses the story of Issac and Ishmael to further illustrate his point. Both Isaac and Ishmael are sons of Abraham, but with two completely different destinies. One is a slave and one is free, one is born out of normal, natural everyday means while the other was the impossible becoming possible. We, too must learn to trust in the promise and not on our own performance.

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Galatians 4:1-20 Welcome to Week Seven in our series out of the book of Galatians. As we enter into Chapter 4 the story gets more personal, deeper and closer to the heart. You don’t need to prove yourself to God, He loves you. The Holy Spirit cries out on our behalf “Abba, Father”, leading us time and again to that one place, one declaration, one grounding and life changing point. Thank you God!

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Galatians 3:10-29 Description:  Welcome to Week Six in our series out of the book of Galatians. This letter was written to a group of churches that were being tempted to give in to a false gospel and to walk away from the true gospel. The law shows all of us our sin and need and moves us to a Saviour. You will not be made right by any form of religion, spirituality, mindfulness, kindness, wealth, power, gender, race or family background. The gospel is never about performance, only Promise! Jesus is the promised one!

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 3:1-18 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week Five in our series on the book of Galatians. No amount of hard work, prayer, religious duty or hustle will help you grow and walk with Jesus. Jesus work alone, grace alone, faith alone. This is the gospel. Nothing needs to be added. You can believe the right gospel, but still act like you believe the wrong one. Holy Spirit, come empower us to see Jesus, understand Jesus and to live like Jesus. 

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 2:11-21 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week Four in our series on the book of Galatians! As we have seen week in and week out, this letter was written to a group of churches that were being tempted to give in to a false gospel and to walk away from the true gospel. The story picks up when Paul confronts Peter and Barnabus, who begin to let fear drive them and their theology right to hypocrisy and sin, even after learning from Jesus and teaching others about Him. So what can we learn from this confrontation between Peter and Paul? Today, Christians disagree on lots of things as they study the bible and read the history of the church. Most of the time these discussions are in shades of grey instead of anything in black and white. But there are 3 times when this type of confrontation (Peter vs Paul) is needed: when you change the gospel, change the essentials of the faith and when you say sin is no longer sin! As we listen in to learn more from Pastor Jon regarding thi

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 2:1-10 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week Three in our series on the book of Galatians. It has been 14 years since the end of chapter one and the false teachers have made their way back to the birthplace of the movement, to Jerusalem itself. Paul returns to re-affirm that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only one that saves and it is for everyone! There is no culture that is not touched by sin, the world and the devil, every ethnic background needs Jesus, and this is ultimately what completely unifies us. Acts 2 is the call of the church, no matter what denomination, cultural expression or size.  Teaching, community, communion, prayer, the presence of God, giving, loving the poor, large and small gatherings, baptism, and evangelism! We all cannot reach the same people, our style and size will attract some and not others, but that is God’s plan! Let’s continue to lean in and listen to what God is speaking to us, no matter what community we are part of. We are bette

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 1:11-23 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week Two in our series on the book of Galatians. This week Pastor Jon discusses we, like Paul can use our story of transformation to share the gospel with those around us. It is always grace alone, faith alone, in the work of Jesus alone that we are saved. God does not love you because you are moral, kind, religious or the opposite. God does not want you because you are rebellious or evil. He loves you and He calls you out of Love because He is Love.  

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: Galatians 1:1-10 Sermon Description: Welcome to Week one in our series on the book of Galatians. Written so soon after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, this book from the beginning helps build the case for the real historical resurrection. Paul reminds us of the Grace (undeserved mercy) and Peace (shalom, restored relationship with God) that we received from God, in and through Jesus. Only Jesus can be our true Saviour, the one who rescues us from our hopeless sinful state. But this Gospel message cannot be added to, or watered down. Jesus plus nothing is everything. Join us as Pastor Jon dives deeper into this beautiful and challenging text. Series Description: Written only 16-22 years after Jesus’ death and physical resurrection, the book of Galatians sees Paul writing to a group of established churches in what is our modern-day Turkey. These churches were filled with Jews and non-Jews all following Jesus together. As we will learn together from Paul’s letter, the c

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: John 13:1, Philippians 2:9, Luke 22:3, Ephesians 2:8 Sermon Description:  As we wrap up our series, Fully Devoted, Pastor Jon shares about some key aspects of the last two dimensions of our discipleship worldview, share the work and engage in mission. Behind growing generosity, behind joyful gift based ministry there is something that is the spring that feeds all of this, it is one of the quintessential markers of Christianity. it is the spiritual discipline of service which every single follower of Jesus is called to. The one ongoing action that Jesus shows us, from him leaving heaven, living, dying, and being raised is his servanthood. He serves us and the world. He chose to come and live among us, loving us and showing us the best way to live. He died for us, He overcame sin, death and the demonic for us, He rose for us and He gives us His spirit. This is the generous, self-giving service of Jesus and is the foundation, frame-work and grounding for how we serve one another

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Romans 1:16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 12:11 Sermon Description:  This morning Pastor Jon takes through our annual “check-up”, taking a moment to unpack what it really means what we say “fully devoted followers of Jesus." Throughout this sermon we explore the importance of spiritual disciplines, spiritual gifts, guaranteed places of encounter and more, in the life of a believer. Our 5 discipleship dimensions were created as a way for our community to genuinely measure where they feel they are at in their discipleship journey and areas for growth.   Series: Fully Devoted Series Description:  Everyone at Sanctus Church is on a spiritual journey, whether it’s your first Sunday or you’ve followed Jesus for years. There can be great highs, and challenging lows in our life of faith. But what does a fully devoted follower of Jesus really look like? How can we make decisions this year to grow? Together we Celebrate Big. Connect Small. Walk with Jesus. Share the Work. Engage in

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20, Romans 1:16, John 3:16 Sermon Description: As we launch into another ministry year here at Sanctus Church, we are getting back to our foundations. This series, Fully Devoted, is all about equipping each of us in our own discipleship journey as followers of Jesus. This week, Pastor Jon will be discussing one of our 5 discipleship dimensions, Engage in Mission.  In a landscape that is post Christian, post modern and post social, one way we can engage in mission is to take the gospel, the good news of Jesus, to our families, workplaces and neighbourhoods. The ALPHA program has become incredibly helpful to Christians as a way to share the gospel clearly and facilitate healthy conversations about God and faith.  Hundreds of churches across Canada, including our own, will be launching the Alpha program in a few weeks. Join us in praying for these ministries, but also consider who you could invite and journey with through this incredible ministry. Series: Fully Devo

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 13:14, Matthew 28:19, Isaiah 6:1, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Chronicles 5, Zechariah 8 Sermon Description: As a church community that began in the 1970s, one of the things that has always defined us is a desire to change, grow, and adapt to our surroundings and changing needs. On June 2nd we revealed Plan 2, our Strategic Plan for the next 5 years, and with that came a real prompting that we needed to change our name for the next chapters of our church. As we prayerfully sought the Lord in the past few months, it became very clear to our leadership team that God’s hand was in this. It was clear to us, by the Holy Spirit, that our new name needed to include who God is, how He sees us, and where He is calling us. We are so thrilled to announcing the new name of our church, listen in to learn more about what it means for each of us!

Speaker: Jon Thompson Scripture: John 15:5 Sermon Description: Welcome to week eight in our series of the “I am” statements of Jesus. This week, Pastor Jon is wrapping up our series discussing Jesus’ statement “I am the true vine”. Jesus used the reference of a vine to not only reaffirm that He is God, but also that He is the better Israel. He is the one each person must connect to, to be part of God’s people. Just like how a gardener would tend to the vines growing in their vineyard, he lifts us up and cleans/prunes us.    With our society facing an increasing epidemic of loneliness and disconnect this verse gives us so much hope about what Jesus is pursuing. It’s all about relationship as we are Jesus’ limbs, made to bear His fruit and share in His life. Jesus as the wine is the antidote to loneliness, the same yesterday, today and forever. Series: Jesus is  Series Description:  This summer we are going to walk through 9 amazing “I am” statements and visuals given by Jesus. Each one helps us understand the