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Joy from Heavenly Treasures
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 16, 2023
This sermon is adapted from one written by Rev. Gerald Waters in 2010. In it we will explore where true joy comes from, and how through a life of service we can build up a never-ending supply of happiness. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 36s)
Failure is an Option
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 09, 2023
No one likes to fail. We actively try to avoid failure (as we should!). But failure is also unavoidable: it is part and parcel of trying to live a better life. Our own failures are reflected in the Lord's apparent failure. On the first Easter morning, before anyone knew He had risen, it seemed obvious that Jesus had failed. And yet through that apparent failure the Lord had the opportunity to overcome death, and hell, and sin, and so achieve true and lasting success. The path through failure leads to a better future. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (15m 51s)
It is Enough
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 05, 2023
Before the events of Easter, the Lord called His disciples together to have one final meal with them. Present at this meal were not just the good: also present was Judas, the betrayer. Jesus calls all of us, regardless of our state, to come to Him, and through repentance to be reborn. He gives us all that we need in order for this spiritual change to take place, through the Love and Wisdom He constantly offers us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 06s)
Untying the Donkey
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - April 02, 2023
Palm Sunday Service | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (22m 06s)
The Humanness of God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 26, 2023
Easter celebrates the Lord’s victory over hell, at a time in history when hell was at its strongest. Yet Easter was not just a moment in time: in His moment of victory the Lord conquered hell to eternity. His conquest carries on in us today, and it is able to carry on specifically because of the humanness that God took on, and that still defines Him today. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 33s)
Invited to the Wedding
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 19, 2023
When you are invited to a wedding and reception, do you accept? What if the one who is hosting the wedding is wealthy, even a king, and the only cost to attend is your time, the only requirement that you dress appropriately? Would you not most likely readily accept if possible, and even rearrange your schedule to make it work? There would be no reason not to. And to go further, what if the one throwing the Wedding were the Lord, and to enter the wedding was to enter heaven? How much more likely we would be to accept! And yet, for some reason, the Lord tells us a parable in which the obvious does not occur, in which the invitation is refused. We too live out this parable. From it, we can learn to recognize the Lord’s invitations, and so choose to accept them. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 18s)
Fear of the Law
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 12, 2023
The Lord has many rules that we are to follow. One of the fundamental principles of the church is that we are to live our lives according to His laws. But with so many rules to follow it can begin to feel impossible; and if it is impossible to keep the Lord’s law, than we may start to feel we are doomed to failure. This is not the case. Although it is a challenge, the Lord is able to give us the power to keep His rules, and to even find joy in doing so. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 47s)
From Strength to Strength
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - March 05, 2023
I love the concept of the Lord leading us from one spiritual capability to the next. We will consider the ways the Lord inspires the strength of love and being genuinely considerate of others, the strength of truth and obeying it, and the strength or power of actually doing the Lord’s will. Given the 100th anniversary of Kainon School we will draw particular attention to the spiritual strengths we wish to foster in children—as parents and educators. For the children’s talk, the focus will be on the character strength exhibited by David when he faced Goliath (1 Samuel 17—parts). We will discover that David’s victory came as a result of an inner kind of strength—because he trusted in the Lord. | By Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Jr. | Westville, RSA
See Event (23m 36s)
Priests and Their Duties
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 26, 2023
Do you know what a Priest’s job is? This Sunday is the first part in a series on the relationship of Priests and Laity. By learning about what a priest’s job is, we can better understand what we should expect of them and what is expected of us. | By Rev. Calvin Heinrichs | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 11s)
God With Us
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 19, 2023
With all the distractions of life, the many mundane activities to attend to, the daily grind that never seems to end, God can get lost in the shuffle. Some have tried to transcend all worldly concerns in order to focus entirely on God, but for many of us that is not an option. The world is too present in our lives. Thankfully the Lord does not only exist on high; He is present in the worldly stuff of life, and through repentance everyone is able to meet Him even among the day-to-day concerns. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (16m 42s)
Leaving Shame Behind
Worship Service: Sermon only - February 12, 2023
Have you ever done something to a person that you’re ashamed of, or had a person know something shameful about you? And every time you’re around them all you can think of is how desperately you just want to get away, to escape from their presence so you can stop feeling the shame? I think a lot of people feel that way about God. So they push God away and want nothing to do with him, because His presence brings their shame to life. But there are three pieces to this situation, not just you and God. It’s you, God, and your shame. And instead of pushing away God from ourselves when we feel shame, God calls us to push the shame away when He is present. That is the result of repentance: to push away that shameful behavior and so be present with God. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 42s)
Repent
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - February 05, 2023
As our lives are challenged at this time, confusions, chaos and more uncertain burdens are coming our way, it is now the best time to find our way back to the LORD. John the Baptist is like a mirror before us today, to look at ourselves and “fish out” those bad tendencies in us that are detrimental to our spiritual prosperity. | By Rev. J. Bheki Dube | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 56s)
We Need God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 29, 2023
The New Church emphasizes how much charity matters. Charity is the primary purpose of our lives, and without it no amount of faith will save us. What then of faith in God? If charity is all that matters, can we dispose of a notion of an all-powerful divine being who watches over us? How significant is that belief anyway? According to the New Church: essential. Without some acknowledgment of God, we actually cannot practice true charity. We’ll look deeper into why a belief in God is so crucial to how we live. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 30s)
The Lilies of the Field
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - January 22, 2023
We live in a world filled with signs of Divine love and wisdom, and the Divine Providence which is governing our lives every moment – protecting, nurturing, and leading us. The world of nature presents an image of our spiritual lives, and can instruct us in how to grow spiritually. Yet these insights do not come just from studying nature, nor even from just studying spiritual things, but from living what the Word teaches, so that we can see from our hearts the messages from the Lord in the world around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 08s)
Children's Talk - Disagreement and Harmony
Worship Service: Childrens Talk only - January 15, 2023
What does it take to love someone you disagree with? At what point does a disagreement escalate to an argument, and in turn ruin a relationship? Is it even possible to fully love everyone you disagree with? There are lots of disagreements around us all the time, many of which do escalate. In spite of our best efforts we will have times when disagreements and arguments break the harmony of our relationships. Disagreement cannot, and should not, be avoided. But it does not have to be a messy affair that ends friendships. If we learn to disagree under the guidance of the Lord’s Word we will find greater harmony in the end. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (03m 50s)
Adult Sermon - Disagreement and Harmony
Worship Service: Sermon only - January 15, 2023
What does it take to love someone you disagree with? At what point does a disagreement escalate to an argument, and in turn ruin a relationship? Is it even possible to fully love everyone you disagree with? There are lots of disagreements around us all the time, many of which do escalate. In spite of our best efforts we will have times when disagreements and arguments break the harmony of our relationships. Disagreement cannot, and should not, be avoided. But it does not have to be a messy affair that ends friendships. If we learn to disagree under the guidance of the Lord’s Word we will find greater harmony in the end. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (14m 26s)
Memorial Service for Gerald Waters
Memorial Service - January 13, 2023
Memorial Service for Gerald Waters | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (38m 45s)
Herod
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 18, 2022
While the Christmas Story sparks joy and gladness, it took place in a time of darkness and evil. That is, after all, the whole reason Jesus needed to be born into the world in the first place. This evil is embodied in the character of Herod, the king at the time of Jesus' birth. Although at first his intentions appeared innocent enough, under the surface lurked jealousy and hatred. In him we see a reflection of our own hidden evils, evils that we need to grapple with if the Lord is to be born into our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 31s)
Spread the Good News
Worship Service: Informal Family - December 11, 2022
What do you do when you hear exciting news? Don’t you go and tell everyone that you can? And isn’t it really frustrating when you have exciting news to tell but someone else says it first? And isn’t that what makes it so hard to keep a secret? Imagine if you were the only one who knew your mom was pregnant, or you found out a cool present your brother will get for Christmas, or you heard about a surprise party that people are throwing for someone. You’d want to tell everyone. As we share in the joyful singing of Christmas carols this Sunday night, let’s also give some focus to how we can joyfully spread the good news of the Lord’s salvation. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (06m 32s)
I and My Father are One
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - December 04, 2022
At Christmas we love to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus who was born into this world! However, do we really know who this infant being was? Was He the Son of God or the Father? Was He the Son of Mary? Was He God Almighty? Was He Jehovah? Was He the Creator? Was He the Redeemer? We will take a look at who this little infant Saviour really was who came and dwelt among us here on earth. | By Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 40s)
Prepare the Way of the Lord
Worship Service: Sermon only - November 27, 2022
Christmas season where we celebrate the birth of the Lord is rapidly approaching and it is useful to us to think about all the things we need to do in order to prepare for His Advent. One key item on each of our checklists should be to REPENT! We will discuss the important role John the Baptist played in preparing people for the Lord’s coming. | By Rt. Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 04s)
Healing Spiritual Leprosy
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 20, 2022
The Lord came into this world to heal the sick. He did not come to those who were already healthy. Likewise, the Lord did not come to the righteous, or those who thought they were righteous, but to sinners, to heal them of their sin. The Lord pointed to this truth every time He healed someone who was physically ill. The physical healing was only an outward sign of the inward miracle: the healing of spiritual sin. Each and every one of our sins could be portrayed as an outward ailment. This week we turn to leprosy, through which we will learn what happens when we become isolated from God and from each other through sin, and how the Lord reconciles with us and restores us to our communities. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (18m 53s)
Tempted in the Wilderness - 3 - Putting Self First
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 13, 2022
This is the conclusion of our three-part series on temptations. In the end we have to confront our love of ourselves. This is at the heart of any spiritual struggle. We want to be in charge, so much so that we want to be able to control the Lord. This is represented in the Lord’s last temptation. The devil took Him up onto the pinnacle of the temple, and told Him to throw Himself to the ground. Doesn’t the Word say that “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone”? (Luke 4:10, 11). In others words, test the Lord. The Lord says that He’ll keep you safe. But let’s see if He really will. Force His hand. Make Him rescue you. Yet that is not how it works. The Lord will help us when we have made it clear that we want His help. In order to do this we must put aside love of self and put our trust in Him. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (17m 50s)
Tempted in the Wilderness - 2 - Twisting the Truth
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - November 06, 2022
Last week we talked about resisting the urge to pursue pleasure above all else. This week we will look at the more intellectual side of temptation: the temptation to twist the truth to suit our own needs. This is represented in the Devil offering Jesus the kingdoms of the world, if only He would worship him. Jesus rebuked the devil, saying that God, and God alone, is to be worshipped and served. We are tempted to make ourselves the rulers and arbiters of what is right and wrong. Yet true freedom lies in serving the Lord and abiding by His rules for life. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (19m 43s)
Tempted in the Wilderness - 1 - Hungering for Pleasure
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - October 30, 2022
This Sunday we will begin a three-part series on spiritual battles, or temptation. The template for entering these spiritual struggles can be found in the Lord’s temptations: before He began His ministry the Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days. The three main temptations that He faced and in which He was victorious encapsulate all of the temptations that we also grapple with: the craving for pleasure, the compulsion to twist the truth, and the drive to elevate ourselves above all others. 2. Twisting the Truth – 6 November 3. Putting Self First – 13 November | By Rev. Joel C Glenn | Westville, RSA
See Event (21m 04s)