Friendship is invaluable in our lives. To have someone to share both our joys and sorrows with, to care and be cared for, to not feel alone in this world, it’s a wonderful thing to have true friends. But studies show the number of friendships we have declines as we get older and it’s for a number of reasons. There are shifting priorities in life, or having less time and energy to invest in new friendships, or just being more cautious and selective of who we let into our lives possibly due to past relationship struggles. We soon find that our social circles get smaller and smaller. Perhaps, some of us have already felt, or are currently feeling loneliness, as a consequence of not having many real, lasting friendships. Maybe some of you have said to yourself, that you actually prefer to keep your social circle incredibly small. But because we’re created in the image of God, we still yearn and desire to be in loving relationships, genuine relationships, as God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit have been with one another for all of eternity. As we go through John 15:9-17, we’ll see the need for gospel-centered friendships and how a healthy church should be a place where people can come to find them.But more importantly, first and foremost, we must be able to see how Jesus is the true and ultimate friend we all need and we can forever depend on.

It is much easier to look only to your own interests. But that would be a major hindrance to having unity in the church. So in light of the cross of Christ and the grace of God, may we humble ourselves to serve others, to think about others, to talk to others and get to know others.Get to know their hopes, dreams, fears, struggles, and their needs, and then love them. Not in our own strength, or wisdom, but in the power of the spirit for the glory of God.

A familiar Thanksgiving question is: What are you thankful for?

You might hear, I'm thankful for my family, for my health, for this church, for my work, for a new friend. These are good.

But the Bible invites us to go deeper. It not only asks, "What are you thankful for?"

But it also asks, "Who are you thankful to...and why?"

The Apostle Paul says in the first chapter of Philippians that he’s already joyful because of the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel. He is joyful because Christ is being proclaimed despite him being in prison. But in this passage, Paul makes a personal plea for his joy to be complete. And it’s by doing this one thing: Being truly unified.

When Ezra opened the Word of God in Nehemiah 8, as he read, something incredible happened.

People started to weep.

The Word of God cut through the noise, cut through the excuses, and pierced their hearts

Spiritual renewal often begins that way: Not with laughter, but rather in tears.

But it does not end with weeping. God moves HIs people from tears to joy.

If we are truly citizens of heaven, we are to conduct ourselves in a manner that is worthy of the Gospel of Christ.So how are we to live as citizens of heaven?First, by standing firm in one spirit, one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Part 1 of the sermon).And two, from this week’s passage, by not being frightened in anything by your opponents.

You cannot go long without food before it starts to affect your body.Eventually hunger catches up to you. It’s also true spiritually. Many of us try to live without feeding on God’s Word. We rush into our day, we fill our schedules, there's endless entertainment and constant scrolling on our phones.We think we’re okay but then life shakes us. We find ourselves empty, weak, restless, worn down. That’s when we begin to feel for something deeper. We need renewal. Because the truth is we cannot go long without God’s Word before it starts to negatively affect our lives. What we need most is the renewing power of God through his Word.

It’s easy to notice cultural differences between two groups of people from two different countries. But do you notice any cultural difference between the people of this world and the people of God?We know how people of this world behave, but how are we to live and act as citizens of heaven?

Everyone knows what it feels like when life doesn’t go the way we expect it. Perhaps it’s a job interview that didn’t go well. Or words from a doctor that you didn’t want to hear. In these situations, we often just go numb and don’t know what to do next. It’s how the two disciples in Luke 24 must have felt after following Christ and believing that He would make all things right. But when He was crucified, it felt like the story was over. Their hope collapsed.On that Sunday afternoon, these two disciples walked away from Jerusalem. But the good news is that Jesus was not done. The story was not over.

Imagine if a young millionaire who earned much success at work and in life passed away early at the age of 32. All the wealth he’s earned, the plans he’s made, the goals he’s set would all be left behind. His tombstone might read, “To live is success, to die is loss.”From this man’s perspective, what good could possibly come from dying? But from today’s passage, we see an entirely different perspective where even death is seen as gain.

What makes a church grow, thrive and healthy?

Is it excellent preaching? Is it an awesome children’s ministry, or an amazing praise team? Is it warm, friendly fellowship amongst the believers?

All of these things are wonderful to see and experience in a local church. But what is essential for a growing, thriving, and healthy church is to keep something that was given as a gift to each true believer of Christ.

And this gift we are to keep, to guard, and to eagerly maintain, is the unity of the Spirit. It sounds so simple yet it’s so hard to do.

So the question is: How are we to keep the unity of the Spirit? We'll see in the passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 that Paul uses the analogy of the human body to help the church see what keeping the unity of the Spirit practically looks like, and what it’ll take to achieve it.

As believers who want to follow Jesus, we might ask God for the answers to some of the life questions we might have.

In particular, we might ask what is God’s will for our life, in our work, in our singleness, in our marriage? 

So how do we discern and obey God’s will?

In life, we get bumped all the time. 

We’re interrupted, misunderstood, pressured, overlooked. And when those situations come, what spills out of us?

Is it irritation, insecurity, harsh words? Or is it gentleness, patience, grace?

We all have reactions that spill out when we are bumped. And those reactions aren’t neutral. They’re either shaped by the flesh or they’re being shaped by the gospel.

Imagine if you invited a co-worker to come visit our church next Sunday and your boss found about this. Then your boss calls you into the office and says this is against company policy, noting that you’re not allowed to impose your religious beliefs on your co-workers.Then your boss says you’ll have to meet with the HR director. Now what would be going on in your mind at that moment? What would be going on in your heart?What would you specifically be praying for?In Philippians 1, we’ll see that whatever situation you’re facing right now - whether it’s good or bad - we have a divine opportunity to honour Christ. In that, you too can rejoice. But we can’t do that alone. We have to rely on each other’s prayers and we have to rely on the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

In Nehemiah 7, we get a window into the heart of Nehemiah. But more than that, we get a glimpse into God’s heart. What Nehemiah cares about in this chapter is what God cares about.So what matters to the heart of God?

Lying is Satan’s primary weapon against God’s people. And what he wants is for us to believe his lies and behave ungodly.

In Nehemiah 6, we see the enemy using lies against Nehemiah with the goal of trying to stop the work of God. But by God’s grace, we see Nehemiah trusted God and he resisted the lies.

Now you may not be facing what Nehemiah had to, but you will continuously hear lies from the evil one such as being defined by your past mistakes or that you’re all alone in your struggles or God’s love for you is conditional upon your performance.  

Let’s pray that we stand firm when the enemy’s lies come and that we will be about the Father’s business and tell the world there is hope because of Jesus Christ. 

Gospel City Church (GCC) welcomed Michele Dyer from Brentwood Baptist Church who hosted a Spiritual Gifts seminar called "Discover You" on July 12, 2025.

At GCC, we believe every member is uniquely gifted by God. The seminar was designed to help discover participants their spiritual gifts, personality, and ministry passions — and how they connect to your walk with Christ and your role in serving others. 

If you're interested in getting to know more about your potential spiritual gifts and/or plug into ministry opportunities at GCC, don't hesitate to contact the leadership team after service on Sundays or email us at office@gospelcitychurch.ca

Is your ambition in life self-centred or is it Christ-centred?Are you able to rejoice even in suffering as long as Christ is proclaimed and exalted?Is the greatest desire in your life to know Christ and for Christ to be made known?May God purify us of all envy and selfish-ambition in our hearts so that Christ will be magnified in our speech and in our actions, in our flourishing and even in our suffering, in our life and in our death.

Meeting celebrities in person, you see how they're larger than life and just how immensely popular they are with swarms of fans surrounding them just to be as close to them as possible. Why? Because in our celebrity culture, they are put up on this pedestal and praised for who they are and what they’ve done. Their loyal fans always demonstrate this sense of awe and wonder whenever they’re in the presence of their idol. Plus they’ll often show their devotion to them by buying their merch, or buying anything they endorse. They like and share their social media posts all the time. And they love telling anyone who would listen every little detail about what makes them great.Now how much more as Christians should we demonstrate awe and wonder for the one who is truly great? In today’s passage, in Psalm 145, we’re reminded of just how great our God is and how he is truly worthy of our highest praise. As his number one fans, we should also want to tell the world about the incomparable greatness of God.

Paul survived death four times and then later he was under house arrest. At this point in Paul’s ministry in Philippians 1, the Philippian church wanted to know how Paul was feeling at this moment. Was he discouraged? Was he feeling beat down? But Paul makes it clear in Philippians 1:12-14 that he is genuinely joyful and excited even while he’s in chains. Why? To understand Paul’s heart, you have to understand what was his highest ambition in life. It wasn’t earthly success. It wasn’t even ministry success. And it wasn’t about his reputation, comfort or safety.His highest ambition in life was to know Christ and for Christ to be made known.