Toronto Alliance Church

The Fingerprints of God 5: Being Totally Given to God and Why it Matters - 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

The Alliance began in Toronto 140 years ago and then thrived there from about 1885 to 1915. Towards 1920, though, the Alliance downtown was imploding, all along University Avenue and Parkdale, where there had been powerful ministries. The Alliance moved north and east and west and to the rest of the world, and left the downtown vacant, until our church came as a church plant under First Alliance, clawing our way back into the downtown. It is not entirely clear why the Alliance imploded. But I do know what made them effective in those early years. They pursued it. It is the word consecration. I want to speak about that today from 2 Corinthians 6. Consecration is a word we don't use, but I want to hang on to it because of the way it anchors us in history. They had consecration meetings. Meetings just to give themselves to God. They had consecration weekends. Which is why our family of churches changed the city. The president of the Alliance was the mayor and Toronto came to be known as "Toronto the Good." But I want to come back to consecration, being totally given to God. Extra reading: Isaiah 52:1-12 Preacher: Bill Dyck

The Fingerprints of God 4 - Made for More - 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

You are made for more. That is a big theme in the Bible. Everybody is made for more. There are a lot of reminders in life that show we are made for more than anything that we experience. There is no desire that we have here on Earth that, if we were to pursue it, in the end would not still leave us longing for more. Those who have the most in life are not the most satisfied. Sometimes it is those people who have nothing that are truly satisfied. Those who climb the highest heights, those who go after the biggest experiences, those who see the greatest sights on planet Earth one after the other, and have the resources to chase them all down, in the end come back still longing for more. We are made for more. I am in 2 Corinthians 4 today. We are walking through 2 Corinthians, and the theme is the fingerprints of God. One of these fingerprints that God stamps upon people, is that he helps us see we are made for more. He wants us to understand that and to pursue him. Extra reading: Psalm 139:13-18 Preacher: Bill Dyck

The Fingerprints of God 3: How to be Changed, 2 different methods - 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

How can I be changed? We each have behaviours that are very difficult for us shed, and other qualities we'd like to gain. We might begin the year with resolve, saying, this is the year I am finally going to become a gentle person. Or something else. But one year goes on after another, and we wonder, are we truly changeable? Or even worse, what if we are trying to change a loved one? We know from experience how completely ineffective we at that, because it is not given to us to change another person. Yet we do try. So I want to talk about how a person gets changed. There are two methods. One is, do better and try harder, a worldwide method chosen everywhere, undercutting many religious systems. I want to talk about another way that is much more fruitful and effective, out of 2 Corinthians 3, in our series about the fingerprints of God. Preacher: Bill Dyck Extra reading: Exodus 34:27-35

The Fingerprints of God 2: The Surprising Benefits Package When Jesus is Lord - 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

In the most recent space mission, four astronauts went and circled the Earth and the moon and came home. These men had spent their lives preparing for this in a lot of different ways. But all of their studying, all of their pictures, everything they had seen did not adequately prepare them for the moment when they saw the moon eclipse the sun. One of them, who claimed afterwards to not be a particularly religious man, said he felt he was in the presence of divinity. I remember well the day, as a child, when I first put my faith in Jesus. Though I trusted him in that moment, nothing would have prepared me fully for the things that God has shown me of himself and brought me into. Being just a naive farm kid, number five of seven, I knew nothing. But I knew that God put his finger on me, drew me to himself, and then has surprised me over and over. I want to talk here today about the surprising benefits package when Jesus is Lord, looking at 2 Corinthians 2 in this sermon series called "The Fingerprints of God." Extra reading: Exodus 19:1-9 Preacher: Bill Dyck

The Fingerprints of God - God is Always Doing More than you Think - 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

At a complicated crime scene, investigators look for fingerprints. They want to find who did this. Fingerprints are unique to each individual, and they do not change through our life. They are highly reliable evidence. They place people in specific locations, sometimes linking multiple crimes. What are God's fingerprints? You cannot see him, but we understand he is working in the details of our lives. Maybe because of the intensity, we overlook him working, but he wants us to know. Sometimes it is only after the fact that we look and realize he was there. He was working. For the next few weeks, I want to walk through a series called "God's Fingerprints", looking at passages in 2 Corinthians. In this book, Paul talks more personally than in any other book. He is wearing his heart on his sleeve, and he gives us insight into how God works. The backdrop is difficult relationships, affliction. In such situations, we look for God's fingerprints. What is he doing? I called the sermon "God is always doing more than you think". Extra reading: Isaiah 43:1-7 Preacher: Bill Dyck