Pastor Jasmine Trott - Why Wait For Spring - Oct 4 2026

 

Pastor Jasmine Trott - Why Wait For Spring - Oct 4 2026

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Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 57

 

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 57

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - PROMISES

PROMISES

In Scripture there are many prophecies, plans, and promises that are laid out for us to examine and learn about. Many of these are of a positive nature and reveal what lies ahead for those who follow Christ. In a similar way, the not so pleasant path for those who refuse to accept the gift of salvation offered by Jesus is also outlined. But even believers are not always promised good times all the time. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus makes three promises that should be sobering for everyone.

First, He said many would be deceived. It is not just enough to believe, but one must be sure of the one in whom he believes. Jesus said:

…many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and deceive many. 

(Mark 13:6)

If the deceivers are not saying directly that they are He, then they may be promoting another deity as being equal to, or more complete than, Christ. But do not be mistaken or deceived for the Son is still greater than darkness. And on the positive side, He also said that His…

 

…gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 

(Mark 13:10)

Quite a statement considering most people at that time never ventured further than 100 to 200 miles from their place of birth. To say that the gospel would be preached throughout the world considering this was quite a prophecy.

Second, He warned about being persecuted and hated, and of family problems that will develop as a result of following Christ. And all of this has been evident over the years. It’s a bit disconcerting to realize that such difficulties will befall someone who puts his faith in one who proclaims love and peace. But Jesus clearly states that:

…they [will] arrest you and deliver you up… 

…brother will betray brother to death… 

And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. 

(Mark 13:11,12,13)

Not very pleasant prospects for one who follows Christ. But at the same time, Jesus also said that when such happens…

…do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. 

But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; 

for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

(Mark 13:11)

So, we will be given the words we need, and the assurance we require, when such events develop.

Finally, Jesus promised that before His return, there would be:

…tribulation, such as has not been seen since the beginning of the creation 

which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. 

(Mark 13:19)

A time of great duress and distress and to the extreme that, unless the Lord intervenes:

…no flesh would be saved… 

(Mark 13:20)

It should be a sobering thought for everyone when consideration is given to what eventually lies ahead of us. Solomon said:

But if a man lives many years…

…let him remember the days of darkness,

For they will be many.

All that is coming is vanity. 

(Ecclesiastes 11:8)

The future can look very bleak but again Christ has shown us an out, for He also said:

…[He would] gather together His elect from the four winds, 

from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

(Mark 13:27)

[and] for the elect’s sake…He shortened the days. 

(Mark 13:20)

To be a follower of Christ is to be one of the elect, and therefore, one for whom the promises given above have been overridden by the grace of God. Knowing that one has escaped the wrath that is to come because of your relationship with Jesus is certainly something to seriously think about. 

 

Directions to the Hillside Community Hall

 

 

Pastor Matthew Trott Sept 27, 2026

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Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 56

 

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study

The Gospel of Mark Part 56

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - GREATNESS

GREATNESS

It seems to be the ambition of peoples and nations all over the world to seek to be great. Whether it be through wealth or power or influence; greatness seems to be the ambition of many. And, of course, much, if not all, of this is attempted through the determinations of the leaders of the countries involved.

What does make a country and peoples great? Is it the skill of the leadership or the ambitions of the people or the chance of being in the right place at the right time? Is it the right slogan e.g.: It’s the Economy, Stupid (Clinton, 1992); Yes We Can (Obama, 2008); MAGA, Make America Great Again (Trump, 2016)? [Which Greenland turned around to MAGA: Make America Go Away] But even catchy slogans don’t always cut it.

There previously was a time when men tended to follow the Bible more than their own understanding. As Proverbs states it:

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding…

(Proverbs 3:5) 

Is the world in the state it’s in at present because leadership has abandoned the above advice? Dr. Paul Brown wrote in an article some time ago:

There was a time when our leaders usually governed well 

because they accepted a clear cut responsibility to God for their actions. 

All this changed when the Christian foundation of western civilization 

began to be replaced by humanism. 

From the moment we decided man could take care of his own affairs 

without divine guidance, things began to become “unstuck.”*

A French writer and judge, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote in 1840, after the second French revolution, when he was sent to study American society:

I sought for the greatness of the United States in [many ways; 

in her agriculture, commerce, educational systems, government, and Constitution].  

Not until I went into the churches of America 

and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness 

did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

America is great because America is good, 

and if America ever ceases to be good, 

America will cease to be great.**

It its evident that a person or a nation can have wealth which may make them fortunate but not great, or advanced education which may give intelligence but not wisdom, or military power which may cause them to be feared but not great. True greatness comes from trusting in God and knowing Him, not just knowing about Him. Scripture says to:

 

…love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 

(Mark 12:30)

…seek first the kingdom God and His righteousness… 

(Matthew 6:33)

…and both the people and the nation may become great.

Josyp Terelya was a prisoner in Soviet labour camps, prisons, isolation cells, and psychiatric hospitals for over 23 years. He suffered multiple tortures because his captors wanted to hear him denounce his Christian faith but they never did. After eventually coming to Canada, he spent 20 years travelling and spreading his Christian faith.*** His trust and faith in God made him great in many ways; and it is only by means of such trust and faith that our countries will become truly great again.

Trust in the Lord - it is really something to think about.

* The Globe and Mail April 8, 2009

**The Handwriting of God by Grant R Jeffery p.g. 38

*** Article the Evening News April 1975

Dr. Barlay with Something to Think About - FISH STORIES

FISH STORIES

There are a few stories in the Bible that are difficult to understand and truly believe; one is the story of Jonah and his ordeal in the belly of a great fish.

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish 

[not a whale as some stories have it] to swallow Jonah. 

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fishes belly.

So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 

(Jonah 1:17, 2:1,10)

Now, while such a story may be hard to accept, Jesus Himself referred to the story of Jonah in the book of Matthew when He replied to the Pharisees and Sadducees by saying:

A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, 

and no sign shall be given to it 

except the sign of the prophet Jonah… 

(Matthew 16:4)

And there is a fish large enough to accomplish what the story of Jonah details - the whale shark; a massive fish up to 30 feet in length, with a huge mouth, and measuring up to 16 tonnes in weight. Certainly capable of swallowing a man; so the story of Jonah may not be a fish tale after all.

And then there is the story told in Matthew 17 as to whether or not Jesus paid the temple tax. Jesus told Peter to:

…go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. 

And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; 

take that and give it to them for Me and you.

(Matthew 17:27) 

Now, if it is difficult to accept a man being swallowed by a fish, it is just as hard to comprehend catching, on the first try, a fish with a needed coin in its mouth. If you think about it, this would be a true miracle. But at the same time there is a fish, a kind of tilapia, which is found only in the Nile River, in Lake Victoria and in the Sea of Galilee.* This kind of tilapia holds its eggs in its mouth and keeps the young there well after they hatch; letting them out for only short periods of time and scooping them up again if any sign of danger. During this time she rarely swallows for fear of damaging her young. When her young are gone, the female fish are  often found with a pebble or bottle cap top or something similar in its mouth apparently to retain the habit of thus protecting her young. This apparently is the fish mentioned in this story and has become known as St. Peter’s Fish.

So, in spite of these being unusual occurrences as mentioned in Scripture, there is evidence for them being actual events and not just “fish stories.” Of course, being in the Bible should in itself give them credibility.

At the very least, it provides a few more tidbits to think about.

* The Handwriting of God by Grant R. Jeffery, p.g. 217  

 

Pastor Matthew Trott Sept. 13, 2026

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Pastor Jasmine Trott Sept 6, 2026

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TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

 

There will be no video this week due to technical difficulties.

See you next week.

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FOURTEEN

 FOURTEEN

There are many instances in which numbers are used in Scripture. In most, if not all of these cases, there is a definite significance to the use of such numerals. For instance, the number two is used to mean separation or division such as night/day, man/woman, two tablets of stone, etc. The number three is used to mean completeness, something real, or perfection; for example, the three persons of the Trinity, the three Patriarchs of Israel, the three sons of Noah, etc.

There are many other examples of where numbers are repeatedly used in the Bible and in those cases there is a definite significance to the way in which they were used; but the number fourteen is not one those used frequently. In fact, it is used only twenty-four times in the NKJV of Scripture - eight of those times is in Numbers 29 where it specifically refers to sacrifice.

You shall present a burnt offering…to the Lord; 

thirteen young bulls, two rams, 

and fourteen lambs in their first year…without blemish… 

(Numbers 29:13)

…and on each of the next six days; one less bull each day but still two rams and always fourteen lambs without blemish.

Why do you suspect that always fourteen lambs without blemish were required at each sacrifice? The first mention of a lamb without blemish in Scripture is at the time of Passover when God instructed the Hebrew people to take:

 

[A] lamb…without blemish, a male of the first year… 

(Exodus 12:5) 

The last mention of the same in Scripture is in 1 Peter when the reference is made to our redemption through Christ:

…with the precious blood of Christ, 

as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

(1 Peter 1:19)

So, is there a connection between the fourteen lambs without blemish referred to in Numbers and the lamb without blemish which represents Christ in 1 Peter? Perhaps there is. Matthew 1 gives the genealogy of Christ; which apparently reveals the number fourteen.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,

from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, 

and from the captivity in Babylon until Christ are fourteen generations.

(Matthew 1:17)

Is it possible that the fourteen lambs mentioned seven times in Numbers 29 were symbolic to the generations leading up to the birth of the one lamb without blemish who would be there for us all? It may not really be so but then the number fourteen is a rarely used number in Scripture,

At least it does give one something to think about. 

 

Blake Storey Aug 23 2026.

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Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 55

 

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FESTIVALS

FESTIVALS

Christianity has a number of days we consider to be Holy Days or festivals. These have been primarily pagan festivals that have been Christianized; thereby making them into Christian religious times. But there is nothing in the Bible which suggests that we should be celebrating such days. There is, however, instruction to follow the festival days that are noted in the Scriptures; and although they are primarily there for the Jewish nation, should we also be giving them more significance than we do? After all, much of Jewish history, and therefore in part our history, can be related to events that took place on these or other similar days.

For example, there is the day in the Jewish month of Av [August] which commemorates the loss of the Jewish Temple that was burned when God withdrew His presence.

 

When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?

(Zechariah 7:5)

This event of the Temple burning apparently took place on the ninth day of the month of Av. But not just one event in Jewish history took place on that day. Apparently, on this same date, those whom Moses had sent to spy out the land of Canaan returned and told of the giants there and caused the people to turn against Moses and want to return to Egypt. 

There we saw the giants; and we were like grasshoppers…in their sight 

(Numbers 13:33)

Only the counsel of Caleb and Joshua swayed the masses and apparently this was on the ninth of Av, 1490 BC.

On the same date in 587 BC, the army of Babylon broke through the last defence of the Jews and destroyed Solomon’s Temple.

He [The Lord] has abandoned His sanctuary…

They [the enemy] have made a noise in the house of the Lord… 

(Lamentations 2:7)

Similarly, in AD 70 the Roman army reached the edge of the Temple area and began the destruction of the Temple once again. It was the following year, AD 71, on the same date when the Romans plowed the Temple mount.

…they will not leave in you one stone upon another… 

(Luke 19:44)

…Zion shall be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins… 

(Micah 3:12)

In AD 135, a further Jewish revolt developed and was led by a Simon Bar Kochba. This rebellion was put down by the armies of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, and on the ninth of Av of that year over 500,000 were killed according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius

On the ninth of Av in 1290, King Edward 1 ordered the Jews in England to be expelled, and on the same date in 1492, Spain expelled over 800,000 Jews from the country. Again, on he same date in 1914, as Russia prepared for war, a persecution against the Jews began in that country as well.

The odds of all of these events occurring by chance on the same date in history are extremely small and gives evidence that perhaps chance alone was not the reason. Perhaps there is behind all of this a plan of which we may not be aware. In any case, this is an important date in Jewish history and in our history and is another reason why we should become a little more aware of dates mentioned in the bible.

Certainly it gives one something to think about.

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 54

 

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - 

The Gospel of Mark Part 54

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Dr. Barlay with Something to Think About - THE CHURCH

THE CHURCH*

It is not unusual to hear people say that they are going to church on Sunday; or asking if someone had been to church lately. In essence, both of these statements are incorrect because the church is not a building to which one goes but rather we, being the church itself, are really the church going to a building in which to gather. So the church, being the congregation, in actuality, refers to the people of the congregation and has nothing to do with the physical building where the congregation meets.

Therefore, in reality, the church extends back to the time of the Old Testament and is not something that initially came from Christ. This gathering was originally known as the ekklesia which means “the gathering.” So when in the Bible a congregation is mentioned it is often a translation of ekklesia. For example:

…as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation [ekklesia] of the children of Israel… 

(Exodus 16:10)

Now, the word ekklesia is itself a translation of the Hebrew word “kehilah.” Kehilah refers to the congregation of Israel travelling through wilderness on its journey to the Promised Land. Thus, the church, or the ekklesia, may be considered the spiritual journey through the wilderness to the Promised land.

And as it has been stated, the Jewish people are known as the chosen of God.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, 

and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself… 

(Deuteronomy 14:2)

So, if the Israelites are a chosen people who are called the kehilah because of their journey through the wilderness, and since ekkelsia comes from kehilah which refers to a congregation and hence the church; then the church is in essence the new Israel - trekking through the wilderness of this world on the way to the Promised Land.

It’s just interesting to realize the church of God is the new Israel and again God’s chosen people.

Just a little something to think about.

*Adapted from The Book Mysteries by Jonathan Chan p.g. 182

Dr. Spencer Barclay - Aug. 9, 2026

 

Dr. Spencer Barclay - Aug. 9, 2026

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Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 53

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Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - LOT'S WIFE

LOT’S WIFE

Through the pages of the Bible we are told to remember many things; particularly as they relate to God’s love, His mercy, and the way in which He rescued the Hebrews from the land of Egypt. We are also told to remember His ordinances, rules, and commandments so that our lives may be full and pleasant. Christ also said to remember Him at the table of communion when He said:

“Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you;

do this in remembrance of Me.” 

(1 Corinthians 11:24)

But really nowhere else in Scripture does it state that we are to remember anyone else except in one place. In one of the shortest verses in the Bible we are told to:

Remember Lot’s wife. 

(Luke 17:32) 

Lot’s wife was the one who was turned into a pillar of salt after looking back during the flight from Sodom and Gomorrah.

But [Lot’s] wife looked back behind him, 

and she became a pillar of salt. 

(Genesis 19:26)

This event, however, was not the reason we are to remember her, for she did what many of us do each day. She had been told, along with Lot and his family, to flee the city; the culture that was enveloping it along with the punishment that would soon befall it.

Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain.

…lest you be destroyed. 

(Genesis 19:17)

But Abraham, who had not been told to avoid looking back, did so…

…and he saw…the smoke of the land which went up 

like the smoke of a furnace. 

(Genesis 19:28)

So why was Lot and his family given the instruction to avoid looking back?

There is some evidence that Lot and his family were reluctant to leave behind the life they had been leading. 

…the angels urged Lot to hurry…

And while he lingered, the [angels] took hold of his hand, 

his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, 

…and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 

(Genesis 19:15-16)

Lot saying: 

"Please, no, my lords!" 

(Genesis 19:18)

Examining Lot’s wife and her subsequent fate, was it just because she looked back that God punished her or was it because she was reluctant to leave her old life behind? The Hebrews, during their travels in the desert, often bemoaned the fate that had befallen them and stated on many occasions that they wished to be back in their old life in Egypt. Being thus ungrateful to God for what He had done for them, He prevented most of them from going into the Promised Land and they perished in the desert. Like wise with Lot’s wife, it seemed to be her reluctance to leave behind her old life that really was the cause of her demise.

And it seems to be no different with ourselves. When we are saved through grace we are to become…

…a new creation. 

…if anyone is in Christ…old things have passed away; 

behold, all things have become new. 

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Therefore, one is not supposed to continue to look back with regret at their old life as the Hebrews did, but to constantly remember what God has done for them and look forward to their new existence, both here on earth and in eternity with Christ.

And that, in turn, is certainly something to think about.