John 15:12-15: Remembrance Sunday: Greater Love

Part I: Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, Remembrance Sunday, 09 November 2025, by Major Michael Ramsay, Royal Canadian Legion Chaplain (Padre), Branch 293. And to Harvest Community, 08 November 2026 

Prayer of St. Francis 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. 

Where there is hatred, let me bring love. 

Where there is offence, let me bring pardon. 

Where there is discord, let me bring union. 

Where there is error, let me bring truth. 

Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. 

Where there is despair, let me bring hope. 

Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. 

Where there is sadness, let me bring joy. 

O Master, let me not seek as much 

to be consoled as to console, 

to be understood as to understand, 

to be loved as to love, 

for it is in giving that one receives, 

it is in self-forgetting that one finds, 

it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, 

it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life. 

INVOCATION: Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth forever more. 

Today as at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, time stands still for a moment; and we remember those who died, not for war, but for a world that would be free and at peace. 

Those who lay down their lives in battle are almost never those who put their lives at risk by declaring war. Those who choose to fight a war are rarely those who fight in that war. Those who tell us why they send people to fight rarely stop and ask the person on the front why they are in the fight. Those who decide that soldiers will die at war almost never themselves die at war. 

Remembrance Day is a lamentation. It is when we remember our family members, community members, loved ones and others who are no more because they died, and were in a position to die, before peace could be obtained in a quarrel they did not pick. We will remember them.       

Psalm 116:3-4: 

The cords of death entangled me, 

the anguish of the grave came over me; 

I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 

Then I called on the name of the Lord: 

“Lord, save me!” 

Isaiah 2:4: 

He will judge between the nations 

and will settle disputes for many peoples. 

They will beat their swords into plowshares 

and their spears into pruning hooks. 

Nation will not take up sword against nation, 

nor will they train for war anymore. 

PRAYER: Almighty God. You are our refuge and strength; we humble ourselves in Your presence, and, remembering the great things you have done for us, we lift up our hearts in adoration and praise. As you have gathered us together this day, we give You thanks for all who served in time of trial. 

In remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, make us better men and women, and give us peace in our time, O Lord. 

Last Post, 2min. Silence, Reveille, Piper’s Lament    

Act of Remembrance                                           

Laying of the poppies                                            

BENEDICTION: Almighty God, as You have gathered your people together this day in hallowed remembrance, we give You thanks for all who laid down their lives for our sake, and whom You have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of Your presence. Let the memory of their devotion ever be an example to us, that we at the last. Being faithful unto death, may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Devotion 2.29/81: John 15:13: Life

PART II: Presented to River Street Cafe, 11 November 2016 and Harvest Community (plus extemporary additions), 08 November 2026

Read John 15:12-15

John 15:12-15: 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13.

On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed to end the Great War, the war to end all wars – the First World War. Canadians, our friends and our family, in service to God, King, and country, marched overseas to lay down their lives for our friends.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

On November 11, 1813, 200+ years ago, Canadians repulsed an horrific enemy invasion, with the help of our friends, the British and the First Nations. We laid down our life for our family. They laid down their life for us, their friends.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

On November 11, we remember also our friends and families who headed overseas for World War II, in service to God, King, and country to lay down their lives for their friends.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

In the Cold War that followed, again Canadians headed overseas – this time to Korea – to offer our lives on behalf of our allies and to lay down our lives for our friends.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

As the cold war progressed, Canadians donned blue berets for the first time protecting and reconciling populations, and still offering our lives for our friends.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross so that we all may live.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

Through the real horrors of the wars a great thing happened: Canada’s primary foes during 1814, 1914, and 1944 are now some of our closest allies. Our soldiers laid down their lives for us, their friends. And they laid down their lives so that we could be reconciled to our brothers. Canada is reconciled to her old foes and united with them more than ever because of the sacrifice of friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, our veterans.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.

And it was through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we all may experience this same reconciliation with God.

Jesus laid down his life for us, his friends.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and today we are still fighting for peace as our soldiers are still laying down their lives so that one day the dreams of World War I can be realized; one day ‘the war to end all wars’ will finally have been fought and then their deaths will not have been in vain for their will be no more need for tears or for brave young men and women lay down their lives for their friends.

Today as we remember those who have laid down their lives for us, their friends, so that we could be reconciled with our old foes, let us us – as veterans do every year – remember that Christ laid down his life for us, his friends so that we could be reconciled to God.

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Luke 11:14-28 (Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-30): The Parable of the Haunted House

Presented to The Salvation Army Swift Current Corps 31 October 2010; 614 Regent Park, 01 November 2015; Alberni Valley Ministries, 30 October 2021; White Rock Luncheon, 29 October 2026; and the Harvest Community, 01 November 2026 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

This is the (much shorter) 2026 White Rock - Harvest Community Version. 

To view a 2021 video version of the message, click here: https://youtu.be/zkKz9y_uBoQ

See links to the other versions under the message...

²¹ “Imagine a strong man, armed to the teeth, guarding his palace. Everything he owns is safe and sound. ²² But supposing someone stronger comes and overpowers him, and takes away the armor he was trusting in—then he can help himself and start dividing up the plunder! ²³ If you’re not with me, you’re against me. If you’re not gathering with me, you’re scattering.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit goes out of a person, it roams through desert landscapes looking for a place to rest. When it doesn’t find anywhere, it says to itself, ‘I shall go back to the house I left behind.’ ²⁵ And it finds the place neat and tidy. ²⁶ So it sets off and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and goes back to live there. [The haunted house] That person will end up worse off than he began.”

 “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand?” (Lk 11:23, Mt 12:30) Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me.” Jesus has been accused of exorcising demons by demonic power (Lk 11:15, Mt 12:24, Mk 3:22). Jesus answers this charge by saying that not only is He innocent but also it is impossible to drive out evil with evil as is charged. Only good can drive out evil. Therefore since Jesus can drive out evil, He is good; thus if you oppose Him than you, by definition, are evil. “He who is not with me is against me.”

Today are we with him or against him? Jesus casts out demons while telling this parable of the haunted house. Sin, in this parable, has many parallels with addiction. Any of us who have ever struggled with addiction know that each time one becomes clean and then slips up, it becomes more difficult to become clean again and remain that way. Like the metaphorical demons of addiction, literal demons and sin return stronger (with more friends) each time. This doesn’t need to be that way. Jesus can clean our houses and when Jesus cleans our house we can let Him keep it clean too (TSA d.6, d.10)!

This is the choice set before us today. We can ask Jesus to sweep our life clean. Any of us can ask our Lord Jesus to clean our haunted houses. Even if He has already cleaned it once or one hundred times and we have messed it up again. While we still have breath in our body, we can invite Him back into our lives to clean us up, sort us out and we can continue receiving the Lord’s blessing of eternal life, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” As we do this, we will continue in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. This is holiness and this holiness is available to all but we must make a choice (TSA d.10).

Today the choice is ours: Do we want to live in an haunted and dirty house or would we like to let Jesus clean it for us?

 

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The view the original Swift Current 2010 version, click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/10/luke-1114-28-haunted-house.html

To view the 2015 version of this sermon that was presented to Corps 614 Regent Park in Toronto, click here:

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/10/luke-1114-28-haunted-house.html

To view the 2021 version that was presented to Alberni Valley Ministries in BC. click here:

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/10/luke-1114-28-parable-of-haunted-house.html

 

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Matthew 3:7-10: CSIS (September 09, 2018)

Presented to Harvest Community, 25 October 2026

The Sinner’s Prayer has always been important to me. I remember saying it as a child and confirming it more than once. I remember leading many people in this prayer. The Sinner’s Prayer is like a criminal record check.

Years ago I worked for a janitorial company. One place I worked was the RCMP/CSIS building. The security clearance process was quite something. I was a teenager and in my interview they asked what I did twenty years ago, I responded, ‘nothing, I’m only 18.’ I thought it was funny – they didn’t. They asked why I haven’t held a job for more than 5 years. I repeated ‘I am only 18.’ I laughed – they didn’t. This interview went on for a long time; they fingerprinted me and even interviewed two of my friends. I was beginning to have faith in our spy agency’s thoroughness and ability, especially when they reviewed this information for months before finally clearing me.

Just out of curiosity, I asked why it took so long to notify me of my clearance and they said it took so long because they – Canada’s spy agency - couldn’t find me. I pointed out that my address and phone number were on the form. I laughed; they didn’t. I assumed they were joking. They weren’t. I laughed; they didn’t. Shortly afterwards I worked a shift at the CSIS building and as I was emptying a garbage, an officer told me that if I looked at anything in it he’d have to kill me, I laughed – he didn’t. The next week, my boss told me to cover another shift at the CSIS building. I said no. She laughed – I didn’t. I was cleared to work there but I didn’t return.

It is quite the process and a security clearance is important but do you know how long one is really good for? About 5 minutes: in between receiving your security clearance and handing it in you could stop by the 7-11 and rob it. The paper may say that you have never committed (or at least been convicted of) a crime but as soon as you leave the police station it is no longer up-to-date. The Sinner’s Prayer, that is rightfully so important in many of our lives, is like a security clearance in this way.

The experience of salvation is more like a marriage. There is the initial event that starts off the marriage, the wedding: this is like the Sinner’s Prayer. The wedding is just the beginning of the marriage relationship. It is not its culmination – and hopefully not the best part of it! There is more to marriage than simply saying ‘I do’. If you never spend anytime with your spouse after that day, then you may have had a wedding but you do not have a marriage. Our proclamation of salvation, the Sinner’s Prayer, likewise is just the beginning of our salvation; it is not the totality of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for that!

Our questions for today: Is your relationship with Christ more like a security clearance and/or a long ago wedding ceremony than it is like an exciting marriage that grows stronger everyday? If so, what can we do to grow our relationship with the Lord?

More daily blogs at

https://salvogesis.blogspot.ca/

 

Matthew 3:7-10: Security Clearance (Luke 3:7-9)

Presented to TSA Swift Current Corps, 11 April 2010 

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 January 2022 

Presented to TSA Surrey Ministries, 25 October 2026 

by Major Michael Ramsay

This is the 2026 version.

 

To view the 2022 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/01/matthew-37-10-security-clearance.html 

To view the 2010 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/04/matthew-37-10-security-clearance.html 

I can remember when I was in my late teens: I was a janitor. I worked in a lot of high security buildings and so I needed a high security rating. One of the reasons I needed the extra special RCMP clearance was because one of the buildings I was asked to clean when regular janitor was away was the CSIS building

When I first had my RCMP clearance done, it was quite something. I was just a teenager and in my interview they asked me what I did twenty years ago, I responded ‘nothing’ – ‘I’m only 18. I thought it was funny – the police officer interviewing me didn’t. They asked me how come I haven’t held a job for 5 years or more – I reminded them that I am only 18 and I smiled – they didn’t. This interview went on for an hour or so and then they fingerprinted me and also interviewed two of my friends for character references, one by telephone and one in person. In speaking with them afterwards, it was really quite an in-depth interview and because of this I really began to have some faith in the RCMP and CSIS’s security measures and how seriously they take their jobs. I was beginning to have a lot of faith in the Canadian spy agency’s thoroughness and ability, especially as they reviewed this information they collected on me for up to six months before they finally got back to me with my security clearance.

Just out of curiosity, when I finally did get my clearance back, I asked why it took so long. They said it took so long to notify me because they – Canada’s spy agency - couldn’t find me. I pointed out that my address and phone number were on the application form and that I hadn’t moved during that time. I laughed; they didn’t. I assumed that they were joking when CSIS said they couldn’t find me. I was wrong. I laughed – they didn’t. Shortly afterwards I worked my first shift at the CSIS building and as I was emptying one garbage can at a desk, the person there told me that if I looked at anything in it he’d have to kill me, I laughed – he didn’t. The next week, my boss told me to cover another shift at the CSIS building because I was the only one with clearance. I said no. She laughed – I didn’t

John the Baptist, to some here in our story today, must seem about as humourless as the CSIS agent I encountered, Matthew 3:7-10:

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

This is interesting because if we just read this pericope it can look like an uncalled-for attack on the religious leaders of the day. It could be like if a Salvation Army Officer or a priest or pastor or even the entire ministerial executive all go to a Christian concert in the park and the singer puts down his guitar mid-song and says to us, “you snakes…who told you about this event; you think you’re so good, well, you’re not! You say you have Christ as your Saviour, I tell you he can make followers out of this dirt here, if he wants to!”[1] You can see how that might not go over so well.

Biblical Scholar Eugene Boring draws our attention to the fact that, “in Matthew’s view they [the Pharisees and Sadducees] represent the Jewish opposition who come to inspect him rather than to be baptised by him” [3]. We just had an election in this province yesterday: It would be like if Conservatives showed up at an NDP convention or other event or vice versa. For the people present, their presence might have the same emotional effect as a venomous snake being spotted in the grass; or even a whole a brood of vipers being reported nearby. This latter phrase is the one Matthew reports John used. He called the religious authorities a ‘brood of vipers’ (cf. Mt 12:34, 24:33). Even more than this being an insult, John could very likely be comparing the religious leaders of his day to the snake in the Garden of Eden. The phrase ‘brood of vipers’ translated literally means ‘sons of snakes’ and could be interpreted to mean ‘sons of the deceiver’, whose teaching is like venomous poison (cf. Genesis 3; Jeremiah 46:22).[5]

So this is quite a greeting for the religious leaders. Verses 8 and 9, John then tells not just the religious leaders, but the whole crowd there to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:8,9).

Alongside John the Baptist, The Salvation Army in our ninth doctrine proclaims ‘that a continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.’ We can’t just say that we have Abraham as our father, Jesus as our Saviour; we need to bear fruit keeping with repentance.

John is telling the people that salvation isn’t dependent on who you are or who you claim to be, who your ancestors are, or anything like that. John is telling the crowds that our continuance in a state of salvation is evidenced by a continued obedient faith in God.[6] Produce fruit in keeping with repentance John says because If He wanted to, God could simply create, ‘sons of Abraham’, from rocks, or anything else nearby, I would presume, for that matter.

It is the same for us today, if we are saved we will produce fruit in keeping with repentance, a continuance in a state of salvation is evidenced by our continued obedient faith in Christ.[7] We weren’t chosen for a state salvation because we are Canadians or because we are from the lower mainland. God doesn’t need us; we need God. He can raise Salvationists from the plants over there if he wants to do so. He can raise Churchgoers from that chair over there and God can raise nice people from the cement floor if He wants to.  

We weren’t chosen to be raised to eternal life because we belong to group ‘x’ or group ‘y’. we were chosen because God loves us. God loves everyone in the world so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life (John 3:16).

Salvation isn’t so much a state that you can be born into, as it is a relationship we can continue in for now and forever.[8] The sinner’s prayer, that is rightfully so important in many of our lives, is like a police check, a security clearance. Do you know how long a police security clearance is good for? …about 5 minutes. In between getting your criminal record checked and handing in the piece of paper to your boss you could stop by the bank and rob it. The paper may say that you have never committed (or at least been convicted of) a crime but as soon as you leave the station it is no longer necessarily accurate. That is why people who work with vulnerable people are supposed to get criminal record checks done on a regular basis.

The experience of salvation is more like a marriage than a criminal record check. There is the initial event that starts the marriage –the wedding ceremony - this is much like the ‘sinner’s prayer’ in most evangelical churches (or baptism in some main-line churches). The wedding is just the beginning of the marriage relationship. It is not its culmination. There is a little bit more to marriage than simply standing at the altar and saying, ‘I do’. Our proclamation of salvation, similarly; our saying the ‘sinner’s prayer’ is just the beginning of our salvation; it is not the totality of our salvific relationship with Jesus Christ. And thank the Lord for that!

Some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day in our text are being accused of relying on their position (religion, race) rather than on their relationship with God for salvation. They are accused of not producing fruit in keeping with repentance. This is akin to getting married and then going away, never doing anything with your spouse again: never seeing your spouse again, never talking to her again, never even calling her on the phone again from the time you say ‘I do’ until the time they lower you in the grave. In that case you will have been a part of a wedding ceremony once but you will have never experienced any blessings of the marriage and as long as you are estranged from your husband or wife, wearing that potentially important ring on your finger is pretty useless; and so is the Pharisees’ implied claim that they are sons of Abraham (Matthew 3:9; cf. Luke 3:8). It is an expired security clearance. This is, I think, what Matthew warns us about when he reminds us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance and when he later tells us to be perfect as Christ is perfect (Matthew 5:4).

“While trust in Christ’s salvation is a first requirement, it is not the last.”[9] As Paul reminds the Corinthians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). That is the fruit that comes naturally from our relationship with Christ.

The eternal covenant with our Lord is the most wonderful thing in the entire world. Being tied together with Christ in a holy covenant means that whatever life throws our way, Christ can handle for us. We no longer need to rely on our own strength (1 Thessalonians 5:22-24). There is no other name under heaven through which we will be saved (Acts 4:12). So today, I invite us all to continue to turn to the Lord for, even more than the most loving and faithful spouse; Christ will always love us and be there for us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Romans 3:3,4). And so, as long as we still have breath in our body, we still have the opportunity to turn and return to God and be saved for now and for eternity.

Let us pray

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[1] Cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Know Press, 1993), 20.

[2] R. T. France : Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), CD-ROM Note on Matthew 3:7.

[3] M. Eugene Boring, Matthew (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 157,

[4] The Canadian Press “NDP wants names of Tories involved in taping of private caucus meeting” Reported by CBC. Last Updated: Sunday, January 4, 2009 7:13 PM ET. Available on-line at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/04/ndp-caucustape.html#ixzz0kFwSb4w7

[5] M. Eugene Boring, 157. Cf. Also R. T. France : Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), CD ROM note on Matthew 3:7, where a parallel is drawn between this event Egypt’s being referred to as a snake by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 46:22)

[6] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Grace and Works: a Look at Doctrines 5-10 of The Salvation Army’. Available on-line at http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_Theology_TSA.htm#Works

[7] Cf. The General of the Salvation Army. Salvation Story: A Handbook of Salvationist Doctrine. (London, England: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 1998),73-77.

[8] Cf. The General of the Salvation Army. ‘Salvation Story: A Handbook of Salvationist Doctrine’. (London, England: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 1998), p. 59.

[9] Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 20.