Pursuing the Christian life in all its fullness
In this worship gathering (for which we have new live-streaming equipment!), we look at Romans 8.18-30 and understand the value of suffering as followers of Jesus. We also look at the phrase, “Everything happens for a reason”, and consider what it really means. You can watch the whole worship gathering below, or just the message below that.
Earlier this month, my wife and I did some camping in northern Ontario. On the first evening, we were late arriving because we were detoured away from an accident on Highway 400. (Unlike Highway 11, some of the interchanges on the 400 extension are just for dead-end cottage roads, so we ended up adding about 3 hours to our trip.)
I was setting up the camper van, plugging into the electricity and water, and the chap at the adjoining campsite was inspecting the front of his trailer. Just trying to be a friendly camper, I made a compliment about his trailer, and he started telling me quite a bit of his life story.
I’ll spare you the details, but one part of his story struck me. He was telling me about the business he is going to start when he moves, and said, “I was raised an evangelical Christian…” and proceeded to disparage his upbringing.
My heart ached as I completed that conversation so I could cook supper, not only for him, but because I know there are others who have a similar story to tell.
In some ways, in recent years, it has become trendy to walk away from one’s spiritual roots, but it is especially poignant when those spiritual roots are in the historic, apostolic, biblically-based expressions of Christianity.
The reality is that no church is perfect, and most churches have made assumptions about how well-equipped parents are to raise their children to know and love and serve Jesus. They’ve let down their families. But every church that roots itself in the basics of Christian faith seeks to do its best to see its children grow in Christ. And when that doesn’t happen, the church mourns. It should mourn. And God’s heart breaks.
My fellow camper ideally would have held on to his faith roots, but he didn’t. I don’t know the reasons. But whatever your role in your local church, do all you can to disciple the children in your midst, starting with your own. Equip them, and their parents, to embrace and nurture faith in Jesus in a world that is doing its best to do the opposite. And leave the rest to God.
“[Y]ou must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up” (Deuteronomy 6.6-7, NLT).
In this pre-recorded worship broadcast, we look at the first part of Romans 8 to learn that the Holy Spirit is our Helper when it comes to trying to wage war against sin. We also learn about our standing as forgiven followers of Jesus: we are not condemned! You can watch the whole broadcast below, or just the message below that.
As we come to the close of Romans 7, we gain a glimpse into the life and struggles of the apostle Paul, who admits in Romans 7.14-25 that he wants to do what is right, but his sinful nature keeps him from doing so. However, as is highlighted in the message, just because a spiritual giant like Paul struggled doesn’t mean we can shrug our shoulders and give up the pursuit of holiness. How do we deal with the interior struggle? The message suggests some spiritual disciplines that may help us.
You can watch the whole worship gathering below, or just the message below that.
I had a good conversation this week with a friend. As happens in so many conversations these days, talk turned to the pandemic. He told me about an acquaintance of his who lives his life in fear of the pandemic because of everything he has read on the Internet.
While there is no doubt that we should be vigilant and careful in these interesting times, I think embracing fear is not part of our mandate. When we live paralyzed by fear, we are not really living.
This is why I encourage you to choose your information sources wisely, and even broadly. It’s a natural human tendency to gravitate toward news sources that affirm what we already believe to be true. In a time like this (pandemic or not), getting a broad spectrum of views helps widen our perspective on the situation, and helps loosen any grip that fear may have on us.
The reality is that even the health experts are flying in the dark without instruments right now, because none of us has ever faced this sort of pandemic before. The fact that a global crisis has been made political in many places does not help. It can be wildly confusing.
But all this is not confusing to God. He has it all figured out; our job is to follow. Don’t let yourself start walking in front of the One who holds all time and space in his hand.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3.5-6, NLT).
In this message, we learn how the law of Moses exists to convict us of our sin, and how we can respond to this through the spiritual disciplines of confession and thanksgiving. You can watch the whole gathering below, or just the message below that. It’s based on Matthew 19.16-22 and Romans 7.7-13.
Passionately His 