For Those With Ears - Entries tagged "From the Cave"

In fact, there’s no hope for any relationship of any kind apart from a commitment to forgive when offenses happen.

They always happen.

On Sunday we’ll continue our series “It’s a Family Thing” looking at “Priority #3: Forgive Freely” in Proverbs 17:9.  I’ll prepare you ahead of time…this is a seven-point message from one verse in Proverbs. One powerful little verse.

This could be a life-changing message for many. Come ready for that.

Come ready to hear from God.  You can do that by getting your heart and your head in the right place…

This is the final Sunday preview blog.  Watch for a new, enhanced e-bulletin in your email inbox next Friday. We’ll post a link to the new e-bulletin on our Facebook page and Twitter account as well. 

See you Sunday,

Todd

It’s a Family Thing

Proverbs you need to know…Priorities you need to make 

God created the family. Therefore life, by default, is a family thing. He created family to be a place of blessing, a place of nurturing relationships, of love, security, and trust. But since the creation, humanity has undone much of what God created, twisting, distorting, and undermining the family so that what we have today is far from the ideal God intended. And we are left feeling the weight of that. The great news is that God has not abandoned us to our fate, but has provided us hope and all we need to turn it around.

The Book of Proverbs is filled with God’s wisdom that helps families establish the priorities they need to enjoy all that God intends. And that’s what we will be looking at together over the next seven messages as we seek to hear God’s Word. Here’s the line up…

April 21 - Priority #1 - Worship together                               

April 28 - Priority #2 - Pledge your loyalty                               

May 5 - Priority #3 - Forgive freely                                               

May 12 - Priority #4 - Live the truth                                               

May 19 - Priority #5 - Honour one another               

June 2 - Priority #6 - Speak well of each other               

June 9 - Priority #7 - Love always                                               

We’ll get a start this Sunday as we look at Proverbs 30 and Priority #1 – Worship Together.  Come ready to hear God’s Word by reading the passage ahead of time, listening to the songs we’ll be singing in worship, praying for yourself and for others as you work your way through the Weekend Warriors prayer release.

Come early and be ready for that first moment of worship on Sunday. Give your offering, as many do, online and look over the weekly bulletin before you come. 

God’s Holy Spirit is poised to do some serious work in families in our church as we open ourselves to a change in priorities that reflects our relationship with and “knowledge of the Holy One” (Proverbs 30:3). And invite someone you know to come and see what God is doing at Harvest these days.

See you Sunday,

Todd

Have you heard the Chaucer proverb, “All good things must come to an end”? Seems true a good portion of the time. As it relates to our current study in Genesis regarding faith, I am hoping that you see faith as a good thing. But I’m hoping also that you see its end as an even better thing.

Our seven-week journey into Joseph’s life comes to an end this Sunday as we conclude the series, Things Not Seen…when faith is enough.  This final message takes us to the end of both Jacob and Joseph’s lives. As these men get into their older years and death becomes imminent, the realization comes to all of us that faith will soon be set aside in favour of seeing. Promise will become reality. Hope will become certainty.

It is in the famous hymn, It is Well with My Soul that we sing this line, “Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.” And that should be our deepest desire. That faith—the confidence in things not seen—would give way to the reality of what we do see in eternity with our God.

There’s a ton of challenge for us in these closing chapters of Genesis. Come ready for what God would do in your life.

You know the drill…

-       Worship God with your offering before you come by giving online;

-       Listen ahead of time to the great line up of worship songs that Jordan and the team will be leading us through;

-       Read Genesis 48-50 and look for the evidence of a life of faith;

-       Pray through the Weekend Warriors bulletin and seek God for change in your life and the lives of all who hear this message;

-       Take a look at the weekly bulletin and make sure you’re up to speed on what’s going on around here.

After the time we had last week, I’m so eager to be back together to worship the Risen Saviour. Aren’t you?!

See you Sunday!

Todd

There is an undeniable link between faith and forgiveness. If faith is the confidence of things not seen as we have learned in this series, then being able to pardon offenses must find its root in the capacity to look past the hurt…to get over the thing we can see. In fact, it would seem to me that true forgiveness is all but impossible without faith. Unless we get our eyes off of the offender and off of ourselves and onto the Lord, we will carry the hurt with us indefinitely.

As we continue our study of Joseph and the life of faith that he exemplifies, we come to the climax of the story. It is the moment when we find out if Joseph’s faith was enough to forgive his brothers who not only rejected him but also stole his life from him. In Genesis 42-47, as a result of the famine, the brothers show up in Egypt to buy grain from Pharaoh not knowing that their brother would be the government official they must deal with.

The encounter would be the test for Joseph. Forgiving your offender when you never see them is one thing, but to forgive your offender face to face is something that requires a deeper faith in God. Joseph doesn’t disappoint.

As we look at this narrative together on Sunday, we will be pressed hard as Christ-followers to grasp that the power of faith is seeing God at work, forgiving as he forgives, abounding in grace because, after all, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ did and does for us.

Several things to keep in mind as we prepare to be together on Sunday…

• If you have missed any of the messages in this series, the first three are available in audio and messages four and five in both audio and video formats;

• Read the somewhat lengthy passage we have for this Sunday. I’ll be working us through all of Genesis 42-47, though not hitting on every verse in the narrative;

• Pray for our time together that God will do a powerful work in each of our lives. Pray especially for those who are struggling with matters of forgiveness. Pray through the Weekend Warriors bulletin and intercede for all of our ministry on Sunday;


• Spend some time in worship with the songs lined up for Sunday;

• Give your regular offering online or sign up for our Automatic Faithfulness pre-authorized giving;

• Come ready (or give online) to participate in the HOPE offering (the Lord’s Table will be celebrated on Good Friday rather than on Sunday this month);

• Read the Sunday bulletin now.

If you would like a CD set of the Things Not Seen series, , let us know on the Connect@Harvest folder, or stop by the bookstore to pre-order.

Also, let us know if you need to be baptized. We would be pleased to add you to the group being baptized on Easter Sunday. I believe we have eight scheduled already. Join them.

Don’t forget to pick up invitations on Sunday for Good Friday and Easter or use the e-invite and email your friends and post to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.

And mark your calendar for the next few Sundays:

            March 24 - Things Not Seen (message 6/7)

            March 29 - Good Friday: The Wonder of the Cross

            March 31 - Easter Sunday: The Wonder of the Empty Tomb

            April 7 - Things Not Seen series concludes, “When Faith is Made Sight”

            April 14 - Harvest Vision Message

            April 21 - It’s a Family Thing series begins

See you Sunday!

Todd

Just when you thought we were done with the notion of tests of faith, Genesis 40 hits us with more. We’re in the midst of this study of Joseph’s life and we have to admit that he had it tough. Time and time again, just when he starts to get some traction, the rug gets pulled out from under him.

In the last message we saw him in a good situation but where he lost it all because of the false accusations of another. Tragically it is more of the same this week with a slight twist. Things don’t get worse; they just don’t get better. And that situation lasts for a long, long time. 

And we ask again, as we have been throughout this series, will faith be enough for Joseph? Will it be enough for us?

We are coming off of a hard-hitting message that saw most of you respond by surrendering something to Christ and pledging yourself to live a more faith-filled life. If you’ve not heard that message or any of the previous three messages in the Things Not Seen series, you can catch up here with our sermon audios (video is coming soon!)

This week we will be challenged to believe that through the most difficult of circumstances, we must cling to things not seen. Essentially, will you believe that your faith in Jesus Christ is enough to carry you through anything this world throws at you…anything GOD allows in your life? Sunday’s message will be an encouragement for those currently travelling tough roads. We’ve planned an extended time of worship after the message this week.

To be ready for our time together on Sunday be sure to…

• Read the latest episode in Joseph’s life in Genesis 40. We’ll be working through those verses together;
• Ask God’s Spirit to open your ears, mind and heart to receive the Word of God as you read it and hear it preached on Sunday;
• Take a look at the bulletin for any church family happenings;
• Worship through the song set for Sunday;
• Consider giving your offering online through our pre-authorized debit plan or through your online banking;
• Intercede for all of the Sunday ministries and ministers by praying through the Weekend Warriors; and
• Use the online invitation to invite your friends and family members to our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services coming up in a couple of weeks.

And DON’T FORGET THE TIME CHANGE THIS WEEKEND. Set your clocks FORWARD an hour when you go to bed Saturday night. If you don’t, you’ll be late for worship! Not a big problem if you come to first service (you’ll be early for second), but a problem if you’re a second service person.

See you Sunday at 9 and 11:15 a.m. EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME!

Todd

It isn’t a secret around Harvest that we are committed to planning out the preaching a year in advance. Each spring, I begin the process with the elders to consider our situation, study the Bible and seek God in prayer for the teaching we should do for the coming year. The new preaching calendar begins each September. We have seen God do amazing things over the years following this pattern. There have been so many times when the Holy Spirit led us to have just the right series in place at just the right time to address things that we could not have anticipated.

One time, a few years ago, with a series we had put in place a year prior, the elders decided that the series that had been planned was not the right fit for the time. What was obvious to me at the time, was that God had intended the series for me and Cheryl. I had worked on these seven messages in advance more than I usually did and what we had learned was critical in navigating us through a certain season of our lives. And it was also obvious that the series was not intended for the church as a whole. At least, not then.

But now? Yes! The time has come. After almost four years of waiting, I’m excited to be opening God’s Word with you to Genesis 37-50 to examine the faith of the Patriarch Joseph.  The series is titled, “Things Not Seen…when faith is enough”.

The Bible tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction or evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The Bible also says we need to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). And it says these things because faith is such a hard concept to grasp for anyone who has eyes. We are a visually-driven people. We’re told to “watch our step”, “look before we leap”, and “open our eyes”. But God knows that while we rely so heavily on what we can see, our eyes can only take us so far. They can only help us see the visible, material world and there’s so much more to know and understand beyond the visible. The most important things, in fact, are the things not seen. The most important things are what we believe by faith. 

And so, in Genesis 37-50 we have the narrative of the life of Joseph, the favoured son of Jacob and patriarch of the people of Israel. As a seventeen year old, the brash and youthful Joseph found himself sold into slavery by his own brothers and living in a world where everything he could see with his eyes challenged what he believed in his heart and mind. Far from ruining him, what he saw with his eyes and experienced in life only increased his faith in his God and Saviour. Faith was enough for Joseph. And the question we will grapple with through the series will be this one: is faith enough for us? 

We will get going on this Sunday morning as we look at Genesis 37 and the natural starting point, “The Crisis of Faith”. Everyone has to have the crisis (and probably multiple crises over a lifetime) to have an assurance that what you have is genuine. The appalling treatment that Joseph received at the hands of his own brothers sets the stage for an examination of the crisis of faith we all must have.

In order to get the most from this series, I would suggest the following for you…

§  Get the dates for this series into your calendar (all that info is on the website) and plan to be here for each message. If you happen to miss one, you can always get the CD from the bookstore, listen online or grab the podcast from iTunes.

§  Read the entire narrative of Genesis 37-50 in one sitting this weekend or next week. That will give you the scope of his entire life. If you don’t have enough time for that, be sure to at least read chapter 37 in preparation for Sunday.

§  Listen to the worship songs that Jordan has planned for us to sing and prepare yourself to lift high the name of Jesus Christ in worship.

§  Take a look at the weekly bulletin and get up to date on the happenings in our family.

§  Pray. The Weekend Warriors prayer update is a good way to intercede for all that will happen around the facility on Sunday, but pray also for yourself…your response to the Word. Ask God to increase your faith through this series.

If I haven’t already let you know that I’m pretty excited about this series, well, I am.

See you Sunday!

Todd

We live in a community of communities.  They are rich and diverse and complex.  We all belong to many of them.  We usually think of community in terms of place.  We live in this community or that one.  But we also have communities of people.  One might belong to the Italian community or on a larger scale, the African community, and of course there is the international community – whoever they are!  Then we have communities built around passion.  We might belong to the sports community or the business community.  We even have communities of participation.  I can join a reading club or an Internet community that is nothing more than a sharing of anonymous, frequently rabid opinions!

Community is vital for human beings.  We need to build them and participate in them and improve them wherever we can.  But as amazing as all of that richness and diversity is, all of that is still, really, just common community.  As we look at the house we are building called Harvest Bible Chapel, the roof over it all is what we are calling uncommon community!  All that we do, takes place in the context of community.  When we are all together on a Sunday, in our small groups, in friendships and in our families, we are in community and we want it to be this uncommon community!

What is uncommon community?  What makes it uncommon?  What does it look like and what are the ramifications of it – for me?  We’ll get some of those questions answered Sunday from Philippians 2:1-18.  It wouldn’t take long so why not spend some time reading through all of Philippians?  Get ready by listening to the songs we will be singing together, checking the bulletin to keep up with what's going on, praying through Weekend Warriors prayer requests and spending some time preparing to take communion together.  Spoiler alert!  As you meditate on the deep meaning of communion you will be getting warmer concerning what makes community uncommon! 

And anything that gets us warmer this week is a good thing!

See you Sunday!

What are we doing here?

That’s an important question to ask as a member of a local church. But having asked it, you must not labour over the answer.  While church leadership may not always be clear about their purpose as a church, the Bible is abundantly so.  The mission of the church is not shrouded in mystery in the least. Nothing from the mouth of Jesus Christ could be more clear than what we know as the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20.

So, the reason why we shouldn’t labour over the answer is because Jesus was so clear about it. But so many churches are not. The church need not agonize over what they should be doing, but merely comply with the Word of God. Is your church clear about how it is living out the mission Jesus gave us to accomplish in this world? If not, get the Bible open and read it again and get to it.

Now, I’m hoping that if you’re reading this and you’re part of our Harvest Barrie family, the answer for you is clear. But in order to be sure, we have devoted the first five weeks of this year to a series called Connect@Harvest. If you were away last Sunday, squeezing out the last little bit of the Christmas and New Years holiday time, you can listen to the first message “Our Foundation; Jesus Christ” here. The series is designed to lay out what we are to be and do as a church.

Having established the foundation last week, we are continuing on this Sunday by seeking to make clear what we are to be doing as a church. What’s our purpose? What’s “Our Mission”?

As you prepare to be with the church on Sunday…

• Read Matthew 28:19-20 and consider it carefully. How is the mission Jesus gave us in evidence in your own life? This is a good passage to have memorized.

• Pray for your response to the Word. It is easy to see weakness in others and in the church as a whole when it comes to the effectiveness of executing the mission, but resist looking at anyone else. Ask God what he is saying to you through the Word. Then take a look at our Weekend Warriors update to intercede for the ministry as a whole. Lots going on this weekend including our senior high youth and their leaders on retreat in Muskoka.

• Listen to the worship songs that we have lined up for this week. We are grateful that Chad Ballantyne will be leading us along with the band to lift high the name of Jesus Christ. Come ready to do that.

• Read the weekly bulletin and be aware of what’s going on in your church family.

I’ll also be giving a brief report on 2012 including some final numbers on our end-of-year giving. Much to be grateful for.

See you Sunday.

Todd

Foolish ways, frail existence, fearful insecurities, and failed relationships. That’s a summary of life on earth as a human being. None of us wants to be there. We just are. Some of us deny it all, or work hard to reverse these things, but in the end, that’s the story of us.  

Thankfully, the word from God on all this speaks precisely into these inherent weaknesses. He is a God whose wisdom and plan are perfect, whose strength always prevails, whose care and concern is unfailing, and whose rule reconciles us to God. And he has communicated this good news in the names he has taken for himself.

Among the prophecies spoken hundreds of years prior to the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby is this one from Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born; to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Four names for our Saviour. Four names that speak directly into our weaknesses. Four names that deliver the change we desperately need. When this child came, everything changed.

That’s what we’ve been looking at for these past Sundays leading up to Christmas. If you missed the first two messages in the series, you can always catch up with our podcast. And as we conclude the series this weekend, we’ll look at the same passage (Isaiah 9:2-7) in our regular Sunday morning services on the 23^rd where we’ll look at the name “Everlasting Father,” and in our special Christmas Eve Worship Event at 7 p.m. on the 23^rd and 24^th where we’ll look at the name “Prince of Peace.”

Take some time during these busy days before Christmas to prepare for our times of corporate worship. Read the passage again, memorize Isaiah 9:6 if you haven’t already, pray for your response to these truths and for others to respond, and listen to the great songs we have lined up to sing together to our Saviour and Lord.

We have a special time of prayer scheduled at Timothy for Saturday at 2 p.m. that coincides with our rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Worship Event. Join with us in interceding for this important celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.  There will be many guests joining us those two nights.  Let’s pray together for a high-impact, God-glorifying gathering that will draw these guests into relationship with the Lord.

See you Sunday…and again Sunday night and Monday!

Todd

There is no mystery when the Christmas season is coming hard and fast and pastors start talking about a child, a baby,  that we’re actually talking about Jesus. Everyone seems to know that. The fear is that our familiarity with the story will cause us to miss out on some powerful, life transforming truths that accompany the coming of that child.

Last Christmas, I bought a bunch of new Christmas music.  Among the albums I purchased was Northpoint’s “Christmas”, and one of the songs in particular gripped me... ”Everything Changed” by Eddie Kirkland.  It gripped me because it centred on the very thing I am concerned we hear every Christmas, that the coming of Jesus Christ changed everything (for the world) and still changes everything (for me and you as we come to realize it).  

It wasn’t hard as Jordan and I, several months ago now, decided what our theme would be for this Christmas season and what we would seek to emphasize in our worship and preaching during these weeks. It would be: Everything Changed. And it changed because of what we read in Isaiah 9:2-7. In that prophetic passage written some 600 years prior to the birth of Jesus, it says simply, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…” and in the rest of the passage we discover that this child is known by four names which all speak to the changes he brings to our lives. He is, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” He is The Child with Four Names.

On the basis of these names, everything changes.

Those six verses in Isaiah will be the text we’ll have in front of us for each of those four messages. We’ll get a start on it this Sunday, December 9 looking at “Wonderful Counselor” and seeing how he gives us wisdom in the face of the foolish plans we have for ourselves. On December 16 we’ll look at “Mighty God” and on the 23 it will be “Everlasting Father”.  Each will respond to a specific area in our lives that must be given over to his perfect ways.  The series will conclude at our special Christmas Worship Experience on the evenings of Sunday, December 23 and Monday, December 24 when I preach about the “Prince of Peace”.  

Take some time to read Isaiah 9:2-7 and maybe even commit yourself to memorize verse 6 before Christmas comes.  Pray about your response to the Word during these weeks.

Invite someone to come and see what God is doing at Harvest these days and take advantage of the invitations we have to get friends and family to the event on the 23^rd and 24^th. 

Check out this week’s eBulletin and the Weekend Warriors prayer list.

Take a look at this Sunday’s worship set to see if your favourite Christmas songs are included. (And if they aren't there this week, don't let that hinder your worship!) There will be a couple each week leading up to Christmas. Come ready to worship LOUD!

And a reminder to get here early, fill the front rows and turn your cellphones off…please!

Don’t forget about our First Things campaign to retire our mortgage. Bring your offering to the Lord!

See you Sunday!

There is little doubt that God is doing something in our church these days. Sunday after Sunday is a powerful display of God’s presence among us. And I believe he is changing us. As we continue to prioritize the First Things of God’s kingdom in our lives, he will meet with us and he will bless us.

Among the First Things (our theme for the year) that we are looking at is this matter of worship. It is the one thing we do as a church that will continue on for all eternity. In our current preaching series, After This, we are seeking to gain the eternal perspective on worship so as to inform our worship now. What will happen after this life? What does worship in heaven look like? What can we do to better reflect that now?

As we come then to this third message in the series, we’ll look at Revelation 5, which represents another episode, so to speak, in the amazing story of God’s redemptive plan. As an aside, I find myself thinking, whenever I come upon a passage like this one, that surely this is the greatest moment in history…and then I come upon another episode that is just as amazing and moves the story along even more. 

In Revelation 5:1-10 we will see that Jesus Christ alone relieves us of our sorrows. John weeps at the depth of the trouble we find ourselves in, and then he is quickly assured that there is one who has conquered and therefore is worthy of our worship. And he is hearing our prayers, intending fully to deliver us of our sorrows forever.

That’s a critical message for people to hear: that Jesus Christ is offering relief from all sorrows.  Who wouldn’t want that?

As always, I would strongly encourage you to listen to the worship songs we have lined up for Sunday and in that way prepare to be with the church to honour the Lord. Read the passage (Revelation 5:1-10) and allow the scene described there and the assurances given to wash over you. What a God we worship?! And come ready to receive the Lord’s Table during the extended worship time we’ll have after the preaching.

The sermon will be starting earlier in the service again.  Come early, get a seat near the front (let’s fill those rows) and show great eagerness to worship the Lord. And don’t forget to shut off the ringer on your cellphone so we are undistracted in our time together.

See you Sunday!

Todd

After This—the eternal perspective on worship

You’ve likely heard it before: worship is the one thing we do now that we will continue to do for all eternity. Faith will be made sight. Praying will cease because we will be face to face with our Lord. Evangelism will be over because those who are to be saved will be enjoying their reward and those who are not will be forever separated from the Lord. And preaching…well, I’ll be out of a job because the truth will be fully known.

And so After This…after this life is over for us, there will be…

WORSHIP!

You see, because that’s what we do. With “eternity in our hearts”, placed there by God himself, the whole point of everything in our lives is the glory of God.  Those who follow Christ will be receiving glorified bodies and will enjoy the majesty and awesomeness of their God forever as he shares the lavish riches of his kingdom with his children. In every way and with everything we do and all that we are and will be, eternity will reflect pure, unhindered, passionate worship.

So if it is that important when we get there, I would think that getting a head start on knowing what it is and how to do it right would be a high priority for his followers now. Worshiping him in this life should begin to look like worship in heaven in eternal life. And so for the next four weeks we will be diving into Revelation 4-5 and John’s vision of heavenly worship in the hope of gaining the perspective of eternity to transform our worship today.

The Book of Revelation, as you probably know, is both wild and wonderful. The apocalyptic scenes that John described are meant to wash over us like a wave of the ocean and overwhelm us with what we hear described. The goal of interpretation of this amazing revelation is not to pin down every detail and interpret it, but rather to be in awe of the God who will decisively bring about his will in heaven and on earth. The two chapters we will examine focus entirely on what is going on now and forever in eternity. In that sense, it is not predictive of what will happen, but declarative of what is happening right now.

The first message in our series looks at Revelation 4:1-8 where we hear Jesus say to John, “I will show you.” If I heard that from Jesus (and I am), then I’d want to be paying attention and taking in all I could of what he was showing me. We’ll hear of a door that looks into eternal worship to see his majesty and his authority over us, the mind-blowing glory of God and the very essence of who he is. We’ll see that he is perfect in every way, powerful beyond our imagination and has been and will be all of these things for all eternity!

I feel the weight already of trying to preach the awesomeness of this remarkable passage.

Get yourself ready for this series by reading Revelation 4-5 and listening to the great worship songs Jordan has lined up for us to sing together. Pray through the passage and ask God to shred you and re-make you into the person he wants you to be. I believe we’re going to have an amazing morning together.

A reminder about three things: (1) As it is November 11 on Sunday, we will be sending out the team we recruited last week to give out Timmies cards to veterans and military personnel at the Remembrance Day cenotaph service in downtown Barrie. They will leave the 9 a.m. service after our time of worship; (2) As I announced last week, we are now in the midst of our First Things financial campaign to retire our property debt by year-end. Carefully consider your part in that appeal; and (3) This is week one of our If They Were Mine drive to provide gift baskets for the orphans we support in Haiti and Nigeria. Look for the booth in the lobby to give your $40 Christmas gift to these precious children.

So looking forward to being together as the church again to worship our great God and King, Jesus Christ!

See you Sunday!

Todd

Thanks for not walking out last Sunday when I gave you the chance. There are, it seems, plenty of people who don’t like it when pastors preach about money. And that was a hard-as-nails sermon on greed. But you took in every word of it.  Thanks for that. Seems many of you are interested in Making Change in your lives. If you missed part 1 in the series, download the podcast from iTunes or listen to it on our website.

Our little “money series” (Making Change) continues this Sunday as we move from a look at our problem (Greed) to a solution, Gratitude.  We will spend our time in just one verse—and a short one at that—2 Corinthians 9:15 which reads, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

For the Christ-follower, gratitude must be rightly directed and passionately expressed. Unless it is, we will continue to find ourselves discontent and succumbing to greed. We will take the time to look at some very practical ways to become grateful people. It hinges, of course, on understanding what that “inexpressible gift” is that Paul is referring to. That gift changes everything.

Instead of just reading the verse for this week (it is sooooo short!), why not memorize it (it is soooooo short!). And take the time to pray through each of the words and thoughts that are there. Ask God to give you a deep understanding of what it is to be grateful.

Listen ahead of time to the songs that our worship team has prepared for us. It is a highlight of my week when we gather as the church for corporate worship, and I like to be as ready as I can be to lift high the name of Jesus Christ with you.

And we will be showing our gratitude to the Lord by observing the Lord’s Table, or the Eucharist as liturgical churches call it. That word Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharisteo, used in Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Table in 1 Corinthians 11:24, and simply means “gratefulness.” Which just makes it all so appropriate for our worship time this weekend.  

See you Sunday!

Todd

I tweeted already this week that the Book of Hebrews has 303 verses in it and that, as of last week, we had studied 295 of them. Since September we have worked our way verse-by-verse through Hebrews, praying that God would make us more like his Truly Epic Son, Jesus Christ, and that we would have in ourselves, “the power of the indestructible life.”

And here we are at the end. Just eight more verses to look at and we are done this epic journey through and amazing sermon that was preached some two thousand years ago to a church that was evidently not unlike our own. Things they needed to hear, we have needed to hear too.

The last words that the preacher wrote in the last verse that we will look at Sunday are these, “Grace be with all of you.”  It is a fitting end to a powerful message about the superiority of Jesus Christ.  It is by grace that we have all we have. Grace. Undeserved. Unearned. It is God’s generous and love-saturated favour on stubborn, rebellious sinners. On me.  On you.  And because it is all of grace, it is also all to his glory and not ours.

So that’s the last verse. As I said, we will be together as the church to look at it on Sunday. Take a few minutes before we get together to read Hebrews 13:8-25. The title of the final message is “To whom be glory” which puts the credit in the right place…gives it to the right one.

Listen to the songs that the team has prepared for us to sing in worship to our God. Among the songs lined up for us is the “Great I Am,” which I know many of you love singing. High impact worship!

You might want to also come prepared to SHARE at the mic a particular verse from Hebrews that has impacted your life this year. Jordan will be leading us through an open mic time during our worship.

And pray for us to both hear from God and to properly respond to what he says to us. Make it personal, praying, “How can I live so as to fully appreciate your grace and bring glory to you alone?”

If you’re away on vacation reading this, may God give you rest and bring you home re-energized for the mission he’s given us in this world. For the rest of you…

See you Sunday! 

Todd

P.S. Would you pray for me in the coming weeks. I start my summer preaching break after this Sunday. Apart from preaching messages I’ve already preached at Harvest Niagara on July 15 and Harvest Philadelphia on August 5, I will be taking time off from sermon preparation. The next time I’ll be preaching in Barrie is Labour Day weekend. My preaching calendar study week is July 17-20. I would appreciate your prayers as I seek the Lord for what he has for us in the next ministry year.

While I’m off from preaching, you’ll be blessed by:
July 15 - Pastor Ian Hales, Harvest Durham
July 22 - Pastor Scott Hamilton, Harvest Glasgow
July 29, August 5 - Pastor Mike Armstrong
August 12, 19 - Pastor Roger Freeman
August 29 - Terry Codling, chair of our elders

It is going to be a great summer at Harvest Barrie with great messages from God’s Word.

I want to be completely upfront with you about Sunday’s message.  It will be filled with boasting.

But this won’t be chest-thumping, look-what-we’ve-done braggadocio. It isn’t going to be an awards show with all manner of self-aggrandizing and showcasing of our accomplishments. There will be no arrogant assumption of personal credit for what has taken place this year.

Nevertheless, I am going to boast. It is just that I’m going to do it as Paul did. In 2 Corinthians 10:17 he wrote, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  He actually uses the word “boast” and its variants some eighteen times in the space of three chapters. While Paul had done amazing things in his life, he wanted his readers to know that it was all the Lord. His boasting was in things that showed his personal weakness (2 Corinthians 11:30) and showcased the Lord’s awesome strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul’s intent was to manifest the glory of Jesus Christ in his life. And so, he boasted in that.

And so will we.

We know our weakness. We have been brought low and we have experienced the joy of being raised up. We have known want and abundance (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). In every situation, we have seen God’s glory manifested among us.

And we will boast in that!

Sunday’s message is going to start with our theme and theme verse for the year. “To him be glory” is taken from Ephesians 3:20-21 and formed the backdrop to a tenth anniversary year that was filled with God’s abundance. We saw him work in amazing ways over the past months and, again, we want to be able to boast in that.

The message will be less traditional than usual. I won’t be taking a single passage and working verse by verse through it, but instead we will be touching down in a bunch of passages and hearing a bunch of stories of God’s glory radiating in our Harvest family. My hope is that we will all be encouraged and built up by what we hear, that unbelievers will be drawn to the church and to the Lord as a result and that God will be glorified further in the boasting we’ll do.

If you are ambitious, read the passages I’ve lined up for this message—Ephesians 3:20-21; Revelation 4:11; Matthew 6:19-21; Romans 5:1-5; Colossians 2:6-7; Acts 4:31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:1-16; 2 Corinthians 4:5-7—and look for the way God glorified himself in each passage.

Pray that God will do a powerful work in us as we gather as the church. The last two weekends have been amazing displays of his glory. Pray for the Spirit of God to continue to pour out his presence in his church.

Listen to the great worship songs that the team has lined up for us to sing and prepare your heart to be here.

Two special elements in this Sunday’s service are an interview with Kathy Pedersen of the Barrie Pregnancy Resource Centre, one of our compassion partner agencies. The baby bottle drive concludes next Sunday. And, on a similar theme, I’ll have the privilege of helping some parents dedicate their children to the Lord. That’s always a great time.

God is doing a powerful work in our church. It is exciting to be part of it. And I’m looking forward to sharing some of it with you. I’m looking forward to boasting in the Lord.

I was thinking about how the idea of “discipline” seems like such a negative thing and how it really shouldn’t be.  Probably just another indicator of a permissive society influencing how we think and act. Whenever we look at a topic like this as the followers of Christ, we want to hear from God through his Word to know what he says about it and then to challenge any presuppositions we might have. Let’s just assume that we don’t have it quite right and listen up to his instruction about discipline.

Because discipline is not at all a negative. Not as God practices it. And as we jump into Hebrews 12:4-11 this Sunday we will see that the discipline of the Lord is “for our good.” It is a clear demonstration of the Father’s deep love for us, identifying us as part of his family. Understanding what biblical discipline is, what it produces in us, and how we ought to respond to it are the goals for this Sunday as we gather.

I don’t want to make light of this at all. I’m challenged by Hebrews 12:9 in the passage because it sets up parental discipline as a positive example of how we ought to respect God for his discipline as we respected our parents for their discipline. The problem I have with that idea is that so many do not have a great memory of being disciplined by their parents. Too many find that they were on one extreme or the other. Either their home was too permissive or it was too strict. Both extremes produce adults with baggage. And when they try to compare what they have known experientially with what they’re hearing from the Bible, they chafe at the thought. They don’t want God’s discipline.

But they should want it. We should all want it.

Take some time to prepare for Sunday by reading and meditating on the passage, listen to the worship songs that Jordan and Joel have lined up us to sing, and pray for your own response to the Word of God.

A few others things…

The next week is a big one for us. Tuesday we will be gathering as the church to pray. Join us at 7 p.m. at Timothy for worship and prayer as we focus on praying Hebrews 12:1-3 and lifting up our intercession for the upcoming celebration weekend with Pastor James MacDonald and Meredith Andrews.

And it is a bit hard to believe for the staff especially, but that celebration weekend is only days away now. We have worship services as usual on Sunday, May 27 at 9 and 11:15 a.m., but we’ve added a third identical service on Saturday, the 26 at 4 p.m. And don’t forget about the worship concert with Meredith Andrews and Joshua Seller on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available at the office and bookstore.  

If you have been waiting to get your hands on the DVDs of the main sessions from Harvest University, the time is now! We have two sets of the DVDs available for loan from the church office. to arrange to borrow them.

See you Sunday,

I’m still basking in the benefits of last Sunday! What a great time in worship and what a powerful sermon we all heard from Pastor Cristian Barbosu from Harvest in Arad, Romania.  If you missed it, the message and study resources are available online.

This Sunday we are back in Hebrews to continue our pursuit of what is Truly Epic, having “the power of an indestructible life” in us. In section three of the Hebrews sermon we are seeking to Run Hard by faith, and in the eleventh chapter we have been examining the lives of those who lived prior to the coming of Jesus and who lived a life of faith. Their example is for our benefit. Will we run hard as they did?

The preacher has taken us through a number of examples in detail and by the time he reaches verse 32 you get a sense that he is watching the clock and needs to move on. “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of…” and he proceeds to list a bunch of names and situations where genuine faith was seen.

As I read Hebrews 11:32-40, the question I have is what in the world does someone have to believe to live “by faith”? With everything these men and women faced, they demonstrated “the power of the indestructible life” and showed us what they believed. The evidence is in four key phrases in the passage:

“were made strong out of weakness”

“that they might rise again to a better life”

“of whom the world was not worthy”

“God had provided something better”

Take some time to think about how each of these phrases communicates something about what we must believe as the followers of Christ…as people who live by faith. I’m eager to work through this passage with you. Despite some hard things we have to work through in verse 32 about some of these “heroes”, we won’t skip any verses! We preach the whole counsel of God! It is going to be a great Sunday together!

Don’t forget that it is only a few weeks now until we have our fifth and final 10th anniversary celebration weekend on May 26 and 27 with Pastor James MacDonald and Meredith Andrews. Details are here. Get your Saturday evening concert tickets on Sunday at the bookstore.

By the way, last Sunday’s Storyline video featuring Rod and Elaine Duff is now up on Vimeo. Check it out and be encouraged in how God is so faithful to us.

You can prepare for our time in worship and the Word on Sunday by listening to the songs that Jordan has lined up for us this week and read and pray through the passage I’ll be preaching. We will be remembering the Lord’s death and burial at the communion table too. You might want to also read 1 Corinthians 11:17-32 and refresh your understanding of why we do this. Let’s not let the Lord’s Table become too familiar and so treat it with contempt.

I’m so grateful for each of you and for the joy we have in being the church of Jesus Christ here in Barrie. Pray for one another. Encourage one another. Serve one another in love. Live a life of faith for the benefit of one another.

See you Sunday,

It should be understood that some of the things we read in the Bible are to be believed and accepted though not necessarily fully understood or completely reconciled. I rest, as the Apostle Paul did, in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” because as I read the Word, I understand that God predestined us and, as Ephesians 1:4 says, “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Romans 8:29-30 adds to that saying, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

But, in the simplest terms possible, Paul makes it also sound, in the very same letter to the Romans that there is some onus on us to make a decision. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Romans 10:13. You have to call on him.

So both are accurate. God chose us and calls us. We call on him. Both are taught in the Word. Both are right. We can accept Jesus or reject Jesus. Choose him or not. As one of my seminary profs would say, “the moment you reconcile God’s election and man’s freewill you have become unbiblical”. We are meant to live with the tension.

I appreciate C. S. Lewis and the powerful theological themes that he wrestled with in the Chronicles of Narnia. In one dialogue between Aslan the Lion (the Christ-figure in the books) and Jill in The Silver Chair, the Lion says, "You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you.” That’s as close as I can get to understanding how it all works. And I am happy to leave this as something that is rooted in the mysteries of God while fully grasping the mission he has given to me to proclaim the message and call people to choose Christ.

So, all of that as an apologetic for the title of this week’s message, “Faith Chooses”. It is a choice. Again,  Romans 10:13 says that, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. By implication, whoever does not, by faith, call on the name of the Lord is not saved. So, it is a choice. And my concern is telling you what you need to know so you can make a good choice…a godly choice.

Hebrews 11 has the names of people who chose faith. There are also countless examples in the rest of the Bible of people who did not choose faith. Cain was the first; the people of Noah’s day who did not enter the ark, King Saul, Absalom, the rich young ruler, the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, Judas…the list is long.  Make sure you’re on the right list!  

In this week’s passage we will see several more heroes of the faith who made their choice to live by faith…the parents of Moses, Moses himself, the people of Israel at the time of the exodus (under Moses), as well as the people of Israel at the time of entering the Land (50 years later under Joshua), and finally a non-Jewish woman named Rahab, who lived in Jericho and happened to be a prostitute. It is a rich list of faith-filled men and women who chose faith.

For the unbeliever, the choice is clear. It is Jesus, faith, life or it is all you, it is living by sight and it is ultimately death and eternal separation from God. For the believer though, there is still a powerful message here…choose faith every single day. What I know, and I’m sure you do too, is that even as a Christ-follower it is easy to get your eyes off of Jesus and onto your circumstances or onto the things of this world. It is easy to have faith in Christ and then, in any given moment, to live like you don’t.

So that’s what we’re going after. If you’re a regular blog reader, you already know what I’m going to say next. Read and consider carefully Hebrews 11:23-31, our passage for Sunday. Listen to the worship songs that Jordan has lined up for us and prepare your heart to lift high the name of Jesus in worship (we have a small, very small, some would say “singular” band on Sunday). And pray for yourself primarily. Pray that you’ll respond to God’s Word in a way that will free the Holy Spirit to work in your life.

See you Sunday!

The next few days are a mere holiday for most, with many enjoying a full four-day weekend out of it. They’re in a celebrative mood, but not necessarily for the right reason. At least not the reason the days exist as holidays.

Even among believers though, there is a familiarity with the whole thing that breeds contempt, as they say. We go through the motions because that’s what we do each year. Aside from attending one extra service on Friday, there’s nothing about this weekend that is very different from any other weekend. I’m fearful of this in my own heart. I’m concerned about how indifferent or even cavalier I can get with the whole thing.

Because it isn’t just another weekend. Not for those who love and follow Jesus.

God’s Dead?

It begins for us on Good Friday. We have led with the question, “God’s dead?” as a way of provoking our thoughts about what happened that day. First, GOD did not die that day. (R. C. Sproul has answered that question well in his short blog on that theological matter. Check it out here.  But Jesus, the man, died. It was a horrible death. The gospel accounts spare us the gore, but it was indeed gory. The movie The Passion of the Christ came as close as anything to accurately describing what happened to Jesus in those hours. I have only seen it once in a theatre when it first came out. I own the DVD but have never watched it. I know what it depicts. And it bothers me, so I avoid it.

And that’s part of the problem with Good Friday. We have sterilized it. Polished it up for easy consumption. We have softened the horrible truth. And even with this year’s attempt to come closer...we won’t actually go very far. We will be careful. We won’t overdo the horror of it. We’ll be careful not to upset anyone. 

But in an effort to shake up any indifference or familiarity with it all, we are asking you to come as you would to a funeral for a loved one. Come dressed appropriate to a funeral. Come expecting the form of a funeral. Come with grief in your heart, after all, Jesus said. “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

As we open the Word of God on Good Friday, we will be looking at John 12:20-26 and the powerful words of Jesus, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  In those words Jesus was telling them about his own impending death and what would come of it. As we work through the passage we will see what the death of Jesus reveals to us; namely, the God-longing we all have as humans, the crisis moment we all have as we hear the gospel, the unavoidable truth that Jesus must die…and us too, the crucial choice to follow him, and the astonishing outcome that we enjoy as a result of that decision.

Some may think or ask whether or not God’s dead. Well, we know he isn’t.

Our God’s Alive!

And that’s the thrust of Easter Sunday morning, of course. There will be some tension left in the air on Friday. We won’t feel the need to resolve the whole issue. Sunday is the resolution.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ completes the matter.

From Luke 24:1-12 we will hear a call to believe the unbelievable: our God’s alive! To do that, each of us must cut through our emotions and pain because we all start here. It is in brokenness that we trust Christ with our lives. But it won’t happen unless we challenge the assumptions we’ve had about life and death and our destiny and even who calls the shots in our lives.  If we show a willingness and an understanding of what God is doing in us, we will respond to the growing conviction in our hearts and turn our lives over to him in faith. And the reality is that when we do this, we should expect a mixed reaction to our new faith. Some will also believe, some will want to check it out for themselves and some will think we’ve lost it. What God thinks should be our only concern.

The passage traces the steps of a group of women who loved Jesus and had followed him. It was their brokenness, their loyalty, and their subsequent faith that will grip us as we work through the account of his resurrection. It welled up in their hearts, “Our God’s alive!”

And I’m hoping it will well up and spill out of our hearts too on Sunday morning!

A weekend like no other

Every Sunday is meant as a celebration of the resurrection. That’s why the early church abandoned the Sabbath (Saturday) and began meeting on Sundays. But there is still a sense in which this weekend is different. And God uses this annual remembrance of the crucifixion and celebration of the resurrection to lead many to find the forgiveness of sins and a relationship with their God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

So to our Harvest Bible Chapel Barrie family I say, let’s be sure to remember and celebrate in a way that does not treat all this with contempt or familiarity but with godly grief, with reverence, with awe, and with unbridled JOY! Come ready to soberly and solemnly reflect on Friday. Come ready to sing and SHOUT, Harvest, as we gather to worship our living GOD on Sunday morning.

As is true every week, you should come prepared. Listen to the worship songs we have lined up for both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Read the two passages: John 12:20-26 and Luke 24:1-12. In fact, read the entire account in any of the gospels (Matthew 26-28; Mark 14-16; Luke 22-24; John 13-21), and pray for not only your response to these things, but that many would turn their lives over to Jesus Christ this weekend.

Continue to invite friends and family and even strangers to join you for one of these services. You can use this link to invite them.

See you Friday and Sunday!

Todd

There was a time in the life of the church (I mean that in the general sense of the broader evangelical church community) when you would have thought that fidelity to Christ was measured in compliance with rules. It went something like this: if you used the right Bible translation, wore the right clothes, sang only hymns, did nothing on Sunday but attend church, listened to the right music, avoided the inside of a movie theatre, and kept your hair the way men and women ought to keep their hair, then you were good with God. No one at the time recognized how much the church had embodied the doctrine of the Pharisees with all of their man-made rules…add-ons to a genuine faith that truly pleases God.

In time there was a shift. A new generation decided it had had enough of the rules-based religion of their parents. They saw through the façade and desired, in some cases, a deeper experience with God. Some, sadly, decided they wanted nothing to do with the church at all. Ever. My hope is that a revival of true religion will again sweep the church and that, as a result, a spiritual awakening will come to those who walked away.

But with the Scripture that is in front of us this week, my concern is more about those who stayed in the church but who swung so far from the legalism of their fathers and mothers, that their faith can best be described as license. Freedom in Christ has become freedom to do what I want while claiming to be in Christ. Black and white has been replaced by infinite shades of grey. And no one dares say that this movie or that TV show or that sexual practice should not be happening among Christ-followers. 

Legalism has given way to license. But one is no better than the other. Neither one really reflects a healthy, biblical view of how a Christ-follower should be living his/her life. So we are left with this question: what kind of faith commends me to God? If it isn’t a legalistic faith with a huge list of rules, and it isn’t a free-for-all faith where I profess Christ but do what I want, then what is it?

As the preacher moves into his explanation of description of genuine, God-pleasing faith in Hebrews 11 he makes it plain to us. With last week’s “definition” of faith as the starting point (listen to that message here), he now goes into more than a dozen illustrations of people who lived out this dynamic, real-world, God-pleasing faith. They were all commended or approved by God for their faith. Not once do we get a sense that they were simply rule-keepers (though they sought to live holy lives), nor do we see them living it up in a wanton way (though their lives were not pristine).

True followers of Jesus Christ will seek to live “by faith” in every way possible. Their faith will saturate their lives. Their faith will be living, growing, vibrant. It will impact every action, inform every decision, shape every attitude, and influence every relationship. There should be nothing in our lives that is not done “by faith”.

We will get a start on these real-life examples of genuine faith this Sunday in Hebrews 11:4-7 as we look at the lives of Abel, Enoch and Noah. Three very familiar “Harvest-words” will pop from the verses and from the lives of these men as we think about how they each specifically reflected genuine faith in God.  

I’m excited to be with the church again on Sunday. We will be remembering the Lord’s death during Communion, so please come having prepared yourself to receive the bread and the cup. Take some time to listen to the songs that Jordan has lined up as well. I know you will be blessed if you do. And read and meditate on the Scripture passage we will be looking at during the message. And don’t forget to work on the memory verses for this week.

And call someone up and invite them to join you for our time of worship. Could be a life-saving invitation.

See you Sunday,

Todd

There are solid reasons to fear. Problem is that often people fear the wrong things and don’t fear the one thing they really ought to fear. Sunday’s passage in Hebrews 10:26-39 takes on that very thing…sorting out what we ought to fear and how faith, for the follower of Jesus Christ, chases away fear.

Perhaps the thing I find most challenging about the passage though is what we see of God. It isn’t at all the popular depiction of him. It isn’t easy to hear, in fact. The line that struck me hard was this one that referred to God’s response to those who reject the gospel (fear the wrong thing), that it, “outraged the Spirit of grace.” Outraged. God was outraged that some who were offered his free gift of grace rejected it. An outraged God is not very common, you know? And yet that’s exactly what the Word says about him.

So prepare yourself by reading the passage, praying through it and listening to the hymns—yes, hymns—we will be singing together in worship. This Sunday is a full line up of classic hymns.  

And coming up to this Sunday, we have to be thinking about last Sunday when many of you made the 16-week “Stir it up” pledge based on what we heard from Hebrews 10:19-25. The key to that was to encourage one another primarily in being committed to being together for corporate worship and in small groups. And part of that was to make sure we are on time for worship each Sunday. Now here’s the thing…the first of the 16 weeks comes on Time Change Weekend. Challenge upon challenge! The clock springs forward an hour on Saturday night and it is going to be a little tougher to be on time. But we can do this…let’s not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but rather encourage one another! Let’s get this done!

It is January. Where is the hope?

The Christmas lights are fading. The family and friends are gone. The kids are back to school. The distractions of the season have given way to the cold and dark reality of winter.

Christmas and New Year's elicit varying responses. For some, the holidays accentuate the loneliness and hopelessness they feel in the midst of whatever circumstance or life situation they are in. For others, it is all a distraction. It is when the Christmas lights are turned off that life’s realities coming crashing back in.

I don’t mean for it all to be so negative and morose. There are many others who fully experience the peace and joy that Christmas proclaims. They have a sense of anticipation and eagerness for the New Year no matter what God may have in store for them. For these, faith in Christ and an unfailing hope in his promises are solid and unshakeable.

So let me ask now that it is January, where is the hope? Where is your hope? Where are you finding the hope? What keeps you going? Since none of us knows what is ahead for us this year—it could be good things or hard things—we must have this question answered. Hope is what will have us overcome any and all challenges, trials, setbacks that are ahead. Hope transcends the immediate and the temporal; it goes beyond what we can see or anything we will experience in this life.

Think about this statement: God made a promise, and so, you must patiently await its fulfillment knowing you're still in tough and need an anchor that will not be moved—Jesus your unfailing advocate.

That’s what is in front of us for this Sunday in Hebrews 6:13-20. Remember that our journey through Hebrews this year is called “Truly Epic: Jesus Christ and the power of the indestructible life”. We have already made our way through the first part of the sermon in a series called “Listen Up” and now we are seeking in this second part to “Hold Fast” to the things we have heard. This week’s message is entitled, “Jesus: a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”  That phrase alone ought to stir you up and speed up your heart!

We’ll be gathering at 9 and 11:15 a.m. Bring your burdens, heartaches, sorrows and confusion. Bring your questions and concerns. Come ready to hear a message of hope that will never let you down. Even if hard times are not being rolled out over your head right now, we will all be encouraged and strengthened in our hope as we gather as the church.

Prepare yourself to be together and with the Lord by giving a listen to the songs we have picked out. Be sure to read the passage too and maybe even go back and re-read the entire book (it takes about 50-60 minutes). And pray for yourself…pray that you will hold fast to the things you have heard.

I believe it is going to be an amazing time as we gather in the name of Jesus Christ! To him be glory!

See you Sunday,

It is near on impossible to not notice it is Christmas. I think that’s what makes the haters so vocal. They don’t like being reminded in every store, by every TV channel, by the music, the neighbourhood decorations, the events and parties, the cards and well wishes, the Facebook and Twitter posts, that it is Christmas. Yet there it is. It is Christmas. You pretty much can’t escape it unless you take a vacation this time of year to Beijing, Riyadh or Lhasa.

It was certainly like being in one of those non-Christmas-observing-places for a band of shepherds on a Judean hillside back in the first century. Of course, there was no Christmas. No nativity. No baby Jesus at that point. Only a promise that evidently these shepherds knew something about.

When God in his providence saw fit to bring his plan to redeem the world to light, he chose to do so in the neighbourhood of these shepherds and to announce it to them first. There were angels…lots of them and light…the glory of God. And the Bible says, “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child” (Luke 2:17 ESV).  

When they saw it they were still shepherds, yet they became evangelists. You have to believe that some things changed significantly in their lives for them to do that. What they saw radically changed these rough, outdoorsy, grizzled men. Seeing the baby. Changed everything.

What changes with Christmas this year? Hopefully you! And me! As we look at Luke 2:8-20 and the account of that angelic-shepherd encounter, there will be seven questions that I will posit of you during the message. The goal is change. Mostly that there will be unbelievers in this service who know that their thing is not working and they need a change. They need Jesus. The hope is that when they see it…when they see him, they’ll leave as the shepherds did, “Glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20).

Check out the song list for Sunday; such a great way to prepare your heart in advance to be together for worship. You simply have to listen to the version of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” we will be doing RIGHT OFF THE TOP of service. Be here by 8:55 and 11:10 so you don’t miss this! I’m serious. It will rock!

Our adult choir, child dedications, guest Scripture readers, rockin’ worship …I’m telling you, get there early and come ready to meet with GOD! To him be glory!

See you Sunday!

Todd

If we can just think about Sundays for a minute, my job is to prepare that meal and serve it up to you. I guess you could say I’m the chef. My desire is to put a healthy meal on the table each week…to provide you with a feast, in fact.  I don’t want anyone to go home hungry.

The reality though is that some people come on Sunday and take a look at the meal, but don’t eat anything. Others are still quite young in the faith—baby Christians—and haven’t progressed to solid food yet. They get what they can from the messages, but most of it escapes them. They’re still drinking milk. As they grow, the hope is that they’ll progress to solid food and mature in their walk with Christ.

And that’s the reality. It is only a hope I have that everyone will get to the place of sitting at the table eating the rich meals that we find in the Bible.  Some believers never get to that place. Years after trusting Christ as their Saviour, they continue to suck on a bottle and refuse the meat and potatoes, the gravy and vegetables that are put in front of them.

That was the concern of the pastor who preached the sermon that we have called the Book of Hebrews. He challenged his people in Hebrews 5:11-14 knowing that many of them were not interested in the deeper things of God but were stalled on the elementary principles of the faith.  And he sought to warn them about the dire consequences of such a Christian life.

Like that unnamed first century pastor, I have the same concern. While I am encouraged by so many who are indeed coming to the table each week for a full meal, and feeding themselves great meals during the week, there are still some who are not eating…uh, that is, drinking anything other than milk.

If you want to get ready for Sunday’s meal, try some appetizers before you arrive.  Read and pray through Hebrews 5:11-14 and then think through this statement. Mature believers feast on the Word of God. So, take your seat at the table and dig in, savour the deep things of God, and be filled with what God has set before you, and thus able to think Christianly, grow continually, and choose righteously.

The worship songs for Sunday are here. And don’t forget about the memory project. This week’s verses are the passage I’ll be serving up. 

We will also be recognizing and welcoming some new Harvest members.  Love how God is building our church.

See you Sunday,

Todd

That's something worth holding fast to, don’t you think? It changes everything. What we ask for, how we ask for it, and what our attitude is like once we have asked are all completely altered by the assurance that God knows our needs and will deliver.

We are starting a new series this Sunday. Our year-long journey through Hebrews is called “Truly Epic: Jesus Christ and the power of an indestructible life” and we have broken that down into four sub-series. We have made our way so far through “Listen Up” in Hebrews 1:1-4:13. (Between 4:13 and 4:14 the first major section of the sermon that we are studying ends. You may recall that the Book of Hebrews is actually a sermon manuscript that can be preached in about 45-50 minutes). In that first section, we heard the major theme of the sermon (Only Jesus is truly epic) and several other things that ensure we are getting a start on living our own “indestructible life”.

Each of the first eight messages in the “Listen Up” series are available here if you missed them.

As we move into the second series we will be challenged to “hold fast” to what we have heard. Built into this eleven message section are seven messages that focus intently on the person of Jesus Christ, “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,” “King of righteousness; king of peace,” “able to save,” “much more excellent,” “securing an eternal redemption,” “mediator of a new covenant,” and “a single sacrifice for sins.” Truly Epic! Powerful! Indestructible!

Makes me want to hold fast!

The natural starting point for grasping this is to understand that we can confidently approach the throne of God. We have that privilege and honour. As I stated above, the Father knows our needs already, but he wants us to come and talk to him about it all. He made the way for us to have a relationship with him. And again, that’s something worth reaching for and holding on to.

But listen: being able to approach God only happens if you hold true to your confession of Jesus, grasping that he has fully identified with your greatest need, and thus, allowing you to come to him freely and confidently knowing you will receive only the best from him.  Will we believe that and live out that truth?

God is doing a powerful thing in our church these days. Last Sunday’s response after the message was a clear indication that God’s Word is radically transforming lives.

Come ready for more. Prepare yourself by praying through our passage, Hebrews 4:14-16 and listening to the songs we will be singing together in worship.  

See you Sunday,