Our Study in Acts continues...Remember that blustery fisherman dude with a temper, who 50 days prior had fearfully denied the Lord three times?He is beautifully forgiven and restored by Jesus over breakfast following His resurrection, and then before Jesus ascended to heaven, told him and the other disciples to WAIT... something exciting is going t…

This following proposition may be controversial but here goes...Without the events of Acts 2, there is no Christianity.There. I said it.The Incarnation of Jesus proved He was a missionary to the world He created.The Cross proved His great sacrificial love and plan for salvation.The Resurrection proves the hope we have of eternal life and our enemy …

There might be as many opinions as there are people as to what it means to BE the Church and BE a true discipleSometimes in the business world, when the organization begins to drift or lose their core values, there is a strategic effort to return to the founder's vision and template.I can't help but think our "Founder's" vision and values for The C…

Context is everything...Think of a simple word like "ball"1. A cylindrical toy or sporting apparatus that most often bounces (noun)2. A dance party where you dress in formal attire (noun)3. To have a good time, as in, "we had a ball" (idiom)That's just one example, and we are typically adept at parsing out words depending on their context; but in a…

Pastor Glenn is only partly right. I (Jonathan) only hate MOST country music. There's one cowboy I hold in hallowed esteem... The "man in black"... Johnny Cash. A committed Christian, who had previously done some "hard livin’ ”, Johnny wrote nuanced songs of faith AND of struggle. This is one of my favourites:The beast in me is caged by frail and f…

As much as our inclination is to make PEOPLE our enemy, we actually remember that our battle is not against "flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:12). The first of our real enemies is Satan.I realize in our modern world there are many - even Christians - who put as much credence in the Devil as they would in mythological villains like Medusa, Loki or "the Boog…

Some are uncomfortable with equating the Christian walk with "war" or "battle" imagery (while others are perhaps a little too comfortable with it). I assure you our Church forefathers had no such reservations.Make no mistake, we are in a FIGHT... a fight for souls! Unfortunately many are directing their resistance at the wrong foe... namely PEOPLE!…

There are many of you in our Church family living with long-term illness. Many of you live with, or love someone, suffering in this way. One thing is true for ALL of us. Everyone will be afflicted at some point in their life with an area of brokenness that needs healing. Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. The secular sciences are final…

We have never seen this kind of widespread cultural affliction of Anxiety & Depression. It is no respecter of age, race, gender or even whether you are a Christian or not. You may not struggle with it personally but you definitely know and love someone who does. Brett Ullman is part of the "walking wounded" and his story is both raw and hopeful.…

"Yes, YOU!"In this brief wrap-up of our summer series "Get in the Game" we will talk about the last spiritual gift (and it's a doozy) and then I suppose the onus is on you...How has God uniquely wired you?What is your role in "the body"?What will it take for you to get off the sidelines and into the game?…

"Get the FAMILY in the game" This long weekend we will have a short and engaging service for the whole family (children will be remaining in the service) which will include some games, some laughs, some prizes and an opportunity to receive Communion together with all the generations represented... the whole Church FAMILY!We'll also address one spir…

"Get in the game" Power Gifts (part 2)Are you up for some more (as we referred to it last week) "weird stuff"?Do you believe that the prophecy of Joel and of Pentecost is being fulfilled in our day and generation?Do you believe that miracles can happen in 2024... not just theoretically, but that miracles could happen at NAC... even at any given mom…

Power GiftsLately, have you heard people speak colloquially of someone's "superpower"? As in, "that's Jenny's superpower... staying calm in a crisis".It can even be used as a bit of a back-handed compliment;"That's just like Tony. His superpower is to turn the centre of attention back to him"What if I told you the Holy Spirit may, at times, give yo…

"Get in the game" Part 2 of the "WORD" GiftsSomebody asked me (Jonathan) at our Alliance General Assembly this week what my favourite thing about being a pastor is. I thought for a second - and I realize the spiritual gifts series is kind of “on the brain” - but what I said is spiritual gifts have got to be in the top three. I love seeing people di…

"There are two great moments in a person's life:the moment you were born and the moment you realize why you were born."—Pastor Kirbyjon CaldwelFor the purposes of this series, you'll remember we've divided up the Spiritual Gifts into 3 categories. If the LOVE gifts (which we talked about last week) are more about the DOING, then the WORD gifts are …

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. - Frederick BuechnerAs we said, all-y'all have been blessed through the Holy Spirit with unique spiritual gifts.For the purposes of this series, we've divided them up into 3 categories.This Sunday we start with the LOVE GIFTSThese are the wonderful an…

A New Summer Series!It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena. - Theodore RoseveltThere will always be those who sit on the sidelines. Those who fancy themselves as armchair quarterbacks. …

Hey Jude!Here we are with ANOTHER letter that seems to be addressing yet another messed-up Church.In fact it seems A LOT of the New Testament is responding to messed-up churches... It makes you wonder if the whole enterprise is worth the effort, or if it should be abandoned (as many people that you probably know have decided).But in fact, that's WH…

Walking in the TruthJohn continues to lay out the three things that form the core of the identity of a true believer, obedience-truth-love, in his third letter to his friend Gaius. In the midst of a culture hostile to the early Christian churches, John stresses over and over how important it is for followers of Jesus to know and walk out the Truth.…

In his first letter, John emphasizes LOVE and in this second one he expounds on it. Love is a measurable action - not sentimental emotion or some theological theory.But there's something that goes hand in hand with love, and that's TRUTH.It's why - maybe more so than ever - we need to be vigilant in knowing Jesus and not being influenced by false t…

"My Sharona"..."Funkytown"..."Achy Breaky Heart"We all know what a "one-hit wonder" song is but the Bible has some "one-hit wonders" as well. Five, to be exact. There are five books in the Bible that consist of only one chapter. But they are still so good, so important, so full of significance, that even that single chapter of writing was given a t…

Up until now, in this series, we've studied the Biblical laughs we would likely aspire to.... the laugh of fearless confidence, the laugh of heaven etc.On this final message of the series, it's important that we look at the laugh you DON'T want to hear.It's a sobering gut-check on something we are ALL susceptible to.…

When God Makes Us Laugh (part 4)When you hear the phrase "getting the last laugh" or the old axiom "he who laughs last, laughs best" there's something that sounds a little nefarious about it all.Is this the laugh of revenge? The laugh of comeuppance?Can you picture Snidely Whiplash twisting his moustache or Dr. Evil with his pinky to his mouth givi…

April 28, 2024THE LAUGH OF FEARLESS CONFIDENCE(** Podcast begins after the sermon had already started, simply setting up the Biblical context of David and Goliath **) When God Makes Us Laugh (part 3)Want to know what bullies absolutely cannot stand?Laughing at them.Bullies thrive off fear and intimidation.Do you realize how Satan wants to bully you…

A sincere laugh, by its very nature, is from something that catches us off guard. A punchline should be surprising in that way.But sometimes the laugh comes not from having your funny bone tickled, but from sheer audacity.Those "you gotta be kidding me" moments. The laugh when someone predicts or even pulls off the seemingly impossible.Turns out Go…

We don't typically associate "laughter" with God, Jesus and the Bible. Maybe that's our first blindspot - ascribing maximum solemnity to the God who created joy, humour and ROFL moments.We'll look at the humour of Jesus (even when you might not have known He was telling jokes). It might radically change the way you view Jesus and His teaching.We’ll…

We may notice subtle shifts in the acceptance of Christianity in Canada, but it's not the same category of what the majority-world Christian faces.317 million Christians worldwide currently face "very high" or "extreme" levels of persecution.Tomorrow we have a unique service planned for you as our friends from Open Doors Canada, the organization be…

Welcome to the Family.As we come to the finale of this series, there's one more piece that might just be game-changer for you.Indeed "God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) and He does this in various ways, but the most significant is the adoption of His Children into a new Spiritual Family.You are not an orphan. You are not alone. You are n…

THE POWER OF A BLESSINGThe subtitle of this series has been "Breaking generational patterns of dysfunction" but another way of putting it might be "Breaking the generational curse"I'm not necessarily talking about witchcraft or that sort of thing, but many of you have in essence had curses spoken over you in your upbringing. Lies about your identit…

The Way ForwardIt's time in this series to get serious about breaking the patterns of generational dysfunction.I believe God is asking us to play a role in our own healing.There are steps forward - steps AWAY from our unhealthy past that we can take, but it will require some courage.Courage to LEAVE, to OWN, and to CREATE…

"I can forgive my Mom for what she did, but I will NEVER forget the hurt she caused"That sentiment sounds about right to me.It sounds righteous and just.There are even times in our history when it has been noble to say "Never Forget"What IF there are times when it is MOST healing... MOST righteous to actually forget?Are there times when even the Go…

A look at the sequel to Luke's Gospel and what we can learn from the introduction to Acts, as well as a note to what's coming.

The Bible speaks about the "sins of the fathers" being visited upon their children.What has our family of origin done to us?Are we doomed to repeat those same "sins"?How can we break generational patterns of dysfunction? This week begins the HOW part of the series.. You may not like the prescription the Bible offers, but it's one we all need to hea…

A New Series Begins!You're talking to your son and realize you just said that triggering thing your mom always said to you as a child... When thinking about getting married, fear paralyzes you because you see how your parents ended up... The words spoken to you as a child continue to echo through your spirit, affecting your self-esteem and relation…

We promised a Part 2 that included some practical, wise steps to begin getting our finances under control - and those will certainly be part of this Sunday's presentation - but practical steps without a realignment of mindset... without a restructuring of our PRIORITIES won't be enough for the kind of financial freedom we're talking about.So be pre…

The most recent Canadian stats say that 47% of you who open this email are living paycheque to paycheque AND a great deal of your disposable income is going to consumer debt.That means for half of you, if for some reason you lose your job, you're facing real trouble.Whether we got this way from our bad decisions or circumstances beyond our control,…

We all have ups and downs in life and this is also true of our love for Jesus. There are times we love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and other times we love Him as an afterthought.How can we cultivate a habit of the heart where we regularly and joyfully live in obedience and worship of Jesus? I believe we can learn from the saints and spi…

If you’re a follower of Jesus and have kids or grandkids, or even nieces and nephews, I bet that one of your biggest hopes for these kids’ lives is that they too would choose to give their life to Jesus. Unfortunately the stats are revealing the opposite – that more and more of the next generation are choosing to walk AWAY from their faith as they …

As we wrap up this series on the differences between the major religions it only makes sense that we would give the final say to the case for Christianity.There are so many ways we could present this; Showing how historically, scientifically and logically that (in my humble opinion) Christianity is the faith that just makes sense. We could present …

Some of the nicest, kindest, most right-living people you've ever met might be Jehovah's Witnesses (Watchtower) or Mormons (LDS: Church of the latter day Saints). They may have the unique ability to show up at your door at the most inopportune time, but it's hard to slam the door on them when they're so darn nice.So why do they seem so intent on ma…

For some of you reading this, your "love language" is giving and receiving gifts. This is a beautiful and legitimate expression of love that actually reflects a God who LOVES giving good gifts.Christmas itself is really the story of God giving the ULTIMATE gift - the gift of HIMSELF to the world.So this won't be some message on making anyone feel s…

This season you will most certainly have more gatherings than you're used to.Family gatherings, work parties, in-laws, socials...In other words, there's no shortage of opportunities for relational tension, conflict and outright annoyance.Would you be surprised to know there is Biblical wisdom on how to navigate these tricky relationship scenarios? …

Does it feel like the beautiful, life-changing origin story of this Christmas season keeps getting increasingly watered down by our culture?Is Christmas really about gift-giving? Sneaky elves hiding on shelves? Even some nebulous, ill-defined "spirit of Christmas"? How about 3 ghosts helping us to become a better all-around person?Nothing inherentl…

This is a division that has some ugly historical precedence and depending on where you live in the world, may depend on how intense the division is. But is there a good reason to be this divided?Does the question "Are you Catholic or Christian?" even make sense?Why does a NAC Sunday service and a Sunday Catholic Mass seem like they are not only fro…

The second largest religion in the world - second only to Christianity - again shares some of our historical pedigree. People like Abraham, Noah, Adam, Jonah, David etc. are highly esteemed in Islam. They too believe in one God and one God only.5% of Canadians - almost 2 million - are Muslims. There is a good chance you are neighbours with, work wi…

Israel and the Jewish people are back in the news in a BIG way lately.They comprise just 0.2% of the world's population and yet it's hard to argue that the Jewish faith and people have an outsized influence on faith and culture.Even with just a cursory understanding of Christianity, one can't help but immediately notice shared aspects of our faith.…

If you say "religion isn't good", I wouldn't disagree with you. In fact, if you read the gospels… The biography of Jesus, you'll see how critical He was of religious institutions of the time.Nowadays, people are more apt to define themselves as "not religious but spiritual"It's exciting that there is an openness to "spiritual things" these days, bu…

As we wrap up this biography of Daniel (the remainder of the book of Daniel is his prophecies) and how it relates to us as "modern exiles", it ends with Daniel's most distinguished moment in a life of distinguished moments.Christian exile you too will face lions! Don't be caught off guard or tempted to think that because your particular "Lion" mome…

We talk a lot at NAC about the grace of God... the forgiveness of God... a God who actually pursues us... and rightly so. Grace is really what separates us from all other small "g" gods and belief systems.But what makes grace so amazing is that we CAN be rescued from the very real results of our sin and rebelliousness. If there are no consequences …