Why don't people say, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to ____," anymore? I suspect it has a lot to do with "virtue signaling." Most people don't care what you pray about, unless they see what you care about by what you spend your time doing.

Christians can be especially susceptible to "virtue signaling," and that's exactly what the Apostle James addresses in chapter 2 of his letter.

Listen to this week's sermon to hear how you can avoid "virtue signaling" and demonstrate real faith for real life.

Can you be a Christian without going to church or being a member of a congregation? Technically, yes. But the ceiling of your personal, spiritual growth and the service you can offer to God gets exponentially smaller without it.

God created us to be in relationship with others, not least of all with fellow believers. That's why we have a strong desire to cultivate genuine relationships with each other.

What if Jesus never rose from the dead? What would the world look like? What would your life look like?

Spoiler alert: it wouldn't be pretty.

There'd be unresolved guilt and unmitigated fear. There'd be an aimlessness and purposelessness that would make this life hardly worth living.

But Jesus has been raised from the dead, just as he said!

Listen to this week's sermon to hear what a difference Jesus' resurrection makes for you.

Have you ever wanted to learn the guitar? Brace yourself for pain! Your fingertips are going to hurt - maybe even bleed! That is, until you develop calluses.

Do you want to train to run a half marathon? Then brace yourself for pain! Your muscles and joints will ache. But after a few weeks (or months) you'll be able to run 5 miles without wanting to die.

Do you want to be a stronger Christian? Be careful what you wish for! There is one way to grow in your faith, and that is through adversity and suffering...

But fear not! God gives you some pretty great promises to hold onto while you experience your spiritual growing pains. Listen to this week's sermon to learn more.

I suffer from debilitating arachnophobia and thalaassophobia - the fears of spiders and deep water (It's a good thing I live in Alberta...). What phobias do you have? Fear of heights? Fear of public speaking?

What about the fear of Jesus?

In this week's sermon, I argue that even Christians suffer from a fear of Jesus and what he means for our lives. Nicodemus is a great example of it - not only the fear, but how Jesus himself conquers that fear for us.

Listen to this week's sermon for more.

Forget UFC, MMA, WWE, this is the fight I would pay to see. Jesus was in a one-on-one dogfight with the devil, and did what you and I consistently failed to do - he won!

Listen to this week's sermon to learn what Jesus' victory means for you.

Lent is tricky. There are so many mechanisms in place to make us feel bad about ourselves. But if regret and guilt and shame are the only things you take away from this season, then we have missed the point of this season.

Listen to this week's sermon to hear what Lent is all about.

Have you ever heard the expression, "You are the only Bible some people will ever read"? It is so true. There are so many people in your life who have never bothered to crack open the Bible, but who nevertheless form their impressions about Jesus entirely based on what they see and hear from you.

Is that scary? Intimidating? Daunting? It should be! We can't even begin to live up to Jesus' perfect standard - not even for ourselves, let alone others.

But there is good news. Jesus lived up to his perfect standard for us, and - knowing full well our weaknesses and failures - he nevertheless calls us salt and light and equips us to be his distinctive Christian presence in this world to bring glory to his name.

Did you know that we don't go to church to become better people? We don't go to church to serve our community either. We don't even go to church to get to know the Bible better.

The number one reason we gather every week has everything to do with what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus: "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Listen to this week's sermon to hear the heart of Christianity and the purpose for your faith.

Do you know what baptism and biathlon have in common? In a word: sin.

Sin is missing the mark - anything short of a perfect bullseye. It is not enough to get close. It is not enough to hit the target. God demands perfection.

Not even world-class biathletes are perfect on the range. But in spiritual matters, we don't get 3 misses; we don't have the option of skiing a circle of shame to make up for our mistakes.

We do have baptism, though. Baptism is God's way of washing your sins away.

Listen to this week's sermon to learn more about this life-saving, life-changing sacrament.