Would you rather hope that you’ll have chicken wings for dinner tonight, or know that you will? Would you rather wish that your mother would get better and come home from the hospital, or know that she will? Of course, you’d rather know!

There is certainty with knowledge. Knowledge can give you conviction and courage and confidence. Knowledge can empower and embolden you. But it all depends on what you know.

This week we look at 3 "know" statements from 1 John 5 and in them find true confidence for right now and forever.

We don't often think about Noah at Thanksgiving, but his reaction to leaving the ark - after a year and 17 days cooped up inside! - can teach us a thing or two about gratitude.

Your service to God doesn’t have match David’s piles of precious metals and stones, but your service to God can equal or exceed even his thankfulness and praise, because of all the good that God has done for you, whether that’s material wealth, physical health, professional success, personal happiness, or none of the above. Even if you have none of those things, you still have a God who gave his Son for a sinner like you, so that when you ask, “Who am I?” it is not with a sense of guilt or gloom, but with a spirit of thankfulness and joy.

Who are you? You are someone God loves. You are someone God has saved. You are someone God has blessed. You are someone qualified and motivated to serve.

If you had 100 sheep and lost 1, would you leave the 99 in the open country to chase after the 1 wayward one?

We are often comfortable with a certain margin of error. Some losses, while unfortunate, are nevertheless acceptable. 1 loss, let alone 1% is usually not a big deal.

But it is to God.

Listen to this week's sermon to hear what God does because he thinks you're worth it.

Why do we end every prayer the same way? What does "Amen" mean anyway?

It's more than just a churchy way to say, "The end." It's actually a confident way to pray, "Yes! I believe!"

Listen to this week's sermon to hear what gives us the confidence to pray to God with such certainty.

What would a world without evil look like?

It'd be heaven on earth - a modern-day Garden of Eden.

Of course, that's not the world we live in. There are many evils that we face day after day. Listen to this week's sermon to learn how God answers our prayer, "Deliver us from evil."

How are temptations like magpies?

There are so many of them. They're everywhere. At just about any moment in time you can look out your window and count 1 or 2 or 19 of them. And, while you may successfully scare them off one day, they'll inevitably be back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that.

Listen to this week's sermon to hear what God did about temptation and what he wants us to do with them too.

What does God want? How could we possibly know? It's not like we can read his mind.

Thankfully, he reveals, at least portions of, his will to us in his Word, and there he also teaches us how his will gets done in our lives.

God does not walk the streets of St. Albert, but you. God does not have a social media profile or a Twitter handle, but you do. For many people, the first impression they have of God is you, a Christian who carries God's name with you wherever you go.

What you say and do has a big impact on the reputation of God's name. That's why the first petition that Jesus teaches us to pray is, "Hallowed be thy name."

Listen to this week's sermon for more.

Why is it fitting to call God our Father? How does he behave like our Father? How should we behave as his children? Listen to this week's sermon to learn more.