Every human has wondered:
What’s wrong with me?
Why do I do what I do?
What’s my destiny?
Why am I even here?
It’s pretty clear that human beings are intricately made, and have immense potential. However, it’s also equally clear, demonstrated through out all of history, that we keep sabotaging ourselves and hurting others. We can be loving and generous and kind—but also be incredibly selfish and mean spirited. What’s our problem?!

We believe that God has shown Himself to us through the world He's created and the way it works, as well as through His interactions with people throughout history. These stories and relationships have led to what we call the Scriptures or Holy Writings. They're basically a record of what God has done, what He's said, and the wisdom He's shared about life and the future. They also tell us about His power that we can tap into and what He hopes we'll do: love Him and love others.

About our new series, “Under the Surface: What Christians Believe and Why it Matters"
At the surface level, most people know that Christians believe in Jesus Christ and that the symbol of the cross has something to do with why. What most don’t know is why—or even care. But under the surface is a massive shift in all the structures of every day reality. Now what we believe about many things doesn’t really matter: about algae, about aliens, about art, about whether you should wear white shoes after Labour Day… However what you believe about ultimate reality, however, is profoundly important. Whether we realize it or not, it affects how we live our lives every day — so, shouldn’t we really examine what we believe is true about these things?

It’s a given that we’ll go through tough times. It’s a fact because the world we live in is seriously broken. There are times where the tough time is as a result of our own choices and actions. But sometimes, we get hurt and life gets hard because we did the right thing. Jesus said that this would happen because our world is not spiritually neutral. More than ever, in our time, we have to decide if the tough stuff will cause us to bail on our faith or will we choose to simply float downstream simply because it’s the easier thing to do.

For all of us, there may be something that is taking center stage and preventing us from walking fully in the purpose God has for our lives. This week, Pastor Jeremiah encourages us through the story of Ezekiel to identify and evict every idol that may be on the throne of our heart.

Who truly occupies the throne of your heart? It’s an essential question because without knowing its answer, we don’t know what is shaping our life — shaping our feelings, thoughts, choices and character. Perhaps we need to challenge misplaced priorities, and invite God to occupy His rightful place. God-centered life starts here.

What is sometimes so hard for us to grasp is how Jesus thinks of us. Sometimes that’s hard to comprehend because of the bruises we have from religious people we’ve known. But that's NOT Jesus. At His core He was gentle. He never walked into a room and stomped on people who were struggling. And that carries an amazing thought: that the One who holds the power to create everything never uses His power to bully.

We’d like to think the little song we learn as kids is true; 'Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me!' That sounds very brave, but it’s simply not true. Words do hurt us! Every one of us has voices from the past...and maybe even the present.
Someone was trying to change us from the outside in and when it seemed like we weren’t cooperating, they lobbed a verbal grenade over the wall. We pretend we are okay now but their voice still reverberates in our soul. Their words hurt and damaged how we feel about ourselves. To recover, to see ourselves through God’s eyes, there are questions we need to ask: Was it true? Was it right? And most of all: what does GOD think?

Our lives could be described as a series of intersections, like the intersection of our lives with the lives of the people who made a difference in our lives, and us them. Jesus’ story as told by the Gospels is really a collection of intersections. The people whose lives intersected with Jesus were changed forever...some for better and some for worse! What is inevitable is that we will go through a number of intersections in our lives. We’ll get clobbered at some of them, broken by others. When God’s grace is allowed into these spaces, what seems like a trainwreck can be completely redemptive!

One of the number one questions about God and his existence in our world goes something like this: If God is good—as Christians describe him—why is there pain and suffering? And that’s a profound question that many people struggle with — to the point that, for some, it derails their faith.
But, this is nothing new; some of the best-known people in the Bible had to wrestle this one down, too. Even Jesus, the Son of God, came face to face with it! The answer He lived out but never actually commented on is astonishing.