Sometimes things get lost in translation. Once when my son was a boy he ordered hot chocolate at a nice coffee shop and somehow they heard "espresso", which was very disappointing for him. Another level of frustration is a DIY project where the instructions, guaranteed to be very simple, confuse you so much that you wonder if it's easier to just set them aside and figure it out yourself. I used to live in terror of someone thinking wrong about me. Since then it has happened so much that I've moved past that. What frustrates me deeply is when people think wrong of the Church. And far more grievous when they think wrong of God. People walk away from God because of misinformation. That's so much more weight than a simple DIY project. I want to talk today about how to avoid falling away in a world where there is more and more misinformation. We're walking through 1 John in a series called "Solid Footing in Shaky Times". Today's message is called "Clear Thinking Amid Confusion". I want to read chapter 2:18-27.

Extra reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-22

Preacher: Bill Dyck

We're going through a series in the letter of 1 John. It's a short letter, but it's a wonderful thing to walk through this series and familiarize ourselves with this book and what God has to say to us. All things in Scripture are old but speak fresh to us in our very lives right now. We're in the middle of chapter 2. It's a bit of an interruption in the argument in the letter. It seems to come out of the blue, an interlude, which is nteresting think about. When you're writing a letter to a friend and you have a side thought that's related. Two distinct sections here each three verses long.

Extra reading: 1 John 2:12-17

Preacher: Andrew Hubbard

How do you know that you know God? Some people think it's arrogant to even say that you could know God. But the scriptures teach that we can know him. Though Jesus said that there are people who, when they stand before him, even though they say, "we we did many mighty miracles in your name and we drove demons in your name," he'll look at them and say, "I never knew you at all." So it's not entirely straightforward to say "I know God," but the scriptures talk about it. We're walking through 1 John and I called the series "Solid Ground in Shaky Times". This is our 3rd message walking through 1 John, we're in chapter 2, and I want to think with you together, how can we know that we know God.

Extra reading: Leviticus 19:9-18

Preacher: Bill Dyck

Pastor Bill talks about how we can walk in the light.

Preacher: Bill Dyck

Extra Reading: Genesis 3:1-24

I want to talk about navigating the season of life, change and transition. I don't think we like change, though sometimes it's thrust upon us, like in times of sickness, job loss, or students graduating to the next phase. But God is in it. He is in change. I began thinking about transition when certain members of the church were facing big transition. Members of the congregation retiring after walking with God through entire professional careers, now stepping out of that. And maybe you are facing transition in this season too. It's good for us to stop and reflect on change and transition. There's things that can be said that are helpful and encouraging to us. May the Lord guide us here out of Deuteronomy 31. In this passage there's a transition that's happening. Moses is stepping off the scene and God is bringing another leader into the picture.

Extra reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Preacher: Bill Dyck

The movie Ford vs Ferrari is about a 24h grueling Le Mans car race that happens in Europe. At the time the movie takes place, Ferrari was the only car used because they were unbeatable. Ford was known for their family cars, but Mr Ford wanted to find his way into racing. Ford had their struggles. But the year came where they won. All three Ford cars made it to the finish, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. And when they crossed the finish line, they crossed side by side. No 1st, 2nd, 3rd. They won as a team. My point is that we're better together. Scripture talk a lot about generosity and giving. But the Lord showed me as I was praying about this that people tend to give in very individualistic terms. We have our projects, our causes, those things we feel passionate about and that's where we tend to give. Our patterns of giving have become different from what we see in Scripture. I want to do a history of giving as seen in Scripture and make the point that we are better together.

Extra reading: Exodus 35:4-9, 35:20-29, 36:2-7

Preacher: Bill Dyck

A girl was given two loonies by her dad. He told her she could do anything she wanted with one, but the other was definitely to be given to God on Sunday at church. The girl nodded in agreement. She asked if she could go to the candy store with visions of all that she could buy with her dollar. She happily skipped toward the store holding tightly the two loonies. As she was skipping along, she tripped and fell and one of the loonies rolled along and just fell right into the storm sewer. Picking herself up, she looked at the dollar still in her hand, then at the storm drain. She said, "well, Lord, there goes your dollar." I want to talk today about generosity and why be generous, out of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12.

Extra reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16

Preacher: Bill Dyck

I was raised in a home that modeled generosity. My mother had no income but developed a massive garden to be generous. My father was known for his generosity to neighbors and he gave faithfully financially to the Church, whether or not the farm made money. My father forgave a $50,000 debt I owed him to cover a down payment on a house. I was able to work off $5-7k of it, but we were raising 4 kids in an expensive city. He saw it wasn't gonna happen and said, "Just forget it." When I visited my parents, our vehicle would leave burdened by my mom's baking and produce. She used to single handedly make soup to feed 125 street-involved people for our community night, sending it frozen back to the city. We love being with generous people, but are we generous? God is generous and those who follow Jesus should be generous. This topic is taboo because it gets distorted all over the world by self-interest. The scriptures talk a lot about it and my interest is not in fundraising but as a pastor to shepherd, disciple, and help people follow Jesus. Generosity is a big thing.

Extra reading: Matthew 6:19-24

Preacher: Bill Dyck

Pentecost Sunday message.

Extra reading: Joel 2:28-32a

Preacher: Bill Dyck

We are people who have received much from God. We've been forgiven of our sins. He gives us his Spirit. He gives us a new nature. He says, the old nature is gone and there's a new, divine nature that is given to us. He gives to us a holy calling to enter into his purposes, into works that we've been prepared in advance to do. For that, each one is given spiritual gifts, enabling us from heaven to make us divinely effective. We've been given so much and yet we experience inner conflict that confuses us and it makes us question. Questions that sometimes fill us with guilt. I want to talk here today about how to be led by the Spirit and why it's so desirable to be led by the Spirit.

Extra reading: Isaiah 57:14-21

Preacher: Bill Dyck