Nearly everyone will sing the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World” at some point during the Christmas seasons. But how does one actually get the joy we sing about at Christmas? And is it possible to hold on to that joy after the decorations are put back in storage?
Christmas has a way of magnifying things. It makes good things better and bad things worse. This is likely one reason why finding the perfect Christmas gift is often stressful and fear filled. This Christmas season we will discover the gift we need is the exact gift God has given to us.
Title: Someone to Guide Me
Big Idea: Life can be confusing at times as we consider all the options in front of us. So one of the things we want and need as we navigate our life is someone to guide us. But we don’t want just anyone. We want someone special, someone capable.
Big Idea: Christmas isn’t the only time of year when the stresses pile up on us. It is one of the many times in the year when we find ourselves needing extra strength to start something, stick to something or help someone else finish something. 700 years before the first Christmas God promised to give us the perfect Christmas gift – Mighty God – so we would have access to the strength we need for whatever life brings our way.
Big Idea: Christmas is a season of contrasts, including the contrast between the loved and the lonely. But even those who are most secure in the love of others secretly wonder from time to time if they are truly loveable.
Big Idea: Few words are more hollow than “I understand” when they are said by someone who has no idea what you are going through. But when someone who has been where you are comes along side you there is a comfort in their presence, words and silence. The perfect Christmas gift offers all of us access to a person like that.
One of the outrageous claims in the Bible is that ordinary people can be friends with God. Is it really possible? What does it look like? What will it take? Is it worth the effort?
Scripture: Ex 33:11-19; James 2:23; Matt 11:19; II Cor 3:18; John 15:1-17
Is the church relevant? Can relationships really work? Is an easy life the best life? Does God speak to emotionally healthy and well adjusted people? The Apostle Paul wrote a magnificent letter called Colossians in AD60 to a group of people asking the same kinds of questions we are still asking today. His answer to life's questions is found in "180 Living".
Title: Title: Rumours Of A Great Church
Big Idea: As some churches grow to mega-church status others remain unchanged year after year and still others decline to the point of closing down. Is merely existing and keeping the doors open enough for a church? Are large crowds the sign of greatness? What is it that actually makes a church healthy and great?
Big Idea: Canada is an awesome country to live in but life isn’t always easy. But is easy living the ultimate goal in life? Or is there a greater life to be lived than the one of ease? If so, what does that life look like and how does one live it?
Big Idea: Few people today will deny that Jesus was an important figure in history. But is he only a prominent historical figure or actually the preeminent God who existed before history and then entered into history? The apostle Paul offers all generations a profound answer well worth considering because of its implications.
Big Idea: We live in world of enticement, a world selling happiness at every turn. On average, each year we’re bombarded with more than a million advertisements: TV and radio commercials; billboard, magazine and Internet ads; product placement, on buses and at bus stops, on tabletops, coasters and in bathroom stalls all saying, buy this and be whole and happy. Is this really the way to vibrant living?
Big Idea: When a country goes to war against itself everything is thrown into chaos. The same is true in business, families and our inner world. Have you noticed that a civil war with two conflicting values is raging inside you? In this section of Colossians Paul identifies the two conflicting values and helps us understand how to win the civil war within us.
Big Idea: The way we feel about life often comes back to the condition of our relationships with those around us. If there is conflict at home we don’t enjoy being there. If a co-worker bugs us the day seems to drag on forever. If our neighbor is annoying we think about moving. How we get along with people is a large part of life. So what do we do when people rub us the wrong way.
Big Idea: Every family has ordinary moments as well as major incidents that shape the overall climate and health in a family. What can each person in the family unit do in the ordinary and major moments that will play out in how everyone feels about themselves and their family?
The last portion of the Old Testament is a closed book to most people. Apart for the passages about the coming Messiah and the occasional dramatic story, rarely do people read these books of the Bible and even less often we teach from them. They are even called the Minor Prophets. One of the things we are certainly going to learn during this series is that there is nothing minor about their message.
There is work life, social life, personal life, professional life, financial life, family life, love life (if you have one) as well as the bills, chores, tasks, problems, pressures, deadlines, demands, difficulties, and all of it is pulling us in every direction. But is this really living?
Title: Living Above The Line
Big Idea: Immersing oneself in the Scriptures grows up a Christian spiritually and changes the way he or she thinks about living out their faith. Christ-followers cannot be content with basing their faith only on the things they don't do, but they must take conscious steps to 'do.' God calls Christ-followers to show people what it looks like to live by a unique and compelling value system. They need to share their life, their time, and their resources—in essence, they need to live and love like Jesus lived and loved.
Do you want a stronger marriage? Do you want to learn biblical principals to prepare you for marriage? Have you gone through a divorce yet still desire a lasting marriage one day? In this series you can discover what it takes to have a marriage that actually gets better over time. You will be challenged to get out of your comfort zone and make the most of your marriage (or future marriage).
Title: Every Marriage Needs It
Big Idea: 82% of men and 92% of women say it is extremely important to a marriage. Every husband and wife will say at some point, “we don’t have it”. All of us have taken missteps in our attempts at it. So what is it?
Big Idea: There is a major destroyer of love on the loose. It steals the love and joy a couple once had and over time healthy communication is exchanged for destructive words and actions. Are you aware of this assassin’s presence? Do you know his name? Do you know how to deal with the assassin before damage is done?
Big Idea: Every couple faces a moment in their marriage when they come face to face with the gap between what they expected their marriage to be and reality; the bigger the gap, the greater the potential for discouragement and relational crisis. Is there a way to minimize this trauma? Can this crisis of unmet expectations be navigated successfully?
Big Idea: People prepare for many things in life, yet few people prepare well for a marriage that will last. Many couples give vast amounts of time and large sums of money to plan the perfect wedding day. But what does it take to prepare for life after the wedding ceremony?
Big Idea: It is the rare person that wakes up one day and decides to have an affair. Most affairs happen over time. What does the process toward an affair look like? Are you or your spouse at risk for an affair right now? Is it possible to affair proof your marriage?
There’s no doubt about it. We all doubt at some point in our lives. Whether we doubt our sinfulness, the resurrection of Jesus, God's goodness, God’s willingness to be actively involved in our lives or what happens after we die all of us could join "Doubters Anonymous."
Title: My name is...
Big Idea: I don’t have a problem. Things aren’t that bad. I can handle it. Or can I? Whether it is Alcoholics Anonymous or any other support group the first step toward recovery is admitting we have a problem. But what does this have to do with you or Good Friday? If you doubt it does this service is especially for you!
Big Idea: Is the claim of the Bible that Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days possible? And what if anything does it matter to us some 2,000 years later? Would it really make any difference today if Jesus did not rise from the dead? Does it matter if I doubt the whole Easter story? What do I do with lingering doubts?
Big Idea: Where is God when an Earthquake wipes out a remote village? Why does God allow entire people groups to go hungry and struggle to merely survive? Where is God when women and children are raped and men and boys are mutilated by violent militants? And what about all the messed up things that have happened in my own life? How can anyone even suggest that God is good?
Big Idea: As we look back through history and around the world today we see that many people have been used by God to make a huge impact upon the world. But what about me? I’ve messed up to much. I don’t have any real talent. I don’t know enough of the Bible. I doubt God could use me.
Big Idea: Death is a controversial and uncomfortable topic. But from a Biblical perspective it will mean the difference between a literal heaven and a literal hell for eternity. Don’t you think it is worth while facing your own doubts and questions about what will happen one minute after you die?
In Luke 15 Jesus tells a dramatic story of two sons and their father to help us better understand the heart of the Heavenly Father and the reality of our own heart condition. This story is so compelling that Rembrandt captured it in one of his masterpieces called “The Return of the Prodigal Son” and in a book by the same name Henry Nouwen has given us marvelous insights into the story. Musicians have sung about it and actors have enacted it. In this three week series we will use these various art forms to see our self in this familiar story told by Jesus.
Title: Run Away
Big Idea: At times life leaves all of us dissatisfied, restless and looking for a more exciting way of life. So we run from what we know in search of something else. Is that were we will find the deep satisfaction we are looking for, or will it be found where we might least expect it.
Big Idea: Do you know someone who is a really good person but seems to be miserable most of the time? They keep the rules and do what is expected of them but they seem to live their life without joy. Is this the way God intends us to live life – as good moral people that are miserable?
Big Idea: In the story of the Prodigal Son, the son's father was no ordinary father. Similarly, our heavenly father is also no ordinary Father. The prodigal's father allowed his son to take his own inheritance early and leave home to live riotously. What lessons does Jesus have in the story for us about how God sees us and will respond to us?
Some people find it hard to say “I love you” while others quickly and easily declare their love for everything from a person to their favourite food. But what does it mean and look like to love Jesus – to really love Jesus? Or does it even matter?
For many of us the beginning of a New Year is an opportunity to make changes in our life. As good as our life is, most of us can see ways that life could get better. In the greatest sermon ever preached Jesus talked about how God intended life to work. So it seems well worth to take the next few months to discover how our life to get even better.
Title: Upside-Down Living
Big Idea: Is it possible that the road to contentment and joy might be different than what we would naturally think?
Big Idea: You don’t need an advanced mathematics degree to understand how it works. You don’t need to be afraid of it or think you have no part to play in it. But you can be part of something that will give meaning to your life and take part in a great adventure that is unlike anything else you can get involved in.
Big Idea: During the time Jesus was on earth and to this very day people have debated whether Jesus raised or lowered the moral standard. Whenever someone asks that question what they really want to know is what conduct does God require? So let’s let Jesus answer that question.
Big Idea: Perhaps you’ve noticed the obvious; it isn’t only young children that need to learn how to play well with others. Have you ever wondered how to reduce the risk of ending up in relational conflict? Or how to deal with difficult people? Or how resolve a conflict that has happened? In the greatest sermon ever preached Jesus had a lot to say about these very things.
Big Idea: Jesus did not shy away from talking candidly about what God’s purpose for our sexuality and warn against its misuse. But does what Jesus had to say about looking, lusting and loving stand the test of time?
Big Idea: Marriage breakdown is an emotionally charge subject. While some people aren’t overly concerned about marriages that break down others see it as a contributing factor to a declining society. And still others hurt deeply because of a marriage breakdown reaching into their own life. This was also true in Jesus’ day. So what did Jesus say about marriage, divorce and remarriage?
Big Idea: One of the things we all share in common is the allure of money and what it can do for us. In fact, this attraction toward money is so strong that Jesus cautions us to be aware that it can become the main thing in our life. Is that really true? Is it all that big a deal if it is? What can we do about it?
Big Idea: On any given day we can open ourselves up to the presence of God and live in the fullness of His presence. Jesus lived that life and he invites all of us to experience the same type of life. But it won’t just happen. To experience the supernatural life available to us we must delight in his call to spend time alone with Him.
Joy For The World 
