Acts 29...

“God, I pray that you would remind me that you created me for a life of meaning and influence, ultimately to bring you fame. I pray that you would continue this work in me in me and hone my skills, talents and spiritual gifts in such a way that you would be honored by my greatness.

As I walk in this journey, God, I pray that you would show me what to do, teaching me what the passion of my life should be. Along that journey, I pray that you would allow me to have the courage and the integrity to do something meaningful with my life.

Lord, teach me to see the needs of others as you see them, and to invest in your other people your prized possessions. When I do this, I pray that it would be a beacon that shines on you. God, as I do these things I pray that you would be my audience. That my love and adoration would be for you and that you alone would get my praise.

And lastly, God, allow me the grace to finish the race well. I look forward to seeing you and hearing you say, “well done.” Lord, give me your strength to finish strong in Jesus’ name. Amen.” Shawn Wood

...living in the Hope and the Struggle

Phil Wickham

Psalm 51:10-12
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Hallelujah.

Let's get real with each other...

“I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in the world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.” Henri Nouwen

Transformed

O God, I have tasted thy goodness,
and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.
I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.
I am ashamed of my lack of desire.

O God, the Triune God,
I want to want thee:
I long to be filled with longing;
I thirst to be made more thirsty still.
Show me thy glory, I pray thee,
that so I may know thee indeed.

Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.
Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
Then give me grace to rise and follow thee up from this misty lowland,
Where I have wandered so long.
In Jesus’ name, Amen. A. W. Tozer

If someone followed you around for a day, or a week, and couldn’t hear what you said, but only what you did, and was invisible so you didn’t know they were watching so you couldn’t try and ‘prove’ it to them, what would they say you’re passionate about?

International Justice Mission, Saturday May 31, 7:30 PM

On Saturday, May 31st, International Justice Mission will be presenting a night to bring exposure to the amazing work they are doing as they bring justice into the lives of so many people. As part of the night they are bringing in recording artist/author Carolyn Arends. Carolyn has earned her reputation as being a prolific writer that is able to touch the soul with her inspiringly stirring music.

Tickets are on sale for $10 at http://www.carolynarendsandijm.eventbrite.com/

IJM/Carolyn Arends Concert
May 31st @ 7:30pm
McKernan Baptist Church
11103-76 Ave

Acts: Deciphering Life

We all seem to have a drive to know and understand what life is all about. Although we want to know we often look in the wring places or ask the wrong questions. How many of us need directions to find an address but will refuse to stop and ask someone?

We buy GPS; look at schematics, always hoping to find the elusive, “Blueprint For My Life”. While I can’t seem to find mine I have no problems seeing yours and wanting what you have despite not having a clue about my own!

Acts helps us discover God’s Positioning System- the Holy Spirit. Last week we looked at Stephen in Acts 7 and as the chapter closes, he faces death via stoning, but was “full of the Holy Spirit.” Stephen was given a vision of God and the nature of true reality that gave him immense courage. He even prayed for his attackers the way Jesus did in Luke 23!

It was as if the mist was clearing for Stephen seeing Jesus standing right there with the Father. It has overtones of Elisha in 2 Kings 6. God is here. Do we see it? Do we want to?

The Temple had been the place where heaven & earth meet but Stephen gives us another living illustration that the Temple is gone- heaven & earth meet in the person of Jesus and His followers.

Stephen was a witness, a martyr that lost his life for his faith and telling of the Jesus story. Not many of us will actually face that, but there is a greater meaning of witness, that being the witness to the kingdom realities all around us. This is where we learn to Decipher Life.

We want understanding, or we can have God. What do you want more of? (Occasionally we get both).

Acts 7:60
Lord do not hold their sin against them.

This was a remarkably similar prayer of Jesus when He faced death. The early followers had actually learned much from Jesus. It is though, a very different prayer form previous generations of Jews who had claimed allegiance to God and were being tortured. In 2 Maccabees 7, the tortured Jews threaten their captors with dire punishments and called down curses upon them. Not so with Jesus, or Stephen or the other early Christ followers. They prayer for their enemies! Whodathunkit?!

A key to Decipher Life is learning to pray for our enemies.

We then see the Holy Spirit calling the first church growth conference- Persecution Jerusalem. They fled but they kept speaking about Jesus- allowing God to speak to them and through them. How’s that for a way of Deciphering Life?

Philip heads to Samaria, beginning the fulfillment of what Jesus said would happen in
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus says we’re going on a mission from God, perhaps the only deciphering needed is how far from home we’re going!

In Samaria Simon the Sorcerer wants to pay for the power to lay hands on people and see them receive the Holy Spirit. Any time money and mixed motives enter the kingdom the Holy Spirit brings a swift word. Listen to Peter’s response:

Acts 8:20-23
Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."

Any attempt to bring the Spirit under human control is nonsense and to be rejected outright.

How’s that for a way forward in Deciphering Life?

If you insist on understanding it usually doesn’t come, or at least on our timetable!

Zechariah 4:6
'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

Are you facing a mountain or a deep valley? Our savior He can move mountains.

Zechariah 4:7
What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.

God wants us to be happy but He knows that we cannot be truly happy until we are completely his and until He is our all. And the weaning process is very hard. John Eldredge

Which question is your favorite path to Decipher Life:

Why did God let this happen? or

Why aren’t I more fully given over to God?

Perhaps God has you on the way through Samaria right now. It was the armpit of Israel in the eyes of devout Jews. Where do you really not want to go?

The story of Jesus is moving out from where it began in Jerusalem with Philip and the other early Christ followers. It continues with all of us today from the spiritual epicenter of our lives to wherever God is scattering us. Follow the Spirit's leading and let Him Dechipher Life for you!

Shout To The North
Men of faith rise up and sing
Of the great and glorious King
You are strong when you feel weak
In your brokeness complete

Shout to the North and the South
Sing to the East and the West
Jesus is saviour to all
Lord of heaven and earth

Rise up women of the truth
Stand and sing to broken hearts
Who can know the healing power
Of our awesome King of love

We've been through fire we've been through rain
We've been refined by the power of his name
We've fallen deeper in love with you
You've burned the truth on our lips

Rise up church with broken wings
Fill this place with songs again
Of our God who reigns on high
By His grace again we'll fly

2 Corinthians 1:3-7
All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.

Potluck Sunday, May 25, right after the service

Men's Breakfast, Saturday 800 AM!

We'll watch John Eldredge speak on Walking With God and swap encouraging stories amongst ourselves.

Why is little Johnny so mad?

"The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with outstanding accuracy." Florence Schovel

James 3:5-12
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can't go on. A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Where are you?

We are sent together to heal the world! (Thanks to James Choung)

Part Two.

The Giving Tree

Shel Silverstein grew up in New york City and was raised Jewish. Brennan Manning was a childhood friend who later became a Roman Catholic priest.

Years later they reaquainted and Shel shared his story with Brennan about who Jesus was to him- The Giving Tree.

It's a brilliant story speaking not only to childhood desires for acceptance but also to a drive that we all have to 'go our own way'. In the midst of it all God is there in the background.

Isaiah 53:6
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong on him.

Lucky Are The Losers...

Did Jesus really say something like that? He really must have meant the following-

Blessed are the upper classes, who can afford a home in the suburbs and two new cars in the driveway, for theirs is the North American dream.

Blessed are they who have a well-paying job with ample vacation time, for the good life is within their reach.

Blessed are the thin, strong, and athletic, for the future is in their hands.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst to have a party, for a vast menu of chemical enhancements are at their disposal.

Which Jesus are you following?

Today, 12:00- 12:15 PM pray for Myanmar...

Friday May 16, World Vision is asking Canadians to stop at noon and pray for 15 minutes.

Pray that the international aid pipeline is enormously broadened. World Vision has planeloads of emergency supplies ready to be airlifted to Myanmar, but we are waiting for the Myanmar government to give permission to land.

Pray for children who are incredibly vulnerable at times like these. Thousands are now homeless and separated from their parents. Pray for their safety and that families will be reunited.

Pray for relief workers and their families. World Vision has almost 600 staff in Myanmar, but they too are cyclone survivors. Pray for their health and safety, and for comfort for those who have lost friends and family members.

Pray that God will guide the leaders of the relief effort.

Pray for Myanmar, particularly for comfort, hope and support for those affected by the devastation.

What are your slogans?

Lord Save Us From Your Followers

Galatians 6:9-10
So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Hebrews 3:15
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

Step Up To The Plate & Do The Right Thing....

Acts 9:36
...there was a disciple named Tabitha, "Gazelle" in our language. She was well-known for doing good and helping out.

Acts for Mother’s Day: With God’s Help We’ll Change The World!

Acts is all about signposts of love on the Way to God

They are signposts of a love that seems too crazy to be true; a love that has come to fruition in Jesus Christ & Acts is the record of that love getting feet and coming to all ends of the world & to all people’s, you & I included!

It has been said that a mother confers our primary source of love upon us in our early years. This love is such bedrock, yet so taken for granted, rarely acknowledged in our self-focused society. “Hi mom” gets airplay by an athlete during a commercial break, but that’s about it.

Who are your heroes? Who or what do you want to become?

“My flame may be small, but it is real.” AW Tozer

Ben Carson & his mom. “Through a mother's love and guidance and his own hard work, Dr. Carson went from the bottom of the class to the top, becoming the youngest Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.”

"I not only saw and felt the difference my mother made in my life, I am still living out that difference as a man.” Dr. Ben Carson

My lack of memories at our low rent townhouse- because my mom worked 2 jobs!

Jeremiah 9:23-24
God's Message: "Don't let the wise brag of their wisdom. Don't let heroes brag of their exploits. Don’t let the rich brag of their riches. If you brag, brag of this and this only:That you understand and know me. I'm God, and I act in loyal love. I do what's right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks."

God’s loyal love. Sounds like a mother’s love, too.

I saw a young mom, up close and personal, laying it down for her son. This is what mothers do. This is part of the maternal instinct that God imprinted in the souls of women. Bill Hybels, speaking of watching his now grown up daughter tend to own son

Jesus recognized those who were considered ‘unnoticeable’: the broken, the hurting, and women, who were largely ignored by a male dominated society. He particularized them.

Recall his numerous interactions, such as with a Samaritan woman who was an outcast in her own society; an unclean woman along with so many other instances.

In the days of Jesus women didn’t have glass ceilings like is sometimes spoken of in today’s business world; they were chained to the floor!

Most of the time we see Jesus operating outside official sacred space, which is very telling. He does most of his work on the streets, in private homes, and in the countryside. He is comfortable with body contact with people in general and women in particular, with dead bodies, with sick bodies, with public and private sinners, with lepers, and with the ritually impure. Richard Rohr

The early church picked this up. We’ve looked at Peter & James & the beggar in Acts 3. In Acts 6 the group appoints people to ensure that the widows don’t become overlooked!

Acts 8:3
And Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail.

These women (and men) were the beating heart of the people of God.

Acts 9:36-43
Tabitha (also known as the Gazelle)- She was well known for doing good and helping out.

I’m struck by that almost reads as a mother’s job description!

"Learn to do your best and God will do the rest." Sonya Carson, Ben’s mom

“They showed Peter pieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them.”

There is no such thing as a small errand in the Kingdom of God. There is no such thing as a small role in the Kingdom either!

Tabitha, the gazelle, was raised from the dead, basically recommissioned- “Your work is not done!”

All you women, the widows, the elderly, the married, the unmarried, the younger and even to all of us men, too, our work isn’t done!

I was thirty-nine years old when I walked into my counselor’s office and said, “I’ve been working so hard to keep everybody else happy, but I’m so miserable I want to die.” I spent the decade of my forties digging out of that hole. Now, nearly midway through my fifties, I’ve discovered that growing up is an ongoing process—I have not yet arrived. Lynne Hybels

While God is still working inside of us, we are still to be a part of building His kingdom. Our work isn’t done.

A mom is a missionary. A Christ follower is a missionary. You are a missionary. Don’t like that word? No problem. Does a mom ever stop being a mom? No!

Built into our identity as a Christ follower is the fact that we are on a mission; we are given a group- a new family to be a part of while we work together on the mission we are sent for. You are sent. I have been sent. When we realize that we have been sent by the God of all the universe, we will begin to know that we are dangerous enough to change the world, one little life at a time!

MOTHER – THE IMAGE OF GOD IN PSALM 23 by Glen S. R. Carlson

A mother is a shepherd to her children.

1. My mother is God’s Shepherd in my life. She is always willing to listen when I am in need.

2. When my mother puts me to bed at night, she lies down beside me. We talk about the beauties of life. In our imagination we walk together beside the green meadows and discover the magic of being together. A peace and confidence comes on me as we walk and talk about the different streams and experiences of life.

3. Whenever I am sick, my mother feels my pain. She goes the extra mile to see that I am taken care of. My mother helps me to make right decisions. I would do nothing to bring dishonor to my mother, the person I love and respect dearly.

4. There are times when things do not go so well for me. It is like a death experience. I know I can always turn to my mother. She seems to remove my fear. She is always there, guiding, protecting, and yes, even disciplining and correcting me when I need it.

5. Whenever I come home, my mother always has the table set to feed me. She does this even when she knows I am dabbling in things that will eventually hurt me. How does she know? I am amazed at my mother’s insights and intuition. When I come home from school or work she welcomes me every time as an honored guest. It makes me feel so good. With her arms open and a look of joy on her face she marches forward. I am anointed as my mother wraps her arms around me. I know I am being blessed by her.

6. Because of my mother’s goodness and unfailing love upon me it becomes my greatest desire to pass this same blessing on to my family. This is like living in her presence and the presence of my Lord all the days of my life. Thank you Mom for being my shepherd.

Happy Mother's Day!

To you thou fair spirits, we honor this day
We, the hairy, the gaseous, and coarse
To you as our mothers did labor in pain
Our life and our nurse and our source

And later in life to our eyes were so fair
We boys in our shorts and our hats
Did spy thee one day and one glance of your eyes
Made our hearts do their pitters and pats

We pledged you our hearts
We gave you our socks.
As lovers excelled on our knees
But struggled as soon as the altar we left
To give more than our soiled BVDs

But you’ve loved us these years
Even liked us at times!
Ah forgiving one! Who could berate her?
To love those whose scalps have now fled to the south
And whose girths doth resemble equators!

We gave you our seed for your nurture within
While we swelled and said, “Ah what a man!”
Until labor began and a head did emerge
And we fled like a shot to the can!

And as birds they soon grew up to struggle and fly.
While you faithfully stood by to serve.
To love, teach, and nourish, and chasten, and help
Those who like us could hurt and unnerve

And when we are old and our pledges have dimmed
Or have tarnished or vanished as dew
Through the length of the years
Through their joys and their tears
The face that stayed steadfast—was you.

Tho sadly enough we were not quite that smart
To perceive what was clear about you,
And it took us a life to see obviously
That which boldly was displayed as true
In this world which too often our sex
had destroyed
One where war, hate, and pain we gave place
—it was you—
God’s last touch to our world we have found
that brought beautyand sweetness
and grace.

Happy Mother’s day! by Tommy Nelson

Whatever may come...

Don't complain...
Accept offers of help graciously...
Ooze with thankfulness...
Listen for things you would not have heard under more pleasant circumstances.

Jude 1:2
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Going Over The Edge...

At this point in history, (North) American evangelicals resemble the Israelites at various dangerous moments in the Old Testament: They are blending into the surrounding heathen culture, and having ever more trouble figuring out where it ends and they begin. In politics, and in business, they've mostly gone ahead and joined the existing networks. With pop culture, they've instead created their own enormous "parallel universe," as Daniel Radosh calls it in his rich exploration of the realm, Rapture Ready! A Christian can now buy books, movies, music—and anything else lowbrow to middlebrow—tailor-made for his or her sensibilities. Worried that American popular culture leads people—and especially teenagers—astray, the Christian version is designed to satisfy all the same needs in a cleaner form. Hanna Rosin

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

Time In A Bottle

Jim Croce wrote this classic song for his young son, AJ Croce. Tragically Jim was killed in a plane crash just a few months later, lending even greater credence to it's powerful message.

Acts 5:42
Every day they were in the Temple and homes, teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, not letting up for a minute.

Someday, you'll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. CS Lewis

Interestingly, “growing up” is largely a matter of learning to hide our spirit behind our face, eyes, and language so that we can evade and manage others to achieve what we want and avoid what we fear. By contrast, the child’s face is a constant epiphany because it doesn’t yet know how to do this. It cannot manage its face. This is also true of adults in moments of great feeling—which is one reason why feeling is both greatly treasured and greatly feared.

Those who have attained considerable spiritual stature are frequently noted for their “childlikeness.” What this really means is that they do not use their face and body to hide their spiritual reality. In their body they are genuinely present to those around them. That is a great spiritual attainment or gift. Dallas Willard

Radical Stewardship & The Story of Stuff...

The Story of Stuff has the full story- a 20-minute presentation full of other useful and challenging information.

If you can't afford the extra time to watch the whole show because you're running to the store to buy something, check this out:

What does a Christ follower do, consume stuff or listen to God...? If you take a stand this could lead to Another Day, Another Riot - welcome to life with Jesus!

Acts: the Kingdom of God is becoming a reality in our lives!

Acts truly is an account of the Kingdom of God becoming a reality in the lives of the early Christ followers. It was clear then and applicable to us today that:

God is the guide. Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd & I shall not be in want. He is responsible to guide. You are responsible to be sensitive to Him and follow what He shows.

What is the life you want me to live?
Repeat the question quietly in your heart.
What is your counsel Lord?
Notice your heart’s posture on the matter.
Are we willing to hear whatever it is God wants to say to us?

There is no more decisive issue when it comes to hearing the voice of God than the issue of surrender. We are drawn to God in search of guidance, but we come away with a deeper holiness because we are learning surrender.

Lord—I will accept whatever it is you want to say to me.

Do you feel like, “He leadeth me to utter exhaustion; he runneth me ragged.”?

We are invited to become followers of Jesus. Not just believers. Followers. There is a difference.

Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

If we don’t know, Don’t. Wait till God does show you something clearly. Don't move ahead because you are impatient. If you don't know what to do next, keep waiting.

Oh how many times my impatience has prompted me to move out on my own! Have you ever experienced painful consequences from your own impatience?

God’s guidance is clear, often only in hindsight.

God’s guidance is Next Step for some; for others God’s guidance is more long term.
Trust GOD more than TRUST god.
Major decisions require several of these factors to line up.

From the exact same life circumstances we can construct a whole world of things to be thankful for or a whole world of things to be grumpy about. The challenge of our adult lives will be to reconstruct all the best parts of what we were at 5 years of age: wide open to wonder, physically present, ready to learn, able to trust. For some of us this will be a process of ehaling for our painful childhood memories if we’ll allow it.

If you are not careful, you will acquire so much knowledge that you will need another lifetime to put it into practice. Francois Fenelon

It’s not about information, its more about our posture to God.

Can you be led, can I be led?

I love the song, Dwell: Dwell in the midst of us Lord, You can have your way!

The early Christ followers were told to 'wait' by Jesus- Acts 1:4.

Look at what happens in Acts 2:1-2: God shows up on His own timeline!

Acts 3:1- 'at the time of prayer', Peter & John took praying very seriously.

Acts 4:24- 'They raised their voices in prayer."

Acts 4:31- 'after praying the room was shaken'!

Acts 5:19-20- 'the angel frees them from jail and says, GO back & teach in the Temple!'

We can start out following Jesus that way, or perhaps desire it when we wake up each morning, but then a subtle parting occurs. I don’t feel as though I am following Jesus going ahead of me. I just sort of take it for granted that I am blazing the trail.

It’s easy to make no conscious effort to follow God in all the “in-between” times, where life is really being lived. The question is, will I follow God, as opposed to just going on my way into each day? That is the transition to a better life. To be asking him where he is headed and what he is doing throughout the day.

Can you be challenged, (are you secure- where is your identity coming from?)

What is your posture to authority? (Want to get honest with God and others- invite some feedback on this area of you life)

Philippians 2:9-11: the name of Jesus is above all names, perhaps this is the earliest hymn of the church.

Look at Acts 4:8-12- 'it is by the name of Jesus Christ that healing has come. Salvation is found in no one else!'

Who is the one person in all the earth who is able to challenge us? Only the name of Jesus!!

This is a key step in learning to listen to the voice of God. We can ask questions to help us discern if we are being disciplined:

Is this pain I'm experiencing about getting my attention?

Lord, I want the freedom you have. To be completely free of what others think of me.

John 7:12-18

Can you be taught, (are you teacheable or are you a knower)

What would you have me read today Lord?

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it’s the illusion of knowledge. Daniel Boorstin

Can you be cared for, (can you receive God’s love)

2 Corinthians 9:10
He (God) gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives.

The Gospel Cycle: God gives- I receive- I give away.

Radical individualism: refusing to belong to anyone or anything is not conducive to following Jesus. Autonomy.

Can you be continually re-engaged in Grace for someone else. (can you see with compassion & emapathy- the eyes of Jesus)

Jesus ‘particularized’ people who were normally invisible. Last week we looked at Peter & John who did it with a beggar in John 3. A new way of seeing.

We want to be a movement of people who are being led, challenged and changed by Jesus Christ. We are business owners, we are kids who like soccer, we are families, and college students. We are into schools, private school, public school, grad school and no school. We are wealthy and we are poor. We are addicted and we are free. We are mothers and fathers. We are friends. We are broken and needy but we have hope. We are committed to each other and to Jesus who brought us together. We do life together in Edmonton, and wherever else God leads us throughout the world. This community is about Jesus, not Bible Studies, gatherings, churches or organizations. We value the tradition of the story of God as told through the Hebrew Scriptures, and the last 2000 years of people who have lived in the way of Jesus. We seek to engage the issues and passions of our day, and be the people of God bringing the kingdom of God into our world. We dream about becoming the Church God has in mind and shaping the future in alignment with the heart of God.

God is leading us. There is a hearing element to how He leads us. Prayer continually calls us back to that.

Prayer for our city and our neighborhoods and for each other:

Father, Thank you for my spiritual family. Please bless them with Your favor. Provide for all of their needs. I ask You to protect them from harm and evil. Surround them in the shadow of Your wing. Go before them and prepare the way for them. If any path is crooked, I ask you to make it straight. Protect them from the schemes of the enemy and keep them from deception. Bring Your perfect peace to their hearts. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Father, I thank you for blessing me with my spiritual family. I ask you to bring us into unity through Your Spirit. I ask that anything that is hidden in darkness - to cause disunity - will be brought to light. Please lead us into Your perfect truth and help us to be the family You intend us to be. Lord, help us to be a blessing to one another and to others. Reveal Yourself to us and let us come into agreement with You. Lead us in Your ways. Give us compassionate hearts, fill us with Your love that does not keep records of wrong, and bring joy to our hearts when we think of one another. Bring Your perfect peace and unity into our family. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Walking With God

The journey through Acts is very much a learning to walk with God. Those early disciples really believed that Jesus had come back & now resided within them, healing, guiding and leading them daily. Do you want that too?

John 10:27-30
My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.

Hope is hearing the melody of the future. Faith is to dance to it now. Richard Alves

Where is God?

Romans 8:37-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dangerous Women Creed

Dear God,
please make us dangerous women.
May we be women who acknowledge our power
to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God.
May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.
May we weep with those who weep and
speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
May we cherish children, embrace the elderly,
and empower the poor.
May we pray deeply and teach wisely.
May we be strong and gentle leaders.
May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.
May we never hesitate to let passion push us,
conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.
May we strike fear into all that is unjust
and evil in the world.
May we dismantle abusive systems and
silence lies with truth.
May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.
May we overflow with goodness in the name of God
and by the power of Jesus.
And in that name and by that power,
may we change the world.
Dear God, please make us dangerous women.
Amen.

I was thirty-nine years old when I walked into my counselor’s office and said, “I’ve been working so hard to keep everybody else happy, but I’m so miserable I want to die.” I spent the decade of my forties digging out of that hole. Now, nearly midway through my fifties, I’ve discovered that growing up is an ongoing process—I have not yet arrived. Lynne Hybels