When Jesus calls us to follow him, he doesn’t strong-arm us into believing a certain way. Instead, he exhorts and invites us to join him in his ongoing work of reconciling all things to himself. As we follow in his ways, we can’t keep on living our lives as though nothing has changed. Jesus intends for us to become his faithful witnesses in the world around us: seeing where he is already at work, and helping point him out to the people around us.

This week, Rob begins a new series called Faithful Witness, and preaches from Mark 1.16-20. As we look at the encounter Jesus had when he called his first disciples, we see the pattern for how Jesus calls all people to himself: he calls us to follow him, and promises to make us become something new in him.

For the last two thousand years, people who believe and follow Jesus have made an outrageous claim. It’s a claim that, if true, changes everything we see and know about the world. But if false, well, it means we’re just wasting our time today – and we should just pack up and go home.

On this Easter Sunday, Rob Collis preaches from John 20.1-10, and invites us to explore the claim that Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead. This passage is the account of the first three people who discovered that Jesus’ body was not where it was meant to be. These three people, Mary, John, and Peter, each see and look at an empty tomb. Rob invites us to peer inside with each of them, and make sense of what it means for us today.

There were a lot of things Jesus did on the night he was betrayed. He gave us the Lord’s Supper. He prayed alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. He would stay up through the whole night, as he was whisked away to a sham trial – before a court that forsook all pretense of law or justice. But before all of that, he gave us a mandate to love one another, and then he showed us how much he loves us.

On this Maundy Thursday, Rob Collis preaches from John 13.1-15, and invites us into the conversation Jesus had with Peter before he washed his feet. Peter says three things to Jesus – three things which reveal the posture of his heart – and each time, Jesus replies to him – and each time, he invites us to behold and receive the depths of his love for us.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. It’s the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. On the day he rode into Jerusalem, all the people had heard who Jesus was and all the miracles he was doing. And they were waving palm branches and shouting ‘hosanna,’ which means 'rescue us’ or ‘save us.’

This week, we’re pleased to welcome Jeremy Derksen, from the Artizo Institute, who preaches from John 12.12-19. As he unpacks Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, he helps us see Jesus’ invitation to us: to worship and celebrate Jesus Christ as our king. But Jesus’ entry on Palm Sunday also issues a confrontation to us: Jesus does not come to be the king we want him to be; instead, he comes as the king we need.

Lent is a season in the Church calendar that’s been set apart for us to do some heart-work. It’s when we can recapture our love for God and his kingdom, and cast off the practices, behaviours, and beliefs that have entangled our hearts – where we can pull away the weeds that have distracted and pulled us away from our love in Jesus Christ. Because, ultimately, Lent is a season of realigning our hearts so that Jesus can rekindle our love for him. And for us as a church, the way we’re going to do that is to delve deep into the Lord’s Prayer.

This week, Rob Collis invites us to look at the end of this famous prayer – where Jesus teaches us to pray about temptation and evil. The fact that Jesus teaches us to pray this way shows us we should expect tests and trials to come our way, and that we’re allowed to pray and ask God for relief in the situations we face. And while he doesn’t necessarily promise to change it, whatever it is – we’re told to count it all joy – because there’s something in this situation that affords us the opportunity to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

Lent is a season in the Church calendar that’s been set apart for us to do some heart-work. It’s when we can recapture our love for God and his kingdom, and cast off the practices, behaviours, and beliefs that have entangled our hearts – where we can pull away the weeds that have distracted and pulled us away from our love in Jesus Christ. Because, ultimately, Lent is a season of realigning our hearts so that Jesus can rekindle our love for him. And for us as a church, the way we’re going to do that is to delve deep into the Lord’s Prayer.

This week we’re pleased to welcome Joel Strecker, who preaches from Matthew 6.12. When Jesus teaches us to pray “Forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who sin against us,” he invites us to prayerfully press into the heart of what Jesus has done for us. But in our cultural moment, forgiveness is rare and difficult for us today. As Joel takes stock of some of the ways our society teaches us to practice forgiveness, he shows us how they differ from the way Jesus teaches us to forgive: For us as follows of Jesus, we can forgive precisely because we have been forgiven.

Lent is a season in the Church calendar that’s been set apart for us to do some heart-work. It’s when we can recapture our love for God and his kingdom, and cast off the practices, behaviours, and beliefs that have entangled our hearts – where we can pull away the weeds that have distracted and pulled us away from our love in Jesus Christ. Because, ultimately, Lent is a season of realigning our hearts so that Jesus can rekindle our love for him. And for us as a church, the way we’re going to do that is to delve deep into the Lord’s Prayer.

This week, Rob Collis invites us to look at the middle of this famous prayer – where Jesus finally teaches us how to ask God for stuff in prayer. And as we unpack this together, he explores two things: Why we don’t ask God for things in prayer, and what we should ask for in prayer.

Lent is a season in the Church calendar that’s been set apart for us to do some heart-work. It’s when we can recapture our love for God and his kingdom, and cast off the practices, behaviours, and beliefs that have entangled our hearts – where we can pull away the weeds that have distracted and pulled us away from our love in Jesus Christ. Because, ultimately, Lent is a season of realigning our hearts so that Jesus can rekindle our love for him. And for us as a church, the way we’re going to do that is to delve deep into the Lord’s Prayer.

This week we’re pleased to welcome Bill Stewart, who preaches from Matthew 6.10. When we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done” we can often miss what Jesus means by the Kingdom of God. Bill shows us that God’s Kingdom is what will last when everything else has passed away, and helps us take stock of the sweeping vision of God’s kingdom in the Bible, and why we should pray for it to come.

Lent is a season in the Church calendar that’s been set apart for us to do some heart-work. It’s when we can recapture our love for God and his kingdom, and cast off the practices, behaviours, and beliefs that have entangled our hearts – where we can pull away the weeds that have distracted and pulled us away from our love in Jesus Christ. Because, ultimately, Lent is a season of realigning our hearts so that Jesus can rekindle our love for him. And for us as a church, the way we’re going to do that is to delve deep into the Lord’s Prayer.

This week, Rob Collis invites us to explore the very start of this famous prayer, in Matthew 6.7-9, where Jesus shows us two ways we can approach prayer – one which will always leave us feeling cold and distant, and another that will help us press into God’s presence.