North Langley Community Church

In this sermon we focus on what it means to be thankful- and how thankfulness inspires a life of obedience to Jesus. It is in thankful worship where we recall the love of God, the grace of Jesus, and the fellowship of the Spirit. Worship is where our hearts are recalibrated and where we are inspired to live a life for Jesus.

Today we will hear Pauls passion for the church to love one another. Paul cares about the individual- but he believes that the transformation of Jesus in our life should lead to a community of love for one another. His desire of the church is that we live out 7 virtues that display the love of Jesus: Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love.

As apprentices of Jesus, alive in Christ, we must get rid of all the sinful ways of our old self, like sexual sins and sins of anger, that lead to death and destruction. They are part of the old way that cant co-exist with our new life in Christ. Instead, as we put on the new self, we are being made new by Gods Spirit in the image of the Creator. We are becoming more like Jesus, fully human and fully alive.

Pride, self-pity, entitlement, and anger. These are emotions and actions that many of us struggle with. By listening to the story of King Uzziah, as well as the prophet Isaiah, we see a contrast between the entitlement of the King and the humility of the Prophet. And it is Jesus who has the power to show us what a life of humility looks like- He who did not feel equality with God was something to be grasped- He humbled Himself and became obedient to death on a cross.

Paul is going to encourage the church in the ancient city of Colossae that they are motivated by the wrong thing. They are focusing on and motivated by the rules-but the rules wont change their heart. And so today we will see that it is only when we set our hearts and minds on Christ that our lives are changed.

There is only one source of living water that will quench our thirst. His name is Jesus. Paul wants us to see that fullness of life, wisdom, knowledge and salvation comes through Jesus alone. There is no other stream where our thirst is quenched. In Jesus alone we experience, receive and enjoy the fullness of the love of God. Only Jesus. No rivals.

The Apostle Paul has a passion to serve the church. He longs to see the church at Colossae grow in maturity in Christ. Do we have that same passion to serve? Do we know the spiritual gifts that we have been given to bless others? Could the Holy Spirit renew a deep passion in us to serve the church?

The tragedy is that we were once alienated from God. Understanding this tragedy is an important first step before we can comprehend the incredible good news of Jesus. That through Jesus' death we are brought near to God- and that we are made holy, without blemish, and free from accusation.

As we are filled with wisdom and power by Gods Spirit at work in us, our lives as Christians will bear fruit that is pleasing to God, both individually and as a community. We will be characterized by great endurance in hardship and joyful thanksgiving for all that God has done through Jesus by rescuing us from sin and darkness.

Jesus shows us who God is. He is the King. He rules above all spiritual beings and powers. All creation, every nation, every city, every family, every relationship, every life, every heart, and every mind can be held together by Jesus.In Him all things hold together."

The church in Colossae loved one another. As Paul begins the letter, he cant help but celebrate this! To Paul, this is a confirmation that this church is the real deal. They get it. They get the heart of the whole Jesus movement:they love one another.

We have hope because the future life and resurrection of God is pouring into the present! If God raised Jesus Christ from the dead then we have a new birth into a living hope, and death is working backwards, and everything sad is coming untrue, and the future is here, and God is making all things new.

Jesus calls himself the True Vine. He invites us to find our life in Him. He is our home and our dwelling place. The way we abide in Him is by loving one another. God the Gardner is committed to prune us so that we grow abundant fruit of love for each other.

Jesus is the good shepherd who we can trust with our whole lives. Hes the trustworthy leader who knows us, cares for us, and gives his life for us.

Jesus calls himself the Light of the World. Where are we walking in the darkness? Jesus shines His light revealing who God is and shows us how to live. And his promise is this: whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life. We go to things that cannot ultimately satisfy us to fill a deep hunger for true love and intimacy. Jesus is offering us his life, friendship, forgiveness, and grace. A real relationship of love that satisfies us- daily.

Jesus is calling us on mission- and we have the joy of sharing the good news of who He is with those we love. In this message, we unpack the apostle Paul's beautiful encouragement from Romans 10 to share the good news of Jesus with our words.

We hear the encouragement from the Apostle Paul to submit to governing authorities and that the authorities are established by God. What does that submission look like? How are we called to resist evil government decisions? And what does it look like to pray for those in authority when we disagree? We unpack these questions as we end our 6-week series seeking to be faithful to King Jesus.

As apprentices of Jesus, we are called to love the people Jesus loves in the way thatJesus loves them.

As we engage with one another, we are called to be people of empathy, gentleness and wisdom.

Jesus is the embodiment of truth and love. He wants us to follow him out of pre-packaged political bundles and into political homelessness that will allow us to stand for righteousness in our day. Only following Jesus will place us on the right side of history.

In this message, we explore the Biblical idea that we are exiles living in a foreign land, and we explore two ways of seeking the shalom of Canada. These two very different approaches that Christians take to politics are rooted in Scripture and are important to keep in mind as we seek to live wisely today as we follow Jesus.

As we launch our new series on how to follow Jesus in a politically polarized age we unpack our primary identity as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Our allegiance is to King Jesus alone. Citizenship in the Kingdom of God has the potential of making us the best Canadian citizens- freed up to love our neighbour and work for the common good."

Will shares about his work with the organization Christians Against Poverty.

In this message, we see that people are supposed to encounter Jesus through the love of Jesus' people. When that doesn't happen, it is painful, but when it does happen, it is truly beautiful. Raamin shares her powerful story of encountering Jesus in community. And we end with seeing the beautiful community Paul loved in Rome in Romans 16. Jesus said, 'By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.'

In this message, we receive the assurance that if God is for us- who can be against us? The Father loves you. Christ shed his blood for you and intercedes for you. The Spirit of God is in you. And if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are for us- who can be against us?

We live in the reality of now-and-not-yet. The time between Gods promise given and apromise is fulfilled is a long and difficult journey, but the Holy Spirit walks with us,groans with us, helps us, and intercedes for us.

We have heard that God works all things for the good of those who love him but what does that actually mean? Today we will see that God has committed to work a great good through our suffering and pain. He is committed to shaping us into the image of Jesus that we might be a blessing to others.

What are humans good for? Romans 8 tells us that creation will be free when God makes us who we were meant to be! God's children have a destiny, to take responsibility in God's renewed creation!

In this message we explore the truth that all of us who have surrendered to Jesus are the children of God. God has rescued us from slavery like a Father who rescues his beloved child. God invites us to call him 'Abba Father' as we grow in greater intimacy and love.

Do you look around, and dont like the realm you live in? Dont like the toxic effects of sin in ourselves, our marriages, our world? GOOD NEWS! It doesnt have to be this way! There is a whole other realm, or Kingdom, available to you; that you can move into and inhabit. And it is not far away, It has come near.

We begin a new series in Romans chapter 8 as we focus on the remarkable truth that now in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation! God condemned sin and now offers us a new way to live life by His Holy Spirit. Here on week 1 of this new series, we want to see God heal us with his truth- grounded in our new identity in Christ- and we want to experience the power of His life-changing love.

Being enamoured by God's splendour will lead us to a greater desperation for Him.

We return to our First Love as we step into the light of God and allow him to expose all the areas of sin that so easily steal our joy. As we repent we turn from our ways- we experience His freedom and His joy. He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

We return to our First Love as we discover our spiritual gifts and use them to love God and our neighbours. We have served God from a place of exhaustion, bitterness, legalism, pride, and fear. But we want to serve from a place of deep union with Christ. We want to enjoy loving God as we love others.

We return to our First Love as we cherish God's very word. The 2 travellers on the road to Emmaus experienced burning in their hearts as Jesus explained how all the Scriptures point to Him. In this sermon, we are learning what it means to truly encounter Jesus in the Scriptures.

We are living in the fog of secularism and it is so easy to believe that God is far away and irrelevant to the pressing needs of our life. But what if God was closer than we can even imagine? What if there are burning bushes everywhere on fire with the Presence of God? What if God could remove the veil from our eyes so that we can see that He has been asking, seeking, and knocking upon the door of our life? And what if He answered all our asking, seeking, and knocking with the gift of Himself?

Are you in a circle of friends who love you and love Jesus? Many of us who are not feeling loved by God are feeling that way because we are more and more cut off from the love of others. The truth is that our love for God is rekindled as we love one another.

Jesus meets a woman at a well and offers her the very Presence of the Living God. This woman is so changed by Jesus that she shares the good news with her entire village. There is no greater joy than introducing people we love to the God we love. This is how we rekindle our first love.

Charles Spurgeon once wrote: 'Believe me, if you have but a spark of desire after Christ, he has a whole furnace of desire after you.'(Charles Spurgeon,September 16, 1883.).In Revelation 2 we hear Jesus encourage the church at Ephesus to return to their first love. In this sermon, we begin our 8-week journey into looking at what it means to return to Jesus- to receive His love- and to enjoy Him forever.

Jesus is the Great Peacemaker and is promising to shape us into a people who make peace. Peacemaking is hard work but Jesus promises that, as we cultivate peace, we will be called children of God- doing the every work our Father does.