Author: Admin

What do you do when someone doesn’t like what you’re saying, or agree with what you’re sharing? More and more in our day and age this is taking place, but it isn’t anything new. In fact, throughout much of church history, but especially in the early days of the church, people didn’t like what they heard. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is quite often offensive to those who don’t know God, and especially to those who have some amount of power. For the apostles, the message of Jesus went directly against the religious leaders of their day, mainly because it was undermining the authority and power of the temple. The apostles were ordered early on in their ministry to stop teaching in Jesus’ name, but they couldn’t! How could they keep silent about what they’d experienced?! And so they continued to share the love of Jesus openly.

In our day and age people don’t like to be told that they might be wrong; the powers that they cling to are individualism and relativism – the belief that each person controls what is wrong or right for them, and that there is no moral absolute. And like the early church, the Good News of Jesus will be offensive to most. However, we are still called to share the Gospel, with love, grace, and humility, sharing with others the hope we have in Jesus. When we meet opposition, which we will, our approach needs to be like that of the early church who banded together, prayed fervently, and encouraged each other to hold fast to the truth of God.

This Sunday we will continue our summer teaching series in Acts, looking at chapter 4. Read through the chapter before Sunday to prepare for our gathering. And remember the summer challenge, at some point this summer to sit down and read the whole book of Acts in one or two sittings. You’ll be thankful you did!

We will also be celebrating Communion this Sunday. Hope you can join with us to celebrate our risen Saviour!

Pastor Mike

Summer is officially here! And with that comes the time to get away, enjoy God’s creation, see family and friends, and generally just unwind. It’s a good thing to do. It’s an important thing to do. In fact, it’s something God tells us we need to do. On a weekly basis it’s called Sabbath rest (see Exodus 20 and Mark 2:23-28). Throughout the year there are appointed seasons and celebrations (Genesis 1:14-19), as well as times to work and times to rest (Ecclesiastes 3). Through the summer, many of our people will be away resting, and this is a good thing. In fact, right now as I type I’m away at a Pastor’s Conference being spiritually fed and physically rested. As followers of Jesus, we need to rest in Him if we’re going to be effective disciples and disciple makers.

So if you’re away this summer, I won’t be disappointed or frustrated, I’ll be encouraged! Just make sure you come back ready to serve and work for God’s Kingdom in the south end of Lindsay!

As part of my rest I won’t be preaching this Sunday at The Centre (although I will be there). Our local FEB Association has a pulpit exchange on the Sunday after Pastor’s Conference to give each pastor an added break, so Wes Hill from Bancroft will be coming to preach. I hope you’ll be able to make it out (if you’re not away!) to hear Wes and hear how God is moving in one of our sister churches.

Blessings,

Pastor Mike

This past Sunday we got to celebrate the birthday of one of our members. It’s one of the nice things about being a small church – we still have a lot of space for personal moments and times of celebration with the whole congregation. I really do appreciate these times, and count them as a blessing, watching how God is building His church in and through us.

If we go back about two thousand years we could have witnessed another birthday celebration, but that time it wasn’t to celebrate the birth of a person, rather, it was the birth of the church which took place at Pentecost. While the celebration of Pentecost was an old Jewish holiday celebrating the giving of the law to the Israelites, it took on new meaning after Jesus’ ascension when the Holy Spirit first came upon the disciples, then those who accepted Jesus as their Saviour. Before, the law was inscribed in stone. Now it was written on their hearts!

This Sunday we will celebrate another birthday, the birthday of the church, Jesus’ bride. It is a celebration that is ongoing, and will continue until Jesus returns and makes all things new. Our celebration gathering begins at 6pm – hope to see you there.

Pastor Mike

“Go and make disciples.” This is the call and the challenge for every person who has accepted Jesus as their Saviour and made Him King of their life. It isn’t a suggestion, or a good idea. It isn’t even an option. We are commanded to go and do.

But how are we to do accomplish this? This is always the big question, and is often where people stop. They see this task as something far too difficult or too involved, or something that is beyond their knowledge and training. Others are more knowledgeable, have taken courses or at least read books on the subject — they know what to say and when to say it in order to not sound foolish. What if someone asks me a question I can’t answer? What if they walk away? What if they laugh at me, or attack me? What if . . .? There are all sorts of “what if” questions, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are all called to do this. So how do we?

It’s good for us to remember a couple of things when we think of our call as Christians:
1. Remember who Jesus’ disciples were when He called them.
2. Remember that we have the Holy Spirit with us (we’ll talk more about Him in the coming weeks)
3. Remember that we’re not called to save people — that’s up to Jesus. We cannot save anyone.
4. And there are three more things that we need to remember, but I’ll talk about those on Sunday at our gathering!  If  you can’t make it out, all our sermons are on our website at thecentre.church

Upcoming dates:

Saturday, June 3rd – Love on Lindsay (12-4pm at Victoria Park). Check out the website loveonlindsay.ca for more information, and sign up at church this Sunday.
Sunday, June 17 – FEB association pulpit exchange. Wes Hill from Bancroft will be speaking that evening.

Hope you have a fantastic week! Praying that God would shine His light upon you, and that you would experience His love and grace!

Blessings,
Pastor Mike

When Jesus began His earthly ministry He read from the prophet Isaiah the following words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Once He had said these words He basically said that they were about Him, and that this was what He was all about! He had come to put things back together, the way things were meant to be!  He had come to restore His creation!

Last week we talked about redemption, how Jesus had fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies, and had made a way for all to be redeemed and set free.  Now those people who have been redeemed are called to continue the work of restoration that Jesus began.  We are called to go out proclaiming the Good News, caring for the broken and hurting, and calling people back to God.  Until Jesus returns one day, we are to be His hands and His feet in His creation.

In order to prepare for this Sunday I’d encourage you to read through Matthew 5-7, James, and Revelation 2-4.  Our gathering begins at 6pm.  Prayer takes place before the service from 4:30-5:30 – all are welcome!

Blessings,
Pastor Mike

One organization that I really appreciate is IJM – International Justice Mission (ijm.ca).  Their mandate is to free people who are caught in human trafficking, as well as to prosecute those who are committing the crimes. They go to some of the most difficult and dangerous areas in the world to free people who really have no hope. But they don’t stop there. After the people are freed they continue to minister to them, rehabilitating and training them so that they can truly be free from a life of poverty. And they do all of this in the name of Jesus. It is a wonderful story of redemption.

To redeem someone in the Old Testament meant that a person who was enslaved had to be purchased by another person in order to be set free, and then the one who redeemed them could set the person free. Throughout the Old Testament this theme is repeated, sometimes on a large scale such as when God redeems the people of Israel from their enemies, or on a smaller scale such as in the story of Ruth and Boaz (found in the book of Ruth). In each case, those who are freed from slavery are freed by someone who has power and authority. And all of these episodes of redemption point towards the ultimate redeeming act, when Jesus comes into the world, pays for our sins through His sacrificial death, and sets us free from our slavery to sin.

On Sunday we’re going to trace this story of redemption right from Genesis up into the gospels. I hope that you’ll be able to come and worship with us and see how God had a plan to free us from slavery right from the start. Our gathering starts at 6pm.

Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Pastor Mike

Last week we looked at the Creation of all things, and that we are made by God and for God. Our purpose in life is to glorify Him in everything we do. Our reality in this life is that we don’t do that all the time; we mess up, we fall short, we sin.

An easy way to describe sin is that it is simply the absence of God. Anytime we act, or even think, apart from God’s leading we can easily fall into sin (and usually do). Anytime we put something other than God as first in our life, we fall into sin. Anytime we think we know what’s best and can do it on our own, we fall into sin. Sin is the absence of God – read John 3:19-21 and Romans 1:18-23.

But sin is always our choice. God doesn’t force us to sin (He can’t, because that would go against His character); Satan doesn’t force us to sin; no one on earth can force us to sin. It always has been and always will be a choice that we make. So the big question that will likely come to your mind is, “Why would God allow this to wreck our relationship with Him, and destroy His creation?” Great question! We’ll look at that on Sunday – hope to see you there!

In the meantime, you can read through Genesis 3-4 to help you prepare for Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Blessings,
Pastor Mike

Have you ever wondered why you’re here, or what your purpose in life is? Why did God create us? Who is God? Does God exist? And if God does exist, why does He allow such terrible things to take place? Does He really care about us at all?

This Sunday we will be starting a new teaching series that will look at the major theme of Scripture – Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. We’re going to give a bird’s eye view of the whole story of the Bible, from the beginning to the end, and as we do so we’ll hopefully answer some of those big questions listed above that everyone asks at some point in their life.

If you know of someone who right now is wrestling through these questions, this will be a great time for them to come and hear about the hope we have in Jesus, and how He ultimately is the answer! There will also be times for people to respond and ask questions throughout the series.

In order to prepare for this Sunday, read through Genesis 1-2, John 1:1-18, Colossians 1:15-19.

I hope you have a great week, and that you’re able to see God’s hand at work in your life, and in the lives of those around you!

Blessings,
Pastor Mike