Christian Life Community Church - Online

This week is the last week of our Church Wide Initiative. Today we are taking a look at Mark 4:35-41 and talking about fear. It's in the storms of life that we really learn how to trust Jesus. This week we will answer the question: "Are you focusing on the storm or are you focusing on the mission?"

Greed is one of those spiritual heart diseases that is difficult to see in ourselves, while others are often quick to notice. Greed often hides behind good Christian virtues likewise stewardship and being careful with money.    The best antidote for greed is to remember the Lord. Remember everything belongs to Him and He is the one who holds the future. We need to learn to be “rich toward God”, a characteristic of those who have learned to store up treasures in heaven, as Jesus commended in Matt 6:19-20.   GET CONNECTED:  Website: https://www.clcc.ca/ Instagram: @clcc.church  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CLCCfamily

With every single wrong we've ever committed against someone else, there’s a sense in which we stole something from them. Because we stole something from them, we create this debt within them; we owe them. Because we owe something, there's this debt/debtor relationship. Guilt says, “I owe you.” There’s even a term for this, we say, “I owe an apology.” However, when you really think about it, you can't give back what you took. You can’t give trust back. You know you feel guilt and you know that you owe something, but you just don't know how you can make it up. You just know, “I’m guilty, I owe them, I'm in debt to them.” So, this week let’s deal with the issue of owing someone. How do we pay that back?

While the health of our physical heart is important, our spiritual heart is as well. Physical heart disease is the number one killer in the western world, however, spiritual heart disease is even more dangerous if left untreated. In this series, Take Heart, we’ll be looking at five spiritual diseases that affect our hearts: guilt, anger, greed, jealousy, and fear.

People often ask questions about our church. It might not always come out like this, but what they’re asking is, “Are you a Grace church or a Truth church?” Those who want us to be a Truth church want to know if we’re going to tell people to get things right. Those who want to know if we’re a Grace church want to know if they’ll be accepted. Have you ever wondered what kind of church Jesus would’ve gone to? If you like a ‘Grace church’, you remember all the stories about Jesus forgiving sin, welcoming people, and accepting them no matter who they were. If you like a ‘Truth church’, you’d point to all the stories about Jesus calling people out of their sin, telling them they had to change and get their life right. You’d remember all the times Jesus proclaimed truth to people. If we believe that Jesus wants us to love the way that he loved, maybe a better question is, “How did Jesus love?”

When you’ve been around the church for a while, some different questions get asked: “How good do you have to be to be in this church? How many rules do you have to follow? How much of your life before Jesus do you have to clean up?” These questions aren’t new; they are the same questions that the very first church asked. When we looked at the beginning of ‘The Church’ last week, we saw this movement expanding quickly – thousands of people were added daily. This week, we pick up our story about 20 years down the road and find some miscommunication happening. This issue raised a lot of questions about what people had to do to be a part of this movement. So how high does the bar need to be to become a Christian?

The words we use might not mean the same as they did 25 years ago. We all know language changes. What meant something in our past, often doesn’t mean the same today. In today’s world, the word ‘church’ is used for a lot of different things; we say things like, “we go to church,” or “church was good today.” If you used phrases like those in the first century, they wouldn’t have made sense. Maybe we need to be reminded of what the original intent of the word ‘church’ was. This week we’re going to learn that the church wasn’t started as a building or an event. It started with the realization that Jesus was for everyone. Jesus started church to be a movement to impact the whole world. So how do we keep this movement moving?

Join us for our Passing the Torch Service as we celebrate Pastor Jim's leadership. We are joined by the Leadership Council praying for this transition. Thanks for joining us.

The Life You've Always Wanted Pastor: Noah Reed Matthew 6:31-34

(Im)perfect Christmas Sermon: Imperfect Messengers Pastor: Jim Lucas Luke 2:8-14 Sermon Summary Birth announcements are sacred moments in family life. We carefully plan who we inform first, making sure our loved ones don’t get the news via Facebook. In the same way, I believe God carefully chose to send the message of His son’s birth to the Magi and shepherds. After all, this was about God’s favour. “Peace on earth to men on whom his favour rests” was the message of the angel to the shepherds. Luke the Gospel writer was interested in God’s favour. Mary is identified as being favoured, and in Jesus’ first sermon (Luke 4), He announces that He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 and this was the time of God’s favour. While God’s favour is offered to all, only those who will receive it get to experience it. Shepherds - due to their lowly social status - are ideal recipients. There is a certain humility necessary to receive it. I believe in the Beatitudes, Jesus referred to this as poverty of spirit. This Christmas,

(Im)perfect Christmas Sermon: Imperfect Questions Pastor: Troy Neilsen Luke 1:41-45 Sermon Summary This weekend, we continue our series on (im)Perfect Christmas. There’s been this way of thinking that if you have any doubt in your life, there must be something wrong with your faith. If we have doubts, can our faith be perfect if we question God? We’ll be looking at a story about Mary. In this story, she shows some doubt and asks a good question that Jesus answers all the time. We’ll be talking about how God can work through our imperfect faith by learning to ask good questions. So what makes a good question?

(Im)perfect Christmas Sermon: Imperfect Expectations Pastor: Troy Neilsen Matt 2:1- 23  Sermon Summary Once the Christmas season starts, we often get bombarded with perfection on social media. Don’t just buy the perfect gift; but when you wrap it, make it look so good that people don’t want to open it, because it’s almost like they’re destroying art. This week we’re looking at how King Herod shows up in the Christmas story. Wise Men from far away arrive on Herod’s doorstep asking, “Where is the new King?” If there’s one thing that kings hate, it’s other leaders in their lives, and they’ll do anything they can to keep control of their kingdoms. Herod does all he can to get rid of this new King. It should get us thinking about how we react when someone comes into our life who wants to lead us even when we know that they have our best interest in mind. Are we like Herod who will go to extreme ends to squash that leader who wants to help us?

Join us for Church Online. We are in the second week of our series called "Advent – (Im)perfect Christmas" and will be hearing from Pastor Phil. Join us as we celebrate the season of Advent together! Advent – (Im)perfect Christmas Sermon: Imperfect Timing Pastor: Phil Juthman Luke 2:1-8  Sermon Summary It’s not a real holiday season without a little Christmas chaos, am I right? For all of our good intentions and efforts, things often don’t go according to our plan. We want things to go the way that we want - in our timing - but that’s not reality. We can’t fully control the timing of our lives, and we’re in good company. Mary and Joseph were thrown into a series of events they couldn’t control. On ground level, it’s easy to see our uncertainties and hardships as a darkness over our lives, clouding our future. However, God is inviting us to take a step back to see what He is doing. When we do take that step back, we discover that God has sent a light into our darkness! It’s because of Jesus that we don’t

Advent – (Im)perfect Christmas Sermon: Imperfect Family Matthew 1:1-17 Pastor: Jim Lucas Sermon Summary The Big Idea of this study is that nobody has a perfect family, but the Lord has surprising ways of accomplishing His purposes. Our new series is about the imperfect Christmas. There were many things that weren’t quite right that first Christmas morning. While we usually envision wonderful, heartwarming and perfect Christmas seasons, this is often not the case. Our families are not perfect. While we may think our crazy family is the exception and everyone else has a wonderful, perfect family, this is simply not the case. Matthew arranges the genealogy of Jesus to make this point. There were some scoundrels in the ancestry of Jesus. Some of those kings were very naughty and deserved coal in their stockings, but the Lord worked out His purposes regardless. Isn’t this the overall message of Scripture? Isn’t this at the very heart of the Gospel? Jesus doesn’t just write people off, He redeems people and circums

Plot Twist Sermon: Finding Your Purpose Luke 13:6-9, Matthew 5:13  Sermon Summary  The Big Idea of this study is to understand our purpose in life.  This weekend we’re looking at a story about a fig tree that wasn’t producing fruit. One of the characters in the story wanted to cut it down because it wasn’t fulfilling its purpose and was only taking up space. The purpose of a fig tree is to produce fruit. Although Jesus is very forgiving and gives people many chances, the bottom line of the story is this: if you’re a fig tree, produce figs. Just like the fig tree had a purpose, we too need to find our purpose as followers of Jesus. But what does a disciple of Jesus do? When Jesus was answering this question, he described his followers and gave them a nickname: “Salt”. With this name, they should remember a characteristic that they should aim for. So, what does it look like for Christians to be the salt of the world?  Questions for Discussion:  1. When Jesus called his followers ‘salt’,

Plot Twist – Didn’t See That Coming Sermon: The Deceitful Sons Matthew 21:28-32 Sermon Summary The Big Idea of this study is that our walk needs to match our talk. Our profession often out paces our practice. The Lord is concerned that we don’t just say the right things but do the Father’s will. This week we are looking at a parable that is probably not that familiar. The context sets the stage for the teaching. Jesus is being questioned about his authority to talk about God. Jesus asks the religious leaders where they thought John the Baptizer’s authority came from. John was very popular among the common folks and many had been baptized by him as a sign of repentance and faith in God. The religious leaders wouldn’t answer because if they admitted his authority came from God they would have to explain why they did not get baptized. If they said it was not from God the people would revolt and give them a hard time. Jesus uses the parable of the deceitful sons to drive his point home. It is not those who say t

Plot Twist  Sermon: Am I Winning?  Luke 18:9-14  Sermon Summary  The Big Idea of this study is to understand how we view ourselves.  A lot of people think the object in life is to win, whatever that looks like. A well-known adage we often hear states, “whoever has the most toys wins.” A few years ago, there was a leader who promised the voters that if he was elected, there would be so much winning they would get bored of winning. It’s important for a lot of people to win and feel like they’re winning. What does it really look like to win? What should winning feel like? This week, we look at another story Jesus tells of two characters; one would have been highly respected in the community and the other one hated. The Plot Twist shows us who Jesus was actually trying to change and how this person was supposed to think. Jesus was challenging the crowd about how they think of others and what it looks like to really win. Questions for Discussion: 1. Rank yourself on a scale from 1 – 10 on

Plot Twist – Didn’t See That Coming Sermon: Patches and Wineskins Luke 5:36-39 Sermon Summary The Big Idea of this study is that the Kingdom of God is surprisingly different and adaptable in order to accomplish the Lord’s purposes. In this new series we are talking about how Jesus surprises us with his understanding of life. Last week his understanding of the fatherhood of God shocked everyone who listened to the parable of the lost son. This week he tells us what the Kingdom of God is like. For 1st Century Jews, brought up in the traditions of their fathers, Jesus’ words were very radical. This new way of seeing the people of God was shocking. The raw material of the Kingdom came from the worst backgrounds, like Levi the tax collector, and they acted like the Kingdom of God was a party. To summarize his points, Jesus uses a parable that teaches that Jesus is doing something so new and different that it is incompatible with the old way of being the people of God. He promises new wine, often used as a symbol

Plot Twist Sermon: Gracious Father Luke 15:11-32 Sermon Summary The Big Idea of this study is understanding how Jesus described God. Good movies have great plot twists. The best movies have multiple plot twists that make us think, “I didn’t see that coming!” When Jesus told stories, He would often head in a certain direction in order to get everyone in the crowd engaged. He would then take the plot in a totally different direction, making His point unforgettable. This week, we are looking at a story Jesus told of a certain Father character that many of us are very familiar with. When Jesus tells us this story, He shares a lot of what our Father God is like. We’ll discover that Father God is unlike any father that we have ever experienced. Questions for Discussion: 1. What is your favorite kind of movie? Dramatic? Romantic? Action? Why? 2. Talk about the different ideas that you might have had about God throughout the different stages in your life. Was He all knowing? Angry? Was He there in case of emergency

Fresh Start Sermon: Faithfulness to Blessing Pastor: Noah Reed Ruth 4  Sermon Summary: Are you in need of a fresh start? Life, work, family, faith feeling empty or unfresh? We take a look at the ending of the story of Ruth to discover that the key to a fresh start is Faithfulness. Faithfulness always returns with blessing. As we look at the actions of Boaz, being faithful to Ruth and having the incredible integrity to offer what he desired for himself to another man, we learn that integrity is rarely easy, but it is always the most rewarding.   Remember, you have a legacy, and it is how you act today that will establish your legacy. Will your legacy be one of integrity? Character? Lovingkindness? Faithfulness? This story, with its happily ever after ending, reveals a bigger picture, a redeeming Christ with a gift freely offered to all who are faithful to accept it.