Pastor Dave Koop Famous Last Words Over the course of history there have been some interesting last words that have also revealed where people’s hearts were at. Here are just a few examples: • The last words of the famous painter Picasso were “Drink to me.” • P. T. Barnum, the creator of  “Greatest Show on Earth,” the Barnum and Bailey Circus, had these last words when he died in 1891: “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” • Sir Winston Churchill, the statesman who is famous for his commencement address of “Never give up!” died in 1965, with these last words ..read more

Pastor Fari Maghami Palm Sunday: Journeying with Jesus Towards the Cross “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter of Zion; see, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”  At first His disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize tha ..read more

Pastor Karen Kepkay Why Serve? My family has a long history and experience in the food industry in my native city Maracaibo, and servanthood is truly part of our DNA. My grandparents, uncles and parents all have owned and run their small and large scale Chinese restaurants. And so growing up, the restaurant was my only playground which I quite enjoyed and learned from.   My parents were always intentional in teaching me the value of work and serving others by putting me to work in the family business. So, my first waiting-table experience was at the age of 12. Of course, the ..read more

Pastor Brad Bergman 3 Ways To Be More Generous Take a second to think about the most generous people you know. How would you describe them to others?  I think fondly about the people who come to my mind because they are so enjoyable to be around. Generosity is an attractive quality.  Conversely, I find spending a lot of time around stingy people difficult. Think of the character Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. His miserly ways pushed away everyone who cared about him, and his greed overwhelmed and consumed every part of him. Generosity was the key t ..read more

Pastor Allan Burnett The Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the early Church!  I will not soon forget sitting in our Canada Day service this past July 1st. For those of you reading this that are not Canadian, this is the day set apart in Canada to celebrate and pray for our country. That day however, the Holy Spirit clearly also had something else He purposed to accomplish, as Pastor Cheryl paused at one point in the service and said she had a “Word of Knowledge.” A word of knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit, where He gives you information about someone or something that you wouldn ..read more

Pastor Chris Karuhije Three Keys to Dealing with Opposition We are still in the beginning stages of studying the Book of Acts, but one thing is already certain: If you and I are going to do something great for God, it will attract opposition from the enemy. We see this in Acts 3 after the healing of the lame man, the extraordinary event that saw a 40-year-old man who had not been able to work since birth miraculously receive strength in his legs. From that miracle, Acts 4:4 tells us that just out of the men, 5000 people came to faith. Naturally, opposition and tribulation immediately ..read more

Jacqui Bishop The Snowball Effect of Faith Although it’s been an unusually warm winter this year here on the West Coast in North America, we did have one big storm and I couldn’t keep my kids from running outside to play in the fluffy white stuff. A snowy morning means the hats, gloves, coats pants and boots are going to be pulled from the recesses of the closet and put on with haste. They are out before breakfast, so I get a little bit of time to enjoy the quiet with a cup of coffee. There is almost nothing better on a winter morning when the world is blanketed in white, the snow dam ..read more

Pastor James Fam Why Does God Perform Miracles? The Book of Acts is filled with miracles and supernatural signs and wonders. In Chapter 3, we read about a lame man sitting by the temple gate called Beautiful. As Peter and John were about to enter the temple, the man asked them for money.  This is what follows: “Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth ..read more

Pastor Fari Maghami Cleansed and Refreshed: The Power of Repentance and Turning to God Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. – Acts 3:19  Are you seeking the cleansing and blotting out of your sins, similar to the effectiveness of OxiClean and potent bleach lifting the toughest stains from your laundry? If so, then repent and turn to God. There is nothing in this world that can wash you clean of the stains of your sin except faith in the sanctifying blood of Jesus alone, which was shed on the Cross ..read more

Pastor Jessica Chen Why Every Christian Needs the Power of the Holy Spirit From as early as I can remember, I learned that Jesus loved me and that I wanted to love Him with my whole heart. But despite my best efforts, I would find myself in negative thought patterns, having moments of anger, being tempted to hide the truth, feeling shame or fear, the list goes on. My walk with Jesus felt close at times and at other times, it felt so far away. I didn’t know much about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, until later in my adolescent years. I didn’t know that there wa ..read more