Living Stones Church, Red Deer, Alberta

There is much speculation and controversy between the moment we die and the time when Jesus comes again, in which we will receive our eternal spiritual bodies. In writing earlier to the Corinthians, Paul laid out the teaching on the resurrection in detail in 1 Corinthians 15. He also describes the difference between our earthly bodies and spiritual ones.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50-54

So...

John Piper writes in his book The Roots of Endurance that he shared some of the challenges facing Charles Simeon (1759-1836), the pastor of Trinity Church in Cambridge, England. “I heard that he stayed in the same church as pastor for fifty-four years and that in the first twelve years there was so much opposition from his congregation that 'pewholders' locked their pews, stayed away, an...

It is amazing to discover the people that God chooses. It usually is the people others pass over. That was certainly true for David when Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse's sons to become the next king; even his father didn’t bother to have David stand before the prophet. God generally chooses the weak and the nobodies of our world to manifest his grace, glory, and power. Kent Huges poi...

Many of us have heard the Christmas Story of Jesus, born to a virgin named Mary, two thousand years ago. That first Christmas night, while shepherds were watching over their flocks, they had an angelic visitation announcing the birth of the Messiah, the Christ. Born in the little town of Bethlehem, they would find him in a manger and off they ran to see this wondrous birth. In Matthew's ...

The first Christmas did not happen in a vacuum. We do not understand the need for the Christmas story simply from the birth of Christ.  We need to go to the beginning of the human story to really understand why God, in the person of Jesus Christ, had to come to earth. What necessitated the need for God to become a Man, live a sinless life and die a cruel death? The Bible states that we, ...

Years ago, when Patty and I first came to Red Deer with our newborn daughter, Andrea, the church was in its earliest beginnings. That was over 41 years ago. After witnessing the church's amazing growth over 10 years, we resigned and moved to Seattle, Washington. Three years later, we were confronted with a very agonizing and significant decision that affected not only our lives but also ...

The context for C. S. Lewis’ book, “Mere Christianity,” was drawn from a series of wartime BBC broadcasts on the Christian faith in which he spoke on the problems of suffering, pain, and evil from 1942 to 1944. You can then imagine when, in one broadcast, Lewis spoke on the issue of forgiveness. The book was published ten years later, in 1952. During WW2, 800,000 Londoners lost their hom...

We should never be surprised when our good intentions are misconstrued and cast in a negative light. We can also expect that in serving others, there will come moments of misunderstanding and unwarranted criticism. In teaching a course on Nehemiah, I was reminded of this very thing. Nehemiah was confronted by those opposed to God’s purposes for His people.

When Sanballat the Horonite and...

Rick Warren, former pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California, shared the tragic death of his son, Matthew and his struggle with depression that led to his ‘suicide.’ Rick related that Matthew struggled with this his entire life, even though they sought extensive treatment, counselling, and prayer over the years. He shared that he continued to believe God for a miracle...

As we come to the close of the book of James, we see that James has been speaking to believers who were experiencing ‘trials of many kinds (1:2).’ In the closing chapter, we see the abuse and exploitation of the poor by the rich. James speaks of developing an attitude of patience in their suffering by encouraging them that God will address all injustice, if not in one’s life, then at the...

In D. A. Carson’s book, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, he begins, “A pastor is cutting his front lawn. He looks up from his task just in time to see a heavy dump truck back out of his neighbour’s driveway—right over the neighbour’s eighteen-month-old son, who had been squatting behind the massive tires. The pastor accompanies the hysterical mother and ashen father ...

One of the concerns for people as they age is whether they will have enough finances in their retirement years. Financial planners all have different gauges to determine how much is enough, but maybe we are not thinking far enough about our future. How will God evaluate our financial portfolio? How will that impact our lives in eternity?

If financial planning is part of our eternal plan,...

“Unwell, and much in prayer, he heard a voice saying, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities.’ It was, in fact, the voice of [a woman] who had felt herself commanded in a dream to say these words. Charles got out of bed and, opening his Bible, read from the Psalms: ‘He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our Go...