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Worship Video

 

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• Preschool
• Elementary 
• Collide 
• Parents

And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Preschool – June 25th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Collide Discussion Questions

Decision

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• • • • • Preschool
        • Elementary 
        • Collide 
        • Parents

        And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

           

The post Collide – June 25th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Ten years ago, a young woman from Spain visited Canada for five weeks on a visitor exchange. She was posted to live with a devout evangelical family.

She attended Sunday morning worship with them all five weeks of her stay, perhaps out of cultural interest. On her first visit the pastor extended a warm welcome. In return the young woman gave matter-of-fact notice that she was an atheist. There was no challenge or defense on either side. 

She warmed to the family and church environment, became acquainted with some of the young people, and expressed amazement at the seriousness of the congregation in worship and their joy and friendliness when services were dismissed. The people seemed to experience a happiness she had not seen before.

She left her last service bearing the pastor’s gift of a beautiful Bible, with his simple suggestion that she begin reading in the Gospel of John.

Notably, prior to her visit to Canada she had not known that such a book existed. Throughout her childhood and youth she had never had contact with a church. Yet her final words to the pastor were that she hoped she could find a friendly, happy church like this one back in her own country.

We Christians become so used to the language of faith, the words of Scripture, and the gentle presence of God when we worship that we can scarcely grasp the perspective of one who has never seen a Bible or Christian worship.

This story reminds us that the Lord God is at work in the lives of others. They are his lost sheep. And we can’t know when someone nearby might be a first-time hearer of the Gospel. 

Did the young woman encounter the Gospel itself in the order of worship, sermon, or songs? Was the Gospel proclaimed? Did the Spirit pursue her? Did she ever make a profession of faith after returning to her home country? 

I do not know. But I understand that contacts continued via the Internet and that the initial friendships have remained warm.  

Everyone reading this can add their prayers that this young woman, ten years on, is in the care of the Shepherd who will not quit searching for his lost sheep. We can yet pray that this young Spanish woman has been found by the Lord Jesus Himself.  

First published September 9, 2013; revised June 19, 2023

Photo credit: Peter Toporowski (via flickr.com)

My new memoir, FROM KITCHEN CHAIR TO PULPIT: A Memoir of Family, Faith, and Ministry, has just been published. I hope you will click on one of the links that follow to be taken to the page on these sites that enable you to view and potentially purchase the paperback or ebook. My book shows just how extraordinary the pastoral life can be, describing how I prepared for ministry and ministered to three congregations and then, as a bishop, to pastors as a bishop, with the help of my wife, Kathleen, and the support of our children as they grew up from children to adults.

Purchase in Canada

Purchase in the US

The Next Two Weeks!

No Youth Group!
June 23rd – June 30th

We’ll see you in two weeks! Summer events will happen on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays! The first event is HSM Bible Study in the Youth Room on July 3rd!

Summer events!

There is one(1) Activity Release Form to cover all the Summer events that require transportation from the church to the event location. An online or paper form must be completed by a parent or guardian.

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE ONLINE ACTIVITY RELEASE FORM

The Tuesday micro events will require pre-registration because there is limited space for each event. The online registration will go live the day before the event.

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @ churchoftherockhsm Join us throughout the week on Discord! Here’s what you need to know:
First, please download Discord for your device! You can do this by downloading the application here.
Second, add yourself to our High School Ministry Discord Server by clicking THIS LINK.

We will keep you informed on what’s coming up AND spontaneous hangouts!

The post High School Ministry – June 19th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

The Next Two Weeks!

No Youth Group!
June 21st – June 28th

No youth events because we are getting ready for our Summer programming! See you in two weeks!

Here is a look at our Summer events!

There is one(1) Activity Release Form to cover all the Summer events that require transportation from the church to the event location. An online or paper form must be completed by a parent or guardian.

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE ONLINE ACTIVITY RELEASE FORM

The Tuesday micro events will require pre-registration because there is limited space for each event. The online registration will go live the day before the event.

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @threshold_jr Join us throughout the week on Discord!

Here’s what you need to know:
First, create a Discord user by downloading the application here.
Second, sign on to our Threshold Jr Discord server by clicking here.
You’ll be up to speed throughout the week!

 

The post Threshold Jr – June 19th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

ACTIVITY PAGES TO DOWNLOAD

Worship Video

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• Preschool
• Elementary 
• Collide 
• Parents

And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Preschool – June 18th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

ACTIVITIES FOR THIS LESSON

Worship Video

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• Preschool
• Elementary 
• Collide 
• Parents

And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Elementary – June 18th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Collide Discussion Questions

Decision

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• • • • • Preschool
        • Elementary 
        • Collide 
        • Parents

        And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

           

The post Collide – June 18th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

1 Peter 5:12-14 (NET) – Through Silvanus, whom I know to be a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, in order to encourage you and testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

From the New English Translation (NET) Bible Study Notes:

“Most scholars understand Babylon here to be a figurative reference to Rome. Although in the OT the city of Babylon in Mesopotamia was the seat of tremendous power (2 Kgs 24-25; Isa 39; Jer 25), by the time of the NT what was left was an insignificant town, and there is no tradition in Christian history that Peter ever visited there.”

“Babylon” is not only the name of a city in ancient Mesopotamia, but it was also a figurative reference meant to describe what life was like where Peter wrote his first epistle. The term Babylon was also used in this same manner in the book of Revelation in order to describe what drives the entire world to operate as it does:

Revelation 14:8b (NET) – …Babylon the great city! She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.

Revelation 18:1b-3 (NET) – …Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.

DIS-DELIGHT

The same is still true today, some 2,000 years later. As you read this, you too (along with me) like it or not are in “Babylon.” As much as we might long to instead be in “Eden” (עֵדֶן “delight” in the Hebrew, h5731), we know that we are currently living under the influence of what I would call “non-Eden” or “DIS-DELIGHT.” However, do not be discouraged, because the Bible says that there will come a time when the current state of DIS-DELIGHT will once again be like Eden.

The Old Testament

The prophet Isaiah who lived just prior to Ancient Babylon’s takeover of Zion (Jerusalem) not only warned about Babylon’s eminent take over of them (due to Israel’s corporate sin), but he also encouraged those same inhabitants about how their future would at some point be restored back to a state of delight:

Isaiah 51:3 (NET) – Certainly the LORD will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her arid rift valley like the garden of the LORD. Happiness and joy will be restored to her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.

The New Testament

Later, at the end of the New Testament, that same eschatological promise would be repeated in the book of Revelation by describing Babylon’s ultimate fate:

Revelation 18:21 (NET) – Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, “With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again!”

I have a question for you to consider:

As you now live in DIS-DELIGHT, do you rest in the fact that there will one day be relief, because the Bible says that Babylon will at some future point “never be found again,” or do you simply ignore it?

Encouragement

We believers must always remember that both testaments speak of a time when the current DIS-DELIGHT will “never be found again.” In other words, just as God had promised Zion through Isaiah in the Old Testament that, “He will make her wilderness like Eden…” there is also a future “sudden violent force” described in the New Testament that will bring a final end to Babylon. That force is Jesus Himself:

Revelation 18:21 – 19:16 (NET) –  Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, “With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again! And the sound of the harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again. No craftsman who practices any trade will ever be found in you again; the noise of a mill will never be heard in you again. Even the light from a lamp will never shine in you again! The voices of the bridegroom and his bride will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the tycoons of the world, because all the nations were deceived by your magic spells! The blood of the saints and prophets was found in her, along with the blood of all those who had been killed on the earth.” After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!” Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!” Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God all you his servants, and all you who fear him, both the small and the great!” Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns! Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

May we believers find rest in this truth. 

Godspeed, to the brethren!

Check out my book!

Sunday, June 18th – Elevate Worship Night 

Join us for a Night of Worship. We have been going through the Fruit of the Spirit. We will have Psalms Bailon, one of our Young Adults leaders share on the topic of Self Control.

Topic: Self Control Location: Youth Room Time: 7:30PM-9PM See you there.

And don’t forget to follow Engage Young Adults on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Elevate Worship Night – June 18th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

This Week!

Online Bible Study!
Wednesday June 14th @ 7:00pm-8:00pm

This Wednesday is our last online bible study of the school year! Starting on Monday July 3rd, bible study will happen in the youth room with free snacks!

Join us on Zoom by CLICKING HERE

&

School’s Out Party!
Friday June 16th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

It’s time to party with FREE PIZZA and ICE CREAM! We’ll also have Hsmmy Awards, celebrate the grade 12 students and play games in the youth room! This is our last event of the school year!

Next Two Weeks!

No Youth Group!
June 23rd – June 30th

We’ll see you in two weeks! Summer events will happen on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays starting July 3rd! Stay tuned for more details!

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @ churchoftherockhsm Join us throughout the week on Discord! Here’s what you need to know:
First, please download Discord for your device! You can do this by downloading the application here.
Second, add yourself to our High School Ministry Discord Server by clicking THIS LINK.

We will keep you informed on what’s coming up AND spontaneous hangouts!

The post High School Ministry – June 12th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

This Week!

Roll Out Party!
Wednesday June 14th @ 7pm-9pm

It’s the end of the school year, so let’s party with FREE ICE CREAM! We’ll also have our Threshy awards and play games with things that roll! Bring anything that rolls, like a bike, scooter, longboard, roller blades etc. We will have stuff for you to use as well! You don’t want to miss this event!

Next Two Weeks!

No Youth Group!
June 21st – June 28th

No youth group for two weeks! We will have Summer events happening on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays! Stay tuned for more details!

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @threshold_jr Join us throughout the week on Discord!

Here’s what you need to know:
First, create a Discord user by downloading the application here.
Second, sign on to our Threshold Jr Discord server by clicking here.
You’ll be up to speed throughout the week!

 

The post Threshold Jr – June 12th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Stuart Townend

The worship song “In Christ Alone,” written in 2001, sets the Gospel in fine, tightly-knit lyrics, with singable music. But a few years after it was written, the hymnal committee of a mainline denomination wanted to change one line before including it in a new hymnal for its people.

The hymn as written says as part of the second stanza:

On that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied.  

The hymnal committee wanted this to say, instead:

On that cross as Jesus died 

The love of God was magnified.

It seems the committee may have argued, “How can the holy God whose love for sinners is boundless also be wrathful?” The composers would not agree to the change.

Consider the following analogy: A man is known in his community for his friendliness and loving nature. “He loves everybody,” the townspeople say of him. But one day he glances down an alley and sees a high school student bullying and beating up a much smaller student.  

Does the man stand there and say to himself, “Everyone knows that I love everyone; for that reason, I can’t be angry about what I am seeing”?  

Instead, laying his life on the line, and at great risk, the man’s righteous anger flares and he goes to the rescue even if that means restraining the bully by force.  

Each state of mind — love and wrath — is a necessary possibility for this man.  

We see this dual possibility to an infinite degree in the character of God. Except that his wrath is more than the deep, passing anger that humans experience. Wrath has to do with his settled and relentless opposition to sin. This is presented clearly in both Old and New Testaments.

In fact, in making his case to the young church in Rome for salvation through faith in Christ, the Apostle Paul’s very first sentence refers to the wrath of God: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18).

In that same letter he refers at least eight times to God’s wrath against sin. God’s wrath is the other side of his measureless love for sinners.

Moreover, the Psalter speaks of God’s wrath at least twenty-six times, and remember, this sacred book is the hymn book of the ancient church, used regularly in worship.

So what is to be done about God’s wrath? Simply put, to flee to Jesus. Jesus identified fully with the predicament of mankind in our sins and came to appease the wrath of a holy God against sin. To accomplish this, Jesus died a substitutionary death offered for all, effectual for those who turn to him in faith for salvation. Flee to Jesus.

When we truly feel our plight as sinners — the horror of it — we are drawn to Calvary where we understand that God loves sinners enough to provide a way to escape its consequences.

The essence of the Gospel pulsates in the lines of “In Christ Alone.” Its lyrics are worth pondering as they explain that God’s wrath against sin is not to be trivialized or wished out of existence. But God’s love for sinners shines brightly into our lives from Calvary.

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all —

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones he came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied,

For every sin on him was laid —

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as he stands in victory,

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine —

Bought with the precious love of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death —

This is the pow’r of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from his hand,

Till he returns or calls me home —

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.*

* Words and music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend; Copyright © 2001 Thankyou Music 

Blog originally published August 12, 2013; revised June 11, 2023

My new memoir, FROM KITCHEN CHAIR TO PULPIT: A Memoir of Family, Faith, and Ministry, has just been published. I hope you will click on one of the links that follow to be taken to the page on these sites that enable you to view and potentially purchase the paperback or ebook. My book shows just how extraordinary the pastoral life can be, describing how I prepared for ministry and ministered to three congregations and then, as a bishop, to pastors as a bishop, with the help of my wife, Kathleen, and the support of our children as they grew up from children to adults.

Purchase in Canada

Purchase in the US

ACTIVITY PAGES TO DOWNLOAD

Worship Video

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• Preschool
• Elementary 
• Collide 
• Parents

And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Preschool – June 11th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

Collide Discussion Questions

Decision

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• • • • • Preschool
        • Elementary 
        • Collide 
        • Parents

        And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

           

The post Collide – June 11th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

ACTIVITIES FOR THIS LESSON

Worship Video

Check out our ongoing resources for each age group:

• Preschool
• Elementary 
• Collide 
• Parents

And don’t forget to follow Kidz Rock on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post Elementary – June 11th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

In a Wesleyan church where I was the guest preacher, the pastor led the congregation in prayer five times, with an opening prayer, a pastoral prayer, a prayer for the children, a prayer to consecrate the offering, and a blessing of the people at worship’s end (benediction).  

The prayers were prepared, to some degree, but they also were fresh, simple, sacred moments in which he brought the flock he clearly loved “vertically” into the Presence. I could tell he was talking directly to God on behalf of his people. His prayers also “horizontally” bound the people together before the Throne.

There is a vertical and horizontal aspect to worship styles, as well. Sometimes one outweighs the other. 

I was once part of a service in a cathedral where worship was so objective, so exclusively vertical that I felt little of the warmth of human fellowship. 

And I’ve been part of services that are more horizontal – like community gatherings  for music, marked by applause and laughter. 

My first experience of worship was in a small, white, clapboard-sided church on the dusty prairies of Saskatchewan in the 1930s. The Sunday-morning service was intentionally simple. There was no printed program, no choir, piano, or other musical instruments. Instead, there was unaccompanied congregational singing, prayer, and preaching. Various individuals sometimes spontaneously expressed their experience of God in open testimony. 

I recall even now feeling at times a sense of awe as the congregation worshiped and, at the same time, the fellowship of people sharing their lives with each other.

By our natures, some of us seem to need more of the vertical, and others more of the horizontal, but we all need both. In searching for a middle ground, I ponder the two main words for worship as they turn up in both Old and New Testaments. The one means “to adore; to bow down; to prostrate oneself.” The other means “to offer service,” much as a servant would offer service to his master.

The worship of God for me is beautiful. It prompts joy and humility when it is simple, focused on the Triune God, rich in Christian content, marked by an artistry of leadership that does not call attention to itself, and made vital by the Holy Spirit not just by the spiritedness of leaders. It is lifegiving when the focus is decidedly vertical, but with the horizontal community element represented, too.

There is good reason why this matter should be important to every Christian. “Worship,” Robert E. Webber writes, “is the summit toward which the entire life of the church moves and the source from which all of its ministries flow.”

First published August 19, 2013; revised June 5, 2023

Photo credit: Emma (via flickr.com)

My new memoir, FROM KITCHEN CHAIR TO PULPIT: A Memoir of Family, Faith, and Ministry, has just been published. I hope you will click on one of the links that follow to be taken to the page on these sites that enable you to view and potentially purchase the paperback or ebook. My book shows just how extraordinary the pastoral life can be, describing how I prepared for ministry and ministered to three congregations and then, as a bishop, to pastors as a bishop, with the help of my wife, Kathleen, and the support of our children as they grew up from children to adults.

Purchase in Canada

Purchase in the US

Thursday, June 8th – FreshCo Car Wash

As Young Adults we want to be a light to our community. We will be providing a free car wash to our Fort Garry community on Thursday June 8th. This will be a great fun way to share the love of Jesus and serve our community.

Location: FreshCo Pembina Highway  Time: 5PM-7PM See you there.

And don’t forget to follow Engage Young Adults on Facebook and Instagram!

   

The post FreshCo Car Wash – June 8th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

This Week!

Impossible Shot!
Wednesday June 7th @ 7pm-9pm

What a fun time we had blessing Osborne Village last week by handing out water bottles on a hot day! Way to go everyone! This week grab your friends and see who can complete all the impossible shots! Prizes to be won!

Next Week!

Roll Out Party!
Wednesday June 14th @ 7pm-9pm

It’s the end of the school year, so let’s party with FREE ICE CREAM! We’ll also have our Threshy awards and play games with things that roll! Bring anything that rolls, like a bike, scooter, longboard, roller blades etc. We will have stuff for you to use as well! You don’t want to miss this event!

The Week After!

No Youth Group!
June 21st – June 28th

No youth group for two weeks because we are getting ready for some fantastic Summer events, so stay tuned for more details!

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @threshold_jr Join us throughout the week on Discord!

Here’s what you need to know:
First, create a Discord user by downloading the application here.
Second, sign on to our Threshold Jr Discord server by clicking here.
You’ll be up to speed throughout the week!

 

The post Threshold Jr – June 5th appeared first on Church of The Rock.

This Week!

Online Bible Study!
Wednesday June 7th @ 7:00pm-8:00pm

This small group is a safe place to ask questions and discover how to apply scripture in your life! Everyone Welcome!

Join us on Zoom by CLICKING HERE

&

Impossible Shot!
Friday June 9th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

What an amazing time we had last week blessing people in Osborne Village with cold water bottles on a hot day! This week, we’ll be competing in teams to finish a bunch of impossible shots! Prizes to be won!

Next Week!

School’s Out Party!
Friday June 16th @ 7:11pm-10:00pm

It’s time to party! Come celebrate the end of the school year with FREE PIZZA and Hsmmy Awards! We will also celebrate the grade 12 students! This is our last event of the school year and you don’t want to miss it!

The Week After!

No Youth Group!
June 23rd – June 30th

No youth group for two weeks as we get ready for some awesome Summer events! Stay tuned for more details!

Follow us on Instagram for weekly event details and updates! @ churchoftherockhsm Join us throughout the week on Discord! Here’s what you need to know:
First, please download Discord for your device! You can do this by downloading the application here.
Second, add yourself to our High School Ministry Discord Server by clicking THIS LINK.

We will keep you informed on what’s coming up AND spontaneous hangouts!

The post High School Ministry – June 5th appeared first on Church of The Rock.