St. Albert Alliance Church

As we begin a new sermon series, this week, “Stepping into Your Story,” Pastor Matt will be exploring what it means to step into the adventure that Jesus has uniquely marked out for each one of us.

As we continue exploring what it means to live lives shaped by Jesus in a way that impacts our city in a real way, Pastor Matt will explore what love really means for us as individuals and as a church and what it means for the Good Neighbour Project for 2017.

Pastor Matt will be joined by a special guest, Brenda, as together they explore what it means for the church to be a living expression of the Good News that changes everything.

Though secondary to the central story of Easter, Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot are key players in the unfolding drama of God in the final hours before the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Denial and betrayal mark the last significant interactions these disciples had with Jesus prior to his death, and yet the end of the story turned out radically differently for each of them.  Listen in as Pastor Jeremy addresses what resulted in the stark difference in outcomes between Peter and Judas and what it means for us today.

We all have expectations. We expect a lot out of life and from ourselves. Sometimes those expectations are too high while other times we set the bar fairly low.  But what about what we expect from Jesus? Whether we’d like to admit it or not we all have expectations of God. But what happens when he doesn’t meet our expectations? Palm Sunday was filled with expectations. The saviour had come!  But why was that moment in time so important? Sometimes it’s what is unexpected that can really be greater than what we can possibly imagine.

As we begin a new Sermon Series, The Road Through the Cross, come and hear Pastor Lisa share how Jesus takes radical symbolic action in the temple to demonstrate His great love for us.

In Zechariah 8, the young prophet shares a powerful, prophetic vision of what it would look like when the Kingdom of God comes in fullness to the peoples of the earth. 500 years later, Jesus came pronouncing the Kingdom of God was now available for ordinary human beings to begin to access, and was to become a pervasive presence throughout the world. Join us as Pastor Jeremy reflects on Zechariah's vision and how it calls us forward into a greater realization of the Kingdom of God.

This coming Sunday Pastor Matt will be exploring the Apostle Paul’s revolutionary approach to money management from 2 Corinthians chapter 9. As we engage with Paul’s words we will discover the big question about how we manage our money is never about our money, but something far more important.

As we continue our focus on The Seed Project, Pastor Matt will explore two very well known parts of the bible book, Galatians, and how the core question of the seed project is not so much about a building but about what it means to be connected to, and committed to a family.

As with the growth of a seed, the growth of the Kingdom of God cannot happen all at once or through force or expectation, but only as a result of cultivating the soil with patience and trust. Seeds are neither apocalyptic nor dramatic: they work slowly and bring about silent revolutions. But make no mistake, they are revolutionary! We will be exploring Kingdom principles of seed sowing in this series and how they have the potential to bring revolution in our lives personally and as a community.

As we wrap up our series on Pathways to the King,  Pastor Lisa shares what we need to ensure we stay on the Pathways – Tenacious Endurance!

The metaphor that life is test is seen right throughout the bible – God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty.  Words like trials, temptations, refining and testing occur more than 200x in the bible.  The question is, ‘how do we navigate life’s testing and trials in a way that refines us to be more like Jesus?’  Pastor Jeremy continues our series, “Pathways to the King.”

Greg Musselman will be helping to expand our vision of what it means to pray ‘Kingdom-sized Prayers’ as we continue in our sermon series: “Pathways to the King.”  Jesus told us to pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – as we learn how to more fully access the now-available Kingdom of God, growing in our tenacity and capacity to pray Kingdom prayers will be essential in our pursuit of the King.

If our invitation is to live in the river of God’s presence, then thanksgiving and praise must be understood as one of the primary means by which we enter in.  However, our current concepts of thanksgiving, praise (and worship) can all-too-often be tied to our “feeling world”, seeking to satisfy a hunger for a “mountain-top” experience rather than being engaged as a discipline that, over time, yields far deeper fulfillment and joy.  What does the bible say about approaching thanksgiving and praise in a way that enriches and sustains our life in the river of His presence?

Our God is a generous and loving God.  Scripture is full of great and precious promises that God offers to us and we can be confident that every single one of God’s promises will be fulfilled – without exception.  The problem we face is submitting to His timing.  Pastor Lisa shares of how God’s promises for us are a pathway to His heart and surrendering to His timing is a key spiritual discipline that will enable us to live in the River. 

The prophet Joel expressed in Joel 2 that in the last days, God would pour out His Spirit on all people - which means that we can now live fully in the River of God's Presence (see John 7:38-39)!  It is a profound promise but one that is fully experienced only as we align our hearts around Jesus as first in everything.  If the River is going to flow freely and abundantly, we will have to invite the Spirit to show us the debris in our lives that blocks the Spirit's work in us.  Pastor Jeremy will be continuing our series on Pathways to the King.   

In John 7:38, Jesus said: "Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!  For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”  Rob Reimer writes: "The promise of Jesus is that the Spirit of God would flow within us like a river; He is the River of Life, and we must become River Dwellers."  As apprentices of Jesus, we are to be in relentless pursuit of the Presence of God - learning how to dwell in the River of Life Himself and this is what we will be exploring together this week.

If we are going to experience ongoing partnership with God in ushering in His Kingdom here on earth and see genuine life transformation and widespread spiritual awakening, it will require more than simply a sense of obligation to do what we think is expected of us. Genuine passion for God and His Kingdom begins with a clear understanding of our identity in Christ. Susan Larison kicks off our series with a vital message on this foundational reality.

John Bloom has written: "There’s nothing wrong with a little aesthetic, nostalgic Christmas romance. God made us sentimental beings to increase our enjoyment of and gratitude for his many past graces. But if the romance and nostalgia become the substance, the pursuit of our Christmas celebrations, then they become deceptive - mirages of joy that disappear as soon as we reach for their illusive promise. That's what Christmas has become for so many: a joy mirage, or perhaps a joy fantasy. That’s because our Christmas traditions don’t so much house joy as much as they point to joy.  This Christmas Eve - Pastor Matt explore's where true joy - indestructible, unspeakable joy - is found and how we might take greater hold of it this Christmas season and beyond. 

In 1984, pop group Foreigner had a worldwide hit with the song “I Want To Know What Love Is.”  Too many of us think we know the answer to that question.  We fall in and out of love with people and things, not realizing that what we call love is actually an insipid imitation of the real thing. In this Christmas week Pastor Matt will look at the meaning of love and how the baby born in Bethlehem launched a revolution that continues to change the world.