Trick, Treat, Bless or Hide?

It's that time of year again when Christians wonder if it's better to shut out the lights and hide in a back room or somehow be missional on a night like Halloween. A few years ago we as a church decided to think about how we could be 'missional' and 'incarnational' on this challenging night for many Christians.

We decided to be the salt and light that Jesus has sent us to be and to bring the better wine to the party. We decided to believe that Jesus is King now and forever so that no one but Jesus owns any day or any night and that his family can show this world how and what to celebrate.

We encourage you to do the same this year. Be good neighbours, love your community, give out the best candy and the best hot chocolate or hot cider or however you choose to bless the children and their parents who come to your door. This is that one night of the year where your neighbourhood comes to your front door. What will you do to be the church, be the family of God tonight?

Here's a short video on the subject that might be helpful from our good friend Jeff Vanderstelt.

Has Science Buried God? Dr. John Lennox

During a sermon preached at The Rock a few weeks ago from the book of Daniel, I referenced a man whose thinking has been helpful in applying the Babylonian world of Daniel to our world today. Dr. John Lennox is an apologist who has publicly debated the likes of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Interestingly enough, this past Monday night, September 28th RZIM, Ravi Zacharias's international ministry sponsored an event at Rice University in Texas and the guest speaker—Dr. John Lennox. Take the time to sit back and be blessed by this man's wisdom and ministry!

Enjoy - Glenn

Do We Really Have To Do What Jesus Says?

Here's a short video clip of pastor Francis Chan that is one of our favourites. Having just finished our BodyLife series in which we attempted to define exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said, "I will build my church," I hope you will find these few words challenging!

As we discovered in the BodyLife series, after 2,000 years we still seem to struggle with a desire to return to what we called the 'old temple model' in the church. One of the surprising ways that we do that is when we are encouraged to make the mission simply to study the Bible, to memorize what it says, which are both good and important—but rarely are we challenged to actually DO what it says.

As you watch this video (and I encourage you to watch it a few times) keep our definition of the church we concluded with in BodyLife Part V in the back of your mind. If you missed the series you can find it here.

What is The Church?

An article printed in the The Squamish Chief Newspaper on July 16, 2015

When you hear the word ‘church’ or when you think about the idea of church, what are the first few things that come to your mind? Some people immediately think of the physical—buildings or places and images that come from that. Large gothic cathedrals, stained-glass windows, pews (hard and uncomfortable pews), men in suits standing behind large ornate pulpits and of course, very large sacred books!

Many more people will think about the teachings that emphasize dos and don’ts, rules and regulations, that all lead to a sense that the ‘church’ is for perfect people or at least people who think they are.

But, what if none of these things were what Jesus really had in mind? If you’ve read anything he has said you would have to say, “Well, of course Jesus didn’t have that in mind.” So then, the question isn’t really why do we have these false and unflattering perceptions of the church, the question is, what did Jesus really have in mind.

One place to start is with the word that our modern bibles have translated church. It is actually from the German word kirche, which means ‘house of the Lord.’ But the word that the writers used in the original manuscripts to represent what Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church,” is the Greek word ekklesia.

This word means, “gathering, assembly or congregation.” What Jesus had in mind was that he would build a gathering of people who would believe in Him. People, who would follow his two, yes just two, commandments.

The first was, “Love God and love your neighbour as yourself.” The second was, “Go and make disciples.”

At The Rock Church we are currently in a series called BodyLife, a 5-week series to discover what Jesus really had in mind. You can listen online or you could join us some Sunday as we gather as people who Love God, Love Squamish and want everyone to know this Love.

Glenn Davies
Lead Pastor | The Rock Church