Jeff is the Lead Pastor at The Gathering Ottawa and preaches most Sunday mornings.
Prayer means many things to many people, but at it’s most basic level most people understand it to be to ask God for help. But how are we to approach God with our requests? What kinds of things should we be asking him for help with? Gather with us as we explore how to ask God together.
Text: Matt 6:11 + Various Passages
We were created to worship. But what is worship, really? And how can we engage in it more fully as we learn to pray? Gather with us as we explore how to worship together.
Text: Matt 6:9 + Various Passages
Ever feel like your mind just can’t stop racing? Or that you just can’t sit still for more than a few minutes? It’s one of the things that can make prayer so challenging. So, how can we learn to be still? To quiet our restless hearts and minds and to enter in to the rest of God? Gather with us as we explore how we can be still in God’s presence together.
Text: Psalm 46 + Other
There’s lots of “How To” manuals & videos out there: “How to lose weight fast”, “How to tie a tie”, “How to take a screenshot”, “How to draw a dog” and on and on we could go. The internet is filled with step-by-step instructions for just about everything. But what about things like ‘prayer’ and learning to hear God’s voice? Where do we go to learn to pray? As followers of Jesus (and for those of us who are exploring faith), if prayer and ‘communing with God’ is one of the most important things that we could ever learn to do, then how do we do it? And how can we continue to learn and to grow in prayer as we mature in our faith and get to know God better?
The internet can only be so helpful with this one… we must learn by doing.
So, this fall at The Gathering we are focusing on prayer, using Pete Greig’s excellent book, “How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People” as a resource. Why pray at all? What are we supposed to do or say when we pray? How can we be still and learn to hear God’s voice? What about unanswered prayer? These are just a few of the questions we will be working through during this series. More than that though, we will also be committing to praying together as a church and as individuals; learning by doing. So, this fall, gather with us on Sundays as we learn “How to Pray” and how to continue to grow in prayer together as a church family.
“How to Pray: Why Pray?"
What’s the point of prayer in the first place? Why bother with prayer at all? Gather with us as we explore the question “Why Pray?” together. This Thanksgiving Sunday, Pastor Jeff casts a vision for prayer for us as a church family.
Text: Luke 11:1-13 (NLT)
Servanthood is about so much more than just doing nice things for other people; it's about the way that we see other people and live our lives in community with other people. It's about living our lives as Jesus lived his life. So, what might it look like for us to be more intentional to embrace servanthood as we head in to the fall season together? What might God do in and through us as a church as we increasingly live with an 'others-first mentality'?
Text: John 13:1-17
Spiritual friendship does not happen by accident; we need to be intentional about it. This is what we do ‘Home Church’. So how can we be sure our Home Churches are safe places where we can pursue intentional community together?
Text: Genesis 1:26-27 & 2:18-25, Acts 2:42-47
Jesus’ dying prayer was that we would be one just as he and his Father are one. But what does that look like? Why’s it important to be connected to people we might disagree with?
Text: John 17
Following Jesus is a team sport. It is impossible to become more like Christ on our own; we need one another to grow in our faith! So, how can we as a church family better support and encourage one another as we head into the fall together? What are some steps we can take to be more intentional to ‘connect’ with one another and ‘grow’ in our faith together? Where does ‘Home Church’ in to the mix? What about serving and volunteering? And what about ‘spiritual friendship’ and being the kind of friends that point one another to Jesus? Join us in September as we talk about how we can “Connect & Grow” together!
Today's Sermon: “Spiritual Friendship, Becoming Mat Carriers"
Sermon Description: The most important thing we could ever do for our hurting friends is to carry them to Jesus. So how do we do that? What does ‘Spiritual Friendship’ look like?
Text: Mark 2:1-12
One of the questions every human hearts asks is "Does my life really matter?" In Psalm 139, David answers this question in a profound way, showing us just how much we matter to God. This Sunday, Pastor Jeff will be looking at the second half of this amazing Psalm by continuing to reflect on the value of the human life in the eyes of God.
Text: Psalm 139:12-24
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