Connexus Church Audio Podcast

In this bonus interview, Carey interviews John Thompson, pastor of C4 Church in Durham Ontario, and dives deeper into how we can handle the supernatural.

So if evil is real, how exactly does it work? Better yet, how does it work in your life—today? In this message, Carey draws from scripture and classic theology to show how subtle and clever Satan can be in his activity. Once you see his strategies, you can defeat his strategies, in your life and in the world. 

So is evil real? Is there a personal power of evil at work in the world? Is it a power that you as a human being can tap into, intentionally or unintentionally? And what happens when you do? We’ll explore those questions and more this weekend.

So how do miracles work...why are some people healed and some not? Does God favour some people and ignore others? Or are miracles a sham or something that stopped happening in the 1st century? Or maybe, they’re something else entirely.

So is life only what we can see, touch and experience, or is there more? Is there a supernatural side? Are ghost reals? Are there supernatural beings? Do miracles still happen? We’ll look at what the scripture has to say.

If you don’t give in or give up, what do you do? You give over whatever you’re struggling with to God. And we all struggle. Strangely, freedom from Christ (and his ways) isn’t freedom. Freedom in Christ is freedom. So if you want freedom, start surrendering.

Giving in is one thing. But give in enough, and eventually you might decide that you no longer believe what you used to believe about a subject. So instead of giving in, you give up. Been there? Are God’s standards just too harsh? Too demanding? But people who have given up eventually must face one thing: the God they gave up on hasn’t given up on them.

Sometimes it can feel impossible to stay true to your convictions. So you give in. Just once. Which often becomes twice, or three times. Often people give in because it seems like there’s no other way out. And if there is a God why does he allow you to be tempted? Is it even possible to stay true to your convictions?

So...is morality relative ? Ask most people, and they’ll tell you it is: what’s true for me isn’t automatically true for you. But at the heart of moral relativity is an interesting assumption—that moral compromise compromises no one. What if there is a cost to moral relativity? A cost that you’re paying?

So if you’ve identified your excuses and negative thinking and taken every thought captive, what do you do next? You replace the negative with something far better. And far bigger. The Apostle Paul shows you exactly what to do to change your future.

If you really audit your thoughts, you’ll realize that you probably make a lot of excuses as to why you can’t be healthier, more positive, more faithful, more hopeful, more kind, more determined, more effective...more whatever .  This week, we’ll look at why it’s time to stop making excuses, and how to do it.

Ever wonder where your thoughts come from? Sure, some spring from your childhood or past experiences. But could there be a supernatural force behind your destructive thinking? Jesus called Satan a liar, and today we’ll expose the lies that get planted in our heads.

Ask any professional athlete. The biggest battle is never on the field, the fairway, the diamond or rink: it’s in your mind. In part one of this series, we’ll look at what you think, and why what you think matters more than you think.  Changing your mind can change your life.

When we pray, we mostly want God to change our circumstances: change this, change that, change them, change me. But real prayer will help you discover that God is not only bigger than your circumstances, he’s better than your circumstances.  

When Christians pray, they pray to a personal God through a personal Saviour. Sometimes when you pray, you think you’re looking for answers. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus shows us that what we’re really looking for is not an answer, but something very different.

Often when we go to God in prayer, we show up with a list of all the things we’d like God to do. Not only does Jesus show us how to handle that list, he shows us another couple of other lists we often neglect.

Prayer is often a battle between two kingdoms—yours and God’s. And let’s be honest, it’s hard to focus on God’s Kingdom when your life is filled with problems. Jesus shows us a practical way to put God’s kingdom ahead of ours every time we pray.

So what’s the purpose of prayer? Is it to get God to do what we want him to do? Or is it something else? Many people see prayer as a button to be pushed...but what if it’s so much more than that?  

Eventually, life gets to most of us. The optimism of your childhood gives way to the realism of your twenties, which too often gives way to a growing cynicism. How do you restart? How do you believe again, hope again, trust again? This is the kind of thing God specializes in.

Every once in a while, the community sees God’s faithfulness in a visible way. When God led the Israelites across the Jordan River, they set up 12 stones as a memorial marker so they could one day tell their children about God’s faithfulness. At Connexus, we’ve also seen God’s faithfulness, and tonight, we mark it together.  Marking it helps us remember it.

What makes a hero? Better yet...what would make you a hero? We look at what makes a person heroic, and why so many people think about it but so few do it.

Sometimes what seems like the end is actually the beginning. The first Easter found the disciples of Jesus discouraged, defeated and convinced it was over. If you’ve ever found yourself in that place, you need the message of Easter. When it feels like things are over—even dead—they might be just beginning. That’s the power of resurrection.

No one saw Jesus’ crucifixion coming. In a world filled with sadness, terror and heartbreak, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that God is losing. But at the very moment in which it looked like God had finally lost, God was actually securing his finest victory.

A hero’s life is always dramatic. Truthfully, most of us have a love hate relationship with drama. We are attracted to drama in other people’s lives, but we resist it in our own. Could it be possible that when we resist drama, we resist God?

If everyone’s included, then everyone’s also invited. Our church is specifically designed to include people who don’t feel welcome and you play a pivotal role in that. In this message, Carey will explain why many people are afraid to invite their friends to church and how to overcome those fears.