The ECC Podcast

Is it kind to tell your friend she has a chunk of spinach in her teeth or is it rude? Kindness is another one of those complicated terms that we nuance a good deal. God’s kindness, however, is not elusive. The Pslamist says God’s loving kindness is better than life itself.  It is good and steadfast and “endures forever.” Kindness has all sorts of benefits, it even is a cure for physical pain. It g...

Modern day prophets say “All You Need is Love” (Beatles). Of course that’s mostly true, we all need and want  more love  in our lives. Furthermore, most of us want to be people who  give more love  as well. But it just seems to elude us. Maybe we are trying too hard? Or have given up because our lack of success? As we unpack this foundational part of the Fruit of the Spirit…LOVE…maybe we can under...

Sometimes in life we all feel stuck "in between a rock and a hard place.” In the first century, the new Galatian followers of Jesus were stuck.  Paul writes them to show them the way of freedom.  What Paul tells them applies to our own lives today, especially when we feel stuck. The answer is crazy hard yet very simple.   

Carl Armerding wraps up our series in Judges, showing how leadership isn’t always what we think it should be and maybe not even what we want it to be. Ultimately, Israel (as well as us) needed to depend on the Spirit of God to lead them, not a king or ruler of some sort. Carl takes the lessons learned from Judges and shows how the Church can allow God’s Spirit to work in each and every one of us i...

Charlotte Sakaki takes us to Judges 19-21 where we see the Israelites’ moral decline shows how far we can stray from God’s truth when we don’t recognize Him as sovereign. Are we walking closely with God to avoid indifference to sin and following our own standards of “right”? What happens when we believe we know better than God?

When you think of the word ‘worship,’ what comes to mind? This Sunday, we will explore the obscure attempts at worship from a man named Micah in Judges 17. Through this story and by engaging with Romans 12:1, we will explore worship and consider what pleases and honours God.

In this story, we meet Deborah, Barak and Jael--each used in unexpected ways by God to further his purposes. Although God works through Deborah, Barak and Jael, the true deliverer remains to be God who worked, is working and will continue to work to accomplish His will despite the circumstances.   God can use unexpected people and unexpected situations for His purposes.  How prepared are we to be...

Our leader from Judges this week is Jephthah who went from being an outcast to a leader used and shaped by God. We all have bad things happen. But God uses difficult things to form us into who He has purposed us to be. This is a faithful hope that strengthens us in the trials.

Have you ever been hiking on a well-marked trail and somehow wandered off the trail and ended up lost? It can cause panic and anxiety, especially if we have no means of finding our way back to the trail. In our story from Judges today, we find our leader from the previous chapter…who was clearly on the right trail…has veered off the trail and taken matters into his own hands. Instead of trusting G...

If I wake up in the morning and go through the day with a small view of God, there are consequences.  I will live with fear and anxiety because everything depends on me, and my mood will be governed by whatever circumstances hit me that day.   What if God has a different way for me? What if my view of God is too small?   As we continue in Judges we see how Gideon lives his life with a small view o...

Many of us have heard of Samson but…who knows the name of Samson’s mother? There are many characters in the Bible whose name is not even mentioned and even though their name is not mentioned, their lives are still a testimony and example to us. In part-one of the Samson story we learn from his parents, specifically his mum.

Often we (and others) see aspects of our lives as broken. Some sort of dysfunction or even a disability. Can and will God work in and through us in those areas seen as a struggle? We usually don’t expect it.  Or even look for it. In our story today God takes a left-handed dude and does some amazing things. Maybe He can do that in us as well?

To understand the setting and context for the book of Judges, Ken takes a quick look at the ending of the book of Joshua, which sets the stage for what comes next in the book of Judges. Some horrific things happen in the book of Judges and we see God's people being shaped by their culture and not by God. But God's grace (and justice) shines throughout the whole book. What can we learn abou...

Has anyone ever told you to "grow up?" Ouch! It feels kind of insulting doesn't it?  Those who followed Jesus in the 1st century were told by both Jesus and Paul (the guy who wrote half of the New Testament) to be mature, to grow up, to be shaped liked Jesus. But it wasn't meant to be a smart alec comment. In this closing message of the  Shaped by Jesus Series  series, pastor Ken...

Jesus invites all who follow him to be people that are "salty". To add flavor to life. To preserve life. He invites us to be like a light that shines and impacts everyone around that light. To be like a city on the top of a hill, where everyone can see it (kind of like Burnaby).  But maybe we’ve never considered that by giving away   our faith could also be part of our own spiritual form...

How does Christian service help shape us to be more like Christ? Through Matthew's Parable of the Sheep and Goats we will learn what it means that service done to "the least of these" is service rendered to Jesus. Just as Jesus gave His life as a ransom for others so the church is called to be shaped by Jesus in giving ourselves for the sake of others. By engaging in service, the chu...

Carl Gaede, director of our partners at Tutapona, is our guest and challenges us to understand more about our fears and how not to be overcome by them. Shaped by Jesus Series Info

Do you want to be a happier person and live longer? Maybe 11 years longer, to be exact? There is so much busy-ness in our lives: the hurry, the endless emails, unfinished projects, relationships that need attention, and of course the financial stress we have.  Our minds, souls and bodies need a rhythm of rest. We need a Sabbath. In fact, not only do we need it, but God has said it’s a holy, consec...

Who are you, and what does it mean to listen well?  During this hands-on, interactive time together, Andrea Fruhling leads us through using LEGO to build metaphors, to explore who we are and discover the importance of empathy and awareness as we create space for Jesus to work through us in community. After his resurrection, from meetings with Mary at the tomb to his followers later, Jesus showed u...

Luke 24:1-12 Have you ever gone into a situation with an expectation of how things or someone should be…just to discover it’s nothing like what you expected? That's kind of what Easter Sunday was like for the earliest followers of Jesus. Usually the dead remain dead, so the resurrection was not expected. But why? Why didn't they expect him to rise from the dead? After all, he had previousl...

By fasting, God gets our attention, then changes our world. Amidst all sorts of daily distractions that keep us from connecting deeply with God, slowing down, abstaining from food or other things we love, can position us to hear Gods voice and direct us on the right path. Matthew Heyn continues our  Shaped by Jesus  series and shares what he has learned about his own experiences with fasting and w...

We live in a world of constant distraction — everyone wants our attention. How then do we listen to and be with God in such a world? What can we learn from Jesus' life and teachings for a time such as this? Ryan Lui continues our  Shaped by Jesus  series and we explore Jesus' life and teaching in Mark 1:35-37 and what they might have to say about life in this cultural moment.

A role of scripture is to transform our way of living. Luke Simpkins continues our series  SHAPED BY JESUS  and we explore how God's guidance and presence is revealed through His Holy Word.

As children of God, spiritual formation is our destiny. Though it is the Holy Spirit who forms us in the image of Christ, we are not just passive lumps of clay; we have an active role to play as we respond to his work. Gray leads us in exploring how we can cooperate with the Spirit as he works in our lives (Gal. 5:25; Phil. 2:12-13). 

Gray continues our series "Shaped by Jesus."  Understanding and welcoming the Holy Spirit’s role in spiritual formation is foundational to our relationship with God. When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, we become a child of God and our destiny is “to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). This is only possible because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and lives...