The Gathering Ottawa's Message Podcast

What if the thing God most wants to rebuild in your life is not the thing everyone else can see? In Ezra 7–10, the temple has been rebuilt, worship has resumed, and things look better on the surface. But as Ezra arrives in Jerusalem, it becomes clear that God’s rebuilding work is going deeper. This Sunday, we continue our series After the Ruin by asking where God may be inviting us into a deeper k...

After the grief and devastation of Lamentations, Ezra begins to answer the question: what happens after the ruin? In Ezra 1–6, God’s people return from exile to a city still marked by loss, uncertainty, and unfinished work. And as the rebuilding begins, their story invites us to consider where God might be at work in the broken and unfinished places of our own lives. This week, we’ll begin our ser...

What does it actually mean to live an abundant life — and is that even possible in the middle of real, hard, complicated circumstances? This Sunday we are digging into Deuteronomy 6 and tracing one of the most compelling threads in the entire biblical narrative: that from the very beginning, God has been placing a path to abundant life in front of his people. We will travel from Egypt to Mount Sin...

What do we do when the story doesn’t resolve the way we hoped? Lamentations ends without easy answers, neat closure, or a clear “happily ever after.” Instead, it ends with grief, questions, and one final prayer: “Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again.” This Sunday, as we conclude our series through Lamentations, we’ll explore how this final chapter teaches us to bring our unresolved p...

When life is calm, it can be easy to assume everything beneath the surface is fine. But what happens when life gets stirred? This Sunday, we continued in our series in Lamentations series with a message from chapter 4 called “When False Hopes Rise.” Together, we considered what suffering and disruption can reveal in us — and how God meets us with mercy, even in the stirring. Because when everythin...

What is troubling you? In today's text Jesus sat with his disciples as they prepared for his death and encouraged them to trust him. How can we trust Jesus amidst our fears or uncertainty? Dan will unpack why Jesus said we can trust in him.

Mother’s Day can be joyful for some, painful for others, and complicated for many. And in many ways, this Sunday’s message from Lamentations 3, called “A Glimpse of Hope,” meets us right in that honest place — where life can feel mixed, messy, and unresolved. At the centre of the book, we find one of Scripture’s most beautiful declarations of hope: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His me...

We all have moments where God feels distant—when prayers seem to go unanswered and silence is all we hear. But what if those moments are not the end of faith… but an invitation to press deeper into it? This Sunday, we continue in Lamentations with a message called “When God Feels Distant.” Together, we’ll wrestle with what it means to trust God when He feels absent—and learn how to keep showing up...

This week we took a break from Lamentations, and circled back to reflect some more on the season of Easter. We journeyed on the road to Emmaus where we discovered that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an event that stays in the past but a vibrant reality here and now. The risen Christ is our companion in life, revealing truth in the Scriptures about our identity and purpose. He invites us t...

We all carry things we’d rather avoid—grief, disappointment, questions we don’t have answers for. And in a world full of distractions, it’s easy to push those things aside. But what if God is inviting us to something different? This Sunday, we continued in Lamentations with a message called “Naming the Ruin,” making space to be honest about what’s really going on beneath the surface - and to bring...

What do you do when life falls apart… and your prayers feel empty? This Sunday, we begin a new series through Lamentations by first exploring the art of lament—a way of praying that is honest, raw, and deeply rooted in faith. Together, as a way of introducing the concept of lament, we’ll look at Psalm 13 and discover how the Bible gives us language for our pain, our questions, and our grief. If yo...

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead… Christianity falls apart. So how can we know if it’s true? Pastor Jeff brings a short message on the resurrection of Jesus and invites us to see the evidence, not just in history, but in real stories of lives made new. NOTE: 3 people from The Gathering shared their 'resurrection stories' and a few more shared during our open mic sharing. You had to be th...

On Good Friday, we reflected on the cross through the lens of “the good thief”—the one who turned to Jesus in repentance and asked for mercy. What does his story show us about who Jesus is? And how does his encounter with Christ reveal what He has accomplished for each of us on the cross?

We all face moments when power, control, and influence feel like the only ways to get ahead—or even to survive. But what if there’s a different kind of power at work in the world, one that doesn’t dominate or demand, but humbly serves and transforms? This Palm Sunday, we’re exploring Luke 19:28–40 and the story of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. In this story, we see two very different visi...

To help illustrate what being "salt" and "light" looks like in a contemporary context, guest speaker Dan Courteau ('Suburban Missionary' in Barrhaven) shares a story from when he worked on the oil rigs in northern Alberta many years ago that it will function much like a modern day parable and inspire thought-provoking and creative ideas for "getting it lived"...

We all want to be happy—but what happens when life doesn’t cooperate? When our plans fail, our relationships are difficult, or our circumstances feel out of control—how can we experience real, lasting joy and contentment? This Sunday, we’ll be diving in to Philippians 4:10–13 to explore what it means to be “Content in All Things.” We’ll uncover Paul’s 'secret' for finding strength, suffici...

Richard Long from Love Ottawa and Ottawa Vineyard Church brings a message from Philippians 3 and the infinite value of knowing Jesus.

This Sunday, Pastor Jeff dove into 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 exploring “The Power of Foolishness”—the surprising way God uses what the world calls weak, foolish, or insignificant to accomplish His greatest purposes. Why does the cross look like failure to some but reveal God’s ultimate power to others? How can God’s “upside-down” Kingdom reshape the way we pursue success, strength, and wisdom in our o...

In this message from Colossians 3 (with cross-references to Ephesians 1-2 and Hebrews), Pastor Dan Byrne of Connecting Stream challenges you to consider where you truly belong spiritually. You're not "going to heaven"—you're already raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly places, a present reality. Since your spiritual address has shifted from earth to heaven, you must seek...

Hebrews uses a metaphor of running the race, to describe how we orient ourselves to life in God’s kingdom, a way of life shaped by faith and dependency in Jesus. Jesus invites us to pick up the baton of faith passed on by those who have gone before us and to run with the same kingdom purpose. He empowers us to run in step with him, setting the pace and leading us forward, as we trust and follow Je...

What if the very weaknesses you try to hide are actually the place where God’s power can be most fully revealed? In his first message back from sick leave, Pastor Jeff diving in to 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, exploring Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” and his surprising celebration of weakness. Why does God say that “My power works best in weakness”? And how can our limitations, failures, or struggles becom...

We all long for love, community and significance. God created us for this, but it was shattered in Eden. Through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, it's been restored and is now being rebuilt through his church. We are where God chooses to live! God calls us into the rich community he lives within and empowers for his good purposes in the world.

On his second missionary journey, Paul finds himself preaching Jesus in one of the darkest places in the Roman Empire, with assurances that hardships are coming, but God shows up and gives Paul words of encouragement that are as relevant for us today as they were for Paul 2,000 years ago.

We celebrated our 20th Anniversary this morning. Trevor Seath, executive director of ONMB joined us to share a word of encouragement.

Continuing from Part 1, we continue to look at scripture, putting the pieces together and dive into the power of the Cross. We look at an often overlooked repeated theme of the New Testament, which is that we are "IN" Christ Jesus. That we have spiritually participated in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Knowing this and living out of this knowledge can change everything.