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In Guelph as it is in Heaven

REUNION LIVE // SUNDAYS, 9AM // 75 NORFOLK ST

Starting September 12th join us every week at 9am at 75 Norfolk Street for in-person services.

Can’t join us in-person? Find the livestream below.

Learn More / Register

Yesterday Pastor Spencer spoke on Mission from our

Yesterday Pastor Spencer spoke on Mission from our Vision series. He said, "If 'we desire to see our communities look more like heaven, so every person has a relationship with Jesus,' we must align ourselves with Jesus, who was consistently oriented outwards - to the least of these and the lost."⠀
If you missed the service you can watch it on our Vimeo page!

Join us tomorrow as Pastor Spencer speaks on Missi

Join us tomorrow as Pastor Spencer speaks on Mission on our last week in our Vision series! If you haven't registered yet there's still time! Please do so through the link in our bio.

This past Sunday I suggested that every single one

This past Sunday I suggested that every single one of us are being formed and that it is not a matter of 'if' but 'what' we are being formed by. ⠀
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Let's apply this to our schedules. ⠀
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Over the summer I had four weeks away. Two of those weeks were spent trailer camping for family vacation. Another one of those weeks was backcountry camping with my brother, dad and father-in-law. And then the last week was spent at Joy Bible Camp where I preached for family camp. ⠀
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It was a great summer but then something happened . . . September 7th. ⠀
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On September 7th our kids went back to school, church ministry was relaunching/being replanted and then suddenly we had social requests and family commitments that we hadn't had all summer, let alone over the past year and a half. ⠀
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My schedule is forming me differently today than it was on August 25th. ⠀
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And then something else began happening around that time: my quiet time has been filled with mental distraction and I have been struggling to be still and listen to the voice of God. ⠀
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I may be out on a limb here all by myself but maybe you are experiencing the same. ⠀
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So what do we do? ⠀
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A friend asked me today, "Matt, can the distractions become an opportunity?" ⠀
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I like the question. It's reflective and acknowledges the fact that I can't just isolate and drop my commitments. The question invites me to invite God into what is happening today and even right now. ⠀
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And so here is how I am going to apply the question: I am going to see the mental distractions in my quiet time as an invitation to pray about them and hand them to God. I will chose to put the daily prayer I had planned aside and instead see the distraction as an invitation to communion and surrender.⠀
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A wise person once said that if we have 1000 distractions then we have a 1000 opportunities to return to the Lord in prayer. Any move towards God is sweetness and this is formation at its finest. ⠀
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Boom!⠀
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You are loved.

Jesus is King over all things. God allows people t

Jesus is King over all things. God allows people to rule for a short time, but one day Jesus will return and set up His perfect kingdom. Everyone who trusts in Jesus will be welcomed into His kingdom, and His kingdom will last forever.

Check your email or the link in our bio for this w

Check your email or the link in our bio for this week's news!

Yesterday Pastor Matt spoke on Formation from our

Yesterday Pastor Matt spoke on Formation from our Vision series! He said "our desire and discipline is to be formed through spiritual practices that create an environment where God's Spirit will transform us. The disciplines and practices are a means of God's grace to us and we think of them as such.”
If you missed the service you can watch it through the link in our bio!

Join us tomorrow at 75 Norfolk St at 9am as Pastor

Join us tomorrow at 75 Norfolk St at 9am as Pastor Matt speaks on Formation from our Vision series!

Hello friends,⠀ ⠀ On Sunday we began our 2021

Hello friends,⠀
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On Sunday we began our 2021 Vision Series and Matt shared the first of a new set of values for COTC: Encounter. The heart of the value is this: as God’s adopted children, we long for daily, tangible encounters with Him.⠀
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Maybe you've not had many tangible encounters with God in your life. Maybe you have, and you know the effort it can often require to cultivate those encounters in your life. Regardless, I'm sure many of us have had a moment of questioning whether putting in the work required to cultivate encounters with God is really worth it. ⠀
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Matt's answer on Sunday, drawn from the story of Scripture, was a resounding, "Yes!" But perhaps today you need to hear it from another voice. One eighteenth century American preacher had this to say about the priceless worth of encounters with God: ⠀
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"The pleasure which the soul has in seeing God, is not only its delight, but it is at the same time its highest perfection and excellency. Man’s true happiness is his perfection and true excellency. When any reasonable creature finds that his excellency and his joy are the same thing, then he is come to right and real happiness, and not before."⠀
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In other words, here we have a beautiful claim: encounters with God are not only what we as human beings were designed for, but they also bring us our deepest joy. And when a creature realizes that it's true purpose intersects perfectly with its deepest pleasure, you have a recipe for ultimate satisfaction. ⠀
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Encounters with God change everything, friends, and pursuing them is never a wasted effort. How are you pursuing them today?⠀
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Spencer⠀
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p.s. If you want to pursue an encounter with God today but are struggling to know where to start, remember Matt's teaching from Sunday: we are invited to encounter God in prayer, in worship, and in Christian community.

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