Pastor Dave Koop

The Church that Paul writes to in Colossae faced similar challenges. Their culture had crept into the church and was pressuring the believers to conform to its perspective.The “good philosophies” of Paul’s day did not deny Christ, but it did dethrone Him. It gave Jesus a place, but not the supreme place. The heresies at that time included the worship of angels, mysticism and legalism (a spiritual diet of rules) that would give them eternal life. There was a pressure on the believer, like it is now, to be a culturally correct.

There is more and more interest these days in finding our family histories. Where did I come from? What is my ancestry? We are encouraged to search the Web to find our roots, to find our particular branch on the family tree. You can even mail away a sample of your DNA and the results should tell us what particular part of the world we originated from.

Having a healthy vibrant relationship doesn’t happen by accident. It takes work and a little bit of creativity to keep it fresh.

Persistent prayer is perhaps the weapon our enemy Satan fears the most. This is why he will try and discourage us to keep praying if we don’t see a breakthrough right away.

In Luke 15 we find the “Lost and Found” chapter. Here in this discourse we see Jesus respond to some of His critics by telling them about three things that get lost; a sheep, a silver coin and a son. All three of them are pursued, all are found and each restoration is celebrated.They all represent God’s heart for those that have wondered from His love. But it is interesting to think about who does the pursuing in each case.

In 2007, I spoke this message to our Coastal Church family and I feel it is even more important today as we see the continual drift of Canada into a more secular culture.There are lots of movies out there that have a theme where the great treasure hunter is looking for a treasure, and he should search for clues and hidden maps, and eventually he find the right clues and the hidden map, and it leads him to the treasure.

God sees every chapter of your life, from the beginning to the end. He has thought through the plot. You’re most likely familiar with Jeremiah 29:11 where the Bible says, “I know the thoughts I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”We also have thoughts and plans for our future. We keep a close eye on our financial and investment accounts.