Grassroots Church | Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Art of Storytelling & Listening with Brad Woods

This was a special Sunday! Brad Woods visited our congregation and gave a presentation on story telling and listening that fit in perfectly with our ongoing series on Jesus' parables.

This message was originally delivered on August 18, 2024.

Parables 101 Part 5: The Workers in the Vineyard

Guest speaker Robin Peace looks at this parable from Matthew 20: 1 - 6. This parable shows how the generosity of God does not come the way we expect it to come. It shows how, in the Kingdom of God, grace is more important than our perception of what is "fair".

This message was originally delivered on August 4, 2024.

Parables 101 Part 4: The Rich Fool

Pastor Steve shares some thoughts on what is at the heart of Jesus' teaching on the Rich Fool. It is more than simply whether we should be saving our money or giving it all away. Rather, the heart of the matter is the heart. What posture do we have toward our possessions, our wealth, our need for security? Do we trust God or is our trust in our own ability and accomplishments? When it is the latter, this is what leads to greed, or this insatiable desire for more because it's never enough. This seems to be the thing Jesus cared most about reforming in us. 

Parables 101 Part 3: The Kingdom is Like... (with Scott Wiebe)

This week, special guest Scott Wiebe reflects on the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Kingdom of God, with insights from the world of forestry and plants! 

Parables 101 Part 2: Get Lost (with Richard Clark)

Guest Speaker Richard Clark looks at the parable of the lost sheep. In a conversational message, he looks on how this story can lead us to acceptance, humility, repentance, and joy.

Our parables "Summer School" series is designed to involve a bit more back-and-forth than a standard sermon. Unfortunately, that doesn't already translate well to a podcast. We have edited this down into a coherent message, but it is unfortunately missing most of the profound insights from the congregation.

This message was originally delivered July 7, 2024.

Parables 101 Part 1: Why Parables?

Why did Jesus do so much of His teaching using parables? What is a parable anyway? How should we read them?

Join Pastor Steve Bill as he looks at all of this and more in the first official sermon in our summer series on parables.

This message was originally given on June 30, 2024.

Parables 101 PRELUDE: Quick & Slow

Grassroots is going to summer school! Through July and August, we'll be looking through the parables of Jesus to discover what they have to say to us as Jesus followers in the 21st century. As a prelude, Pastor Steve shares about a posture we should strive to have in all of our interactions with each another: learning to be QUICK to listen and SLOW to speak.

Andy Stanley's message "How Winning is Costing You Relationships" is what Pastor Steve drew inspiration from in this message. 

Revealing the Jesus of the Centre *BONUS*: Jesus the Carpenter

Guest speaker Scott Baker takes time to look at what it means to Christians that Jesus worked as a carpenter. He looks at what that might have been like for Jesus, and what it means for how we view our own relationship with work, and how we should treat people who work with us. It's a little bit of a Father's Day message.

Scriptures this message: Mark 6:1-3, Matthew13:55-57; Matthew 20:1-7; Luke 3:21-23

This message was originally delivered on June 16, 2024.

Revealing the Jesus of the Centre Part 7: Stop Stalking Jesus

In the final message in the series, Pastor Steve talks about how we might begin to go about taking all of the beautiful truths of the Jesus of the Centre that we've learned and move them from our head to our heart; from intellectual ascent to transformation of our being. What does it mean for Jesus to become more than just a list of concepts for us? 

Revealing the Jesus of the Centre Part 6: The Non-Violent Peacemaker

Continuing our series on Jesus' teachings and character, Pastor Steve looks at how Jesus as a non-violent peacemaker. In a world saturated with violence, Jesus calls us to bring peace. Pastor Steve also examines why the modern church often avoids this aspect of Jesus' life and teachings.

This message was originally delivered on June 2, 2024.