If you’ve ever been on a boat or a ship you know how essential anchors are. They provide stability to ships and boats during harsh storms, protecting them from being tossed around in the water and anchors also prevent the vessel from drifting when the water is calm. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul presents the Lord Jesus as an anchor, as the steadfast, never changing eternal God who prevents us from drifting when things are peaceful and gives us the stability and grounding we need in the middle of the storm. With everything happening around us, this letter is a great reminder to all of us that it is indeed time to grow up in our faith. But how do we do that? How do we measure it? Is it based on how often you go to church or by how many ministries you’re involved in or by how much you give? Sometimes those things reflect growth, but they aren’t at the heart of it. Join us online only on August 1, as we learn from Paul that the heart of spiritual maturity is learning how God wants us to live and choosing to live that way to please Him.

The Lord Jesus did not come into the world to make life more tolerable for you and me. He came to provide us abundant life. In fact, He is the only way the truth and the life. All our efforts to better ourselves without Christ are useless and meaningless. Solomon had it all, and he had tried everything, but when he left God out of the equation, nothing satisfied him and left him frustrated. You want meaning in your life under the sun? It can only be found when you know God, when you walk with Him and keep His commands empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is then, and only then that everything has meaning.

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why is there so much injustice in the world?” “Why does God allow this to happen?” Perhaps you're personally facing some kind of pain and trial and you too are asking the question “Why me?” These why questions are not new ones and have been asked by people throughout human history. How do you reconcile an all-powerful God with pain, suffering and disaster? Yes, bad things happen to us that we simply cannot understand, but instead of doubting God’s goodness, our reaction should be to trust Him because He is sovereign and He will bring good from it. Join us this Sunday as we look at Ecclesiastes 8 where Solomon addresses this issue of life being unfair and unjust.

Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived. And he wrote this book sometime before his death as he looked back over his life and chronicled the experiments of life that he had undertaken, trying to find meaning for life. Solomon tried wealth and wisdom and work and wild living. And at the end of all of these experiments, Solomon came up with this conclusion: "It's all emptiness. It's all meaningless. It's all chasing the wind". Solomon wanted to shock his readers into the reality that life lived under the sun without God, life without a relationship with the Lord Jesus is empty and meaningless. So, if worldly wisdom won't give us the answers we are looking for; if pleasure won't give us lasting satisfaction; and work or some political or social quest won't give us meaning, then what is the purpose of life? Well Solomon tells us what the purpose of life is. It is to put your time in God's hands, and make every moment you are given count. Join us on Sunday as we learn two Biblical principles that will help us make wise choices so that our time here on earth counts.

We’re starting a new theme for the month of July called Life Under The Sun and we will be going through the book of Ecclesiastes written by King Solomon. The phrase “under the sun” shows up repeatedly in Ecclesiastes to characterize our short life on earth. This book is King Solomon's record of his own search for meaning in life “under the sun”. In it, Solomon found what we also find: every earthly thing unravels. Nothing lasts. No man-crafted meaning or answer to life's questions can fill the human heart in a full and lasting way. We work tirelessly building castles in the sand, to have our efforts washed away sooner or later by the tide. As hopeless as it sounds, this is good news because it points us to the only source of true meaning and fulfillment in life: Jesus Christ.

Graduation Ceremony 2021 The past year has been extra tough for our students who had to transition from learning in person to being online. Our students missed out on so much, especially our graduates who didn’t get the chance to say goodbye in person to their classmates and friends, and who had trade in the traditional in-person graduation ceremonies for virtual ones. So today we celebrate our graduates and honour them. We cannot wait to see the unfolding of the plans the Lord Jesus has for them, as they continue to walk with Him. They belong to Him, chosen and called, set apart to do great things for His kingdom.

Happy Father’s Day. Proverbs 31 sketches for us what a wise man and a wise woman look like and how invaluable they are in community. This chapter reminds us that God is calling us to perpetuate a wisdom culture that moves beyond words and is made manifest through actions. Wisdom internalized produces character externalized. Those who walk in wisdom receive the Father's direction for their lives. While God's children still have some painful experiences, they are spared many mistakes and false starts because they have godly wisdom and know that nobody is better qualified to guide their steps than God.

Happy 2nd Anniversary TLC. Scripture has a lot to say about how we should treat each other. In fact, the New Testament contains nearly sixty verses of relational instructions, all containing the phrases “one another" and "each other". These one another/ each other commands teach us how (and how not) to relate to one another. Obedience to those commands is imperative. It forms the basis for all true Christian community and has a direct impact on our witness to the world. Imagine how different life would be if our perspective was “I am in it for you” instead of “What is in it for me?” Imagine what an impact we would have if we chose every day "to love one another, to live at peace with each other, to be devoted to one another, to honour one another above yourselves, to live in harmony with each other, to build up and to accept each other, to care and serve one another, to bear one another's burdens, to pray for each other, encourage and to forgive one another." Who are you “one another”-ing today? Who are you loving like Jesus today? Let’s keep our eyes open for those who need the love of the Lord and make a decision to show it to them.

The Lakeside Church (TLC) was birthed in June of 2019. We celebrate two years of God's faithfulness. This far the Lord has brought us. Great things He has done! Our services are held at 10:30 am on Sundays. Visit us at https://www.thelakesidechurch.ca for more information.