Grassroots Church | Thunder Bay, Ontario

We often imagine God’s holiness as separation — a kind of "purity" that requires distance from sin and sinful people — and that assumption quietly shapes everything from our atonement theology to how we relate to the world around us. But Jesus, the clearest revelation of what God is like, consistently moves toward the people our religious systems have deemed unclean or unacceptable. In so doing, he reveals holiness not as avoidance but as humility that gives itself in love. Where does this leave us for how we ought to pursue holiness both as individuals and as a church? Download Discussion Guide

Ontario Poet Laureate Matthew "Testament" Jones brings an encouraging word to our community, offering some insights into what it means to follow Jesus in this day and age, reminding us of the power of gratitude, being grounded in the Word and resisting the spirit of fear that tries to ensnare and bring us down. It's a different, but refreshing, perspective then we're used to at Grassroots! Enjoy. PS - the last 10 minutes of podcast had recording troubles and the audio quality is awful. Our apologies :(

Genesis 3 suggests the problem with the world runs deeper than rule-breaking: beneath our sin is a rupture of trust, a distorted picture of God’s goodness that teaches us to grasp, hide, blame and fear. Jesus comes not only to deal with sin but to show us what God is actually like, because when our image of God is healed, it changes how we see ourselves, how we treat others and how we live in the world. Download the Discussion Guide

Bill has been attending Grassroots just under a year and is a man with a beautiful life story that demonstrates the faithfulness of God. Listen in as he shares about his life story and the evolution of faith - a conversation that will bless you!

The Psalms contain a lot of enemy-destroying prayers - we call these the imprecatory Psalms. In fact, so does much of the Old Testament. Did David and others believe God would actually destroy his enemies? And what does it look like for us to read and apply these texts in our lives now that we have the advantage of understanding the perfect revelation of the Father through his Son? Have a listen to find out!

Earlier this summer we did a short series on Forgiveness, ending on a high level look at the role reconciliation is to play in the work of forgiveness and in the life of Jesus followers. In this teaching, Dr. Samuel Sarpiya of Redwood Church, nicknamed "the peace and reconciliation guy," takes us deeper by sharing his own journey with reconciliation work and offering several practical steps that any work of reconciliation will require of us.

Visiting speaker Keith Jagger leads the community through Psalms 42-43 (originally one psalm), exploring how these chapters reflect the human-divine experience of all of us. Keith helped facilitate reflections/insights from the community during the second half of the message.

As Pastor Steve closes this series on Forgiveness, he explores the sometimes awkward and difficult work of reconciliation, suggesting that as followers of Jesus, the work of reconciliation should always be what we strive for, yet accepting that because we cannot control the other person, it is not always guaranteed. 5 principles of reconciliatory work are shared as a place to start this important work.

Forgiveness is not pretending the prison never existed. It is refusing to keep living there. This week, Steve explores level two of forgiveness: releasing our own hearts from bitterness, resentment and anger through time, intentionality and empathy. Download the Discussion Guide

Forgiveness is not pretending the offence didn’t happen or acting like the pain doesn’t matter. In this first message of The Air We Breathe, we explore Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18 and the invitation to release others from the debts they owe us. Forgiven people become forgiving people, learning to breathe in grace and exhale forgiveness. Download the ⁠Discussion Guide⁠

Guest speaker Russell Pinson shares how maturity as followers of Jesus looks exactly opposite from how the world views maturity. Whereas maturity means increasing independence, Christian maturity means increasing dependence on Jesus. Download the Discussion Guide

Revelation ends not with fear but with healing. In this final message of the series, Pastor Steve looks at the Tree of Life in Revelation 22 and the surprising way John connects it to the cross. The way of Jesus is not domination, violence or self-preservation but self-giving love — and every time we live that way, we begin to enact new creation here and now. Download the Discussion Guide

In Week 3 of our New Heavens and New Earth series, we wrestle with Revelation 21:8 and the hope that evil itself will one day be fully removed from God’s good world. Until then, we live among the wheat and weeds, learning to resist Babylon now through truth, courage, forgiveness, humility and love.Download the Discussion Guide

This week we continue our Revelation mini-series by looking at one strange but powerful line: “there was no longer any sea.” In Scripture, the sea often symbolizes chaos, evil, empire and persecution. Revelation 21 gives us a vision of hope where evil is not merely contained but finally abolished — no more chaos, no more violence, no more death and no more sea. Download the Discussion Guide

We begin our final Apocalypse Unveiled mini-series, When Heaven Comes to Earth, by tracing the Bible’s temple story from Eden to the tabernacle, from Solomon’s temple to Jesus, from the Spirit-filled Church to the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21–22 is not a picture of God abandoning earth, but of heaven and earth finally reunited. The garden expands, the temple reaches its goal and the whole world becomes the dwelling place of God. This is the hope at the heart of Christian faith: not escape from creation, but God making all things new.Download the Discussion Guide

As we prepare for our mini-series into the last 2 chapters of Revelation in which we discuss the new heavens and new earth, we spent this week hearing from folks who can testify to God's Kingdom breaking in within our world, beginning with an update from the work of LifeWater Canada. May you be encouraged and your hope renewed as you listen to these testimonies of his kingdom coming now.

As we begin a miniseries within the larger series on the Apocalypse, we return to our theme of "glimpses of the Kingdom," where we testify to evidence of God's Kingdom showing up in our own lives and community. Today's story is from Matteo and Heidi Pauselli, who share their story of Huntington's Disease, with both the struggles--and unexpected joys--that have emerged along their journey. The Pauselli's are helping to bring awareness to HD with some helpful education on the disease in anticipation of Huntington's Disease Awareness Month in May. If you would like to support their efforts, please donate here: https://p2p.onecause.com/hscnationalwalk/team/thunder-bay-huntingtons-heros

In Revelation 19, Jesus is not revealed as a violent warrior but as the faithful and true Lamb who defeats evil through righteousness, truth and self-giving love. This sermon explores the fall of the Beast, the seriousness of evil and the hope that, because of the resurrection, the Lamb gets the final word.Download Discussion Guide

In this message from Apocalypse Unveiled, we wrestle with Revelation 14 and the meaning of God’s wrath. Reading the passage through the lens of the slain Lamb, we consider Babylon, judgment and how God’s fire may be less about vengeance and more about truth, consequence and refinement. Download Discussion Guide

On Resurrection Sunday, we paused to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection and the hope of the final resurrection. Easter is bigger than “going to heaven when we die,” and the risen Jesus points us toward God’s promise to renew our bodies, renew creation and make all things new. The resurrection declares that death is not the end, creation is not abandoned and our hope is not escape, but renewal in Christ! Download the Discussion Guide