Attention all parents & guardians. Please join us at our Kids in the Park on August 24th - 11am to 2pm for free coffee and BBQ. Bring your questions for "Ask the Pastor" as well as your prayer requests! All welcome. _____________________________________________________
If you need to contact leaders of individual Ministries go to "Misc./Staff & Servant Leaders" page. ________________________________________________
We are on Facebook Gateway Worship Centre Gravenhurst
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OUR SERVICE TIMES: Morning Service - 10am
Message: Set Free -
Kids Church (Sunday School) - 10am
Note: There will be no Kid's Church July & August. _________________________________________________
UPCOMING - Save the Dates!
Plan to Protect Training: Anyone who has missed their training...there will be another session in September.
Devotional Week #6 Last week I mentioned our personal filter. It has been my experience that the hurt or pain we encounter in our lifetime serves to create a filter through which all other experiences, words, looks, and so on, pass through. If I have not dealt with rejection issues as an example, then my filter becomes one of rejection. When I perceive that another person is rejecting me, I immediately become hurt or offended. The truth is that the other person has no idea that what they have said, did not say, did or did not do in any given situation, would trigger MY feelings of rejection. This gets back to OUR CHOICE as to whether or not we will be hurt or offended. I challenge you this week to ask God about your own personal filters. Write them down and spend time in prayer. Meditate on Ephesians 4:2-3 this week and check back next week as we pursue more on this topic. Blessings, Pastor Karen.Devotional Week#5 Why is it that when we feel hurt or offended, we hang to the pain like our favorite Teddy Bear? We hold on to the story that goes along with the offence and each time we tell others the story tends to grow. With each retelling our pain grows stronger and before we know it, we are living in anger, bitterness and judgement. Why would we choose to live in such a state? I know, for me, this became my identity. The "victim". I became good at mind reading by believing that I knew what "they are saying/thinking about me." I could concoct such a great victim story. A lot of us play the mind reading game, completely forgetting that the only person who has access to another's thoughts is them. We tend to assume, quite unfairly, that we know the thoughts and intentions of another person. In my studies I have learned that over 90% of the time the other person does NOT INTENTIONALLY set out to hurt us. In fact, they (or we) have no idea that someone has CHOSEN to be hurt. As I mentioned in Week #4, it is OUR CHOICE to be offended. How do we pick up these offenses? I call it my personal filter. Check back next week for more on this topic. I encourage you to meditate on Hebrews 12:15 this week. Blessings, Pastor KarenDevotional Week#4 Have you ever felt offended? I lived most of my life feeling hurt by others. What a terrible place to live. It is like living in a locked room where you can see the person who hurt you dangling the key that unlocks the door! You find yourself locked into all of the pain, emotions, anger and helplessness you feel. You speak words like, "how could they?", "why didn't they?", or "why did they?". The list is endless. Your mind thinks, "did you see the way he/she looked at me?" Or, "why didn't he/she say hi to me?" Satan loves this place in our mind. In the next few weeks I am going to share my journey and the truths that unlocked the doors and set me free. The first truth I learned was that I choose to be offended! Nobody can offend me unless I allow it. Join me next week as we walk through the lies of the enemy and the truth of God. I encourage you to meditate on 2 Corinthians 12:10 this week.Devotional Week #3 Last week I shared about feeling "inferior" and I promised God's truth. Psalm 139:13 spoke to my heart. It says "For you created my innermost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I know you have heard it said, "God don't make no junk!" It is time for us to believe this. This is a truth we can hold onto. In my walk with God I have come to believe that feeling inferior is a good place to start. For it is in this place that we can learn to totally depend on God to make us feel valued and loved. I encourage you to meditate on 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 this week. Blessings, Pastor Karen. Devotional Week # 2 When I was 13 my Grade 8 teacher called my parents into a meeting. I was not sure what to expect. I thought I had been a "good girl". In that meeting, however, I started to believe the lie that I was inferior. The teacher reviewed my report card and all was good until the teacher said "Karen has an Inferiority Complex". I knew that was a bad thing based on the delivery of those words and the ...reaction of my parents. However, I did not know what it truly meant. Definition- Inferiority is a persistent sense of inadequacy or a tendency to underrate oneself and one's abilities. How easy it is to believe a lie about our identity and worth. I believed this lie for over 40 years! Have you been believing a lie about your worth? What is God's truth? Check back next week as we take a look at that. I encourage you to meditate on Galatians 3:28 this week. See you next Tuesday.A Sister's Journey Devotional Week #1 I am writing this Devotional from the heart. I hope to share my journey with God and what I have learned along the way. My walk with God started later in life. Before that I lived with mental illness and hopelessness. The lies I believed about myself kept me in bondage for too many years. It wasn't until God's truth was revealed to me that I began to rise from the depths of despair to the mountaintop of hope. Check back every Tuesday as we challenge the lies we believe about ourselves and replace them with God's truth. See you next week as we look at the lie - "I am inferior". I encourage you to meditate on my favorite Scripture this week - Philippians 4:8.
Paul knew that the Thessalonians would face pressure from persecutions, false teachers, worldliness, and apathy to waver from the truth and to leave the faith. So he urged them to "stand firm'' and hold on to the truth they had been taught through both his letters and in person. We also may face persecution, false teachings, worldliness, and apathy. We should hold on to the truth of Christ's teachings because our lives depend on it. Never forget the reality of Christ's life and love!
2 Thessalonians 2:15
With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
