The Christmas story doesn’t end with angels and manger scenes - it continues into fear, flight, and forced exile. When Joseph hears the words “escape to Egypt,” God overturns assumptions about safety, enemies, and where refuge can be found. This message from Robyn Elliott explores how Christmas is a story of reversal, vulnerability, and a God who meets us in the wilderness to make something new. Discussion Questions: 1. What words or phrases make your own “blood run cold,” and why do you think they carry so much power over you? 2. Where in your life have you experienced disorientation, when what you believed about God or yourself was shaken? 3. Egypt represented trauma and fear for Joseph. What “Egypts” exist in your story - places or situations you’d never expect to find God? 4. Have you ever found safety, healing, or wisdom in a place or from people you once feared or rejected? 5. How does the idea that Jesus was safer among outsiders challenge your understanding of faith, belonging, or community? 6. When you’re in a wilderness season, do you tend to assume you’ve done something wrong, or can you imagine it as a place of new beginning? 7. In what ways do comfort and familiarity shape where you expect God to work? 8. How does this part of the Christmas story reshape what “peace” really means to you? 9. What might it look like for you to follow Jesus into vulnerability rather than control or security? 10. As we put Christmas back into boxes, what if the real question is whether Christmas has been packed into us? Will we keep choosing love over hate, conversation over confrontation, and relationship over retaliation when the season no longer reminds us?

Christmas doesn’t end on December 25 - it carries on as a reminder that Jesus is for the whole world, not just a select few. In this message from Joash Thomas, in the story of the Magi, we’re invited to move beyond certainty and fear toward humility, curiosity, and attentive listening. It’s an invitation to notice where God is already at work, often in places we wouldn’t expect. Discussion Questions: 1. Where do you see yourself in the Epiphany story right now - the Magi, the fearful crowd around Herod, or someone else entirely? Why? 2. What does it mean for you to believe that Jesus is not only a personal saviour, but the saviour of all creation? 3. Are there places in your faith where you’ve become attached to certainty rather than curiosity? What might it look like to loosen your grip? 4. How do you typically respond to people of other faiths or Christian traditions - with curiosity, fear, defensiveness, or something else? And what might Jesus want to show you about himself through neighbours or communities that are different from you? 5. The Magi listened, learned, and then “went home by another road.” How has encountering Jesus changed your direction or perspective? 6. What gives you hope when it feels like powerful systems or forces are winning? 7. What is one small way you could practice courage, curiosity, or peacemaking this week?

Be Still and Know: A New Year's Reflection by Lakeside Church

Bethlehem was not a peaceful postcard but a place of poverty, occupation, and conflict, and God chose that setting to enter the world. In this message from Robyn Elliott, Advent reminds us that God’s path to peace comes through humility, justice, and righteousness, not force or empire. To take Christmas seriously is not to save the world, but to live like Jesus - carrying God’s peace into forgotten and broken places.

Advent reveals a God who completely redefines power. Instead of arriving with force, status, or spectacle, Jesus comes in humility - born in obscurity, announced to the overlooked, and crowned through self-giving love. In this message from Mike Carmody, we’re invited to surrender the world’s version of strength and discover where God might be reversing power in us today. Discussion Questions: 1. When you think about “power,” what images or experiences come to mind from your own life? 2. Where do you most feel pressure to appear strong, impressive, or in control right now? And is there an area of your life where God might be inviting you to let go of control or status? 3. Mary responds to God with surrender rather than certainty. What would surrender look like for you this Advent? 4. Which part of the Christmas story most challenges your assumptions about success or greatness? 5. Who are the “overlooked” people in your everyday life, and what might it look like to notice or lift them up? 6. As a church community, where are we tempted to chase influence rather than faithfulness? 7. How might our relationships change if we truly believed that greatness in God’s kingdom looks like serving? 8. Why do you think God consistently chooses the least likely people throughout Scripture to carry out His purposes? 9. How does the cross reshape our understanding of victory, authority, and kingship in contrast to Roman - or modern - definitions of power?

In this message from Jack Ninaber, we explore the often-overlooked faith and obedience of Joseph - the quiet, steady figure in the Christmas story whose actions shaped the arrival of Jesus. Joseph models compassion, surrender, and courage in the face of misunderstanding, showing us what it means to step faithfully into God’s mission even when it places us in the background. His life invites us to embrace Advent as a season of trust, patience, and quiet obedience. Discussion Questions: 1. What does Joseph teach us about doing the right thing even when it may cost reputation, finances, or social standing? Have you ever faced a situation where doing the right thing made you look wrong to others? How did you process or endure that season? 2. Have you ever felt compelled to act out of duty or conviction even when your emotions didn’t align with the decision? What was that like for you? 3. In a culture where honour and shame played such a significant role, what risks did Joseph take in choosing the “quiet” option, and why might justice demand such restraint? 4. How does the angel’s message shift Joseph’s sense of obligation, from social and religious duty to participation in God’s redemptive plan? 5. Do you tend to follow God more out of conviction, love, habit, or a sense of duty? How does Joseph’s story challenge or affirm the way you live out your faith? 6. In what ways can following Jesus place us in positions where we appear foolish, misunderstood, or dishonoured, and how should we navigate that tension? 7. How do we discern when our sense of duty comes from God versus cultural, familial, or religious pressure? 8. What is an area in your life right now where doing the right thing feels difficult or misunderstood, and what might faithfulness look like for you in that situation? Resources: Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God by Mark Batterson Sacred Pathways: Nine Ways to Connect with God by Gary Thomas Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard

Advent is a season that asks us to face the tension between hope and fear - much like Bethlehem itself, the “House of Bread” and the “House of War,” where the Bread of Life was born into a world that was not yet as it should be. In this message from Robyn Elliott, we explore how God shows up in the shadows and in our waiting, turning the ashes of our lives into something sustaining and life-giving. Advent reminds us that Jesus comes not only to the beautiful parts of our story, but also to our deepest longings and pain, breaking through the darkness with quiet, resilient hope. Discussion Questions: 1. How do you typically respond to waiting, and what does that reveal about your spiritual posture during Advent? 2. Where in your life are you currently waiting for God to break in or bring clarity? And are there places where you may have unknowingly put up walls to God’s presence or movement? 3. When you think of “ashes” in your life - places of loss, shame, or disappointment - what might it look like for God to make “bread” from them? 4. In what ways does the hurried, commercial Christmas season make it difficult for you to embrace quiet, reflection, and longing? 5. How does the theme of waiting connect with the larger biblical narrative of hope and expectation? 6. Bethlehem is described as both the “House of Bread” and the “House of War.” How does this tension reflect the world Jesus entered and the world we live in today? 7. What does the incarnation (God arriving in obscurity, poverty, and vulnerability) teach us about God’s character and the way He works? 8. How does Advent reorient us to a different way of being than the secular rhythms of December? 9. Robyn launched our Christmas Giving Campaign for this year as part of her message. There are three ways you can get involved. Which option resonates with you?

Why do some prayers get answered while others seem to go unheard? Jesus promises that faith can move mountains, yet we still face trials, disappointment, and mystery. In this message from Robyn Elliott we wrestle honestly with unanswered prayer, exploring biblical tensions, real-world complexity, and the hope the resurrection still offers. Discussion Questions: 1. When have you experienced an unanswered prayer, and how did it shape your perception of God? 2. How do you reconcile Jesus’ promises in Matthew 21 and John 14 with the lived reality of suffering? 3. Which of the possible explanations discussed - contradiction, wounded world, free will, evil, sin - resonates most with you, and why? 4. To what extent is the modern Western expectation of happiness influencing how we interpret God’s role in our lives? 5. How does free will complicate the idea of God intervening in response to prayer? 6. In what ways does the biblical portrayal of spiritual evil (Ephesians 6) add nuance to the question of unanswered prayer? 7. What is the difference between having faith in God and having faith in the amount of your faith? 8. How does the Christian hope of resurrection reframe the way we interpret suffering, healing, and unanswered prayer?

In this sermon, Pastor Johanna Kelly explores wordless or contemplative prayer—a form of prayer beyond language, where we meet God in silence and presence rather than through words. It reflects on those moments in life, whether joyful, sorrowful, or ordinary, when words fail and we sense the divine near. Contemplative prayer is not about doing but about being fully present, allowing God’s love to meet us where we are. As we open our hearts, we move from knowing about God to truly knowing God. Questions: 1. Have you ever experienced a moment where words felt completely inadequate—either in sorrow or joy? What was that moment like for you? 2. Why do you think silence and stillness are often so uncomfortable for us? What tends to surface in you when you try to be quiet before God? 3. The sermon mentions that “progress in intimacy with God means progress towards silence.” What might this mean for your own prayer life? 4. What does it mean to you to bring your “whole self” to God in prayer—your past, present, hurts, and hopes? 5. How do your current images of God and of yourself shape the way you approach prayer? 6. The sermon says, “Maybe Jesus is inviting you to trust that God is love.” What might that invitation look like for you right now? 7. What practices (breath prayers, centering prayer, meditation, silence) help you become more present to God? Which ones feel most challenging? 8. If contemplative prayer is about “being fully present — in heart, mind, and body — to what is,” how might this posture transform your daily life, not just your prayer life? 9. The sermon highlights that God knocks and invites us to ‘sit and stay awhile.’ How might your community or relationships change if you embodied that same invitation for others? 10. How can contemplative or wordless prayer help bridge the divide between the seen (our human experience) and the unseen (the divine presence)?

Today’s focus is on prayer as a cry — not a polished, polite prayer, but an outcry or complaint to God. When life hurts and sorrow overwhelms, tidy prayers fall flat. Outcry or Lament is not faithless; it’s a form of protest. Lament says, “This isn’t right,” and appeals to God to act, to heal, to make things whole. But what happens when we cry out and get no explanation? Today Robyn Elliott will dig into the life of Job, a man who’s whole life came crashing down along with his theology and he saw God in a whole new way. Questions: 1. How do you usually imagine God when you pray — and how might that image shape how or even if you pray? Is God distant? Disappointed? Gentle? Attentive? How does that affect your openness in prayer? 2. When life gets painful or confusing, what’s your natural reaction — to withdraw from God, to plead with Him, or to protest? What does that say about what you believe prayer is for? 3. If lament is a form of protest — what do you think it means to “protest in faith”? How can honest complaint actually be an expression of trust rather than rebellion? 4. Can you think of a time when you brought your raw emotions to God — grief, anger, confusion — and felt met rather than rejected? What did that moment teach you about God’s character? 5. What would it look like for you to practice more honest prayer this week? (Maybe a prayer of lament, a written complaint, a conversation with God without filters.) 6. The people of Job’s time believed in the Retribution Principle — “good things happen to good people.” Where do you still see that mindset showing up today — maybe even in subtle ways in your own thinking? 7. When you’ve faced pain or loss, have you ever felt pressure to keep your faith “tidy”? What might it look like to follow Job’s example and bring your unfiltered emotions to God instead? 8. Job never gets the answers he’s looking for — but he does get an encounter with God. What do you think that tells us about the kind of relationship God desires with us, especially in suffering? 9. When have you heard or seen modern “Job’s friends” — people offering religious explanations or blame when someone suffers? How does that kind of thinking distort our understanding of God’s justice and compassion? 10. At the end of Job, God corrects everyone’s assumptions — but gives no explanation for Job’s suffering. How might that reshape the way we respond to our own unanswered “whys”? 11. Hope in lament isn’t denial — it’s defiant trust. Where in your life do you need that kind of tenacious, ferocious hope — hope that believes God is love even when nothing makes sense?

In this message from Robyn Elliott, we rediscover prayer not as something to master but as a rhythm to live - a way of turning aside to notice the divine in the everyday. From the burning bush to the coffee line, God meets us on ordinary ground and turns it into holy ground. Prayer isn’t about performance, it’s about presence, learning to see that every moment can become sacred when we pause to notice God there. Questions: 1. Do you see prayer as something you understand or something you still feel like a beginner at? Why? What fears or barriers might hold you back from praying freely and honestly? 2. Robyn said, “How we imagine God determines how we pray.” What theological or psychological insights can we draw from that statement? How might our image of God  - whether as distant judge, intimate friend, or creative force - shape both the content and the confidence of our prayers? 3. Think of a time when something ordinary suddenly felt sacred. What happened? 4. Moses encountered God in a burning bush. What might be the “ordinary bush” in your life right now where God is trying to get your attention? And how does it change your perspective to think that every ground is holy ground because God is there? 5. If prayer is “a rhythm to keep” rather than a “skill to master,” how does that reshape our understanding of spiritual formation? In what ways might prayer be less about achieving results and more about being formed into a certain kind of person? 6. What would it look like for you to “turn aside” and notice God in your daily routines - your commute, your kitchen, your conversations? 7. What small step could you take this week to make prayer a rhythm rather than a task? 8. Robyn suggested a few exercises to try over the course of this series. Which one will you start with? 9. Download the Lectio 365 app 10. Spend some time in the prayer room 11. Attend Pilgrimage of Prayer on Nov. 23 12. Pray the Lord’s Prayer

In a world shaped by symbols, Jesus gave us a table - not a throne, not a sword, not even a cross - to remember him. And in this message from Robyn Elliott, we explore how the communion table is a radical, countercultural symbol of inclusion, equity, and service, and why Paul was so fired up about it in 1 Corinthians. What does it mean to eat and drink "unworthily?" You might be surprised. Discussion Questions: 1. What are the most meaningful symbols in your life, and what symbols have shaped your faith journey - a cross, a family tradition, a church building, a song? What do those symbols say about what you truly believe about God and yourself? 2. The cross wasn’t the original symbol of Christianity. How does this historical shift in Christian symbolism shape the way we view faith today? 3. Paul's anger in 1 Corinthians 11 targets not personal piety but communal inequality. What does this say about God's priorities for the church? 4. When have you felt excluded or welcomed at a ‘table’ - whether literal or metaphorical? How does that shape how you invite others in? 5. Are there people you struggle to make space for at your table - emotionally, socially, spiritually? Why do you think that is? What might be under that resistance? 6. How does the communion table subvert empire values like hierarchy, power, and privilege? How might that challenge the modern Western church? 7. Paul says to examine ourselves before communion - not to nitpick our morality, but to ask: Are we honouring the body (the church)? What does that look like in practice? 8. If someone observed your church’s communion practice, what might they learn about your theology of inclusion and service? 9. How do we unknowingly mirror the world’s values of status and success in our Christian communities today? 10. The early church’s meals were participatory and embodied. What have we lost (or gained) by ritualizing or formalizing communion? 11. In what ways might your life reflect the empire's way more than Jesus’ way - and how could the symbol of the table realign you?

What if the most powerful part of your story isn’t the ending - but the mess in the middle? In this message, Kathleen Elliott shares her honest, unfinished journey of faith, parenting, and showing up when life feels messy. If you've ever wondered where God is in the middle of your doubts, struggles, or everyday chaos, this story is for you. Discussion Questions: 1. Where in your life do you feel like you're in “the messy middle” right now? 2. What are the parts of your story you’d rather keep hidden, and where might God be gently nudging you to be more vulnerable? 3. Have you ever mistaken “comfort” for “God’s plan”? How has discomfort shaped your faith? 4. Where have you seen God show up, not to fix things, but simply to be present with you? 5. What false beliefs about God or yourself are you currently unlearning? 6. Are there prayers, people, or moments from your past that you now recognize as God planting seeds? 7. What’s a step you can take - even a baby step - to keep showing up in faith today? 8. Who have you allowed to write parts of your story for you, and how can you invite God into that narrative instead? 9. What does it mean for you to be “held by God,” even if you don’t feel finished or figured out? 10. If you were to tell your story honestly today, what title would you give this chapter of your life?

In a world craving home, we believe the Church is called to be just that: a family of all kinds of people, gathered under one roof and around one table for the sake of the world. This message from Robyn Elliott is a call to reimagine church as a lived experience of love, belonging, and unity. This is about belief, bodies, and buildings - and how God is doing a new thing right here. Discussion Questions: 1. Which “room” in your spiritual house do you feel most at home in, and which ones challenge you? 2. How does it feel to imagine church as a family rather than a collection of families? 3. Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong in a church? What made you feel that way? And how have you become the church in a way that helps others? 4. What does “a seat at the table” mean to you personally? Who isn’t at your table that should be? 5. In what ways have your beliefs changed or “renovated” over time? What stayed the same? 6. When have you felt most seen or safe in a church setting - and what made that moment possible? 7. How can we move from being Sunday attenders to everyday followers of Jesus? 8. What does it mean to honour every BODY, not just in theory, but in practice? 9. If your life was a home, who feels safe and welcome inside? Who still feels like a stranger? 10. What new thing might God be doing in you - something you can’t yet see clearly?

The book of Acts ends with loose ends - a story unfinished. But maybe that’s the point. As we close this rollercoaster of a journey through Acts with Pastor Robyn Elliott, we ask: what kind of church are we becoming, and are we still living the way of Jesus, not with control and power, but with humility, love, and Spirit-empowered purpose? Discussion Questions: 1. In what ways has the church today become more like an empire than a movement shaped by Jesus? 2. Have you ever experienced the church as a place of healing - or as a place of harm? What shaped that experience? 3. Where have you seen the Spirit still at work today - in individuals or communities - despite the church’s brokenness? 4. How can we tell if we’re studying the Bible but still missing Jesus? What are the warning signs? 5. What would it look like to retrace our steps, not just as individuals but as a community of faith? 6. Robyn said, “Our hearts can grow hard, even in holy places.” Where in your life do you need to be softened - spiritually, relationally, or emotionally? 7. Are there areas where you've been clinging to control, fame, or platform, rather than humility and vulnerability? 8. If Acts doesn’t have a clear ending, what does that say about your role in God’s story today? 9. What does it mean to you that the table of Jesus is open to “all who are weary?”

Acts (The Way Forward): When Kindness Comes from Strangers by Lakeside Church

In this message from Mike Carmody, we explore the powerful farewell of Paul in Acts 20:17–25, uncovering what it means to live a life that truly counts. From faithful service and bold witness to Spirit-led surrender and eternal perspective, Paul gives us a model for a life well lived. Whether you’re just beginning your faith journey or you’ve been running the race for years, this message will challenge and encourage you to pursue lasting significance. Discussion Questions: 1. If you had one last conversation with the people you love most, what would you say, and what does that reveal about your heart? 2. Paul says, “You know how I lived.” What would people say they know about your life? What speaks louder – your words or your lifestyle? 3. Faithfulness often goes unseen and unrewarded in this life. Where in your life are you called to keep showing up, even when it’s hard or unnoticed? 4. Paul didn’t hesitate to preach the truth. What holds you back from sharing your faith boldly? What might boldness look like for you this week? 5. When have you experienced discomfort for the sake of following Jesus? How did that experience shape you? 6. Paul was “compelled by the Spirit” even without knowing the outcome. What would it look like for you to trust God with just the next step? 7. Verse 24 says Paul’s only aim was “to finish the race and complete the task.” What task has God placed in front of you today? 8. What are you “packing” your life with? Are your priorities aligned more with comfort and success or with eternity and surrender? 9. Think of someone whose faithfulness or quiet service has impacted you deeply. How might your own faithfulness impact others, even if you never see the results?

Acts (The Way Forward): Power Behind the Name by Lakeside Church

Acts (The Way Forward): The Faith in a World of Idols by Lakeside Church

Acts (The Church Gets Messy): Fractured Yet Faithful by Lakeside Church