Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 6)

Last weekend, I had a chance to speak at MLCF and had a great time worshipping with the Lifespring family in Mississauga. I spoke on John 6:1-13, which is a passage I’ve spoken on before but I think has special significance for our theme of Patient Endurance this year. The theme of Patient Endurance seems to already be resonating with many people that I’ve spoken to, even though we’re only eight weeks in to the year. Maybe you’ve had an…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:1-5 Some time ago, I worked on memorizing the…

During January, we’ve had messages about our annual theme of “Patient Endurance” that we’ll be focusing on for the upcoming year. Personally, near the end of last year I felt like God was challenging me on one aspect related to patient endurance, and it had to do with growing in the fear of the Lord. First off, I think it’s important to understand how the fear of the Lord is different from the normal kind of fear. When we normally think…

Last Sunday, we had our first prayer and intercession meeting of 2024. As we just started fasting together as a church family in January, it seemed fitting to start the year off with prayer. We had 19 people join us for intercession, which definitely exceeded our expectations for the meeting as we had to keep expanding our circle of seats as people joined! This was the largest in-person intercession we’ve had since the pandemic, so it was great to start…

Christmas Day is upon us! For the past few Sundays we’ve been celebrating the Advent season, which is the weeks leading up to Christmas when we look forward to the celebration of the birth of our Lord. For many of us, Christmas may seem like a sort of ending. During the weeks leading up to Christmas we are usually busy with fitting in end of year plans or preparing gifts and cards for loved ones. Christmas is also close to New Years,…

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is one of the most iconic and memorable stories in the Bible. Earlier this week when I was telling my family that I was speaking on this passage, Sophia (8 years old) piped up and said she knew the story well from her Rhyme Bible (Bible stories told through rhymes – I recommend!) The story appears in all four gospels and stands as a significant event in Jesus’s ministry in and around…

We were privileged to have Adib Ahmad from the Afghan Church GTA join us as our speaker yesterday. If you missed his message, I encourage you to see the recording here. Adib shared his testimony with us as a refugee who had to flee his home, Afghanistan, because of persecution as a Christian. In a nutshell, Adib became Christian through the work of missionaries in Afghanistan and began attending an underground church. Government authorities caught wind of this church and…

On Sunday, Pastor Anita shared a very timely message titled, “Restore Your True Identity by Renewing Your Mind.” Pastor Anita’s message reminded me of a time in my young adult years when God brought me through a season of learning and discovery about the importance of identity. Over the course of a few weeks I went through a series called “Identity Discovery” by Steve Chua (if you’re interested please ask me about Lifespring’s copy). I was so impacted by this…

It was wonderful to have Donna speak at our Sunday Celebration last weekend. Whenever Donna visits, I feel like there are so many gems in her message that always encourage me and get me thinking. One gem that she mentioned was, “to go higher, you need to go deeper.” When Theresa and I were living in the US, we had a chance to visit Sequoia National Park in California. The size of these Sequoia trees was absolutely amazing. We stood among a…

Matthew 7:13-14“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Does anyone remember the song “Refiner’s Fire” by Brian Doerksen? For those who have been Christian for some time, there are certain songs from our early days in faith that we never…

John 15:4-6“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into…

The fall season is upon us! For many of us September is a month of change as we say goodbye to our summer routines and get ready for the fall. For all of us, September is a great time to reassess where we are, and thinking about God’s calling is a natural part of that. One person we can learn much about calling from is Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is a first person account of Nehemiah’s work on behalf…