Westside Family Fellowship

The Valley of Dry Bones - Glory in the Storm

With surging swells of chaotic waters seeming to fill up our lives, it's easy to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed. Yet the constant reminder of faith-followers is God's glorious presence is in the midst of the storm.

 

Don't let yourself get beaten up by life, past sins, and past decisions. Instead be built up by faith so that you can go forward as Jesus said:

 

"Get up, go and sin no more."

The Valley of Dry Bones

In Ezekiel 37, we see a chilling image of a valley filled with bones, a stormy wind sweeping through and the bones rising, and growing into a strong army. Something out of a movie, right?

 

But this beautiful picture of how God breathes on our death-filled lives and raises us up into a strong battalion has profound meaning for our lives.

 

Today hear from Pastor Jonathan speaking of a need for breath in the valley of dry bones.

It‘s Time to Prophecy!

No... not fortune telling (well... maybe sometimes), but that's not the main point.

 

Prophecy is about how you use your mouth. Proclaiming what God's will is for this moment, this time and this place.

 

Are you allowing God to speak through you? Or are you proclaiming words of negativity, discouragement and hopelessness? Today, we invite God to use our lips to speak his specific will for both our own lives, and the lives around us.

Popular Personalities, Week Four

Listen to the second week of our current Wednesday night series: Popular Personalities.

 

We will be going through 28 of the Bible's most popular characters to discuss their role and importance in the entirety of the Biblical story. This week we talk about Ahab, Jezebel, Jonah and Daniel.

The Fear of the Lord

Are you scared of God? Afraid of approaching Him when you need Him?

 

No need to worry! That's not the fear of the Lord. Instead, healthy reverence for God inspires strong confidence and security, not fearful cowering.

 

If you're struggling, we hope to encourage you to seek God as your refuge!

Armed for Your Family

When we don't allow Jesus to arm us, we fall victim to the schemes of the enemy. Therefore, we must submit to God, and allow Him to ready us for battle. So that we are: Prepared. Protected. Armed.

Popular Personalities, Week Two

Listen to the second week of our new Wednesday night series: Popular Personalities.

 

We will be going through 28 of the Bible's most popular characters to discuss their role and importance in the entirety of the Biblical story. This week we talk about Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Samuel.

 

Enjoy!

5 Principles for Family Protection

How do you respond when spiritual evil comes against you and your family?

 

We've all dealt with spiritual darkness, probably in some cases succumbed to its influence, but don't lose hope for the future! We have good news: that through Jesus, we can overcome twisted influences and protect our family unit from the enemy.

SPEAKING TRUTH OVER OUR CHILDREN

Instead of speaking doubt, discouragement, and dysfunction over your kid's life, allow Jesus to speak Truth.

SHARING YOUR FAITH

Remember that time you turned on a lamp and then covered it with a blanket?

No?

Me neither.

Yet so often we cover up the light of our lives. We don't have to think of the grand scale: preaching, sharing Jesus with total strangers on the street etc. Yet we can simply and humbly uncover our Jesus-filled lives to our friends and family. To those we already have relationships with. That is what we gently encourage you to do today.

FAMILY EXPOSURE

No isolated incidents. Our life choices affect others, namely those closest to us. Our actions influence people. With Jesus, the exposure can be light, and not darkness.

CHOICE TO CHANGE

A change is always standing in front of us, but partnered with a cost. Weight and healthy eating, time and tv watching etc. So when God nudges your heart to change, will you accept the cost and follow Him?

WORDS AGAINST US: WEEK 2

In week two of the series: Words Against Us, Pastor Jonathan preaches about the effect words against us can bring. Through oppression, condemnation from others, and discouragement to not pursue God, we can live in freedom. This freedom comes only through Jesus, and because of it, we can fulfill our purpose in life.

WORDS AGAINST US

This Sunday, Pastor Jonathan discusses how words that are spoken against us, affect our lives. They can cause condemnation, a lack of desire to pursue God, and lead to a broken pursuit of our purposes in life. He then instructs us on how to deal with these words: recognize what is happening, cast it down with truth and in faith, and continue to live in freedom.

COVERING THE BASES

This Father's Day, Pastor LaRonna Rhodes talks about things every Father should know. Firstly, that perfection does not exist. Secondly, little things are big things. Thirdly, patience is required. And lastly, that in order to be a P.R.O. Dad: you must be one that Prays, Reads, and Obeys. Happy Father's Day!

PEACE

In this message, guest speaker Allan Gregory speaks to us about the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. We have completeness, wholeness and security through our Lord Jesus Christ that allows us to be steady in the midst of life's storms.

SEPARATED

This week Pastor Jonathan talks about how we have been separated from the world by God, so that we are not influenced by it and led astray. Because of this, we are not to act as the world does, nor follow its example. In order to strengthen ourselves, we should make church a lifestyle, not just a building, and get connected to our church family so they can encourage us in ways we need to change.

FUN IN THE SON

Pastor LaRonna talk about how we can lead exciting, fun, and joyful lives in Christ. This means, though we still go through hard times, as James 1 says, we can experience incredible joy when we go through difficult circumstances. We can have Faith, Unity, and Nourishment from Christ and this leads to a truly F.U.N. lives.

HOLY SPIRIT

How should we understand who the Holy Spirit is? How important is our relationship with Him? This is what we explored this week. Through the foretelling of the Scriptures we see how crucial our relationship with Him is, and how he brings out good fruits in our lives, including incredible gifts through which we can bless other people. Because of this, we should be continually receiving of His correction, comfort and fellowship

PUSH!

We can push through immense uncertainty and disappointment with Christ. Because of Jesus we can Persevere through it all: pain, sorrow, loss etc. because He has our good in mind. We can withstand situations when we are Under the attacks of the enemy. To withstand it is helpful to understand that these are Satanic attacks we experience. Yet through all that Satan is trying to Hinder in us, God enables us to persevere.

MORE THAN A NAME

Happy Mother's Day Moms! Today, in our celebration of mothers, Pastor LaRonna spoke about Samson's mom. She was obedient to the Word of the Lord as we are follow and learn from the Bible, saying, "Not my will, but Yours be done Lord." She was also a sensitive mother. Just as we are supposed to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what He is speaking to our hearts, she was sensitive to what God was speaking to her. Thirdly, she was a confident mother. She was not confident in her own strength, but in the strength that God gave her. Lastly, she was available for what God wanted in her life.

CREATION STORY: WEEK 2

In this second week of discussing the creation story found in Genesis 1 and 2, Pastor Jonathan focuses on the main takeaways God desires for our lives. He discusses everything from being obedient to God, to eating your vegetables, so buckle in and get ready!

CHILD DEDICATIONS

This Sunday, we had our child dedications. Naturally, we should take some time to truly understand what God is desiring for our children, and our parenting. Pastor Jonathan takes some time to unpack how seriously God takes our purity of heart and body in our dedication, both of our children and ourselves. One incredible example of this that we explore, is Samson's mother's dedication of him.

CREATION STORY, WEEK 1

In this first week of discussing the creation story, Pastor Jonathan teaches the Biblical view of creation as described in Genesis 1. In view of this, we see the beauty of God, the order that He has called us to, and the image that we are to reflect as His creation.

THE GREAT COMEBACK, WEEK 2

In this second week of exploring the incredible comebacks on display in the Bible, we focus in on three characters: Noah, Jacob, and Joseph. Seeing how these characters overcame great setbacks by relying on God, and choosing to persevere in the midst of incredibly difficult circumstances, shows us how we can do the same in our modern day.