Sunday Morning Preview - July 29, 2018

I hope you will be able to join me this Sunday for Part 2 of “Sola Gratia”.

In Part 1 we established from scripture that we cannot save ourselves and therefore God’s grace is everything for the Christian. By grace alone, God chose us, by grace alone, Christ died for us, and by grace alone, God causes us to be born again from the state of spiritual death. 

Now I want to turn our attention to two problems that arise in the thinking of some people where justification by an action of God’s grace alone is concerned:

1.) Why must God break into the world to justify the ungodly by grace? What’s the big problem? What is so terribly wrong? 

2.) If God is the lone agent in justification, why doesn’t He save everyone?

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - July 22, 2018

It is with a great deal of excitement (and a little sadness) that I announce the departure of Pastor Joel and Hannah from the ministry team at DCC. 

Winnipeg Evangelical Free Church (On Lagimodiere) has offered Joel the position of Senior Pastor of their inner-city church plant, Grace Point Church and Joel has accepted and announced his resignation from Lighthouse Mission. Previous commitments mean that this Sunday will be Joel and Hannah’s last at Dakota so please come out to help us celebrate, say thank-you, and commission them with joy and prayer.

Also this Sunday I will continue our Summer Series on the Five Solas with week one of Sola Gratia - “Salvation by Grace Alone” 

We are rescued from God’s wrath by His grace alone, not by any work we do. God’s blessing in Christ is the sole efficient cause of salvation. This grace is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who brings us to Christ, releasing us from bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - July 1, 2018

I hope everyone will be able to join me this Canada Day long weekend for the launch of our 2018 Summer Sermon Series entitled, “The Five Solas of the Reformation”.

We live in a day when the authority of Scripture is openly challenged, the necessity of grace and faith for salvation are ridiculed, Christ’s exclusive claim as the only way to the Father is mocked, and the Glory of God is profaned in favour of cultural acceptance and the approval of man.

The temptation to view the central ideas underpinning the Protestant Reformation as relics from a bygone era, best relegated to the scrap heap of history and forgotten, could not be more off base. Now more than ever the Church needs to be equipped to stand against secular onslaughts from without and deceiving wolves from within. This year our Summer Series is designed to do just that. I hope you will join me.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - June 17, 2018

Please join us at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning gets under way at 9:45 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service begins at 10:30 with our usual time of worship and fellowship, and then Pastor Dan Van De Laar will be continuing his current sermon series entitled; A Study Through the Epistle of Hebrews.

If you’ve missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - June 10, 2018

Please join me this Sunday morning at DCC as we conclude our time in the Book of Malachi with Part Two of “The Day of the Lord”.

Having looked at a tremendous amount of scripture relating the many warnings and promises concerning the day of the Lord, there are many directions we could follow in our study of the topic from this point. One thing emerges in my mind as an overwhelming fact, —  when the Bible covers a topic this extensively, we are not left the option to ignore it or to write it off as the purview of a few intellectual scholars and some wing-nut fanatics.

The authors of the New Testament seem to be united in the idea that believers are to possess a faith-sustained holiness on the day of Christ — the day of His return, when the dead in Christ will be raised.

This Sunday we will examine what exactly it means to be “blameless at the coming of our Lord”.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - June 3, 2018

Over the last few weeks and months as I pored over the scriptures in preparation for this Sunday’s sermon, an amazing thing happened. Going back and forth, back and forth, to and fro, to and fro in my Bible (also drawing on a few key websites); suddenly the numbers all began to sync up in an almost magical way. Finally after more than two millennia the long hidden “day and hour” had emerged. 

Join me this Sunday morning as I announce the time and date of the great and terrible day! Also remember to bring your best (largest $$ sum) seed offering to help get this exciting news published around the world in every language… just kidding. Can you imagine?

Unfortunately the topic of this week’s passage has become associated, in the minds of many, with this kind of nonsensical hucksterism. Our goal this week will be to cut through all the silliness and get to the vitally important warnings and precious promises that will reach their ultimate fulfilment on The Day of the LORD.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - May 20, 2018

This fallen world can be a scary place. 

Natural disasters, wild animals, debilitating diseases, and sin-bent people all present endless, horrible possibilities. Our worst fears might spring upon us at any given moment causing  pain and suffering beyond all ability to endure. 

Those who want to avoid a life of cowering in paralysed isolation learn not to spend too much time thinking about it.

Enter the Bible with its approximately 120 admonitions to “fear not”.

Really? And what about the oft-repeated command to fear God? Isn’t that a contradiction?

Please join me this Sunday for more on this in, “The Fear of God - Part 2”.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - May 13, 2018

Please join me at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning begins at 9:30 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service will begin at 10:30 during which we will enjoy our usual time of worship, fellowship, and finally, Joel Cormie will be continuing his sermon series with week twelve in the book of Colossians. 

If you missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - May 6, 2018

Please join us at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning gets under way at 9:45 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service begins at 10:30 with our usual time of worship and fellowship, we will share Communion, and then Pastor Dan Van De Laar will be continuing his current sermon series entitled; A Study Through the Epistle of Hebrews. 

If you’ve missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - April 22, 2018

Please join me this Sunday morning as we continue our journey through the Book of Malachi with the conclusion of my sermon entitled Land of Delight.

In Part One we asked and answered a couple of very important questions regaurding this well known passage:

• Does the teaching on tithing in Malachi 3:9-10 apply to us today?
• Is the Christian who does not tithe cursed with a curse?
• Why doesn’t Paul use the command to tithe to enforce his efforts to raise money in the NT?

A correct understanding of scripture does not allow us to place Christians under a command to tithe, especially not a command that carries with it any kind of curse for failing to comply. How then can the church survive in a time when there is no end to consumer options and opportunity?

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - April 8, 2018

We all knew this day was coming. From that first fateful moment last October when I announced my intention to preach a series on the Book of Malachi … 

we resisted it, tried to ignore it, but  all along … 

WE KNEW! 

Malachi 3:9-10 has been relentlessly approaching, consuming our thoughts, denying us sweet sleep; looming on the horizon like a dark storm cloud ready to rain down death and destruction.

Well, okay, maybe I’ve been obsessing about it a little more than most of you have. 

Here is the million dollar question I intend to answer as we walk through this next passage:

Does the teaching on tithing in Malachi 3:9-10 apply to Christians?

I hope you will join me!

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - March 25, 2018

As we continue to work our way through the Book of Malachi we discover that God’s people have attempted to side-step His accusations of unfaithfulness by pointing their fingers at Him and launching a counter accusation of their own. 

“Even if we have been unfaithful, You have blessed the wicked and allowed injustice to prevail in the land.” (Pastor Dan paraphrase)

The LORD acknowledges their complaint with an assurance that no wicked deed is going unnoticed and that at the appropriate time every injustice will be righteously resolved. This assurance however, is not given in a sweet and comforting tone, instead it comes as a hard promise with terrifying imagery.

Justice will come in the form a messenger, a man who will scorch and scrub and execute judgement.

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

I hope to see everyone this Sunday morning at DCC.

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - March 18, 2018

We’ve spent the last little while in the book of Malachi reviewing God’s accusation that His people are not treating Him as Holy, citing their conduct as evidence. 

Now the children of Israel give a defense of their behaviour saying, “God blesses the wicked and allows injustice to go unchecked. How can He expect to be revered as holy and sovereign when this is the case?” 

I can see their point and will admit I too find it frustrating when the wicked prosper.

On Tuesday night I watched the Jets lose to Nashville and I had to change the channel I was so upset. The Predators  were playing really dirty hockey; slashing, hooking, holding, and cross-checking in plain view of the officials who were clearly calling the game with a strong bias for the home team. 

Most of you are probably noticing a more obvious bias. 

Could something similar be happening when we accuse the Lord of allowing injustice?

Please join me this Sunday as we examine this issue in greater detail and discover God’s exciting response. 

Pastor Dan

Time Change Tonight

Sunday Morning Preview - March 11, 2018

This Sunday at DCC we will share Communion and then wrap up last Sunday’s sermon. Issues still to be covered include:

• How crucial is marriage to the Christian life and should all adult believers pursue it?
• Must all christian marriages produce children? If so how many is enough or how many would be too few? In this age of birth control options, who makes the final decision?
• When it comes to parenting and discipline, how strict is the christian standard? 
• The homeschool vs public school debate has been raging for generations in the church now — which side is right? We’ve all heard their arguments, but what's really motivating the other side?

If you missed the March 4 message you can hear it here: 

http://decormie2551.sermon.net/main/main/21121631

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - March 4, 2018

I hope everyone will be able to join me this Sunday as we wrap up our study of Malachi 2:10-16 with an in-depth look at the marriage covenant and several important issues that flow out of it.

• How crucial is marriage to the christian life and should all adult believers pursue it?
• What role, if any, does individual happiness play when the union is difficult and divorce seems like the best option for everyone involved?
• Must all christian marriages produce children? If so how many is enough or how many would be too few? In this age of birth control options, who makes the final decision?
• When it comes to parenting and discipline, how strict is the christian standard? 
• The homeschool vs public school debate has been raging for generations in the church now — which side is right? We’ve all heard their arguments, but what's really motivating the other side?

Don’t miss out when the fur hits the fan this Sunday at DCC - safety goggles and helmets are recommended!

Pastor Dan

Sunday Morning Preview - February 25, 2018

Please join me at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning begins at 9:30 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service will begin at 10:30 during which we will enjoy our usual time of worship, fellowship, and finally, Joel Cormie will be continuing his sermon series with week eleven in the book of Colossians. 

If you missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - February 11, 2018

Please join us at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning gets under way at 9:45 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service begins at 10:30 with our usual time of worship and fellowship, we will share Communion, and then Pastor Dan Van De Laar will be continuing his current sermon series entitled; A Study Through the Epistle of Hebrews. 

If you’ve missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - February 4, 2018

Please join us at DCC this Sunday morning for what is sure to be a wonderful time in fellowship and in the Word of God.

The morning gets under way at 9:45 with pre-service prayer and then coffee time.

The service will begin at 10:30 with our usual time of worship and fellowship, followed by Pastor Dan Van De Laar with the continuing sermon series which he has entitled; A Study Through the Epistle of Hebrews. 

If you’ve missed any of the earlier messages in the series they are available on our website at www.dakotacommunitychurch.com

Hope to see you all there! 

- Pastor Dan 

Sunday Morning Preview - January 28, 2018

This Sunday at DCC we will have our Annual Business Meeting which includes the 2017 Financial Report and the Budget Projection for 2018. This past year was in many ways our best to date fiscally so please come out as we rejoice in God’s faithfulness and answered prayer.

I expect the business meeting will be short, encouraging, and uneventful and that there will be plenty of time to wrap up the passage of Malachi that we have been working through for the past month.

I must admit that it delights me to no end to be able to preach a sermon entitled “Unfaithful-Part 3” on the day of the annual business meeting. Hope to see everyone there!

Pastor Dan

P.S. The sermon is about marriage, not money!