Gone Fishing Under Control | Pastor Ian O'brien | October 4th, 2026
What does it really mean to trust God when we are so accustomed to feeling like we have everything figured out? This message digs into a fascinating moment in Matthew 12 where Jesus responds to the Pharisees' demand for a sign by pointing them to the story of Jonah. On the surface, it might seem like a simple exchange, but beneath it lies a profound challenge to the way we approach our faith. The Pharisees were not simply villains. They were deeply committed people who had convinced themselves that through rigorous effort, careful rule-keeping, and tight control over their world, they could bring about the outcomes they desired. Sound familiar? The spiritual lesson here cuts close to home. When we reduce God to someone who must operate within the boundaries of our expectations, we are not really trusting him at all. We are trusting our own version of him. Jesus draws a striking parallel between Jonah's time in the belly of the fish and his own coming death and resurrection, reminding us that God's greatest movements often look nothing like what we would have planned. The invitation in this message is a deeply personal one. Are we willing to examine the walls we have built around our faith, and consider what it might look like to finally let them down?
30 Sept 2026
Gone Fishing (Stop Asking How) | Pastor Mark Knight | September 27th 2026
What does it truly mean to understand the assignment God has placed on our lives? In this powerful exploration of Jonah chapter 3, we dive into one of the most striking moments of second chances in all of Scripture. After running from God, being swallowed by a great fish, and spending three days in darkness, Jonah finally arrives at a crossroads that mirrors struggles we all face: will we obey God even when we do not have all the answers? The central lesson here is both challenging and liberating. God does not always give us the full picture before calling us to move. He told Jonah to go to Nineveh and promised the message would come once Jonah arrived. This is a direct confrontation with our tendency to demand a complete roadmap before we take a single step of faith. We are reminded that direction in our lives most often comes not from external circumstances but from internal revelation, born in quiet moments of honest surrender. The story also reframes how we think about adversity. The belly of the fish was not a punishment without purpose. It was transportation. God used that dark, difficult season to redirect Jonah's heart and prepare him for the assignment ahead. The same is true for us. The difficult seasons we find ourselves in are not the final word on our destiny. Our destiny is our heart being at one with God, and that inner alignment has the power to transform even the most broken destinations we inhabit.
22 Sept 2026
Gone Fishing (You Can Drift Through It Or You Can Get Through It) | Pastor Mark Knight | September 20th, 2026
What does it mean to drift through life versus intentionally pushing through it? In this message drawn from Jonah chapters 1 and 2, we are invited to examine the difference between our destination and our destiny. Jonah's story is more than a dramatic tale of a man swallowed by a great fish. It is a mirror held up to our own tendencies to run from what God has called us to, to let fear of a difficult assignment pull us away from our purpose. The belly of the fish is not just a place of punishment. It is a place of crushing, and as we explore, powerful things come on the other side of crushing. Just as grapes must be pressed to produce wine and olives must be crushed to produce oil, the tight, dark, overwhelming places in our lives can be the very environments where God is preparing us for what he has called us to. The message challenges us to stop allowing our current destination, whether a broken relationship, a financial struggle, a health crisis, or a season of confusion, to define our destiny. God's process is intentional, and what looks like trouble may actually be transportation.
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