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Each year, churches across Canada set aside IDOP Sunday to stand with believers who face persecution for following Christ. This Sunday, TOB joins them in praying for our brothers and sisters who follow Jesus where faith costs the most. We’re blessed to welcome Chris Chase from Open Doors Canada to lead us in prayer.

James 1:19 and 3:1-12 “Quick to listen, slow to speak” (1:19) makes us all stop and think. But James isn’t done. In Chapter 3 he declares that even a wild animal can be tamed, but the tongue cannot. So where’s the good news? You might be surprised.

James 1:1-12, Romans 5:1-8 We’ve all heard it: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But that’s not so easy when the lemons are a difficult diagnosis, a lost job or a broken relationship. James doesn’t offer a slogan. He tells us to count it all joy, not because trials are good, but because God can use them to build endurance and shape mature faith. Walking through James 1 and Romans 5, we’ll see how God can bring good out of life’s hardest moments. If life has handed you lemons lately, come and be encouraged.

Deuteronomy 8:1-20 Entitlement, self-reliance, and plain old "I forgot" quietly crowd out gratitude. Moses' answer isn't to try harder. Israel is standing at the edge of the Promised Land after forty years in the wilderness, and Moses has a warning: when life gets comfortable, it's easy to forget who brought you there. On Thanksgiving Sunday we'll see why gratitude grows out of remembering, and why the good news is that even when we forget God, he never forgets us.

2 Corinthians 8–9 Your money has a voice. What is it singing? This Sunday, we’ll look at 2 Corinthians 8 and what generosity reveals about our hearts. We give because Jesus gave first.

Ephesians 6:5–9 Worship is more than a song — we worship God in our work, too. Ephesians 6 calls us to "do the will of God from the heart." Paul was writing to slaves and slave masters, the economic reality of the Roman Empire in his day. So how does a follower of Jesus serve wholeheartedly? How do we honor the authority over us at work "just as you would obey Christ"? Worship, it turns out, is more than a song.

Matthew 3:1–17 At Jesus' baptism the Spirit descends and the Father speaks: "This is my Son." In a world of many gods and many celebrities, only one is worthy of worship — Jesus our Lord. He became man, he lived among us, he died for us, he conquered death, and he is coming back to establish a world of peace and justice. Our own baptism declares that same worship and allegiance to Jesus our Lord.

Acts 2; Hebrews 10:19–25 Walk into our worship space on a Tuesday afternoon and you'll find carpet, cables, and rows of empty chairs. It's just a room — nothing about it feels holy. So what changes on Sunday morning? Some of us have been walking into church buildings our whole lives. Others are still deciding what to make of all this. Either way, it's worth stopping to ask a question most of us never actually answer: why did God design his people to gather, and what happens in a person when they do? The answer has very little to do with the room, and far more to do with what God does in the people who fill it.

As we finish our journey through the Psalms, let's remember why God gave us this prayer book. While most of Scripture speaks to us, the Psalms give us words to answer the God who speaks first. Prayer isn't just a goal — it's the way we grow closer to God. As Psalm 25:14 says, “The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him.” As we move into a new season, we're not leaving the Psalms behind; we carry them with us, holding onto this prayer book and the One who is always faithful.

Psalm 103 David gives us so much to unpack in this awe-inspiring psalm — blessings abundant enough to satisfy our souls in this life. How can we overlook them? A man after God's own heart, David sings through poetry about a heart made for worship. In Psalm 103, we see God's rich, steadfast love: His grace, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness that call — no, beckon — us as believers in Jesus to remember who our Lord is for us.

Psalm 95 calls us into worship with open arms: “Come, let us sing for joy... let us shout aloud.” But it doesn't stop at celebration — it moves us to our knees: “Come, let us bow down... let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” True worship holds both postures: joyful praise and humble surrender. This week, we ask whether our worship is just words, or whether it shapes how we live. Let's worship with all that we are.

Psalm 121 Much of life is spent looking downward — at our problems, our phones, or our own feet. Psalm 121 begins with a different posture: “I lift up my eyes.” When the psalmist looks upward, he discovers more than a view; he finds a promise — the Maker of heaven and earth is personally attentive to him. Again and again, the psalm offers the same assurance: the Lord keeps you, your Helper in trouble and your Keeper in every season. This week, we'll learn to lift our eyes to the God who is always watching over us.

Psalm 73 When life feels unfair and God's people are struggling, our faith in His goodness can be tested. Asaph, a worship leader in ancient Israel, wrestled with this very doubt — and Psalm 73 tells his story. This week, we'll walk through his journey from envy and confusion to renewed trust, and see how his struggle speaks to our own.

Psalm 88 Have you ever cried out to God and heard nothing — prayed through the pain, waited for an answer, and wondered if He was even listening? Psalm 88 is one of the darkest passages in Scripture, as the psalmist pours out his heart, convinced God has abandoned him. Yet this isn't a psalm of despair; it's a psalm of wisdom. What does God teach us when heaven seems silent, and what does real faith look like when our circumstances don't change?

Psalm 128 is a Song of Ascents, sung by pilgrims climbing toward Jerusalem with hearts set on worship. This week, we follow that same ascent into a portrait of true blessing. What does life look like for those who fear the Lord? Not drudgery, but flourishing — a full table, a secure home, generations blessed. This is the life God invites us into. Come climb the hill with us.