Living Stones Church Red Deer

06/23/2026

06/20/2026

The true measure of a person is not what they have acquired or achieved but what they have had to endure, struggle through, and suffer in their lives to fulfil God’s purposes and assignment for their lives.

John Piper writes in “The Roots of Endurance,” “I have found myself in conversation with Christians for whom it is simply a given that you do not put yourself or your family at risk. The commitment to safety and comfort is an unquestioned absolute. The demands of being a Christian in the twenty-first century will probably prove to be a rude awakening for such folks. Since we have not embraced the Calvary road voluntarily, God may simply catapult us onto it as he did the home-loving saints in Acts 11:19: “Those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word.’ …Being a Christian should mean that our trajectory is toward need, regardless of danger and discomfort and stress. In other words, Christians characteristically will make life choices that involve putting themselves and their families at temporal risk while enjoying eternal security.”

Recently, I read a book by my friend, Dean Merrill entitled ‘Strong to the End.’ “When David and Alicia Lloyd opened a children’s home in Haiti, they had no idea how their hearts would soar, humbled by the way God was expanding and blessing the ministry. And they had no idea how much it would cost—their son, his young wife, and their dear friend. Strong to the End tells the story of Davy, Natalie, and Judes—their lives, dreams, love, faith, and deaths.” It’s the testimony of a missionary couple in their early twenties who gave their lives for the needy in Haiti and were killed by gang violence.

Paul has been addressing the threat of false teachers who deceive and lead people away from the truth found in the gospel of Jesus. In defence of his ministry to keep the Corinthians from rejecting him and the true message of the gospel, he begins to explain what he has endured. In essence, he explains the cost of being an effective disciple maker. Paul is going to focus on the price he had paid to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. What does this mean for us today? What cost will we have to pay?

Join us tomorrow at 9:30 AM, 11:15 AM or 6:00 PM for Pastor Paul's message, "Facing the Cost of Being an Effective Disciple Maker."

06/17/2026

"We must remember that truth is not just right ideas or teachings, but a person. Jesus stated that He is the way, the truth and the life. Let us pray that we remain alert and diligent, as John admonishes us to test the spirits to see whether they are from God (cf. 1 John 4:1).

Let us pray that God would give us discernment, but above all a heart that loves the truth and so be saved from deception." - Dr. Paul Vallee.

To read Pastor Paul's blog post, "The Critical Reason That Evil Needs to Be Exposed," click here: https://drpaulvallee.com/2026/06/15/the-critical-reason-that-evil-needs-to-be-exposed-2/

06/17/2026

Context determines whether we should respond and, if so, how to respond.

06/14/2026

11:15 AM Streaming Service – Pastor Paul Vallee

We want to connect with you! Use our online Connect Card (https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/connect) for more info, prayer requests, online giving or if you would like to start your journey with Jesus!

Check out our digital bulletin to stay up to date with what's happening at LSC! https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/bulletin.

Website: https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/live
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com//streams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingStonesChurchRedDeer

06/14/2026

9:30 AM Streaming Service – Pastor Paul Vallee

We want to connect with you! Use our online Connect Card (https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/connect) for more info, prayer requests, online giving or if you would like to start your journey with Jesus!

Check out our digital bulletin to stay up to date with what's happening at LSC! https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/bulletin.

Website: https://www.livingstones.ab.ca/live
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com//streams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingStonesChurchRedDeer

06/14/2026

THE CRITICAL REASON WHY EVIL NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED

Nearly forty years ago, one of the spiritual leaders in our church family attended a two-day event sponsored by a group that challenged the validity of his faith in Christ. He was told that he was not experiencing the totality of the gospel and that he needed to do certain things for it to occur in his life. The approach was fear-driven and moved him away from the ‘freedom that there is in Christ’ to a very legalistic bo***ge. When I went to visit him and his wife to see what was happening, they shared that we were not preaching the whole gospel. As he explained the nature of what he was taught, I tried to show them the folly of that understanding. However, I was unable to persuade them that what they were embracing was not the biblical position that believers have in Christ. In trying to understand what happened to this couple, I was preaching a series on Colossians when I came across a text that explained it very simply.

Colossians 2:8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8 (New Century Version) - Be sure that no one leads you away with false and empty teaching that is only human, which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ.

The strength of evil is its deceptive nature. Paul is about to expose the insidious nature of what was transpiring and the underlying source of the conflict, evil, and divisiveness in the Corinthian church. There is a distortion of the gospel which Paul needs to address. Motivated out of a deep love and desire for the Corinthians to walk in holiness and purity, Paul, as a spiritual father, is jealous for his spiritual children to present them to Christ as a pure bride to their heavenly bridegroom.

Paul realizes that some of the Corinthians have tolerated the folly of these false teachers and their boastings. We now enter a polemic or an approach that Paul feels reluctant to do, but because of the self-aggrandizement of these false teachers, Paul states that he will use boasting in an ironic sense to depreciate the value of the false teacher’s message and boasts. His desire is to warn these believers of the duplicity and danger that they are currently experiencing. He is hoping to awaken them from the danger of this spiritual deception.

Paul is trying to expose these false messengers, who are propagating a false Jesus, Spirit, and gospel. We are going to examine his approach in dealing with this deception.

Join us tomorrow at 9:30 AM, 11:15 AM, or 6:00 PM for Pastor Paul's message, "The Critical Reason Why Evil Needs to be Exposed."