WHO WE ARE: Formed by Christ • Living as Peacemakers | Colossians 3:15

[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we are encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ.! I'm Pastor Patrick Daly, and you're listening to the Sermon Podcast from January 11, 2026.

[0:16] Today, we are asking a critical and crucial question. Who are we? Not just what we do, but who are we as the Church?

[0:27] Ontario Community Church, our shared identity in Christ. Today, we are looking at Colossians 3, verse 15, with supporting texts throughout Scripture.

[0:41] Before we go in, I want you to picture something. There is a Japanese art called Kintsugi, where broken pottery is mended back together with gold.

[0:51] The cracks that are once broken, they are not hidden, rather, they are highlighted. And the piece becomes more valuable than it was before it even broke.

[1:01] That image captures our individual lives as well as our Church perfectly. The Church has existed for 80 years, and it's been on this journey, with a rich Japanese heritage, and it's incredible to see how God has been mending and molding us all along.

[1:21] To think about it, we are more valuable than we were before, because of how God has worked through our brokenness. Last week, we heard Christ's call to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers.

[1:36] But peacemaking flows from identity, and a peacemaking Church must know who it is. Today, we are exploring the 4-H framework, four biblical movements that name our shared identity as Ontario Community Church.

[1:53] Hope, Heart, Hospital, and Hub. These four movements, or four parts, they are a part of who we are. This is not who we hope to be someday.

[2:06] This is our present reality. This is who Christ is forming us to be right now. Now, let us dive into God's Word together. God's Word together.

[2:21] It's good to be here this morning with all of you. Today, you may have seen in your notes, very simple notes.

[2:32] I think you guys have gotten so used to seeing reference verses and all the things that is kind of a mirror or an echo of the sermon that we go over.

[2:44] But for this, this is a very special Sunday as we are going over this idea of who we are as a church body. You know, it took me some time to really reflect on not only who the church is, but who we are as the body of Christ.

[3:08] This church, Ontario Community Church. And I have this message after the fact that we've gone over this year's theme.

[3:20] You remember it? It's blessed are the peacemakers. The call to be a peacemaker and not a peacekeeper. And this is piggybacked off of last year where we were building bridges for Christ.

[3:33] Extending the light, love, and truth of Jesus Christ to other people. And for this year, as we are thinking of what it means to be a peacemaker, I felt that it was very appropriate for us to consider and to clearly define who we are as a church body.

[3:55] Every single church that you go to is unique in their own capacity. And what God has done here in this place, when we think of the past 80 years of faithfulness, is something that is remarkable.

[4:10] To think of the richness of the history of the people that have come and gone, the lives that have been transformed, and how God has worked in every single one of those lives.

[4:22] It goes to show the power and the testimony of our Lord and our God. And we have to think that all of that is part of a wonderful story that God has for this church, which leads us to where we are today.

[4:40] Before we even begin in going into who we are as a church, there's always been this image that has really resounded and stuck out to me. It's the image of a broken plate being mended back together, showing the transforming power of how God works in all of our lives.

[5:03] Many of you may know this artwork known as Kintsugi art, where it shows a broken plate or a broken bowl being put back together and becoming more valuable than it once was before.

[5:17] Not only is this culturally significant, but it is spiritually significant. To think for a moment that without God, we're a mess.

[5:28] We are like that broken plate. But it is in Christ that he makes us whole, that he puts us back together and molds us piece by piece.

[5:40] And how much more valuable we are in the eyes of God than we were to begin with. And that image, since coming to this church and learning about the rich Japanese history, is a very powerful image of God working then and God working now.

[6:03] And we have to think of today, who we are today, that Christ has made peace. And he forms each and every one of us individually.

[6:17] In the same way, he molds us as a church body. And we are being shaped as a people that share a common identity.

[6:28] And we're going to go over what you will see. You get to see the preview of what we're going over today. Hope, heart, hospital, and hub.

[6:41] I always like if I can find four H's or four E's where it's repeatable and it's easy to understand for all of us. And I want you to think that if someone asked you right now, what kind of church do you go to?

[6:59] Who is Ontario Community Church? What kind of church body are they? How you may answer may be different than the next person, and that's okay. Your own experience in this church, it could be the wonderful worship songs that we sing and we play together.

[7:17] It could be the preaching from the Word of God. It could be how we celebrate communion. It could even be us coming together as the body of Christ, praying for one another, loving one another as God has loved us.

[7:30] There can be, and these are not the only things. These are many things we can think of. What kind of church is Ontario Community Church? How would you tell someone about this church?

[7:45] Or who we are as a church body? When I came here to, when I first began pastoring here, one of the first things that I did was, we went over this in our interactive reading, is to encourage, equip, and engage.

[8:01] The mission, the vision of this church is to encourage people to love God and to love others, so that they come and see that the Lord is good, to equip the saints, to be able to learn what it means to be a Christian, learning the Word of God, and then, of course, to engage, be engaged in the community as well as the church, because we have to think God is doing a wonderful thing in this place, and us as representatives of Christ were to go out into the world and to be a peacemaker, to be an ambassador for Christ, to extend the love of Christ to other people in our everyday interactions.

[8:48] And in all of this, that is the mission and vision. But what about who we are? Because in order for us to continue to carry out the mission of Christ, we have to identify who we are as a church body.

[9:07] And so I want to go, let's go into the verse. You know what, let's pray, then we'll go into the verse, and we'll go from there. Father God, we thank you for this time, this opportunity, for us to really take a moment in the beginning of this year.

[9:24] We're grateful for how you have worked in and through our lives as well as this church congregation. We pray that there will be understanding, ears that can hear, and eyes that can see the good things that you are doing in this place.

[9:41] May we focus on you as the source, and may we be led by you, and may we see who we are so that we can live and love like you, carrying out the mission that you have set before us.

[9:57] We say this all in the name of Jesus. Amen, church? So I want to go to our scripture. It's just one verse here. Let's read it together, church.

[10:08] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. Now, normally I go over more than one specific verse.

[10:19] There's only been a handful of times I've gone over one or two verses. I usually go over more than that. But in this, the apostle Paul is writing to a church that is struggling with division.

[10:34] That doesn't happen nowadays, does it? We don't have divided churches. What is Paul talking about? That happened back in the day. We don't have those kind of problems whatsoever. Well, no.

[10:45] There's division in the church back in the day, just as it's been throughout the centuries. Church splits, arguments, and all these kind of things. Why? Because, well, we're imperfect people. A lot of us have a lot of opinions, right?

[10:59] We're not turning to the book of opinions, are we? We think about this. We see that the Jews and the Gentiles were trying to figure out how to be united as one body.

[11:11] Doesn't that sound familiar? To be united in Christ. Sometimes there are divisions. Sometimes there are arguments. And it's important for us to not focus on the things that divide us, but on the things that bring us together.

[11:25] And when we see this verse, to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, that word is to let the peace govern your life.

[11:38] Some scholars talk about it being like a referee or like a coach in your own life. How many of you guys have had a coach before, right? Someone that's helping you make sure that you're performing at your best, right?

[11:50] When you're playing soccer or football. Or if you've never had a coach, maybe you can think of someone that's helped you go to the gym, right? A personal trainer, those kind of things.

[12:00] Or a life coach, whatever it is. Someone that is helping, guiding you through life. And in this sense, we're talking about the peace of Christ governing. And are coaches inactive?

[12:13] Do they stand by the sidelines? No, they do not. Otherwise, that's a terrible coach, right? You have an active coach, right? You have someone that is interacting with you, making sure you are performing at your best.

[12:27] And in this case, this kind of peace that comes from Christ is one that is active in our very lives. And it's important for us to know this peace is active and it guides us.

[12:39] And so let's go to that next slide then. What is happening, right? The peace of Christ is to rule in our hearts, right? It is to rule within us. And it is to flow from us.

[12:51] It's no different than the inexpressible, inexhaustible joy from the Lord or the love of Christ. What we receive from the Lord is in abundance. And we share that to other people.

[13:04] And what a wonderful opportunity for each and every one of us to extend the peace of Christ, the truth of the gospel, the love of Christ, right?

[13:15] Because the second point here is that the peace shapes who we are. We have to realize that Christ molds us and transforms us.

[13:27] And we are all on this journey in Christ, or at least we all should be. You all got to know the Lord first and foremost. But to be in a journey with Christ, walking alongside.

[13:40] I think of how the disciples on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus was walking by these people and explaining how the scriptures pointed to him. You want to talk about the best coach.

[13:51] It'd be nice to have Jesus literally right there next to you as you're traveling, right? I can think of this image of maybe going on a road trip and having Jesus next to you and explaining the prophecies and how they point to him.

[14:03] But if you can't think about a literal journey, think about your own spiritual journey, your own walk in the Lord and how the Lord walks with you. We also have to remember that peace is received from Christ.

[14:18] We receive this peace and we extend it to others. Like I said, we think of us being a new creation, us having a new identity. Think of the fruit of the spirit and all of the attributes, the qualities of what we are to embody in.

[14:35] But also in the same way that peace forms us individually, it forms us collectively as a church body. So it's not just individuals, it forms people group.

[14:47] And this third point then, we are called into one body united in Christ. And I always love those verses when it talks about the different parts of the body, right? Some of us may be an ear, some of us may be a nose or maybe a little toe kind of thing.

[15:01] Essentially, we all have different parts and different functions within the body of Christ. And they are all important in the eyes of God. Now, I'm not going to call any of you guys a little toe or a big toe at that, but the purpose is they're all important.

[15:19] They all serve in different capacities. And so that's so important for us that there's diversity that exists within the body. And so we are to be called into one body, not to be in isolation, but to come together, to come together united in Christ.

[15:39] And peace is something, again, that shapes us from who we are and from that what we do. And so in that, what does that mean then for the church then?

[15:54] We can see that the text is talking about let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. But what does that mean for us here at Ontario Community Church, here in this town?

[16:09] Well, it's important to know then that we are to share Christ's peace and we have to know who we are. So it's important we identify who we are, where we belong to, and how God is working in our lives.

[16:30] And Christ does not merely give peace, as it says in Ephesians 2, verse 14. He is our peace. And in order for us to be peacemakers, we have to grow in our faith.

[16:44] We have to properly identify who we are as a church. And our identity then can be named and we have, I call it the 4-H framework. You don't have to call it that. That's just me and my crazy titles, right?

[16:57] Four words. Can we say this together? Hope, heart, hospital, and hub. Four words that define who we are as a church.

[17:11] So I want to go to the first one then. A hope that is found in Christ. Now, of course, Christ has to be central in our lives.

[17:23] That we trust in the living God. We trust in Jesus Christ as our strength and our salvation, right? We have to, we are anchored in hope. We are anchored in it.

[17:34] Just like as it says that in Hebrews 6, 19, many of you guys think of the anchor for the soul, right? And this image of this weight, right? We can also think of hope being our foundation, right?

[17:46] There's many different verses that talk about this. But in the Hebrews 6, 19, it states that we have this as a sure and a steadfast anchor for the soul.

[17:58] And so it begins by us knowing and seeking the Lord and knowing that in all of this culture and craziness and division that exists in the world, we seek Christ who is above all of that.

[18:14] Who transcends all of that. And I don't know about you, I really believe that this world needs hope more than ever before, especially with, let's face it, the year just began and how many crazy things have already happened?

[18:30] I don't want to go too much into that. But I'm seeing a lot of you shake your heads and see. We know a lot of craziness is going on and people need the hope in Jesus Christ more than ever before.

[18:44] Can you imagine living in a world without knowing Christ? Having that sense of hopelessness and division and fear that exists in culture, it's out there.

[18:56] But we turn to the Lord in every season of life, in every situation and circumstance in our life. And so, hope allows for us to build bridges and to cross bridges.

[19:12] It allows for us to be peacemakers. And hope grounds us in our faith. It is the foundation. That's why we believe in Jesus Christ as the source, the way, the truth, and the life.

[19:26] It is so important. And in Romans 15, 13, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. That we are to be filled with joy and with peace and we are to receive salvation in believing in Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[19:47] what wonderful things we receive. The most important thing being our salvation, but it doesn't stop there. We receive that peace.

[19:57] We receive joy and love and we're constantly being molded as God being the great potter and us being the clay. And so, Christ is not just our example.

[20:12] He is our Savior. He is our Lord. He is the King of Kings and He is the anchor for our souls. And it's important for us to know that when we face any sort of storm in life, culture, craziness, any sort of thing, some of us may have those emotions where we feel lost or abandoned or afraid or confused even, not understanding what's going on, but having that and having Christ is the greatest thing.

[20:46] Knowing that at the end of it all, it is God who reigns. He rules and reigns and He is victorious in the great battle between good and evil. And so, we don't deny that storms happen in life.

[21:00] We recognize storms are there, but we seek Christ as our anchor. No storm. Storms will pass, but the foundation in Christ will remain. Amen? And so, it's important for us to consider then, where is your anchor?

[21:17] Is it in Christ? Or is it in something that fades away because God doesn't change? He is everlasting to everlasting. Let us seek Christ and let us be a people that has our hope found in Christ.

[21:31] The second thing then is a heart. Let's read this together. A heart for God and neighbor. Right? It's so important for us to receive the love of Christ, this very powerful and beyond human understanding type of love.

[21:50] That God loves us in a way that is beyond us. Beyond our understanding and to know that we are called to love God and to love others in the same way, it's important for us to know that love is at the center then.

[22:08] It's just like that famous song, you guys probably know the Beatles, right? Love is all we need and specifically we need the love of Christ. And that love abounds from God's grace.

[22:20] We think of the fact that God loved us first and foremost. That he loved us and he sent his son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life.

[22:36] How is your relationship with God? A lot of us can answer that very easily. I'm good with God. How are you with other people? That's maybe a little harder one, right?

[22:48] It can be difficult at times but we are reminded in Matthew, Gospel of Matthew where Christ says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

[23:03] To love God and to love people is important. And so when we think of loving the Lord, love him back.

[23:14] But now to extend it to other people, even people that may look funny or smell funny or may dress different than you, we are to extend that love to others.

[23:27] We think about that. Those that, think about those that make us angry at times. Think about those that you might have cut off when driving or the one that cut you off, right?

[23:39] Or the one that's paying with pennies at the grocery store and you wonder why. we're called to love our neighbor as well. It's very important for us.

[23:50] We don't abandon love and in fact, I remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, many of you guys know that verse where it talks about love is patient, love is kind and it's talking about, that's the verse that's used very often at wedding ceremonies, right?

[24:07] And it's perfectly appropriate for weddings. But it's also important to look previously in 1 Corinthians 13 where it talks about if I speak in tongues, if I have the faith to move mountains, if I can do all of these things but I do not have love, the text says I am nothing.

[24:32] Ooh, ouch, right? And it's so important in that entire section before the Apostle Paul mentions what love is, it's important to know we have got to have the love of God and to extend it to other people.

[24:50] I mean, you want to talk about something that is challenging for all of us. We have to have love in addition with our ability, with our talents, with our proper beliefs, right?

[25:07] The language even talks about a clanging cymbal. I don't know about that. That doesn't sound very good, right? We think about that. All of these kind of things and that our, how we view God, how we see God, how we understand Scripture, let us not lose love in the process.

[25:31] And it's very unfortunate when you meet people who have it all here, right? They have it all in their brain, and they have it all in their head, but what about the heart?

[25:42] As you learn and as you grow, you must keep that love for God and for people. And let us think of how that ties in with the peace of Christ.

[25:55] Is the peace of Christ ruling in your heart? how is your heart? Are you reacting from fear or the pursuit?

[26:06] I've met many people who they want to be so right, yet the love is gone. That's why we are called to balance the grace, the love of Christ with the truth of the word.

[26:22] And it's not an easy thing to do, but we're called to balance in that. So let us love God and love neighbor. The third thing then that pops up, let's read this together.

[26:34] A hospital for the hurting. Now, this is something that is very unique with this church. Now, granted, there should be healing and transformation in every church, but when we're talking about this specific church, the simple fact that this church has been described to me by people within the congregation and outside in the community as a hospital for people to heal is something that is remarkable.

[27:00] It's something that we should pay attention to. A place of spiritual healing, a place where there is transformation, and we get this image of a hospital.

[27:12] Well, we have to think, as I mentioned in the very beginning, this idea of the broken plates that we're all broken and we all need the Lord. And this sense of us recovering.

[27:24] Now, it doesn't have to be you're on life support, right? Now, granted, before we know the Lord, we kind of need the Lord. That's the most important thing. But there's other times where there needs to be like physical therapy if you break your leg, right?

[27:41] You need to make sure the immediate pain is fixed and to nurture it and to be put into proper health and to a plan and think of how you can be fully restored.

[27:54] And I think about the history of this church. I think about how in the very beginning, the Japanese heritage and how the people could come together and worship God together.

[28:07] Talk about a place, a refuge, as it were. A place where there is that sense of healing from the very beginning.

[28:18] And then we even think about now how people are hurt in different capacities. It could be from racism. It could be from spiritual abuse.

[28:29] It could be just prayer for healing of the body. When we're talking about a hospital, I'm not just talking about physical healing. I'm talking about spiritual healing and allowing for God to work in and through all of our lives.

[28:44] Just like it says in Colossians, put on then compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, and patience, bearing with one another. Because the wonderful thing about a hospital, especially a church that is working and helping restore people, is that we help each other out.

[29:05] Bearing one another's burdens is so important. Now, I think I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again. There was a book that I was reading that out of every ten rebukes that are given, nine of them should have been prayer and presence.

[29:29] Being there to help someone and seeing, okay, what happened? instead of being so quick to rebuke and to attack someone as it were.

[29:41] It's not to say that rebuke can't happen, but more often than not, we have to think of how people receive misunderstandings in the world of Scripture or how people are hurt by even the world.

[29:56] We are to have, we have this church culture of where we help people. in Psalm 147 verse 3, he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

[30:12] A description of how God is, right, those that are brokenhearted and those that have been wounded, but also how us, as we are to share in the love of Christ, we are to help people heal.

[30:25] I can't tell you how many people I have talked with who have been hurt in one capacity or another. It's just living in a fallen and broken world.

[30:37] Sometimes it's, and a lot of times it's from the world. Sometimes it's from a brother or sister in Christ. It's reminding, it's important for us to be reminded that us as human beings we're imperfect and we live in an imperfect world, but we worship a perfect God who heals and restores each and every one of us and for us to be called to help people be restored, to be transformed and healed is a wonderful calling for us.

[31:06] That is something that the world does not have to offer. Sure, they have physical therapy. I'm not denying hospitals or something, but beyond that, something that is truly unique about our church, this hospital for the hurting.

[31:24] And healing takes time. It takes patience. It takes passion. And it's important for us to know that hospitals exist because people are wounded.

[31:36] Just like how Christ said that he came for those that were sick. That's important. We all need healing.

[31:47] We all need transformation. We all need to continue to be transformed by him. And so, for us being a peacemaker, we are living and loving like Christ.

[32:04] It's kind of like going out and being a nurse or going out and being a doctor, going out and representing Christ and saying, look, there's a better way. You're in darkness.

[32:15] Why don't you come to the light or you've been hurt. Come to Christ so that you can be healed. there's a better way. That's part of our mission in sharing the good news of the gospel.

[32:28] Sharing in our testimony and how, hey, I have been healed. I have been restored because of Christ. Because of how God has worked in my life. You should do the same.

[32:41] You should come and see that the Lord is good. And so, one final thing about a hospital is a simple fact that when we all come to church, none of us here are perfect.

[32:57] Raise your hand if you're a perfect person. I should not even be raising my hand in this sense. None of us are perfect. And that's why we continue to rely on the Lord, his strength, his comfort, his peace, all of these things.

[33:13] And so, ask yourself the question, are you making room for healing in yourself and in other people? The fourth thing then, let's read it together then.

[33:25] Let's go to that next slide. It is a hub for the community. Now, this is an interesting one because something that's important for us is we have this sense of healing, but a place where people can gather together.

[33:44] I always like, I have this painting that my mother got me. It's called The Little Brown Church. And it's a little church building. It's like, you know, circa the 1800s kind of thing.

[33:56] Just an old school country church. And I love that image of a church being a place where people gather together to worship the Lord, right? The corporate body, the body of Christ coming together.

[34:08] But also as a place where in a lot of those kind of towns, all the church building was used for town halls and was also used for school, was also used for many different things.

[34:21] And granted, we're not in that kind of an area, but the idea of having, being a hub for the community is very powerful, not only just for the church community, the church body, but also as an invitation for the community to come and see what we are doing, what we are about, that the Lord is good and that we have our own culture, we have our own way and that God is doing a remarkable thing in this place.

[34:53] As Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 states, you are no longer strangers, but members of the household of God. It's important for us to know that we are not only building the church here where we as Amber was mentioning earlier, we'll be having Bible studies, we will be having Sunday school, we'll be having the life of the church, but as also what is important is to have an opportunity for us to be present within the community, to build relationships with people and to represent Christ because when we have these parent cafes and these dad cafes, it allows for conversation, it allows for people to, maybe they've never been to a church before or they have a misunderstanding or they've been hurt before, and you allow to plant seeds with other people.

[35:52] Now certainly we're called to go out into the community and to serve and to represent Christ as we go out from the doors of the church, but it's also as important to invite the community on in.

[36:04] Just building relationships. You know, it's interesting the constant conversation that I have with our own community partnerships about how people say, oh, you're a church.

[36:17] Why are you working with this organization? Well, because we're working for the common good. This XYZ or building healthy families is focused on having strong families and so do we.

[36:32] We focus on that as well. so we have a common goal. Now, certainly, they're not going to talk about Christ, but you don't think that Christians being present in that space would allow for relationships to mold, to be formed, and people to ask questions.

[36:51] it happens all the time. Hey, you're a pastor. How do you raise your kids? And I answer, not perfectly. Right?

[37:02] A lot of people tend to think, like, oh, you're a pastor, you must have it down. No, I don't. You should see a Sunday morning sometime when you're getting the kids up. It's chaotic. They're kids.

[37:14] Okay? And I'm sure if you haven't thought of that, maybe think of the time when you were a kid. Did you get up every Sunday ready to rock and roll? The answer is no.

[37:25] Right? But it's so important to just be present and to have those kind of conversations. Now, it doesn't mean everyone will come to Christ. It doesn't mean everyone will come to our church, but at least the effort is being made with people.

[37:40] As we are called out to share in the love of Christ and build those relationships, you never know the profound impact you will have by simply being present, especially those in the community, especially those who are in need.

[37:56] That's why when we're looking at a hospital for the hurting and a hub for the community, I have to be very intentional by explaining church culture as well as community presence because they're both important.

[38:10] A hub, then, is a place of presence, a place where connections are made, where relationships are built, and also a place of belonging. And we have to be reminded as we've gone over in last week's sermon how Christ tore down the dividing wall.

[38:30] Christ tore down the dividing walls and we are to live with open minds and open hearts to other people, to exhibit that love and to stand firm on the truth of the word.

[38:45] And so in all of this, we have to ask ourselves, how can we serve one another and how can we serve those in the community representing Christ?

[38:58] Because think about it, isn't the community our neighbor? Just as we're called to love God and to love our neighbor, what better opportunity than to be present with those in the community?

[39:09] You'd be amazed the kind of stories and the kind of people they are. And it's an honor to meet them, for them to feel safe enough to even walk in a church.

[39:22] It's crazy, I mean, it can be hard for us to think that there are some people who are afraid of even entering a church building, but yet they enter for the first time. Praise God that progress is being made.

[39:37] And so all of this, how can we serve each other and our community who is our neighbor? And so in all of this, let's go to this next slide.

[39:50] This is who Christ is forming us to be. As people who have received peace, we are people who bring peace to others.

[40:01] As we receive love, we are to share in love. We are to share in how God is working in all of our lives. And last year we were talking about building bridges and this year we are being a peacemaker, carrying out Christ's mission to the church and to the community.

[40:24] Think about that. Think about how important all of these four things are in our own church context. This isn't who we hope to be someday.

[40:38] This is our reality as a church body. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. We are to love God and love our neighbors. We are to be that hospital for those that are hurting and a hub for the community.

[40:55] Let us think about that. Let us think of how Christ calls for us to have that peace rule within our hearts. All of these things are equally important.

[41:06] what an honor it is for us to be here today and to know that God is working in all of us.

[41:18] We think of the future, we think of the present, and we think of the past. All of these things. And so this is who Christ is forming us to be today.

[41:32] Let us think of all of this together. that this is who we are as a church. And we thank God for that. We thank God that we are formed by Christ and we are called to live as peacemakers.

[41:48] And so in closing, I didn't have all the crazy notes that I normally have, but I want you to take this home and to reflect on this and to reflect on how God is working in this place and will continue to work in this place and how this identifies who we are as the local church and how we are called to live and love like Christ.

[42:22] Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for this insight, for your word, for this congregation, for this church and those who are attending even online.

[42:42] You have given us wisdom and insight. I pray, Father, that we remain rooted in you. May we recognize that our hope is found in your son, Jesus Christ, and that who we are, we have a heart for you, Father God, and for other people.

[43:07] And who we are is a hospital for the hurting. Father, I think of all the people who have been hurt in some capacity, those who need spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, holistic type of healing, and how you have done so.

[43:26] And how you transform each and every one of us. And who we are, Father, how you have revealed that we are a hub for the community, a hub for our congregation, and a hub for those, for our neighbors, to come and see who we are, but most importantly, who you are.

[43:48] We love you so much. And we ask that we may remain united in Christ, that we seek unity, and that we can be a peacemaker in our lives, in our own personal context.

[44:09] And Father, we are in awe of who you are, what you have done, what you continue to do, that you remain everlasting to everlasting, and that you are the foundation may we build our lives and our church upon you.

[44:27] May we never abandon love, and may we always care for you and for others. May we represent Christ in what we say and in what we do.

[44:38] It is in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray, and we all say together, can I get an amen, church? Amen. Amen. Thank you for joining us for this message from Ontario Community Church.

[44:52] Today we have reflected on who we are as a church body, not just what we do, but our shared identity in Christ. Just like that Kintsugi pottery, we are broken, and we are mended together with gold, the gold of God's grace, and we are made more valuable through our journey in Christ.

[45:12] I want you to think about these four movements, or the 4-H framework. We are a hope found in Christ, and we are anchored when everything else is shaking around.

[45:25] We are a hope for God and neighbor, loving with more than just correct beliefs. We are a hospital for the hurting, a place where healing and transformation happens, and wounds don't have to be hidden.

[45:39] And we are a hub for the community, where church family and neighbors and people from the community can gather together and belong. These four pieces, or these four movements, the 4-H, they belong together, hope, heart, hospital, and hub.

[45:59] This is our present reality. This is who Christ is forming us to be today. And as people who have received peace, we live as people who bring peace to the world.

[46:11] last year, we focused on building bridges, and this year, in 2026, we're crossing those bridges as peacemakers, the ones who carry out Christ's mission.

[46:26] May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. May you know where your hope is anchored. May love flow from your heart. May you find healing and offer it to others.

[46:38] And may you see the church not just as a place that you attend, but as a place where you belong. You can find all of today's resources at ontariocommunitychurch.org.

[46:50] There, you will find slides, sermon notes, Bible studies, and interactive reading. You can also find us on YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[47:05] May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and give you peace. May the Lord of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[47:22] God bless you and thank you. God bless you.

[48:06] God bless you.