"⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11).
The equation: (God is real) + (He is actually pursuing us [and has been since the beginning]) = God is findable! We think this is Good News! Our pursuit of God therefore is invariably an encounter with Jesus. TOGETHER we BELIEVE, and this is awesome in the fullest sense of the word. We approach the pursuit of God expecting HIM.
Believing this way is an optimism that informs everything we do. God is at work in the world, not the least of which God IS at work in Calvary North Bay! Because BELIEVING in God is first, the Gospel and its implications is our priority at Calvary. In fact, the gospel witnessed is the chief way God is rightly revealed (and therefore rightly BELIEVED upon). The apostle Paul in Romans 1:14-17 states,"¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:14-17).
Believing in God is the antecedent (first) step to believing God. “Belief in” is not the end. At Calvary, “BELIEVE” is dynamic, progressive and communal. Not that we add to the gospel (God forbid!), rather, the gospel adds to US! We become under the glory of HIS grace!
Paul describes this process as “from faith for faith.” Passion to please God is misguided sentimentality if it is divorced from the gospel witnessed. Together WE speak, live and evidence the GOOD NEWS.
In Pentecostal terms, it is Spirit word and Spirit deed. At Calvary, we are keenly aware that this life we receive in Christ, is an in-step journey with the Holy Spirit.
Believing is more than mental assent, it is confessional sojourning. Believe happens when “correct talk” informs and is informed by “in step with the Spirit walk.”
“¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law…²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:16-18; 25-26).
We are passionate about the gospel because HE is passionate about us, and He is passionate about others.
“In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Eph. 1:5, 6).
“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk. 12:32).
God loves more than just the church. John tells us that the death of Jesus Christ is evidence, not that He loves the church (which He does), but rather that He loves the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
We therefore afford everyone the same opportunity we have enjoyed, enjoy daily and will enjoy in eternity. With regard to BELIEVE, our faith is bound to love and directed towards the Lord Jesus and our neighbours.“⁴ I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the]saints; ⁶ and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. ⁷ For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother” (Phil 1:4-7 - NASB).
Not unlike Paul’s witness of the saints in Philippi, our Believe is bound to love, and both are necessarily directed Godward and neighbour-ward. Our love for the Lord Jesus extends to people and our faith in the Lord Jesus gives us cause to Believe in each other. Said differently, because we love and believe in Jesus Christ, we love and believe in each other! Love is both the genesis and the ultimate expression of our BELIEVE. Love is a matter of faith (and vice versa). LOVE makes substantial what is otherwise just sentimental. As a people of faith, TOGETHER we become (Colossians 3:16).
Notice how BELIEVE was expressed by the BELIEVERS TOGETHER Acts 2.
⁴² The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, cultivation of unity, their meal, and their prayers. ⁴³ Awe overtook everyone. The apostles became the agents of numerous portents and miracles. ⁴⁴ All the believers remained together and shared everything. ⁴⁵ They would sell their goods and property and distribute the proceeds to everyone on the basis of need. ⁴⁶ Every day they met together in the temple and ate in homes, taking their food with happy and sincere hearts ⁴⁷ that were filled with praise to God. Everyone approved of them, and the Lord increased daily the number of those who were being saved together.

Having believed in God, we can believe God.
At Calvary North Bay we endeavour to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first (Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”), ever discovering that He is faithful and that He does reward those who seek Him.  Our process of DISCOVERY is first and foremost “holding fast to the gospel.”  
The apostle Paul writes,
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor. 15:1-5 CEV).

You might say, “Calvary people have never gotten over being saved.” Paul makes it clear, the Gospel warrants reminding. It is of first importance not just with regard to our initiation into the family of God (i.e. from a past tense perspective); rather, the gospel is also of first importance in the “simple present sense” (i.e. the place “in which you stand”) and also of first importance in a “present continuous sense” (i.e. as to “our being saved”). Everything that we discover about Christian spirituality is inextricably tied to the good news of the kingdom.  In essence Christian discovery is real-time good news discovery. The implications of the Gospel are lifelong and so is its appreciation in every sense of the word. As a body of believers we refuse to have spiritual myopia and somehow minimize the grandeur of the gospel.
The Discovery process is relational: Together We Discover
We would never deny that the scripture has personal application. I would however argue that though its application may be personal at times, this application happens best together in community. I would also argue that the personal application of the scriptures has corporate implications and therefore is never truly private. Paul writes Ephesians 3:14-19,
“14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
This, of course, needs to be applied and appropriated by individuals but never in isolation, rather by design it must be applied and appropriated in the context of a community of faith. Togetherness functions as the medium for discovery. Notice the plurality of Luke’s description in Acts 2:42 of the Spirit community.
“42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
The believers devoted themselves to fellowship because the Holy Spirit brought them into community: the deepest level of spiritual union that is life in-Christ. By the Spirit they were united to God in Christ and to one another. Together these people had personally experienced the blessing of God’s self-giving. They had come to experience together the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: the renewal of life; joy freedom, and power in the Spirit; a new awareness of being the people of God. The togetherness that was their miraculous experience was appropriate to the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of love and fellowship.
At Calvary North Bay we long to discover the person of God in this way.
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The Discovery process involves Calling and Answering    
Jeremiah 33:2, 3 states,“The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: 2 “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: 3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
God calls believers to call on Him to answer. To put it differently, we answer His call to us by calling on Him. The result is discovering those things He has hidden for (not from) us. Prayer is essential to the process of discovery. Our conversations with God alone, invariably find expression in our relationship together. What God is saying to individuals becomes our testimony together.
A failure to pray is a failure to relate to God and each other. Together we can measure what is being said in the safety of fellowship and appreciate the AHA moments created by the whispers of the Spirit. We anticipate awakenings that nurture honesty (between God, you and others) and calls for obedient action. We take seriously Paul’s counsel to be devoted to prayer “…being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2).A failure to pray is a failure to relate. It is more than just an impediment to discovery, it is a neglect of the gospel we have both received and in which we stand, it is also the neglect of the gospel in which we are being saved. This is a great loss!
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The Discovery process is Identity impacting
John 1:41-45 states,
“40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).”

Jesus knows who we are and what we can become! The truth about us is twofold. We are HIS (i.e. who He has made us to be) and because we are HIS we are becoming who HE is making us to be. Therefore we celebrate that DISCOVERY is a process. At Calvary we want to be known as we are (authentic), and as we become (accountable). We acknowledge the sanctity of the process (DISCOVERing is sacred). TOGETHER we discover who He is making us to be.As to the sacred nature of becoming, Philippians 2:12-13 states,
"12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

God’s creative agency is nothing less than His person. Our sanctification involves the Holy Spirit at work on our imperfection. He refuses to be arm’s length from our Spiritual progress and so do we.
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The Discovery process is Yielded and Spirit(ed) (A “Spirit-word” and Spirit-deed endeavour)  
1 Corinthians 2:9-13 states
,“9 But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”

The process of Discovery is a Spirit(ual) discipline
‍“Discover” is a function of the Spirit from first to last; our spirit pressed into His Spirit (God the Holy Spirit). Notice the apostle Paul clearly identifies that comprehending and apprehending that which “God has prepared for us” (v. 9) and has “freely given us” (v. 12) is an impartation and application of the word (v. 13). Interpreting spiritual truth to those who are spiritual necessitates handling Spirit-words reverently, both in its expression and reception (communication). Both the preacher and the listener are yielded to the Spirit and thus “together spiritual”.

The Discovery process makes our Praise Vibrant
Having discovered and discovering Him anew in his word causes in us “gladness and sincerity” and elicits from us vibrant praise! In praise, the depth of our knowledge is evidenced and all at once, together in the mystery of communion with Him, we know and are known. Our life both reflects the constancy of God’s goodness & majesty, and the constant work of the Spirit in our lives, ensuring the application of the benefits of the Gospel in us.  This is the chorus of our lives! Psalm 147:1 states,“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God,how pleasant and fitting to praise him!”