From Idolatry to Worship

From Idolatry to Worship 

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When a person receives the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus they go from being an idolater to a worshiper. Instead of living for the stuff of this world - whatever that may be - they now live for God. They go from being citizens of this world to being citizens of Heaven. Instead of satisfying 'the flesh' they begin to keep in step with the Spirit. The Bible uses lots of different language to describe that one basic idea.

In Acts 19 we read about what that looked like for new believers in Ephesus, which sets a fantastic example for us to follow. Is the gospel radiating widely from us as it did in Acts 19? The message Paul brought was taken from Ephesus and spread through the whole region as people took it with them. Does the gospel leave our church buildings and spread to our workplaces, homes, sports clubs, cafe's etc as we take it with us? Secondly, do we purify our lives from the contamination of evil as the Ephesian Christians did? Do we take inventory of the things we have taken into our homes and into our minds that may be giving the devil a foothold of influence? Like the Ephesians, we may need to be prepared to pay the price of getting rid of that stuff, no matter how much it appeals to our 'flesh' or helps us to fit with 'the world'. Finally, we see Paul making strategic plans for how he can advance the spread of the gospel. We briefly share some of the ways that our church is being called by God to spread the gospel by equipping the saints to do the work of ministry.

The Bible Guide to Investment

The Bible Guide to Investment

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There's a great story that Jesus told about a rich guy who thought he had made it, but discovered that by only preparing for this life he'd made the worst investment decision possible. He was not a success, he was a fool! The story is brilliant in how it exposes how foolish many of our own investment decisions are and gives us the necessary correction. It was also perfectly timed. Just when Jesus was challenging His followers to not allow their fears to prevent them from choosing to give up everything in order to follow Him, along comes a guy whose only concern was for the money he felt he was due. Money is something we often turn to for security instead of trusting in God. It's also something we turn to to provide for the things we want, rather than submitting our desires to God. We chase the things we think money will buy not realizing that they will never truly satisfy and they won't even last that long. However when we teach ourselves to value eternity and make the decision to invest ourselves most in the things in what will last longest, our hearts begin to be less controlled by fear and less enticed by earthly desires. We discover freedom and joy in the present and confidence in the future. Loving others becomes easier because we don't need to look out for ourselves any more.

Contend!

Contend!

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After celebrating the amazing gift of God's grace in his introduction, Jude's original plan was to write about it in more depth in the rest of his letter. But instead of doing that Jude writes to believers to urge them to contend for their faith. It was under attack, being distorted, diluted and demeaned by the conduct and teaching of people who promoted themselves as leaders in the Church but in fact did not even know God! Their basic message was that being big on grace means being soft on sin. Don't sweat it, God forgives! Jude gives some sobering reminders about how serious God is about sin - not to make us feel guilty and nervous, but to help us stay in the love of God. When Jude urges us to contend for the faith, he's asking us to do our absolute best to make sure that we don't throw away what God has so graciously made possible for us - a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Called, Loved, Kept

Called, Loved, Kept

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The book of Jude is saturated with the passion of a man who has been gripped by the grace of God that is ours in Jesus. When he discovers that people have infiltrated churches and are trying to steal away the precious gifts that God has given his people and tempt them into accepting less that God's best for them, Jude writes to remind Christians of just how amazing our salvation is and how important it is for us to stand firm in it.

In this first message of a 2-part series, we focus on the three words Jude uses to describe who we are: called, loved and kept. We look at the calling of Levi in Luke 5, the parables of the lost sheep, coin and son in Luke 15 and the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8. Each of these stories show us the heart of God toward us and the amazing action of God in calling us into His family, loving us completely and keeping us safe by His power not our own performance.