Pastor Stew taught that we are to reach out into the community with an attitude that we are sent by God. We are sent by God to our school, our place of work, our community and wherever we work with people. We are the light of the world and we are the salt of the earth. After we have been recharged in church on Sunday we are to go and minister to those around us. We are to work diligently, share our faith and meet the needs of those around us in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Spiritual formation is the formation of Christ in us after we have accepted His dominion in our life. It is God's work and not ours. Yes, it does take some effort on our part. However, God is the author and finisher of our faith. Let us give up trying to orchestrate our own spiritual development, but rather rely on God to direct the work as a conductor would in an orchestra while we walk in obedience to His music. Pastor Stew preached about how we are all growing spiritually. God is forming each of us individually by our environment, experiences and influences. We need to be open and honest about our hurts if God is to minister to us, and if we can accept healing from others. Pastor Stew brings a message challenging us to trust God and to trust each other with whom we really are. We need to learn to open our lives to one another. Otherwise we are just playing church. Of we don't trust God, we can't receive His grace. If we don't trust each other, we can't receive grace from each other.
Pastor Stew preached today on the topic of how we can be a grace community that accepts people for what they truly are. The church of Jesus Christ encourages people to be authentic. Why hide the cigarettes or the beer when someone is coming? Guest speaker, Dr. Ralph Korner, preaches a message about the Jubilee year. It was a year of release from captivity (are we captive to something?), a year to proclaim good news to the poor (who are we to reach out to) and a year to enjoy God's favour. God calls us to live out our faith joyfully, wiling to do more than what is just right. Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:14-21. There are 2 audio clips. The first is the missions update of our youth who went to Tijuana. The second audio is the message described in the above paragraph. There was an update from the youth group going to Tijuana.
Gary Clatterbuck spoke on his ministry to Russia and Ukraine. Pastor Stewart Carson speaks on Deuteronomy 8:3 about the sufficiency of God's Word. Our guest speaker, Wes Boldt, addresses the issue of what grace looks like in contrast to legalism.
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January 2018
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