Growing in Christ

March 2, 2021
When Charles McMullan was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, he said at his 2018 installation and then again on the night he handed over to William Henry that the Christian life rises and falls on the devotional. He was very clearly stating how important he felt the personal devotional is in Christian growth. I agree with him, I think the traditional quiet time, devotional, personal bible reading and prayer; whatever name you want to give it, plays a central role in the Christian life. When I look back over my life, recent and long ago, I can see the ups and downs in my walk with God clearly linked to times when I was diligent in my own personal devotions and when I was careless with them. What is interesting is that as we come to Ephesians chapter 4: 1-16 Paul answers this question and his primary concern is not the personal, but the corporate. In other words, it is not what we are doing on our own that Paul addresses, but how we live, or fail to live, together as one people. For Paul, the community of believers was paramount, and it is this sense of community he addresses.
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Passage: Ephesians 4: 1-16
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Thy Will; My World

February 28, 2021
There’ll always be people who question our right or worthiness to be servants of God, ministers in the church or society. I don’t mean ministers in the sense of ordained ministers, but rather people witnessing to God’s goodness and grace. There’ll always be people who say things like sure he’s just a blow in. He’s not one of us and he’ll never be one of us. There’re others who will say sure it’s only him again. He always has something to say, he’s just another one of those religious nuts. Other things people might say are nobody listens to him, he’s not very clever, he’s the local clown, he’s the one everybody belittles or makes fun of. Scripture teaches us that what qualifies us as servants of God and followers of Jesus is not the opinions of the people around us. If we’re to seek God’s will in our world then we’ll have to learn to not only deal with such accusations but to listen to what God says about us, to believe God and only God.
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Passage: 2 Corinthians 11: 16-30; Acts 9:1-18
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Messengers of the gospel

February 23, 2021
We’ll never be apostles in the same way Paul, John, Peter, Thomas, Matthew or James were. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not sent by God. God has sent us into our workplaces, families, churches, sports clubs and so on. We’re not just sent by God to be the best workers, parents, children, footballers, organists or whatever we are. We are sent as servants of the gospel just as Paul was.
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Passage: Ephesians 3
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Thy will: My acceptance

February 21, 2021
Today when we’re approached about serving God, we’ve lots to consider. Do we have the time, are we the right person for the job (something Moses asked as we saw last week), can we commit to a project of this length? For sure we’ve much to consider when it comes to committing to new areas of service. However, if we learn anything from Mary it’s that sometimes God requires a willingness for us to accept that he will turn our lives upside down, and not just for a matter of years, but a lifetime.
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Passage: Luke 1: 26-56
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United in Christ

February 16, 2021
This study tries to understand how we as a church are united in Christ and so should be working to overcome divisions, but also how this impacts our society. Christ’s unity shaping our thoughts and actions, destroying our prejudices and so making our world a better place for all.
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Passage: Ephesians 2:11-22
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Thy will: My Reluctance

February 14, 2021
Have we simply understood salvation as God rescuing us from sin? Certainly, this is salvation, but it’s only part of the story. God’s call is for us to turn to him, to receive from him, but it is also to serve him. We are saved to serve. Peter Enns, a commentator on the book of Exodus said that salvation and vocation are linked. We are saved to serve God.
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Passage: Exodus 3
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Raised in Christ

February 9, 2021
If we want an honest, unbiased assessment of who we are, then God is the only one who can give us what we need. Which is why Psalm 139 ends with this request, ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Psalm 139: 23-24) As we come to Ephesians chapter 2, we’re asking God to give us an honest assessment of who we are. As we do it’s important to note the tense. Who we are, not who we once were! While Paul will point to our sinful past and how we were dead in our transgressions because of how we used to live. Again, past tense, were dead, used to live.
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Passage: Ephesians 2:1-10
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What is God? (Question 4)

February 7, 2021
We started this series on the catechism by asking what our purpose in life is, it’s to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We have explored how we do this, through the word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments because within that word of God is everything we are to believe about God. We’re ending this short series by asking what is God? Who is this being we are to glorify and enjoy, who is this being we are to believe in because of scripture? Question 4 in the catechism asks, ‘What is God?’ Ans. God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. It’s a difficult answer for us to understand. So many of these terms are abstract. They’re just words and words we don’t use very often at that. We struggle to know what they mean. For example, God is Spirit. What do we mean by that?
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Passage: John 4
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What do the scriptures teach? (Question 3)

January 31, 2021
Scripture covers a lot of topics, marriage, poverty, religion, money and so the list goes on. Despite the range of issues scripture can be boiled down into two areas. The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. Scripture teaches us what we’re to believe and how we should respond, or how we should live because of what scripture tells us to believe.
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Passage: John 5:31-47
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