elimworthing

Moving from Spiritual Consumerism to  Spiritual Contribution'The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.' Lamentations 3:22-23This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17So how do we stay constantly new?How do we grow in the new life God has given us?How do we silence the influence of the old life?How do we override our default settings with the new life God has given us?How do we draw strength from God’s Holy Spirit who is the one that empowers our new life rather than our own self efforts?

Most of us carry a "backstory”, chapters of our lives we’d rather keep closed, moments that still spark a flicker of shame, or memories we desperately wish we could delete. We often try to outrun our past, but the reality is that an unresolved past has a way of casting a shadow over our present, no matter how hard we try to ignore it.We serve a God who has given us a Spirit of power and love, inviting us to approach His throne of grace with bold confidence. He wants us to move through the world in total freedom. Yet, we have an adversary who specializes in "stale shame." The enemy’s goal is to use the regrets of yesterday to destabilize your confidence today—to keep you anchored to a version of yourself that no longer exists.In this session, we are going to confront the truth about "the old." We aren't just talking about old sins, but the old ways we’ve learned to cope with them. If God has truly buried our past in the grave of Christ, why are we so tempted to exhume it?Today, we aren't just looking back; we are looking forward. We are here to celebrate the "New" that is constant and current. It is time to stop visiting the cemetery of our old mistakes and start living in the liberty of the Resurrection. The grave is empty, the old is gone, and a new life has begun.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6:13-18

It’s the beginning of our marriage week celebration and our focus for this session is on building flourishing relationships. We want to explore how to have good relationships, flourishing relationships that enriches our lives and the lives of those we encounter. We know marriages, families, communities, churches are all made up of individuals who bring self into all those relational dynamics.So what do we need to do to have good, wonderful and amazing relationships? What tools do we need to have in our toolkits that enable us to be dynamic relational partners? We’ll explore seven foundations for flourishing. Tools that we can take into every and any given situation to enrich others.

We know that because of God’s Holiness and righteousness he cannot leave the world to continue in perpetual sinfulness and evil. In the past God reset the world and he has promised to do the same again.God’s ultimate reset for any human being, community or nation is always salvation. This is something that human beings are unable to provide for themselves and that is where God’s amazing provision comes into play. The fact that salvation comes from God moves us from individual judgment to individual security through God’s gracious provision of salvation. In Noah we see the judgment of the flood as the ultimate RESET for the world, but it was anchored in God's grace and Noah's obedience. The Ark represents God's provision for salvation (a type of Christ), and the Rainbow is His promise (covenant) that our relationship with Him is secure.In this session we’ll explore how to survive God’s judgment when it ultimately comes and look at what provision God provided in the past and how that relates to future provision and what steps we need to take in the present1. The Ark of Salvation: God provides a way out of judgment for individuals who trust Him (6:14). 2. A New Covenant: The promise of the rainbow is God saying, "I will never abandon my relationship with you" (9:13). 3. The Bridge to Christ: Noah's Ark is a clear sign of God's future ultimate provision (Jesus Christ) to truly restore the communion broken in Genesis 3.