Starting Strong - by Justin & Irene Renton
January 19, 2025
Sermon recap: Finding Your Place in God's Plan for the Year
Tough times refine us to help us change and bring out impurities. During these times, Jesus prays for us. Don't waste your pain: strengthen others. Use what you learned and turn your misery into a ministry. Seek help when spiritually weak and get involved. There are blessings for obedience. If you missed the lesson, you can watch it on our YouTube channel (it starts at 37 mins).
The Holy Spirit gives guidance and direction in our missionary work. Are we doing the work the Spirit has set aside for each one of us to do? He knows the time, place and person to reach out to. Are we listening and obeying when he nudges us? The Holy Spirit forms Christ in all of us and it's a lifetime journey. Seek to be filled. Listen to his voice. Step out boldly.
Giving is an act of trust. It is also not an obligation but an act of worship. Give from the heart, not as a duty, but as a way to express gratitude. Giving is about unity in the church, it is motivated by grace, not guilt, and a spiritual act of joyful worship. Jesus demonstrated sacrificial giving through his actions, leaving us an example to follow.
To embrace Jesus's mission, I must first clothe myself with Jesus and have his character formed in me. He must become greater, I must become less. Then I"ll be able to do as Jesus did.
God's grace is with me. We need each other. Grace is a gift.