"Destiny" | eNews
Pastor Andrew OwenDear eNews friends and church members, AND all of you who have recently confirmed your intentional and deliberate involvement by completing the count me in card.We have been so blessed to see the response to our recent special offering. An offering that wasn’t about money, but about God and us. We took the moment to commit afresh, our love for God, our gratitude for His amazing grace and our love and passion for the house, His church. All of this has already taken us to another level of spiritual life and effective ministry.The next step in the journey includes this brand-new teaching series, Destiny - 'How to find and fulfil your God given calling'. Surprisingly, we have never taught on this subject before, so it’s a first for all of us.Sadly, a recent survey discovered that more than 68% of people hate their jobs and wish they could change their day to day lives. So, we have to ask the question is the life you’ve got the one you want?The good news is that God has a brilliant plan for you, regardless of your age, circumstances or experiences. But to find that plan, we have to bring desire to the table.Everyone is invited, no one is excluded, and retirement is not an option.As we study, some will find themselves finding new purpose in existing employment, others will find new ministries in the church, yet others will find confidence to step out and step up to new things.Whilst we teach from this Back to the Book subject, we will be working through all the thought-provoking questions and discussions found at the back of each lesson in our growth groups, and we encourage you to personally fill in the blanks and work your way through the various scriptures.(The book is now not only available as a soft cover copy, but is available on Kindle as an eBook)Further, unique to and only found in the growth groups, towards the end of this series we will be working through an intriguing programme called SHAPE.If you haven’t come across this before, it’s an acronym that stands for:Spiritual giftsHeart, (or passion)AbilityPersonalityExperiencesIt’s a bit like joining the dots of your personal life and will help you realise just how unique you are and shows that you have been fully prepared by God to make a real difference, in the church and in the lives of those around you. Too many people go through all of their lives without understanding who they are or why they are here.God loved us enough to save us at great cost, but He also loves us enough not to leave us the same way He found us. I read recently a wonderful fresh definition of Love, as a person asked what is love?Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of another.When you are able to help others grow to become the best people they can be - you are being loving. This is actually love in action. In this season, we will all help each other grow, and spur each other on into a new dimension. We read,24 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” Hebrews 10:24I love the way Message version writes this,"Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out" Hebrews 10:24 MSGThe outcome is that the value of our church with you inside is greater than its value without you.Hey - It’s 1st Sunday already, and I so look forward to seeing you tomorrow at our new time of 5pm at our City location, or by Livestream, which incidentally has already moved into another higher level of broadcast, it’s becoming a wonderful place to connect online with us and with our extended family.Love you guys,Andrew
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