Hey there my friends,
I love this process of sanctification (becoming more like Jesus) that is found in Ephesians 4.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
It all centres around Jesus. We hear about Him, we are taught about Him, He is the fullness of truth, and we were created to be like Him. And yet, we also get to participate in the work. We get to choose to put off the old self and to put on the new self. The old self is corrupt and deceitful and will only bring us heartache, pain, and disappointment. Jesus does not want us to live this way. He wants us to be made new in how we think and new in how we live.
It’s not always easy to put off the ways of the old self. We can have built in habits that keep us slipping back into old ways. But we are made new in Jesus! That’s why you feel guilty or bad every time you sin. You have a new mind, a new nature, a new self. That new self is not content to live in the old ways, in fact, the new self hates living in the old ways.
Thanks be to God for His work in us, taking away the old and dressing us in the new. Continue to live in line with the new life that God has given you. We were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Yield to those desires to be holy. That’s the Spirit at work within you to impress the life of Jesus on you.
And He will continue this work until it reaches completion on the day of Christ. Thank you Jesus!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our AGM on Monday night. It was good to be together to celebrate how God has been working in and through ACC. We elected three new elders. Don Palm and Kent Dyck will both serve four-year terms while Bryan Viala will serve a two-year term. Thank you for your prayers for these great leaders. This Saturday, the elders will be meeting to talk about the health and direction of the church. We sure appreciate your prayers as we meet.
This weekend we will continue with the second part of our series called “Faith That Works”. This study on the book of James is a very practical look at how we can live out the faith that we have been called to. I will be speaking this weekend on a faith that moves us to action.
Next Monday night we will be having a worship and prayer gathering at the church at 7pm. This will be a great time to gather in unity to pray for God’s will to be done in our hearts, in our church and in our town “as it is in heaven”.
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I really love being your pastor.
Pastor Tim
