Our Responsibility as God’s Power-filled Church - Ephesians 2021-22 Series

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In this week’s episode of the Ephesians Series, Ps Rob finishes exploring Apostle Paul’s powerful prayer for us - and finishes Chapter 1!

Listen as we explore Ephesians 1:19-23 to understand who we are as the Church, the only entity on the planet with the job of making Christ known.

Being the Church is an awesome, fearful and serious responsibility. So, God gives us His exceedingly great power to fulfill that responsibility.

Ephesians 1:19 (NKJV)

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

AM - Preach the Gospel - If You Love Them, You Will Tell Them

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In this message Ps Kaye emphasises that time is short. Her entire message can be summarised as: “We must preach the Gospel. If you love them, you will tell them.”

Preaching is our first job, employment is our second job.

You may not be an open air preacher. But all of us are called to make disciples and Ps Kaye gives us lots of great practical ideas of how to share the Gospel in ways that fit with our personalities:

  • Online

  • Door to door

  • Open air preaching in Scott Court

  • Conversing daily with people.

  • If you've got a day off, go preach the Gospel rather than go to a movie.

  • Love your neighbour into the Kingdom

  • Shout a person coffee in a cate

  • tell people that Jesus loves them while cooking soup or baking scones

Click here to watch the YouTube live stream.

Call for Evangelism Ideas

There are so many ways we can share the Gospel.

Please come and tell someone on the leadership team how you’d like to witness in 2021.

Let’s get some exciting stuff going on.

Let’s work together as a church because you’re going to hear more preaching about it and more structure put in next year to achieve it about it.

Takeaways from Ray Comfort Videos

We also watched two short evangelism videos by Ray Comfort (see below). Here are three key takeaways:

  • We must help people realise that they are sinners and have broken God’s moral law.

  • Ray always brings the conversation around to the person’s moral state before God.

  • For people that we know (family , friends and neighbours), the approach will be less confrontational. But we must help them realise that they are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness through Christ.

Note: the video audio has been removed from the recording above to honour Ray’s copyright over his videos.

AM – Are We Singing a Lullaby or Sounding an Alarm?

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The times have changed. The signs in our generation suggest that Christ’s return is imminent. But the world is asleep. In this message Ps Rob challenges us to stop lulling people into complacency. We need to:

  1. get our message straight, preaching a clear Gospel that convicts of sin and points to the Cross. Our message needs to be an annoying alarm, not a lullaby.

  2. stop complaining about our hardships and grow up into mature believers.

  3. be adaptable, adjusting our methods to remain effective as the world changes.

The final 8.5 mins of this recording is an update from Ps Rob on the current Level 2 lockdown restrictions on meeting together.

Key scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:16.

If you would like to watch the whole video click here.

AM – Make Your Confining Moment a Defining Moment

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In this COVID-19 Coronavirus lockdown season people are looking for answers. Ps Rob offers six keys for turning your confining moment into a defining moment to pray with these people and tell them of Christ’s imminent return:

  • Faith: 1 Peter 1:3-9

  • Win the mind game. 1 Peter 1:13

  • Wisdom Ephesians 5:15-21

  • Resilience

  • Endurance

  • The leading of the Holy Spirit

And enjoy an especially warm welcome from our lovely Ps Kaye.

To see the full YouTube video click here.

AM – People Need to Receive the Word: Gideon Bibles Transform Lives

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Guest speaker Lex Jones, NZ Director of The Gideons International, talks on how people need to receive the Word when they are in need of hope. He shares testimonies of people's lives changed because of The Gideons New Testament Bibles. 90 million Gideon Bibles are given away per year worldwide, which continue to transform lives.
The Gideons now offer a Gideon Bible app that gives access to the New Testament in 1,200 languages, including the 'Scripture Help Pages' that the Gideon Bibles are famous for. Encourage those in need of hope to download it for free from the iPhone and Google Play stores.
Also, check out their website for how to support them in prayer and financially: www.gideonsnz.org