Family Values: Part 2 - Communicating for a Change


This Sunday, Simon Lace brings us the talk in the latest of our EBC services. We encourage you to reflect on the bible text and join us in the prayer that follows below.
 
The talk will be available via live stream at 11.00am on Sunday 10th July, on our YouTube channel.
 
Once you have listened, here are some questions to consider:

Reading:

Romans chapter 5 verses 3 to 5 (NIV)


Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Prayer and Reflection:

Father God, we ask you to change us, mould us, shape us, conform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, your Son. Loving God, we admit we don’t like suffering, but we do want to grow and develop in our perseverance and character.
We rely on your unfailing goodness and tenderness as we ask you to grow us.
Comfort us, Lord, even as you grow in us faith, hope and love as we seek to worship and glorify you and to communicate your message of love and hope, forgiveness and redemption, to those who do not yet know you.
Help us to communicate this Good News to them, dear Lord, for we know it will change their lives on this earth and eternally. In Jesus’ name we have prayed. Amen.

Questions to consider:

1) Thinking back through your life, can you trace (maybe even write out a timeline) the highs and lows you have experienced? What marked the highest and lowest times?

2) Considering the highs and lows of your life, which of these experiences do you think changed you the most – and how?
3) If you are currently struggling with suffering, can you think about that suffering with the hope that it might develop in you perseverance, character and hope?
4) What do you want to see change about yourself?
5) What are the key things you take from Abs’ story – and will you use it to help you change your own attitudes? Pray about this.

 


 

Simon Lace, 10/07/2022