When you give your life to Christ, your spiritual journey has only just begun. When you were living in sin, the ways of Satan guided your life. His presence in the world had more influence on you than it should have now. After salvation, you have the power of the Holy Spirit in you guiding your steps. That's the point Pastor Bill will drive home in today's message. You've been made alive in Christ and made dead to the sins that used to guide you. Your life should look different once you make the decision to follow Jesus.

Paul wrote many letters addressing areas that churches needed to improve on. When you read Ephesians, you'll notice that it's a different tone. Paul encourages the Ephesians by acknowledging the things that they were doing right. Today, Pastor Bill's going to tell you how there's a change in your life that should be evident when you give your life to Christ. The power of God is in you through the Holy Spirit! You have the same power in you that raised Jesus from the dead! Remember to live in it and use it!

God loved you so much that He sent Jesus, His only begotten son, to die for you. He died as the ultimate sacrifice to cleanse you of your sins. He wants you to spend time with Him in prayer. He wants to bless you abundantly. But you have to first choose to believe in Him, and then to know Him better. As Pastor Bill will point out in today's message, God will reveal more and more to you as you grow deeper and deeper with Him. If you want to know God more, start with knowing Him a little; then more.

Never take salvation for granted. It's through the over-abundant love and compassion God has for you that you have a way to be saved and spend eternity with Him. As you'll see today with Pastor Bill, God didn't have to do anything. He could have stopped when He created man and not made a way to pray or repent, but He did. He made you with an eternal soul. You can choose Him or deny Him, but you will go on after death. The good news is you can go on with the God Who loved you before you were even born!

The ways you've been blessed by God are ways that money can't buy. Did He have to provide a way for you to get to Heaven? No. Was He obligated to ensure you have access to Him so you could repent and be saved? No. But He did. Today, Pastor Bill will make it clear just how much God loves you that He would do those things. Everyone is undeserving of His love, but He pours it out anyway. No one is worthy to have a place in Heaven for all eternity, but God has a place in Heaven specifically for you.

The human body is a unified whole. If one part does not work right, the whole body suffers. If a person smashes his thumb with a hammer, it’s not just the thumb in isolation that hurts. Other parts of the body may hurt, too, and the functioning of the whole body is impaired. Today, Pastor Bill will explain that as part of Jesus’ body, each member has a particular job to do and a place to belong. When any individual member is not fulfilling his or her purpose in the body, the whole body suffers.

Self-examination is an important part of living as an authentic Christian, but by nature, we prefer self-deception. Today, Pastor Bill will explain how deceiving yourself is easy and comfortable, but that it’s dangerous to lie to yourself. You want to believe yourself to be better, smarter, and more ethical than you really are, so careful, Spirit-directed self-examination keeps you honest with yourself and with God. The Bible says to confess your sin to God, which requires a certain amount of self-examination. 

Today, Pastor Bill will remind you that despite all the problems the church at Corinth had, Paul refers to them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people”. It would be easy to read 1 and 2 Corinthians smugly, given the multitude of their problems, yet the same issues present in Corinth are found in the church today. The church in the 21st century still needs 1 and 2 Corinthians to know how to deal with today’s issues. Remember, you're also still a work in progress!

Have you ever experienced “Messy church” like Pastor Bill refers to in today’s message? It’s not a new thing, and it’s not uncommon. The Church has not been fully restored yet, so we can expect to find weaknesses until Christ brings us to perfection. That doesn’t mean we should be okay with it, though. We should strive for unity through the grace and love that Jesus extended to us. When disagreements arise, as they will, our response should look drastically different than this world's.

We tend to be our own worst critics. Even Moses, one of the most important figures in Biblical history, doubted that he was the right man for the job. The thing we need to remember, as Pastor Bill will remind us in today’s message, is that it’s not about us. It’s not our gifts or abilities that matter. God is the one who gives all good things, and when we step out in faith, trusting Him to provide, He won’t let us fail. He alone should receive the glory and honor for any good work He accomplishes in us.