Speaker: Andrea Nwabuike

To all our moms out there, we bless you and thank you for your faithfulness in the midst of all the sacrifices you've made to secure your children's health, growth and future hope. Here's to you!

All moms and the rest of us can relate with Mother Teresa's quote above. Isn't it true that we sometimes feel our life lacks significance when we're so busy just getting the 'small things' done? Cleaning up, feeding, cleaning up some more, play time, cleaning again, reading that same book for our kids for the 100th time, temper tantrums, running around, groceries, doctor's visits, losing our keys, finding them in the toy truck, falling into bed exhausted, only to get up and do it all over again.

This kind of life can make us question the purpose of our life. Mother Teresa responds to you by saying, "Be faithful in little things, for in them your strength lies. To the good God nothing is little, because He is so great and we are so small."  May we all continue to be faithful in the small things of our life. 

Money Matters. Let's all just be open and honest about it -- money is an extremely important part of our life. The Bible never says that money is evil ... but Paul did warn Timothy and the church that the LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil.

P.T. Barnum, an American showman, businessman, and politician understood the power of money. Each of us have a choice to make about money. We either allow it to be our MASTER or we subdue it to be our servant. This is never a one time choice. It's a daily battle we continue to engage in for the rest of our lives.

In the beginning God blessed humanity with everything He created and told them that they were created to steward all of creation and subdue it (Gen. 1:28). In other words, money was meant to be a tool used for God's Kingdom purposes. Each one of us are given this tool in varying degrees and each one of us are uniquely equipped to use it according to our call / giftedness.

This Open House Sunday, we invite you to gathering in your life groups or invite friends over as we talk about money matters from a biblical standpoint.

We've heard the expression, "You gotta take what's yours". In a world that is broken and driven by agendas that put "me-first", it makes sense to pursue life in this way. We easily sympathize with this value because the world is a competitive place and you're not going to compete, then you're not getting anywhere.

When we hang around this value long enough, it can unwittingly shape the way we understand God and what we understand about the Bible. For example, we can read passages like Deut. 1:8: "See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the LORD swore he would give to your fathers..."  That definitely seems to endorse a "You gotta take what's yours" mindset.

But context is important. In fact the words that begin this verse are essential, "See, I have given you this land..." When we hang around God long enough, we see that our lives operate very differently. God invites us to live our lives differently -- to receive from Him and to honour what we have received.

I don't know when or how it developed, but I came to realize that my understanding of faith and what I could expect from God was astonishingly different than what Jesus would say and how He would insist we all live.

There are times I sincerely believe I'm doing the right thing and I can't imagine God thinking otherwise. In fact, I would assume that God would be proud and endorse my position. But then I look at Matthew 16:21-28 and find myself completely aligned with Peter's thinking and find out that it was completely against God's will!

If you are curious to find out more of what I'm talking about, join us this Sunday as we explore how our 'obvious faith assumptions' need to be realigned to God.

Can we all relate with this quote? "Everyone is ready to win, few are prepared."

In whatever endeavour we find ourselves in, we all want the best result, but that also means we have to give it our all. Just because we want something to happen, doesn't mean that we'll get what we want. 

This is perhaps one of the biggest stumbling blocks we experience in our relationship with God. We all want to experience victory over our sins and challenges, but few are prepared to win.

"Inflation is sticky"... I've been hearing this a lot lately as interest rates have risen to combat the stickiness of inflation. Many of us have felt the affects of inflation as our purchasing power has significantly diminished and our outlook on getting out of debt has turned grim.

In the same way, "sin and the power of our idols are sticky". We struggle and strive to do or be better. Something needs to change because we see how it affects the productivity and joy of how we live and we find ourselves wanting to give up because we lose hope as nothing seems to change or get better.

Understanding the stickiness and devastating affects of sin, Psalm 40:2 says, "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand"

Have you ever needed to get your car wheels aligned? Usually, when you get new tires, it's recommended you follow up with a wheel alignment to adjust to the new dimensions of the tires and make sure you're not putting in unnecessary effort in correcting a pull on your car.

The same is true in our walk with Christ. As soon as God's Spirit does something new in our life, we need to make adjustments - an alignment. This is what this new sermon series is about. So let's come together to be aligned and help each other align to God's Word in our life

This Sunday, we will conclude our sermon series: The Answer that Changes Your Life. Don't miss out -- as we will discover the simple key that initiates change to our life.