Uniting North

Sermon Series: A Goodness You Can Taste

November 2020

1 Peter 4.10 - God’s gifts of grace come in many forms. Each of you has received a gift in order to serve

others. You should use it faithfully.

Ephesians 4.1 - Live a life worthy of what God chose you for.

You are a child of God and, as His child, you’ve been called to do something wonderful with Him. God has placed desires and dreams in your heart and gifts in your hand for the specific purpose of working with Him.

If we disregard His call, and instead, live just for ourselves, looking to other people and other things for fulfillment, we will be bitterly disappointed!

True fulfillment comes when we set our heart on our ‘God-Given Calling.’

There’s absolutely no doubting that God is indeed calling you, but there’s often a great deal of doubt and ignorance surrounding that call.

It’s helpful to note that God’s call always has a context!

God’s call contains a specific time, place, and purpose.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Frederick Buechner

Stop chasing start racing!

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?

So, run that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

Perfection is the proverbial wild goose chase!

The chase to perfection leaves you powerless.

You are never satisfied with what you have achieved.

Rather you are always chasing but never gaining.

Brene Brown puts it well: “I don't have to chase extraordinary

moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying

attention and practicing gratitude.”

Could this be a description of your work or your life:

“I do precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge.”

This Sunday we’ll be explaining how you can start to take the guesswork out of your life.

Hope you can join us.

Here’s the subtitle to Sunday’s message: You won’t make it if you fake it!

Jesus is the gold standard for authenticity. He’s the real deal, the genuine article.

Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did (1st John 2:5-6).

· No ifs, no buts, no maybes!

· Close enough isn’t good enough!

He invites you to quit pretending and start living.

We extend that invitation to you this Sunday.

It comes with an offer of help, support and prayer.

Don’t brag about tomorrow. You don’t know what a day will bring. Proverbs 27.1

The most dangerous word for your spiritual growth is “tomorrow.” In Spanish the word is mañana which means "later".  This later can mean a week later or two years later. It is very vague, and potentially the most damaging response you can give to someone!

The Tyranny Of The Urgent

In the 1960s, Charles Hummel published a little booklet called ‘The Tyranny of the Urgent’ and it quickly became a business classic.  In it, Hummel argues that there is a regular tension between things that are urgent and things that are important—and far too often, the urgent wins.

The urgent, though less important, is prioritised, and therefore the important is put on the back burner. This is no different in our families and in our faith. We focus on the urgent things in front of us more often than we intend, and by bedtime, the things we really care about—the important—were barely given a glance.

Scripture: Luke 9.23

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Jim Rohn