Reasons for thankfulness at last evening’s Thanksgiving Service.

We’ve spent the past 3 Sundays talking about the importance of holiness, or holy living.   We’ve talked about the connection between grace and holiness. How can we accept God’s priceless gift of salvation (grace) and then treat holiness as an option?

We talked about God’s part…He calls us out of the darkness and sets us apart – made holy – for His use.   And He continues to change us from the inside out, renewing our minds so that we look at life differently.

Our part is to make a decisive, deliberate break from our old way of life.   To prepare our minds for the action that it will take…including non-conformity.

Not Conformed was the title of Pastor Bill’s message yesterday, and we talked about how not conforming isn’t about “not doing bad things” but more about identifying with Christ.

We turned our attention to the first 3 chapters of Daniel and saw the steps Daniel and his friends took in order to retain their identity (as children of God) while living in a culture that was moving in a different direction.   Retaining their identity helped them to not conform to what everyone else was doing, including bowing down before an image of gold.

In the end, knowing right and wrong is important, but perhaps more important is knowing who we are.   If our identity is found in Christ, we will grow in holiness and be able to display the holy character of God.    And our purpose as church will be carried out.

You can watch, read or listen to yesterday’s message by going here:  Not Conformed

Next Week:  Pastor Shaun brings the message in the Auditorium as we kick off the season of Advent.