Pastor Lloyd Ashworth

The first three chapters of Ephesians teach us about what God has done for us. How he has bridged this great chasm between him and us and then us and each other. Last week I spoke about Grace and Mercy and Kingdom Culture. The second half of the book is the flip side of this and answers the question – how then should we live this out? What does this look like in practice? We have spent quite a bit of money over the last couple of years since I have been here on our church building. Auditorium revamps, new seats, improved sound system, staging, curtains and so on…. then in the café new seating, new kitchen upgrade to industrial standard and the latest is a new heating system in café to keep us warm. But a more important question is what kind of a church are we going to put inside these buildings? The church is not the buildings it is the people and it is the people who will make these buildings hum along or get stuck in repetitious religion (like the Lutheran sect I spoke about last week from Babettes Feast) with no life. It is the people alongside you this morning who are the key to the future of this church. It is not the new pastor coming, look along the rows – you are the ones who will decide what Ranui Baptist church will become in the next ten years! Ephesians 4 tells us how to ensure this will have a great outcome. Do you think it is a sure bet that we will listen and do what God says? Is there a church at Ephesus today? No, it's a bunch of ruins. I guess they didn’t listen even with the best teacher, best leaders, and the greatest opportunity – they still lost their way.