This week, as we wrap up our sermon series: New Wine/Contending for Renewal, Ryan speaks about contending through our conversations and how the basis of our conversation with God will lead you to conversations with others.
Donald G. Mostrom says "We are healthy in the deepest and widest sense of that word, only if we are in fellowship with our God. Like an intricate machine designed for a particular use, but used for something else, we break down in a variety of ways when not functioning with God." This week Mark speaks about renewing our purpose and promise through fellowship with God and through His presence in our lives.
At our Mid-East AM Service, Trudi Sayers shares a story of two elderly women from a small island north of Scotland faithfully prayed for God's glory to be filled in their village and through their faithfulness, God spoke. As they gathered their minister and patrons, they committed to contending in prayer twice a week from 10:00 pm to 3:00 am. This resulted in one of the biggest revivals where people encountered the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, to which people in across the Isle, in fields, fishing boats cried out to God to save them. Through this inspiring story, Trudi shares on what contending prayer looks like and encourages us to be contending for our church, city and nation.
At our Mid-East AM service, we are week 2 into our new sermon series: New Wine/ Contending for Renewal. If we are to contend for renewal, we are contending for transformation. Bjorn Irani speaks about when we contend and create a space for God to transform our hearts in all areas of our lives the head follows, enabling us to have a deeper knowledge of God's work in our lives.
John 15:5 says " I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. At our Mid-East AM Service Mark kicks off a new sermon series: New Wine - Contending for Renewal. He calls us to move from consuming to contending and teaches us five ways to do this.
As we continue with our PM Series: Love Like Waves, Mark shares of how God wants to come like a wave over us with love. Describing this as a tide coming back with a holy powerful force and something that convicts, changes and helps us to imagine who we think we are and could be. He quotes James Burns, 1902 and likens this to "The divine detergent to cleanse and refresh" and sees conviction as God saving us from ourselves.
