Leading Up To Sunday, Sept.29, 2013

Going from Brandon to Calgary on one tank of gas in my car would be impossible, no matter how many chances I was given to do it. Unless some new factor was added in, like more gas, or more fuel efficiency, I simply couldn't make it. In the first part of his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of God giving us a second (third, fourth, etc) chance in life, and in this latter section of his letter he talks about the added resources which are available to us in our new attempts at living fulfilled lives in the world we live in. This Sunday, we focus on the gift of "faith", or "living with no visible means of support", or "walking on the water" to use a Biblical image.

For people using the "24 Hours" daily meditation cycle, it is an appropriate timing for this theme, because it is at this point in the cycle that the authors shift from consideration of steps one to nine (the recovery part of the program) to steps 10 to 12 the maintenance part of the program, and they suggest that it is a great time to stop and take stock of how you are doing.

For people using the "Daily Reflections" daily meditation cycle, it is an appropriate timing for this theme, because this is the day of taking an overall self assessment as to how we are doing in the 12-step program of recovery.

The theme of "faith" plays a large part in the 12-step recovery program. It says in the Big Book "again and again we have seen that faith did for us what we could not do for ourselves..."

An aspect of living by faith (its place in the task of self-appraisal) is the theme of this week's service of worship.

In preparation for Sunday's service at First Baptist Church Brandon, the following materials might be helpful:

Poem link [Invitation To Live] to notes from Bible chat Wednesday night about Romans 12:3,which is the next verse in the series of sermons on Romans Chapter 12.

Preparatory Email Information

When asked By Paul Stade to preach on Sept 29/2013 using Romans 12:3 as a basis, I immediately sent emails to eight people across Canada to solicit their input as to three of the top challenges to faith or life which they noticed in their life-space. The intent was to tune into life challenges people were facing in today's daily life in our country. The following is a brief condensation of the replies I received:

Challenges to Faith or Life: