Equipped by God
Dear Friends,
This term we are thinking about being ‘Equipped to Serve’ in making disciples of Jesus by prayerfully speaking God’s word to ourselves, to one another and to those who don’t yet believe. And to help us in this, our Fellowship Groups are following various courses with ‘Six Steps to… Reading your Bible… Loving your Church… Talking about Jesus.’
As we do this we need to remember that it is God who does the equipping. Equipping doesn’t just happen, nor do we do it to ourselves, and we only do it for one another as God works through us. The letter to the Hebrews ends with this prayer: “May the God of peace … equip you with everything good for doing his will” (Hebrews 13:20-21, NIV). The idea is that God ‘prepares us, makes us ready, and puts us in order’. And for what? What does God equip us for? For doing his will, in other words “what is pleasing to him.” And how does God equip us? By telling us what his will is (in the Scriptures), and giving us the desire to do it (by giving us his Holy Spirit).
Now, doing God’s will certainly includes reading our Bibles, loving our church and talking about Jesus, so we can pray that he will equip us to do these things. And he is certainly able to do that and more because he has already “brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus” (verse 20).
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)
26th January 2020