As part of our all age service on the 2 March (Mothering Sunday), we showed a video called 'Priceless'.

It is a video that concludes what we were looking at in the service by highlighting that the love of God shown on the cross of Jesus is indeed priceless.

There are two things that continue to amaze me, and will probably continue to do so as long as I have breath in me.

The first is just how I continually fail to live out the life of fulness and freedom in Christ. Take my regular Bible and prayer time, for instance. I love spending time every morning being fed from God's word and I really value the opportunity to bring praises and requests to my Lord God at the start of each new day. However, guess what part of my morning routine I consistently leave out in favour of significantly less important tasks? My great and saving God permits me to have access to his word of truth whilst also allowing time to hear my prayers and requests... and what do I do? Read my emails, make a coffee, prepare a talk... anything but look at the Bible and pray.

Thankfully, the second thing that always amazes me is that I am saved - and this not by any doing of my own but is a gift of his wonderful grace. Ephesians 2:8-10 is such a brilliant reminder that we are saved by God's grace first, in order to do God's good work second. Our actions do not lead to salvation. Instead, they flow out from it.

So as I battle with the usual morning distractions tomorrow and strive to meet with God in his word and in prayer, I can do so knowing that whatever the outcome I am still loved by God because of Jesus' perfect obedience to his Father, ultimately on the cross. All I need to do is keep persevering and remember it is by grace I am saved.

Serving in church

Things only happen at Christ Church because there are so many people involved in serving in many different ways. And there's always more to do than is being done!

People sometimes ask 'how can I serve at Christ Church?' We don't need a specific job to be serving Jesus in the the church, we just need to get on doing it! Here are some pointers to begin with:

Be there!

Simply being in church or at a meeting is a great encouragement to others. It's a real help too if people see familar faces week by week.

Sometimes we live such busy lives outside our working week that church attendance can become erratic. It's something we fit in, rather than fit other things around. But for the sake of ourselves, our family, and the wider church family, it's good to be there.

Be all there!

Our heads can be so full of everything else that even if we are physically present in church we're not spiritually engaging. It's good to pray for ourselves and others before coming: for those teaching and leading, for ourselves and others to be listening and growing in Christ, and that we would be protected from the evil one in our gathering together. Perhaps read the passge before hand. It's good to pray with our children too on a Saturday for the Sunday gathering with God's people.

How can we encourage one another on a Sunday?

• Looking out for one another, and greeting people we don't know. It can be easy to stick with the people we meet with in Growth group or another friendship group.
• Singing up! We don't have to make a show but it's good if our singing is with both head and heart as well as voice.
• Praying up! 'Amen' said with conviction shows we really do agree with the prayer prayed.
• Opening up! Opening the Bible when it is read and explained shows that we're engaging with God's word not listening to human insights from the preacher. And it shows the newcomer or the enquirer that we hope they will listen to Him too and not us.

Let's be all there for one another when we gather together.

Be all there to serve!

Sometimes people ask, 'what's my gift?' It's puts the focus on me. A better and more Biblical question to ask is 'how can I serve?' That looks outwards to how I can encourage and build others up in some way. We may find some gifts we didn't know we had too!

There are lots of ways to serve at Christ Church. Not all have a title or are given much public recognition but are enormously valuable. Are you serving others at Christ Church. Don't wait to be asked! You can start right now - pray!

Do it for Jesus!

We serve to honour Christ not ourselves. Colossians 3:17 says: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Serving God's people is a privilege not a prize. We should serve thankfully not grudgingly if we serve in Jesus name. And we serve to bring honour Him not ourselves.

A friend of mine used to ask me 'Iain, would you do anything for Jesus?' and then ask me to do some small thing. It's a good question.

Do it well!

Jeremiah 48:10 says, "Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness". It's a challenging verse isn't it? If we're doing something for Jesus we need to do it as well as we possibly can. Not turning up, regularly turning up late or leaving early, and not finishing something are all signs of slackness and not really being bothered about serving Jesus and our brothers and sisters. Whatever we do we need to do it as well as we possibly can.