Join us at Brisbane Central as we continue with our current series, Church in The Mess. This week Pastor Neli encourages us to be empowered to influence the world around us rather than conforming to its pressure. We need to stop acting like a thermometer, which simply reflects the surrounding cultural temperature, and start living as a thermostat, actively determining and transforming our environment from the inside out. Don’t just reflect the culture—change it.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)