resilience – Curwensville Alliance Church Podcasts

July 10, 2018

Tools for Resilience | Using the Tools

Presented by Pastor Steve Shields at Curwensville Alliance Church on 7/8/2018

I have a lot of tools. And I’ve used a lot of them. But I have tools that I have never used.

I have a gear-pulling kit. Never used it.

I have a hedge-trimmer. Never used it.

I have a 20 Amp 12 volt power supply. Never used it.

What’s that about?

Sometimes that’s how we are with the tools of grace that God gives us.

We sit in a service, listen to a sermon, hear about what God gives us, put that teaching into our pocket, and walk away — never to implement what we’ve learned.

Over the past several podcasts, we’ve unfolded a number of tools that God has given us to make us resilient. Are you using them?

This podcast gives you good reasons to use the tools of resilience that God’s given you.

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July 5, 2018

Tools for Resilience | Teachability

Presented by Steve Shields at Curwensville Alliance on 6/24/2018

Anyone who desires to influence others for their benefit will notice this: For some people, their greatest hindrance is their unwillingness to receive instruction.

Some people struggle to be teachable.

This is particularly troubling since teachability is an essential tool for resilience.

David Murray, professor of New Testament and Practical Theology, says that there’s one characteristic that separates the successful from the unsuccessful in every walk of life: teachability.

If you are going to be resilient, you’ll do well to consider your own level of teachability and to ask God to increase it.

This podcast tells you how.

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July 2, 2018

Tools for Resilience | Hope

Presented at Curwensville Alliance Church on 7/1/2018 by Pastor Steve Shields

“Hope does not disappoint.”

What kind of statement is that? It’s ridiculous, unless the hope is in something solid. And when the hope is in something solid — that kind of hope is powerful.

If you are having trouble finding hope, you’re not alone. Sometimes, it’s hard to hope for our world, our society, our families. But without hope, we will be disappointed. We’ll be despairing.

It’s our hope that you’ll find hope — and act upon it.

This podcast speaks about how to implement one of the three greatest things ever: Hope.

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June 5, 2018June 5, 2018

Tools for Resilience | Pursuing God

Presented on June 3 by Pastor Steve Shields at Curwensville Alliance Church

It was A. W. Tozer who noted the following in the introduction to his book, The Pursuit of God:

In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.

Those words were first published 70 years ago. And they still ring true today.

The desire to pursue God is something God put inside of us. And when we do it, we find ourselves all the more resilient — ready to face what life puts in front of us.

In this podcast, Pastor Steve suggests that the pursuit of God is something that God had given us — something that makes us more resilient.