Welcome to Ulladulla 2026

Theme: All Things are Yours

 

I Corinthians 3:21-23

All things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or the present or the future,
all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

 

This year we want to understand more deeply the statement of Paul that “all things are yours.”

Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence in Greek.  Paul gives the gospel in overview.

Our past, began even before Abraham, before Creation. Now, the kingdom breaks into our present lives by the power of the Spirit. Our future is the complete coming together of our universe and God’s dimension. The word Paul uses twice is “inheritance”. We will look at what this meant in Paul’s time.

Our ultimate hope is not some far-away place where we will leave this world behind. Our hope is the new heaven and the new earth as described in Revelation 21. Our present world, because of sin, is corrupted. However, it wasn’t meant to be destroyed, but changed. Like Jesus’ resurrected body, the earth will be changed so that God’s dimension and our dimension will be reunited at long last.

As Paul puts it:

…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
(Ephesians 1:9-10 ESV)

 

“To unite all things in him”: The Father has made Jesus the centre that brings the whole story – and all the universe together. We have the choice of God, the plan and the inheritance. This is the gospel story – the past, present, and the future of the human story.

And what is our inheritance? We are the resurrected royalty of the new heaven and new earth.

In the light of this, we need to look at the warnings in scripture about being rich, famous and approved by this world. Jesus made statements like:

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

He also gave woes to the rich and comfortable.

The guiding principle of Paul’s life was Christ crucified. What did that mean and why did he emphasise this so much? How does this prepare us to be resurrected royalty of the new heaven and new earth?

In conclusion: we should feel like royalty because we are; and this grand story should inspire us because it’s ours!