Leadership

1 November  2012

Luke 22:25-26 And he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

A good leader knows how to follow and to listen in a responsive way to what others say, observing situations so that those that follow the leader are directed in a proper way. So often we find that leaders of today become leaders not because they are natural leaders but rather that they are leaders elected by others based on criteria other than skills to lead. The result of this is that these are institutional leaders whose purpose is often to maintain their position of leadership rather leading for the purpose they are elected and they have no understanding of servant hood.

In the same way within any institution including the church when the focus is on self and maintenance of a leadership position rather than leading to achieve the purpose of why the institution exists then we have lost true leadership. Leaders in any form have been gifted in some way to lead, some in assertion, some in situations, and some through training and skills. In all their common goal is to lead others. Leadership in any form is a gift from God and we are all gifted in this way.

Be encouraged today to recognise your gift of leadership.

David

Point to ponder: You are a leader.

Question to consider: Do you underrate your leadership skills?

God's healing

31 October 2012    

Act 4:29-30  And now, Lord, behold their threatening’s, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word, by stretching forth of Your hand for healing, and miracles, and wonders may be done by the name of Your holy child Jesus.

In the name of Jesus Christ be healed. These words are loaded with power, and when we say them in faith we need to expect that the person will be healed. The power is in the name of Jesus, and when we trust and use this with the authority that Jesus has given us then amazing things happen.

Last night at a healing service in Kroonstad, I prayed in this way and the Holy Spirit responded and a number of people were healed and relationships restored. Praise God, for He is faithful and worthy to be praised. What makes this extraordinary? We do for where Christ is healing and signs and wonders should follow, this is normal in a church where Jesus is present through His Holy Spirit. Let us all praise God, Jesus is alive.

Be encouraged today to give thanks and praise for God’s healing in His Church.

Point to ponder: God heals today.

Question to consider: Have you seen a miracle?

Believe

30 October 2012    

John 16:31  Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?

Are you single minded? Do you have a clear and focused view of what God is saying to you in and through His Word? Also is your mind, emotions, spirit and body all in tune with each other in this single minded belief?

These questions are only able to be answered by you. Part of the problem that we all seem to face is that we read the Bible in the context of history and in so doing we limit God’s word in the context of time. Jesus healed others in the past, yet we do not believe that He will heal today. If He sent His disciples out to heal then, He still sends them out today. The level of faith is different and the result is very little faith is found in the power of God’s Word. When we become single minded and we accept His Word in every part of who we are, then we start to live that which we believe. Do you believe?

Be encouraged today to be single minded in Christ.

 

Point to ponder: Believe God’s Word.

Question to consider: Are you single minded in Christ?

Glorify God

29 October 2012    

Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You only are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteousness's were made known.

The way God has created is amazing, little puppies grow teeth, and so drinking from the mother is limited and weaning begins. Each part of God’s creation has within its own elements perfection and reveals an understanding of the God we worship. How people can think that life is random is beyond what the evidence discloses.

The detail of what God has done must say to you and I that we are part of this detail and so part of the greater plan that God has. So we may feel insignificant and of no value, yet God sees us as very valuable and important to Him. In fact we are so important that Jesus went to extraordinary lengths for us, so that we live for eternity with Him. Our life on this earth is to worship God and enjoy what God has given us. Everything works together in harmony so that all creation brings glory to God.

Be encouraged today to bring glory to God.

 

David

 

Point to ponder: Glorify God.

 

Question to consider: Do you bring glory to God?

The family business

26 October  2012   

Luke 10:4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.

I wonder what made Jesus say to His disciples when they went out to heal the sick that they should not take anything with them except what they were wearing? I suppose some of them would have tried to take their best clothes and made sure that they had everything they needed for the journey. In this way I think we are all like that.

Going out to heal the sick is a simple business of just going and doing it, but when you have to travel 400km to get there one is inclined to think of contingencies, so one has to think of the extras one may need. At the time of Jesus most of the places the disciples went were not great distances, and we see this change when Paul went on His travels. Besides in those days they wore simple clothes with a cloak that served as a blanket as well as keeping one warm. Today we have clothes for every occasion, so we cannot just get up and preach in everyday clothes, we must put on something special so that we do not offend the audience we preach to entertain.

Be encouraged today to think if your clothes describe you

 

David

Point to ponder: Will clothes make the man.

Question to consider: Are you what you wear?

The family business

25 October  2012  

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

The complex question that you need to answer is whether Jesus abides in you, does He live in you, with you and all things we share with Him? Because if Jesus does live in you, then all that you do and say is related the constant awareness of His presence in all things. It is in this that we grow in confidence that when He appears again we will not be ashamed of who we are, because who we are is Jesus in the world.

We are the children of God and as children we are in the Family business, the business that Jesus taught His disciples to be about and through whom we have been taught. This business is to promote the will of the Father on earth and bringing, hope, love and encouragement to others to do the same. We have faith that Jesus rose from the dead and dwells in us in and through the Holy Spirit and so we are about our Father’s business each and every day. When Jesus returns He will find us going about His business not our own.

Be encouraged today to be about the Family business.

 

David

Point to ponder: You have shares in the Family business.

Question to consider: Are you at work in the Family business?

Trust

24 October  2012  

Psalms 31:14 But I trust in thee, O LORD, I say, "Thou art my God."

To have faith is to have trust, so when we have faith in something or someone then we trust in them. So when we are married we are full of faith in our spouse and we trust them with everything, we are faithful. So we know that when we have faith we are able to rely on the trust that we have that all will be right.

The difficulty is that we often loose faith and trust because what we want does not necessarily happen when we want it to happen. This distrust starts as we realise that what people say they often do not mean, so when we are promised something for doing something and then we do not get it, we learn to distrust even our own parents. This brings about a change in  us of unbelief in faith. The problem is that we make God in the image of men instead of men being the image of God. God is faithful and trustworthy, man is not.

So when we understand that we are able to trust God and have faith in Him, then we need to re-learn and grow in faith and trust in Him. The more we trust God the more our faith grows, the more we realise how trustworthy God is.

Be encouraged today to trust God.

 

David

Point to ponder: Trust God.

Question to consider: Do you trust God?

The real "you"

23 October  2012   

2 Corinthians 10:7 Look at what is before your eyes. If any one is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that as he is Christ's, so are we.

How confident are you about who you are? Many of us may be confident in what we do yet when it comes to who we are we seem to lack confidence. This often happens because of the negative exposure and criticism which erodes our self image and so no matter how good we do something we always need someone to affirm that it was good enough for them. This is mainly the result of our identity being related to what we do rather than we are.

Jesus Christ gave us a way to overcome this issue in our lives by accepting who we are in Him. This person ‘who you are’ is not dependant on your health, your emotions, of time, of any material thing, it is intrinsically you. And only you know ‘you’, and when all has faded away you still remain you. When we recognise ourselves in Christ, and that Christ dwells in ‘you’ then we come to that eternal understanding that nothing has the power to change ‘you’ except in and through your living relationship with the indwelling Christ. A thief or liar that comes to Christ remains a thief or liar, until that recognition of ‘you’ takes place and their becomes a passion or desire to stop being a thief or liar changes them.

When you recognise the Christ in ‘you’ and understand His indwelling love for you that will stand the test of eternity, then how can what you do determine who you are? For when Christ dwells in you, are you then not ‘Christ’ to the world?

Be encouraged today to go out in confidence of the indwelling Christ in you.

 

David

Point to ponder: Jesus lives in you through the Holy Spirit.

Question to consider: Are you what you do or are you who you really are?

Show me you love me

22 October  2012   

John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Jesus says: ‘if you love me, you would keep my commands’ so when we say we love Jesus we imply that we keep His commands. His first command is that we love His Father, just as He loves the Father, we do this by being in and complying with the will of the Father. So what pleases the Father, pleases Jesus, and Jesus came to fulfil the will of the Father. The second commandment is to love one another as Jesus loves us, there is no greater love than one who lays down their lives for a friend. So saying we love Jesus without keeping His commands is hypocritical, because you cannot say you love Him and then disregard what He has asked us to do.

To say you love someone is one thing, but to say it and then show it is another. So if you say you love me, show me, by laying down what is important to you, and making what is important to me as important to you. So I love my wife and I show her how I love her by doing what pleases her, and loving those that she loves. When I say I love Jesus I must also show Him by doing what pleases Him and loving those that He loves. Jesus is a Friend to sinners so I must be a friend to sinners.

Be encouraged today to show Jesus you love Him.

David

Point to ponder: Keep My commandments.

Question to consider: Do you show Jesus you love Him by keeping His commandments?

The Bible

19 October  2012   

Isaiah 40:25-26 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

The Bible teaches us that the God we worship is not an idol, nor is He a god that is sitting far away watching the affairs of men with disinterest, but that the God we worship reveals Himself to us. He is a God that speaks, He is a God that listens, He is a God that understands and cares, He is a God that loves, He is our God to us. The Bible reveals to us that God made us in His image and that we have been given dominion and authority over this earth. We also find that we have failed our side of the agreement with God time and time again, yet God has never failed us.

It is because of who God is and His love for this world that He revealed Himself to us in and through Jesus Christ, and in doing so gave us a living example of how He expects us to respond to Him and to others. So as we study the Bible we need to have the meaning revealed to us, not through human understanding or wisdom but through the Holy Spirit. We cannot learn to be a Christian, we cannot earn our Christianity, we just live it in love.

Be encouraged today to study the Bible and to just live it.

 

David

Point to ponder: The Bible is God’s revelation to us.

Question to consider: Do you read your Bible everyday?

Sustainability

18 October  2012   

1 Corinthians  9:7-8 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same?

In order to develop the development must be sustained and sustainable. In a country where the vast majority are unemployed and in an economic driven state based on mining and industry it is almost impossible to make jobs for people who are not equipped for the economic market. A further problem is that those who are employed are often unproductive, because they are paid to do a job they are not really trained to do.

In history we learn that we learn nothing from history. Each generation repeats the errors of the past and tends to ignore history, so we see how technology changes but the mistakes do not. In history the early Roman did not support mining nor industry as  sustainable, simply because once you had mined, the resource was used and could not be replaced. They saw that the only sustainable income was from farming and the proper use of land, the land is able to regenerate itself. When there is no hungry people and people are housed on the land, working and using the land, there is peace. The closer we come to the land and the understanding of sustainability the closer we come to finding lasting peace. So we are all able to learn from the past and to understand that we also have a role to play in making and keeping the peace, by ensuring that what we do is sustainable.

Be encouraged today to use only sustainable resources.

  

David

Point to ponder: Sustainability leads to peace.

Question to consider: How do you help to sustain resources?

Law of sin

17 October  2012   

Romans 2:12-13 All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

God set His laws in motion when He created the heavens and the earth. The earth spins and rotates around the sun, the moon spins slowly and rotates around the earth, each in perfect time. This causes the tides and the changes in season, so this just proves the perfection of God’s laws. What goes up comes down, what goes around comes around, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, we do not invent the laws, we just experience them.

In the same way as you live so you live, if you live as if there is no God, then for you there is no God. As you live so you die, all sin has consequences even if you do not believe that what you are doing is not sin. For we do not determine the laws that govern sin, God does, and it is only God that has the true capacity to deal with the laws of sin. So if you have sinned it is God’s laws of sin that you have ignored, a person having sinned needs to recognise the laws of consequence, not only in their own lives but on the lives of those around them. It is only when we have recognised our sin that we are then able to approach God to help us to deal with the sin as well as the consequences that the sin has brought into our lives.

Be encouraged today to recognise your sin and the consequences that it has.

 

David

Point to ponder: Gods law of sin has consequences.

Question to consider: How has your sins affected your future?

Hope

16 October  2012   

1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy.

In today’s world one could easily become a purveyor of doom and gloom, there are so many things that stimulate negative thinking, and some people seem to thrive on it. Nobody knows the future just as nobody can actually tell you whether we are going to have rain next month, the situations that we face today determines the future. So yes we are going to have difficulties and there will be failed crops and rising inflation, the question is ‘so what?’

It is the way we face the future that we find the hope for tomorrow, we still plant the seed in the hope of a harvest, we still apply for the promotion even though we may not get it, that is what hope is all about. When we allow the situation to determine what we do, we allow the hope that we have to be eroded and we soon find ourselves part of the doom and gloom. We keep our tomorrows bright by shining the hope we have on them, we polish them with words of encouragement and we know that nothing will stop us from having hope, except ourselves.

Be encouraged today to be a person of hope.

 

David

Point to ponder: Keep hoping.

Question to consider: Do you loose hope?

Diligent worship

15 October  2012   

Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.

Sometimes when you have been to church and you have been part of the service, and when you leave you cannot even remember what the sermon was about and if you were asked what you sang you could not answer. This may be how some people feel about a church service. But how would you feel as the preacher, who preaches a sermon that nobody hears, that the people are so distant from God, because the seriousness of the worship and the sermon falls on deaf ears? How many of us actually take worship seriously with the thought that this is God we are worshipping, and it is God speaking through the preacher?

Yet no matter the attitude of the preacher or the congregation there are still those within the congregation who are blessed through the moments in the presence of God. Just as many people heard and witnessed what Jesus did, how many actually realised that they had been in the presence of God, rather than listening to a man speak and watched some spectacular entertaining event. The question that you and I need to answer is why do you actually attend church and do you recognise that our God is a consuming fire?

Be encouraged today to be diligent in worship and attentive to the Word of God.

David

Point to ponder: God speaks through His preachers.

Question to consider: Are you diligent in worship?

Subject: Prayers for SA

Hello Friends,

Someone has said if Christians really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless.

Did you know that during World War II there was an adviser to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing everyday at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in South Africa. If you would like to participate:

Every evening at 9:00 PM Stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of South Africa, our citizens, and for a return to Godly values in our country.

If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

Thank you and God Bless.

Bethel Reunion

                           That's Merle and and Barbara to the right of the picture

Hello Geoff and Marianne,

I trust you are well?  We have not been in touch for a long time...

During lunch with Mr Joseph Hwang, the Korean gentleman who did Bethel with us, he expressed a wish to see all of us who did the Bethel course with him. I spoke to Barbara MacMurray yesterday, and they will try to get me some names and phone numbers. I know it was the two of you, Merle and Ralph Nicholls, Vivienne McAlpine, Jenny Fuller, I, but I do not remember anyone else. Can you help in any way, please? Maybe ask in your newsletter, or something, please?

Geoff and Ceridwyn cannot come, I know. They will only be coming to Jozi in August next year, and Mr Hwang does not want to wait that long.

God bless,

Christa Croukamp

PS: Does anyone have contact details for Jenny?

Be sanctified

12 October  2012  

 

Romans 15:15-16 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Each of us are reminded of what Jesus has accomplished for us through His sacrifice on the cross, so that we may be presented by Jesus Christ to the Father. In this process each of us experience the grace of God, this grace which allows us to live not dominated by laws, but by love, by loving each other as Jesus Christ loves us. This results in us not only living the gospel of God, but being priests in the service of God.

In all these we become an offering to God, not because of who we are or even what we have done but because we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This sanctification is a process through which we experience the things of God which brings us into a deeper relationship with God. The more we offer God of ourselves, the more acceptable we become as a sacrifice to God.

Be encouraged today to live sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

  

David

Point to ponder: The Holy Spirit sanctifies you.

Question to consider: Do you live a sanctified life?

Love hurts

11 October  2012   

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

In life there are things that happen that really disappoint and hurt one deeply, the more compassion and love that you have the more you seem to be disappointed and hurt. It would be so much easier to be able to switch off one’s emotions and not allow others to hurt us like they do. Yesterday one of Coco’s puppies to a bad turn and at the Vet we had to decide to put the pup down, she had developed a heart problem and would never be really well. It really hurts to do this.

Yet there are some people who hurt those they love and do not seem to care, they have the right words but the wrong heart, and they leave a trail of broken relationships behind them. No matter what the past, we need to realise that love hurts, love comes back for more hurt, and disappointment in the one you love does not stop you from loving them. Just think how many times we have hurt Jesus and have disappointed Him, yet He never turns us away, and His love is constantly there for us. If only we would remember this when we are hurt by those who say they love us.

Be encouraged today never to stop loving.

 

David

Point to ponder: No matter how we hurt and disappoint Jesus He never stops loving us.

Question to consider: Do you love even when it hurts?

Kingdom come

10 October  2012   

1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

The people of Israel were under the authority and government of God, in return for accepting God as their King and if they kept the laws, God would protect and prosper them. Yet Israel rejected this and wanted a king like the other nations around them and so rejected God and His laws in preference for ruling themselves under their own king. The purpose of a king or government is to protect the citizens against harm and to provide peace in the land.

It is generally accepted by all constitutional lawyers that there is a contract between the government and the people that they will pay taxes and in return the government will ensure a corrupt free and peaceful state in which the citizens may prosper. The situation  most often is that the government will usually be most efficient in tax collecting but very poor in other aspects. The result is that the citizens become disillusioned by the none performance of government.

As Christians we reject the world form of government as we know and believe that only Jesus Christ will be our true King and He will govern in peace for eternity. This worldly government is temporary, and will be judged by the Judge and He will show no mercy upon them.

Be encouraged today to pray for the coming of the Kingdom.

 

David

Point to ponder: Jesus is our King and our Judge.

Question to consider: Who is our government?

Hope

                  Pastor Solomon and his wife Perry ... driving hope at St Mark's
 
9 October  2012     

Romans 5:2-5 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

Governments come and governments go, there is no constant in this world and everything is subject to change and erosion, nothing remains the same. The only constant that we have is Jesus, He is unchanging, the same today as He was yesterday and He will be the same tomorrow. When we see the world around us, the labour strike, the violence, the religious and race hatred, we need to know that this is but temporary and that each will reap that which they sow.

The reality of our constant in Jesus Christ lifts us up out of the negativity and oppressive society, for our hope is not in what a trade union negotiates or what politicians earn through greed and corruption, our hope is in Jesus Christ. In the same way we find that even the church is tainted by the world and its sin, and we find that the church itself cannot give us hope, only Jesus Christ can.

Be encouraged to keep your eyes on Jesus, He is our hope.

 

David

Point to ponder: Jesus is our only constant hope.

Question to consider: What is your hope?

Get the latest news on Twitter now

                                            Yesterday's jumble sale at St Mark's

If you are a Twitter user here is some good news. St Mark's now has a Twitter account and you can follow the latest posting on your smartphone or PC by calling up "StMarksYeo."  This a quick and easy way to communicate. If you want to send a message or news snippet just email Geoff or Marianne at vanheerdeng@google.com and he will put you message online immediately. This will then be available via Twitter, Facebook and the St Mark's blog.

Scroll down the blog and enjoy the picture slideshow, by clicking on photograph you see.

Blessings

The St Mark's editorial team

Another jumble sale on 4th November

                                 New members Charles and Aaron & Pastor Solomon

St Mark's welcomed two new members to the congregation yesterday. They were Aaron Munyeshya from Rwanda and Charles Kumi Wiafe, from Ghana. They have completed their induction course and are ready and able to spread God's message in our community.
After the service the Women of the Church (Bomme Ka Kereka) held a jumble sale in the A S Welsh Hall. The congregation gave generously and approximately a R1 000 was rasied for our funds. There will be another jumble sale on the 4th November. Thank you to Sophia for driving this event.

The Mark's Editorial team.

Invest in tomorrow

                            Sophia ... about to count the takings from the jumble sale

8 October  2012     

Isaiah 65:21-22 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Many people are dependant on others for their feelings and state of mind, so often we need the approval of others and the desire to please others and seldom without with the cost of our own contentment. It is a wise person that plans for a long winter or a dry summer, in the same way we all need to think about tomorrow and the times we need to get through those harsh seasons of life. It is better to work hard and use what you have wisely when you are young so that you will have enough for those days when you are older.

When we invest in the future it is not that we do not trust God to provide but that we use that which God has given us to ensure survival in our tomorrows. It is often in tears and sadness that we plant the seed that later will turn into the harvest of tomorrow. As we grow older we realise that nobody will care for you more than you will care for yourself, so it is wise to make provision for the golden years of life. It is in using what God has given us wisely that we are able to give God the glory. This not only applies to material things but also our relationships with our family and especially with God.

Be encouraged today to think of your investment in tomorrow.

 

David

Point to ponder: God is our Provider, He gives us the seed, we plant it.

Question to consider: What are you planting for tomorrow?

Bright and beautiful

5 October  2012  

  

Psalms 8:9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!

Last night was very hot and as a result sleep was not as easy as when the night is cool, it was made more complicated by Coco our bulldog with her 8 puppies complaining all night about the weather. So this morning Coco was up and about in the garden digging and scratching to find a cooler place to sleep. It is just so fascinating to watch and observe how God has made His creation.

In the same way yesterday we drained the fish pond and fountain to repair the leaks so as to seal it once again. When we did this we had to catch the fish, there were about 25 fish the largest of which is about 50cm in length, and the smallest about 60mm, all this growth happens without our help. God has planned and made all things bright and beautiful and just think we are all part of this and we are His.

Be encouraged today to enjoy what God has given us.

 David

Point to ponder: How great is our God.

Question to consider: Do you see the Hand of God in nature?

Maintenance

4 October  2012   

 

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

When you live and work we spend many hours fixing and repairing things that need to be maintained in order for our lives and work to flow smoothly. This is true in all things, in our home, our cars, our work. When we stop maintaining eventually it gets to the stage where it breaks and you either have a great expense repairing it or you have to replace it with something new.

Now this is also true in most things including relationships, and very often it is not the fancy stuff that maintains the relationship but making sure that the drains work and that the garden is neat and the home is tidy.  When our relationships suffer, they eventually break and the result is a broken heart and often a broken home. We all need to be aware that if we maintain that which we have, it becomes the treasure of tomorrow. In the same way we also must make sure that we are maintaining our relationship with Jesus.

Be encouraged today to spend time on some maintenance.

 

David

Point to ponder: God has a maintenance plan.

Question to consider: Are you keeping to God’s maintenance plan?

Unexpected crisis

3 October  2012     

James 1:2-3 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

It only takes a moment and ones life may change forever. One may be driving and suddenly another car does not stop at a stop street and smashes into your car, how quickly this happens. In the same way we need to be conscious that many things can happen unexpectedly and then how do we cope with it is maybe more important than the unexpected.

Just because we believe and trust in Jesus does not mean that bad things do not happen to good people, and when bad things do happen do we stop believing and trusting? We need to be assured of our belief and trust and this usually takes an incident to happen to help us to grow in faith. However we need to be in a place where we are right with God, and to praise God no matter what happens. For nothing will happen to us which outside of God’s will for us and all things that happen God turns to the good of those who love Him.

Be encouraged to be mindful God is with us.

 

David

Point to ponder: When the unexpected happens God is still in control.

Question to consider: How do you handle the unexpected?

Silent retreat

A SILENT RETREAT

at

                                                         Linga Longa             Bela Bela

Tues 13th - Thurs 15th November

Retreat Leader: Rev Cecil Edwards

If we are to hear the silent voice of God,

we must learn to turn down

the noise in our lives, for

God speaks the language of silence.

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Enjoy this midweek spiritual experience.

Place your life before God to seek a deeper awareness of His presence

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cost:      R550 p.p. (limited sponsorship available)

Travel:   Shared transport can be organized

To Register:  email or phone Linga Longa

                           (Rev Dave Hutt 083 650 1971)

                                          or Stephen at the Office - 014 736 4300

  Further details/directions to follow upon registration.

“Silence is God’s first language”   -   St. John of the Cross.