Wouldn't the world....

Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if...

- People could live without guilt...of failure, of past mistakes, of missed
opportunities
- People could live without the negative effects of pride,guilt etc...
- People could live in love...

The Good News is we can!!

Jesus encourages us to examine our priorities, in as far as where we place things of importance.
In Matthew 7: 1-6, He teaches us that, checking out logs in our own lives is important, because its often those emotions which can determine how we react to the specks in the lives of those around us.
In other words, sometimes we react to others based on our own feelings of guilt, pride and self-loathing.

He asks us to live in love.
We can only do that effectively when we are free from the effects of negative emotions.

My prayer is that you would, right now, irrespective of what your are doing, ask Jesus to set you free from emotions which are holding captive...

Pray with me: Lord Jesus, please set me free from my guilt, shame, pain, pride and confusion. Help me to live freely. I surrender myself to You. Amen.

It's Good!

It's good to be back!


After a wonderful time of fellowship with people one doesn't always get time to be with, its great to start a new year filled with possibility and promise.


Some promises are:

- To develop our youth ministry - welcome Sharon our Youth Pastor!
- To build the new church - our consent use has been given!
- To touch our people with love - welcome Jane, our Pastoral Assistant!
- To care for our buildings - welcome William!
- To build Hlalanathi into a vibrant Christian community - welcome Aquiline!
- To be part of God's plan for our community!
- To become the best person we can!

Have a blessed year North Rand folk!

Salvation Messages

At North Rand we were blessed to have the Florida Augmented Choir with us on Sunday.

They sang and led the congregation in Christmas Carols and Bible readings.

It was truly awesome!

It reminded me that around the time of the Reformation/Renaissance, painters like Caravaggio, were commissioned by the Church to paint Biblical Stories.
The idea here was to paint in such a way as to move people to salvation!

Amazing!

I believe that the Choir on Sunday moved the congregation to an awareness of salvation that came to the world through Jesus Christ. That is the true meaning of Christmas - a receive the greatest gift the world has ever seen - Jesus Christ.

Bless you all at this time as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and King.

Learning From Children

Here's the thing!

Adults sometimes feel they have nothing to learn from children.

Jesus on the other hand, reminds us that we can learn a lot from children. In fact, we ourselves need to become like children to understand the secrets of the Kingdom.

So, how do we do that? In other words, balance responsibility with freedom?

Three ways:

- To love unconditionally
- To forgive unreservedly
- To live unashamedly

Awesome!

Try it!

Live it!

Bread of Life

A few years ago there was an advert on TV about a guy who was looking to get advice on how to invest his money.
In the advert, he spoke to his dentist, his running partner and his friends at the club. All of whom had little or no formal experience to give him, but were more than willing to give their opinions none the less.
The upshot of the thing was to speak to those who know, not those who think they know.


It's amazing, when you think about it, that we often go through life trying to satisfy our hunger for knowledge, assurance or purpose, by watching TV, speaking to our friends(who often know as much as we do) or simply going along with the most popular trend of the time.

Jesus (John 6: 25-29)offers us a way to receive the answer to all our questions.
The food that endures is to know and believe that He is the bread of life. A food that does not spoil but endures to eternal life.

Are you feeding on the bread of life?

Jesus is inviting you right now.

Feed on Him and your hunger will be satisfied.

If you want to know Jesus and to receive Him, go the Tell Me About Jesus link and pray with us.

The Cult of Personality

One of the criticisms that the ANC breakaway party has of the ANC is that it has become involved in a 'cult of personality'. In other words they believe that Jacob Zuma has become more important, as a personality, than the principles of the ANC. The African philosophy of Ubuntu says that people should be committed first to the community and that individuals should not take centre stage.

Bill Hybels and Greg Hawkins, pastors at Willowcreek Community Church in the USA, have been promoting a process that they carried out in their church. They wondered whether people were growing in Christ in their church. They wondered whether Jesus was at the centre of their church members' lives. They found that many people were willing to say that they followed Jesus, but had not reached a point of being able to say that he was central to their lives.

We can follow many things - people - like politicians or evangelists, ideals, or interests. But we can only have one centre to our lives and we need to choose that carefully.

Look at this picture:

Where would you say you are in the picture? Where would you like to be?

Mature Christians

Here's a question:

What does a mature Christian look like?


Think about it for a moment!


Perhaps you are saying someone like:

- A person who serves the Lord diligently
- A person with a teachable spirit
- Myself, or so and so

Hebrews 5:14 teaches that mature Christians are "those who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil."

In other words, those who understand that God is good and His creation is good but there are forces that seek to destroy that which is good.
Sometimes it is Satan who instigates evil within people and sometimes it is the evil in people which causes them to sin.

Mature Christians are those then that are able to distinguish the difference.

If you are unsure about your understanding of good and evil, talk to a mature Christan or e-mail me john@johnbailie.co.za