Jesus Heals

On Sunday we shared from Mark 5:24-34.

The story of the woman who, in the midst of a crowd, touched Jesus cloak. Sensing this Jesus stopped and confronted her before sending her away healed.

An important thing emerges from this passage:

A healing process!

This process is important for our healing.

- Our sins are not private - they affect those around us
- In order to heal, we need to confront ourselves before Jesus - He will not heal us surreptitiously
- Jesus sets us free - we can only be fully healed, not partly
- We can testify to our healing

Awesome!

In Good Hands....

At North Rand this weekend, we held our annual Leaders Retreat.

It was a time for focusing on the year ahead and an opportunity for our leaders to dream for 2009.

It is amazing how the Lord has assembled a wonderful, committed and gifted group of people to lead the church this year.

My prayer is that all our members,and anyone who reads this blog, will uphold them in prayer.

As Paul says:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:10-12


Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:13-18

Covenant

Along with Methodists worldwide, we at North Rand, had our Covenant Services on Sunday.

Essentially we commit/recommit ourselves to the Lord and His service.

Making covenant, however, will be meaningless unless we understand three basic principles:

1. The Christan faith centres on the Cross of Christ.

2. The Kingdom of God resides in the hearts of people.

3. The kingdom of God needs to reach to the ends of the earth.


Right so what does that mean?

Our invitation to the kingdom is founded in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. When we respond to His invitation, our hearts are changed and we live for Him. We are called then to take this invitation to others until the world hears the message.Awesome!

Perhaps you want to renew your commitment?

Please pray with us:

Dear Jesus, thank you for making me and loving me, even when I have ignored you and gone my own way.I have tried to run my own life and realise I need you. I'm sorry for my sins. I ask you to forgive me. Thank you for dying on the Cross for me. Please help me to understand it more. As much as I know now, I want to follow you from now on. Please come into my life and make me a new person inside. I accept your gift of salvation. Please help me to grow as a Christan. Amen.

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!