We Are the Body!

On Sunday, as part of our sermon series on the church, we spoke about THE BODY- 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

Three things emerged:



- We, Christan's who confess Jesus Lord and Saviour, are the body (Ephesians 4:15)



- The body has many members with different gifts, ministries and activities (Romans 12;4-5)



- Each member must do their part (Ephesians 4:16)



So when all three come together, the church fulfils it's divine purpose to be God's hand and feet in the world.



Awesome!

The Church - Our Head

In the lead up to the commencement of our new church building, Sunday's sharing was very much around God's purpose for bringing the church into being. This will be a four week sermon series.

So on Sunday we dealt with the Head of the church - Christ.

Three things emerged:

- God appointed Jesus as the head of the church - Ephesians 1:22-23

- As such the church comes under His control and will - Mark 14:35-36

- As members of His body we need to receive Him as both Saviour: - John 3:16 & Lord - John 13:6-9

Next week we'll deal with The Church - The Body.

Animal Blessing

At North Rand we take the environment seriously.



This is evident in the way in which we have designed our new church building, we run an environmental course and once a year, have an animal blessings service where our children from Children's Church bring photo's of their pets and we bless them.

At the same time,we spend some time on understanding God's plan for His creation.

This Sunday we spoke from Genesis 6 and 9.



Take some time and read these passages, you may be delightfully surprised.

Embracing God's Call

On Sunday morning we spoke about the hidden treasure (see blog below).

This was a change from the readings published in the notices etc.

Mainly because God spoke clearly to me that it was something we needed to talk about.

So, this has lead me to reflect on the 'dynamics' of God's call.

Firstly, When He calls, it's time for us to listen.

Secondly, in Mark 1:17, Jesus makes it very clear that He calls sinners, who despite their doubts and fears are called to be part of His work in the world (Matthew 16:15-20).

And Paul in Romans 11:29 makes it clear that God's call and gifting is irrevocable.

Two things emerge:

1. Every Christian is called to be part of God's work in the world

2. God calls and never takes His calling back!

Amazing!

Bless you in your calling.

Hidden Treasure

On Sunday evening we spoke about Jesus' parable of Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13:44-46).

Having a personal relationship with Jesus is indeed a mighty valuable thing!

So two questions arise:

1. Why do some people recognise the value of the Kingdom and some don't?

Not sure but God wants all to be part of His kingdom ( 1 Timothy 2:3-4)

2. What happens to other treasure in the light of the Kingdom?

Having a personal relationship with Jesus and working for His kingdom should be far more valuable than any material gain (Philippians 3:7-9).

Amen!

Confessing Christ

On Sunday we spoke about Peter's confession of Christ (Matt 16:13-20).

Despite Peter being the most unlikely leader, Jesus makes him the rock of His church.

Three things:

- To be a leader in Jesus' mission, we need to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour

- We are then called to be His hands and feet

- He gives us keys of the kingdom

The real question is: what are you doing with your key?

Arbour Day

Sunday was arbour day.

Although I was away at Emmaus, NR celebrated arbour day/week by committing to plant 10 trees out at Hlalanathi.

This has got me to thinking how is it that we struggle to make caring for the environment part of our lives as Christians?

- God created everything including us

- We are co workers with Him in creation

- Jesus died for the redemption of creation

So as Christ followers we need to work to bring about the salvation of the created order!Awesome!

My prayer is that you will do your part in this.