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

Touching Lives

As North Rand grows, I'm more and more aware that God created his church to touch lives.

So here's the thing, the more we grow, the greater variety of ministries we need to have, in order to touch people's lives.

Obvious isn't it?

Yep, so the question then is, where does God want you to serve?

I believe He wants to use us, our stories and our generosity to change the world.

If you are thinking: Where or how can I be part of God's plan for His people?

Then I encourage you to find out:

- Pray
- Read you Bible
- Speak to other Christan's
- Find courses that can help you (check out NR Discipleship School on our website.)

Bless you in your efforts to serve our Lord.

Two Things

1. Saturday: the FATHERS group arranged a fishing trip to a trout farm.

We ended up with one fish, one tree and a few tufts of grass. More importantly we shared fellowship and a wonderful morning in God's creation.

2. Sunday: we looked back at God's will and work at NR in 2008 and the plans He has for us in 2009.


Awesome!

Thank you Lord for the privilege of being part of your family and work in the world!