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Better Together

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by Calven Celliers Last week a friend of mine shared this really encouraging video clip with me: https://thenewharvest.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Better-Together-Video.mp4 Better together! What a fantastic slogan. Simply put, when other people are in our lives, we not only survive, we thrive! God has created and called us into relationships. Not only has He called us into a personal relationship with Himself, but He invites us to have significant relationships with other humans. In his letter to the Church at Rome, the apostle Paul made a simplistic appeal, “16 Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:16NIV) Harmony, as all musicians know, is a pleasing arrangement of different parts. You get harmony when different notes are joined together in such a way that one note enriches and complements another. Harmony is not unison. You don’t get harmony by everyone playing the same note. You get harmony when different notes are brought together. Harmony does not mean that everyone thinks the same, does the same, or is the same. “Live in harmony with one another” means that believers should live in such a way that we enrich and complement each other. By joining together, we are more than any of us would be on our own. There is a display of beauty that comes from taking what is distinct and different and making it one – life is better together! Just like the majestic redwood trees that survive because they live in groves with their root systems entangled with numerous other trees, support each other, so too we can’t survive alone. We need each other. We were never meant to go it alone. We need the support of one another to make it. One of the major purposes of the Christian church is for the very purpose of encouraging and supporting one another. When we have real, connecting relationships in our lives, we can know and be known; love and be loved; celebrate and be celebrated; and serve and be served. God bless, Calven

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Living He Loved Me

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by John DoyleIt is so important that we as believers in Christ enjoy and rejoice knowing that we are unconditionally loved by God to the greatest degree possible. Our desire should be to magnify the Lord for loving us the way He does. This is why it matters to us what Jesus really accomplished for us when He died, was buried and rose again. There is a common way of thinking about Christ’s death that diminishes our experience of His love. It involves thinking that the death of Christ expressed no more love for me than for anyone else in the human race. If that’s the way you think about God’s love for you in the death of Jesus, you will not enjoy being loved by God as greatly as you really are.Have you ever felt that amazing love in times of struggles or grief? I am sure you have. It's a never ending unconditional Love. Ephesians 2:4–5 “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”Six things stand out in Ephesians 2:4–5. 1. The phrase *Great Love*“Because of the great love with which He loved us.” That phrase is used only here in the New Testament. Let it sink in. God loves His own with a “great love.” Surely Paul writes this so that we will enjoy being greatly loved.2. The peculiar greatness of this love that moves God to “make us alive.”“Because of the great love with which he loved us, . . . God made us alive.” His great Love is the cause of our life. Our life did not cause the greatness of His love for us. It’s the other way around. The greatness of his LOVE made us alive.3. Before he made us alive, we were “dead.”“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.” There is such a thing as the living dead. Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). Before God made us alive, we were the living dead.We could breathe and think and feel, but we were spiritually dead. We were blind to the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3–4), we were stone-hearted to his law and could not submit to him (Ephesians 4:18; Romans 8:7–8), and we were not able to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only God could overcome this deadness so that we could see the glory of Christ and believe (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s what he did when he “made us alive” (Ephesians 2:5).4. God does not make everyone alive.What happened to you, to bring you to faith, has not happened to everyone. And remember, you don’t deserve to be made alive. You were dead. You were “by nature a child of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). You did not do anything to move God to make you alive. That’s what it means to be dead. But…

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Just As I Am

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by Graham MolAs inevitable as the sun rising in the morning, we're going to commit some kind of sin at some stage. Even the most dedicated and mature Christians get it wrong at times, we are not yet perfect and if we think we are, then our pride betrays us. What this means is that every time we sin we have a choice. How will this affect my relationship with the Lord? Do I let it push me away from Him, or do I swallow my pride and come humbly before Him, just as I am? The classic hymn: "Just as I am" contains wonderful truths about coming to the Lord "just as we are," acknowledging that we are not worthy, that we are sinners, but that He is good and merciful.So let's take a moment to look at each verse and appreciate the wisdom and truth contained in the lyrics.Just as I am, without one plea,But that Thy blood was shed for me,And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,O Lamb of God, I come! I come!We come to the Lord "without one plea," that is, God does not owe us anything, we have not earned His favour - BUT that Jesus shed His blood for us, giving His life to save us from our sin - AND that He has called us to come to Him. These two facts are unchangeable and no matter how we are feeling about ourselves, we can still come to Him, just as we are.Just as I am, and waiting notTo rid my soul of one dark blot;To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,O Lamb of God, I come, I come!There is such an important lesson to be learnt in this verse. So often we let the shame of our sin hold us back from coming to the Lord to be cleansed of our uncleanness. We do ourselves a disservice in this. Let us rather not wait to be cleansed of that "dark blot". The blood of Jesus that washes us white as snow is how this cleansing of our souls is often described. Allow His holiness cleanse you of the impurities you have allowed into your life through sin. Not only that, but be free of the shame. Don't delay.Just as I am, though tossed aboutWith many a conflict, many a doubt;Fightings within, and fears without,O Lamb of God, I come, I come!We don't need to have it all together to come to God. We find an internal battle going on in us between the old sinful desires and our new desires to obey the Lord. We do not have to have that battle concluded before we can come to Him. Rather, as we wrestle with such things we should go to Him our strength and refuge.Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;Sight, riches, healing of the mind;Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,O Lamb of God, I come, I come!Not many of us would describe ourselves as "poor, wretched"…

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He Set the Captives Free

https://youtu.be/wYbV_Nl652s?t=981 Audio Recording Despite being wrongfully accused, beaten and thrown into jail, Paul and Silas kept their trust in God. The story of their deliverance from captivity is one that involves many different people being set free in the name of Jesus Christ. Sermon by Graham Mol Download the Summary

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