NHCF Blog

Guest Post Confidence16 I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. (Romans 1:16 GNB)It is in these dark days, when all seems to be falling apart, and we can so easily become discouraged, that we need to place our trust and faith in the Lord. Jesus said He will never leave or forsake us. He is in control, even if we can’t see how.The great apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit tells us to have complete confidence in the Gospel, because it is the power of God to save all who believe. For the Gospel tells us how God puts us right with Himself. It is by faith, from beginning to the end.Complete confidence, means just that, no further confidence needed. Confidence that when we believe in Jesus, and place our total faith and trust in Him, we need not be concerned about what is taking place in the world today, corona virus included. We use our God given common sense and stay safe, stay healthy, be careful and keep smiling. God loves you with an everlasting love. We are safe in His hands.Humble yourself, pray for forgiveness of your sins, pray for His presence in your life daily. Pray for all your neighbours. Then, whatever happens, we will see Him face to face, and everything will be wonderful.Dave Griffiths Sharing our FaithWe were reminded by Luke on Pentecost Sunday about sharing our faith with others, and the power we receive through God’s Holy Spirit when we in turn share our Faith story with someone.It reminded me of one of the Bushmen stories during one of my visits to New Xade in the Central Kalahari in Botswana. An encounter with a blind Bushman name Chatteque. It also is amazing how he believed and hung on to his Faith when he encountered God’s Holy Spirit and how he shared his faith.Faith is a challenge to live expectantly and to embrace the unknown… to travel a road with no address.Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG[11-12] It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.The story of a blind Bushman man called Chatteque. On one of our visits we were taken out by one of our guides to some distant tree some 2 km’s out of New Xade, like many of our visits turned out to be. Here we were met by an old man and woman, the man being blind. His name on introduction is Chatteque and he is very excited to have visitors. He tells us of his experiences and his blindness which was caused by a “rinkhals” snake spitting in his eyes. We encountered a few blind people, some with the same condition…

In this Peanuts cartoon the ever confident Lucy is of course displaying an unrealistic and rather elevated opinion of herself, but let’s consider for just a moment if the same could be said of each and every one of us. What if we were all genuinely trying to make the world a better place by letting the light of Christ’s presence in our lives shine wherever He has placed us? I’ve always enjoyed the late Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of Christ’s words in the Gospel of Matthew where in The Message chapter 5 he says,“13 Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.” (Matthew 5:13 MSG)  In the apostle Peter’s first epistle, he encourages us as believers to “12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see our good deeds and glorify God…” (1 Peter 2:12NIV). In other words, we can make the world a better place through our actions. In John Piper's commentary on this verse he comments that “This is Peter’s clearest statement as to how we can make a name for God … if we maintain good conduct and don’t grow weary in doing good.”  Just think for a minute about what a difference you and I can make in this broken and hurting world if we let our lights shine; if we live out this verse and those in our sphere of influence would testify that the office is a better place to work because you work there, your neighbourhood is a better place to live because you live there; the school your children go to is a better place because your family are part of it.Granted, none of us can change the world singlehandedly, but by God’s grace we can let the difference Christ has made in us individually, make a difference in the world around us. So my fellow love filled, life givers, let’s be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth, and light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. Let’s strive to live such good lives that those around us may see our good deeds and glorify God! Let us ask God to show us where we can splash some colour in a somewhat drab world. God bless you,Calven

I’m feeling really tired today and don’t think I’m the only one. The past few months have been really draining for many reasons and are starting to catch up to me. While doing some reading on the topic of tiredness I came across this account in Mark 6:7 He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits. 8 He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff—no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts, 9 but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt. 10 He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. 11 If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. You can imagine the busyness of ministry the disciples must have faced after being sent out by Jesus. After this time of intense ministry the disciples then reported on everything they had done and taught in this time. Jesus’ response really stood out to me: “Come away to a remote place and rest for a while.” Jesus recognized that His disciples were tired and told them that they needed some time to rest away from the context of their work. This is a much needed reminder of the fact that we all need rest. We simply can’t keep working without it or our bodies will start to give up eventually. I really enjoyed these words from GotQuestions on this topic:“God desires rest for us because it does not come naturally to us. To rest, we have to trust that God will take care of things for us. We have to trust that, if we take a day off, the world will not stop turning on its axis. From the beginning (Genesis 3), when we decided that we would start making all the decisions, mankind has become more tense and less able to relax. It was disobedience in the Garden that started the problem, but obedience now will bring the rest that God so desires for us (Hebrews 3:7 - 4:11). If one of the definitions of “relax” is “to become less firm,” then relaxing our grip on our own lives, careers, families, etc., and giving them over to God in faith is the best way to relax.”If you are feeling tired at the moment I urge you to prioritize rest for a period of time which God desires for you. Trust him with what has got you so busy at the moment and take the time to allow yourself to rest and relax. While this may look different in our current context…

"Do you feel the world is broken?""We do..."This is the opening line from Andrew Peterson's song Is He Worthy? A call and response style song that cleverly and beautifully acknowledges both the brokenness and darkness in the world and at the same time affirms Christ's light dispelling the dark, conquering death and God's promise to restore all creation.About two months ago, when I included this song in the worship playlist for that Sunday, I shared a brief note reflecting on how appropriate and relevant this song (written in 2018) is for us today as we face the trials and implications of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Today as I see news reports about how on top of the turmoil caused by the virus, there is police brutality, prejudice, violent protests, rising crime and corruption, I'm brought back to that opening line, Do you feel the world is broken? And reply alongside others, "We do." It's an important observation to make. But it should not be one that causes us to lose hope. For there is a greater truth, as the first verse alludes to:Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)But do you know that all the darkWon't stop the light from getting through?(We do)Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)Yes, the world is broken, yes the shadows are deepening, but... but no matter how broken and dark it gets, nothing will stop the God's light breaking through, nothing will stop Him from making things anew. Yes creation is groaning (verse 2 of the song) but a new creation is coming and God's glory will be a light in our midst right now, let us not forget that. We can confidently declare that God loves us, that His Spirit moves among us, that we are safe in His hand and that His plan is to dwell with us in eternity.How can we know this? How can we have this hope? Because of Jesus. Because our hope is found in Christ. Is He worthy? Worthy of our trust and worship? Worthy of all blessing and honour and praise?He is.He conquered death and sin. He is descended from a line of kings and is in fact the King of all kings. He is the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who died in our place to satisfy the wrath of God against all our sin. Of course He is worthy. Worthy of all honour, glory and praise.Is He Worthy?Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)But do you know that all the darkWon't stop the light from getting through?We doDo you wish that you could see it all made new (We do)Is all creation groaning? (It is)Is a new creation coming? (It is)Is the glory of the LordTo be the light within our midst? (It is)Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?Is anyone able to…