One of the prayer points she used to pray: (My God, in the midst of those asking me. “where is your God?” arise and show them that you are my God). Then something shocking happened.
Here’s Elizabeth to tell her story:
” I thank God for enabling me to get to know you 2 months ago. I must say I have grown tremendously spiritually. I had been seeking God to help me grow spiritually and teach me how to pray. I have been out of a job for more than 2 years and God has come through for me in a BIG way!!
For me, I feel this is just the beginning of big things to come. My friend Charity and I decided enough is enough and met like 3 months ago to speak to God concerning my need to earn a living.
We requested Him to answer us by fire in 3 days and for sure He did. In 3 days, I had 3 invitations for job interviews. I went for the interviews and I told God to choose for me which one He has sent my way. (I had previously gone for so many interviews with no
call-backs, frustrating!!!). I told God to shut the doors He did not open (counterfeit jobs).
I went for 3 subsequent interviews for the same position and glory to God, He favoured me all through (I would go for the interviews with angels of happy meetings, the Holy Spirit and Jesus).
We were an invincible team. They asked me to report to work immediately. I had told God that by June I want to be employed, but I am reporting TODAY. I am going to be a RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, in-line with my career goals and with a six figure starting salary(when everyone had said no one would hire me after 2 years, and if they did, maybe pay me as peanuts).
The Lord is faithful to His promises. He always comes through for His children who seek Him with all their hearts. Please say a word of prayer for me….”
- Sis. Elizabeth,
(Prayer Warrior)
Praise the LORD! Her story has changed. And this can happen for you too, if you’ll draw a line in the sand today and tell the enemy: Enough is enough! Be An Overcomer this Week
Dinah Cristina Amane’s Testimony
March 18, 2009, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Stage 2B. I crossed over the realm of uncertainty & anguish when CANCER was pronounced on me. It never crossed my mind that I would be a part of CANCER statistics.
I feel renewed and rejuvenated in the sense that after diagnosis, I willed myself not to dwell on the dark probabilities or what lies ahead. I underwent the slice, poison and another prophylactic slice to get me going. I have been a recipient and still am a recipient of prayers from brothers & sisters in the BCBP (Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen & Professionals); from relatives & friends and even of strangers & “classmates” in the CANCER world. Definitely I CANCERVIVE!
My positive attitude and happy disposition help in making me what I am today. I attribute this to the constant love I get from my children, from my husband, Glenn, from my Dad and siblings, from my friends and even from strangers. I got a positive insight about cancer and chemotherapy or poison from another Sister in the community who has leukemia. She assured me that it was not the end of the world for me. It is because of this that I am paying forward the very same support I got from her by visiting some that have just been recently diagnosed or even other cancer patients. I want to infect them with my positive outlook, my hands-on attitude by educating myself what I am faced with. I want them to also learn more about their sickness and what toxic effects medicines or procedures can do to them. I want them to know first-hand what to expect after each procedure and for them to always have copies of their pathology results and familiarize the medical terms used. It made a lot of sense to me, I know it will also help them confront or accept their sickness. Denial will not help a bit. On the contrary, it will even aggravate what they already have. While stages are made by men or medical practitioners to help them evaluate or manage their patients, God still has the last say. I’m a 2-B. I would have wanted to be a stage 0 or a 1. This would mean a better chance at survival or recovery. But getting this mark or stage I have to contend with. I trust and surrender everything to God. In His own time, He will lay His healing hand on me; release His power to restore my health fully and take away all the cancer cells in me! In God’s own time.
People always ask me how I was, I always tell them I’m coping fine. Indeed I am. It’s safe to say that I am on remission. Just keep me in your prayers and call on me if there’s anything I can do for you or your friends who are similarly situated like me. I have moved on and never a day passes that I fail to thank God for His blessings and graces bestowed on me and my loved ones. I live each day like it’s my last. I relish and cherish moments shared with friends and loved ones. Always reminding myself to hold on and never let go of God’s abundant love.
During moments of sadness or when episodes of depression hit me; whenever Glenn gets nasty or mean at mean for some trifle things which I did or did not do, or even when the culprit of his anger is someone else but I still get blamed for it, I always tell myself that he’s stressed out and needs to unwind. I love him so much that even if he’s at his worst, I am never short of excuses for him and in the end; I can only feel more love, understanding & even pity for him. Patience is something I am so proud to say I have loads of supply. Having loads of patience and an ounce of understanding help a lot in keeping an outbreak of war at bay. My hair has turned salt and pepper after chemo. Before diagnosis, I had very healthy, thick but coarse long hair. The grays were there but minimal. When my hair started growing back, I noticed there are more whites than black. I don’t mind this at all. I am living another phase of my life and have to contend a different beginning. Whatever is at hand, I have to thank God for it. I cannot and will not complain. He’s done so much in my life and I owe everything to Him.
Early this year, 2 co-fighters died. While theirs were of the invasive & more serious kind of CA, their passing deeply affected me. But I thank God that it did not cause me doubts or unanswered questions to my own plight. I am still fighting my fight. I know, somehow, sometime, we each have to go. I am thankful that like Sis Bing & Sis Lou and all other cancer patients who lost their fights, we were made more special and blessed. We were given the chance to mend our ways or make our peace to some people whom we have caused hurts or pains. So even when another friend just recently passed on due to CA of the colon, stage 4, he also touched my life and others because of his generous & giving heart. He was an anesthesiologist and he fought a good fight to the end. He administered to his patients up to the time his CA metastasized to his brain and he lost his balance prompting him to stop and rest.
When I got the biggest scare in my life, I panicked like hell! Thoughts of dying came to mind. Then, I was struck with a thought. I talked to my kids and told them of my sickness. Told them that I was afraid but my fear was more of their Dad being left all alone when our kids will have their own lives to live later on. So, I told them to allow their Dad to remarry. That was my wish. Then, with my only girl Juliene in tow, we started looking for a 2nd Mom to be for them. Three personalities came to mind. When I told Glenn this, he was shocked beyond words and curtly told me to back off! That he was not interested. Maybe, this idea will have to be put on hold.
My life has never been so lively and so colorful until now. I always surprise people with my different looks. While apt to doing this, because of my desire not to look sick or maybe because the loud side of my personality has become more pronounced with the advent of cancer, I just tell myself that I am entitled to looking different because I am living on borrowed time just like all of you. Before, I never gave a thought about death or dying. I reasoned I was healthy and will live to be a hundred!!! I have a more personal relationship with my Creator now more than ever. My faith in Him served me well when CANCER was pronounced on me. I never questioned His plans for me because I know, He is my God and in Him I surrender everything and put my trust. I am a recipient of countless prayer petitions from friends and even from strangers. I just recently reactivated our Support Group not only for CANCER but also for life threatening diseases. We meet every 2nd Monday of each month. We comfort each other and visit other patients who have just been recently diagnosed. In all the various activities of which I am personally involved, I always invoke God’s love and mercy for all of us. And if God calls me to His kingdom, I am not afraid to go to Him. I know that He gave me ample time to prepare and heed His call in His own time. Amen.
Growing up I was baptized Catholic. My Mom was Catholic and Dad was not, but Mom was the boss as far as religion was concerned. I received My First Holy Communion, and was Confirmed. Mom would always make sure we headed off to Church every Sunday, all Holidays and Ash Wednesday. My Dad never attended any Church. My grandfather was an avid Bible reader, He (Grandpa) would quote scripture to me daily growing up. (The Seed) When I became a teenager, going to church lost it’s luster to me. I was more concerned with hanging out and running with the pack than going to Church. In time Church was just a memory. I used to think that just because I was baptized and believed in God, I was covered. I had no clue! In 1978 I met Cynthia, we dated for a few years and in 1982 we married. We were married in a Roman Catholic Church by a Monsignor and we had a spectacular wedding. Through the years God blessed us with 3 Children. Our son and Daughter were born in New York City and our third child was born in Florida. Our Children were also baptized Catholic. We attended Church regularly and my youngest was an alter server in the Church. Going to Church had purpose for us and every Sunday after service we would go out for brunch. I always felt good all day Sunday, then by Monday, something seemed missing. My grandfather would always drill John 3:16 into my head as a child, I knew this scripture by heart when I was merely 5 yrs old. Throughout my life I would often recite this verse in my mind, it was really the only scripture I was familiar with. But it was one that lived in me all these years, every time I thought of my Grandfather I thought of that scripture, the two went hand in hand. My Grandfather passed when I was 10 yrs old. I was devastated because he was my mentor, he loved me unconditionally and took care of my every need. No matter what, he loved me with all his heart and I was blessed to have him. I was his favorite child. One day in early 2001, my wife had an issue with our church administrator, feelings were involved and we decided to remove ourselves from the congregation. A few weeks went by and my wife was invited by our neighbor to a small Bible based Church in our neighborhood. I did not go, mainly because in my mind it wasn’t Catholic and I wanted no part of that! When my wife came home that day, she was excited and anxious to tell me all about her experience in this new Church. I listened then in my twisted mind resented the fact that she was now talking of making this a routine. I was not happy about it, and warned her that I refused to attend because it was not Catholic and I would have no part of it! She told me that if I found a Catholic Church she would attend with me, then attend the new Church as well! Well, this flustered me…this wasn’t about me though, this was about God and God will always win! I backslid into my old ways and stopped attending Church, while My wife and Children went without me. (Satan must have really enjoyed this!)
For two years this went on, every Wednesday and Sunday off they went. When they would get home my wife always told me that she saves the seat beside her for me , and will not let anyone sit there. Even during crowded services she remained vigilante not to allow anyone to sit there. Everyone knew this, all the congregation, the ushers, pastoral staff etc. Yet I remained steadfast in my ways to stay away! One day my wife comes home and tells me that she has been called to Bible School, she needed my okay because I am the head of the household. After a long discussion, I agreed for her to attend. This was going to be two days a week 4 hours a day plus twice a week for Church. Also, it was going to cost me money! Imagine the grouch I became over this little tidbit of information. I succumbed to the fact and eventually got over it, but I wasn’t that happy about it at the time.
In early 2004 I was asleep and I heard my wife in the bathroom at around 2:00a.m. I asked her if she was alright and she replied not really, thinking it was probably nothing more than an upset stomach I rolled over and fell back asleep. 2 hours later I awoke again, I went to the bathroom to find my wife in agony, she had been bleeding internally and was a pale color which I have never witnessed before. I rushed her to the emergency room where we spent all day and night undergoing tests to determine what was going on. The following day after tests she was admitted and placed in a room, we hadn’t received any word on the results and I was frightened beyond words. Two people walked into her room that I did not know, when my wife noticed them she seemed happy, she introduced them as Pastor Ken and his wife Melissa. Pastor Ken asked that we join hands and pray, as we did this he asked the Lord to heal my wife and that the results would come back negative. When we broke hands and I opened my eyes the Doctor was standing bedside waiting for us to finish, he told us that my wife was going to be ok and after a night of rest she would be released the following day. She had a severe case of food poisoning. God blessed me that day big time! After hearing this I told my wife that the seat in Church would never be empty again and I meant it. She beamed at this statement.
When I started attending this new Church, I felt somewhat uncomfortable, I was not used to singing and lifting hands, it was out of my element. Secondly, I wasn’t familiar with the Bible. I knew one verse from the Bible, and that was about it! Over time I became more comfortable and the Word was starting to consume me. The more I read the Bible the more I wanted. I was on fire for God now! I wanted to know more and more. In may 2004 I’m sitting in service and Pastor is delivering a message on Salvation. I felt like God was telling me things through the Pastor that night, He was telling me what that “missing” feeling was. At the end of service during prayer the Pastor calls anyone who wants to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior to come up and receive salvation. I heard God tell me to go and Go I did! That night I accepted Jesus into my life, after the prayer of salvation ended I turned to my wife, during this time the congregation is praying and my wife didn’t realize I was the one accepting Jesus, I looked at her open her eyes and focus on me, she let loose an astounding “Hallelujah!” and cried with joy! I don’t think there was a dry eye in the Church. That was my night, I was the only one accepting Jesus, it was me and Jesus, he made me the center of attention. My wife and I are truly blessed. Soon after this I signed up for Bible School and I’m on a mission for God ever since. I Worship, Honor and Praise His Holy Name.
By God’s special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Ephesians 3:7
- With grateful hearts we give glory to God for bringing us this far, His love, protection, care and manifold blessings.
- We pray for the Church worldwide for the spirit of God to guide and strengthen the church for greater works.
- We pray for the confirmants that they will be filled to overflowing by the power of the Holy Spirit and be endowed with diverse gifts to edify the church.
- Pray that God will bless all who have offered themselves to the service and that strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit they may faithfully continue in their respective vocations in the Lord’s vineyard.
- We pray for the entire congregation to lead lives worthy of emulation to the greater glory of God. Pray that the Lord will bless and keep us closely united to Him.
- Pray for the three arms of government for wisdom, direction and guidance. We also pray that this year’s election will be a peaceful one. We pray for the Electoral Commission that guided by the Holy Spirit they may execute their duties in the fear of God.
- We remember the sick, the unemployed widows/widowers and all in any kind of trouble.
SUNDAY, 6TH MAY, 2012
- Thank God for the gift of life as individuals and as members of the body of Christ. We also thank the good Lord for a successful Alpha retreat.
- We pray for the Anglican Diocese of Accra that the Holy Spirit may at all times guard, guide and strengthen the Church. We remember all Clergymen, that guided by the Holy Spirit they may lead holy, righteous and sober lives worthy of emulation.
- We pray for the leaders and the entire congregation of Cathedral Church to draw closer to God, look up to Jesus in all things and live. We ask that God will look down with favour upon us and answer our prayers.
- Thank God for the lives of all parents and guardians especially mothers. Pray that the Lord will bless them with strength, wisdom and patience to nurture their children in the knowledge, fear and love of God.
- We remember the needy, and the sick. We pray that the great Physician will have mercy and heal them.
SUNDAY, 29TH APRIL, 2012
- Praise, Glory and honour to the Lord, for his mercies which endures forever. We continue to pray for the SHS students for success in their exams.
- We thank God for the peaceful and successful completion of the B.E.C.E.
- We pray that as the Pupils (J.H.S Graduands) spend the next four to five months at home, God will protect them and that their hands find fruitful work to do.
- For God’s direction and Peace on marriages going through troubled moments and for those yet to marry, He himself should grant them wisdom and the needed resources.
- For the Children’s Ministry that God should be their guide and provider directing them daily.
- Pray for the sick, needy and all those who are disturbed in one way or the other. Ask for God’s healing on them.
SUNDAY 22ND APRIL, 2012
- We give thanks to God for life, creation, preservation and sustenance.
- We pray for the leaders and the entire membership of all church groups. Pray that the Holy Spirit may unify and direct them to work in accordance with the aims and objectives of their respective groups for the growth and welfare of the church.
- We pray for all Lay Ministers that guided by the Holy Spirit, they may humble themselves in the service of the Church and towards one another.
- Pray for peace and understanding in our nation Ghana among Political opponents.
- We pray God for guidance and directions to increase our resources and boost our economy.
- We pray for all those who are qualified but are jobless. We pray God Almighty to open job avenues for them.
- Pray God to have mercy on all mankind, especially the needy and desolate. Pray that He may provide for their needs with the basic requirements of their lives.
SUNDAY 15TH APRIL, 2012
- We continue to thank the Lord for the manifestation of his resurrection Power in our lives, works and ministry.
- We pray for all examination candidates; especially remembering SHS candidate writing their exams and JHS pupil’s who are starting their exams from Monday. We pray for excellent performance this year.
- We pray for all Old St. Monican’s for unity and love for God’s support for their aged members.
- We pray that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will quicken the bodies of the aged and all who are sick in any part of their bodies, that they will experience a miracle of healing.
- Pray for Chiefs, Queen Mothers, Elders of Families and all holding any sort of traditional authority. Pray the Holy Spirit to guide them to administer with integrity, to promote understanding, peace and love among their subjects.
SUNDAY, 8TH APRIL, 2012
- With hearts full of gratitude, we give thanks to God for the strength given us to go through the Holy Week rites and beyond.
- We thank God for the Blood of Jesus that avails for us and the Resurrection power.
- We pray for the Church universal for God’s Spirit to continue to direct and guide us. We also pray for vision and unity of purpose for the Anglican Diocese of Accra to proclaim God’s great and marvelous deeds among all people.
- We pray for our nation Ghana for the ongoing biometric registration exercise. We pray for sanity in all the registration centres, and for a successful exercise devoid of any difficulties or problems.
- We pray for the wisdom for the leadership of the Trinity Club and also for the membership drive. We ask for God’s direction and guidance as they use their resources to bless the church and the society at large.
- We pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit to surround all in any kind of trouble.
SUNDAY, 1ST APRIL, 2012
- We sing praises and thanks to the Lord for safely bringing us through to the end of March. Pray that the Lord will fill us with grace to go through this month.
- We pray for safety and solemn reflections during this Eastertide. We also pray for all Clergy of the Diocese that the Lord will endow them with strength to go through the season.
- Pray for retentive memory for all Pupils and students; We pray for humility and teachable, spirits and also trust the Lord for excellent performance in this years B.E.C.E. and WASSCE.
- We pray for the Men’s Fellowship of this Cathedral. Praying that the Holy Spirit may unify and direct them in accordance with their aims and objectives.
- We remember all sick members of this Cathedral that by the stripes of Christ they may be healed.
SUNDAY, 25TH MARCH, 2012
- We praise and glorify the Lord for giving us the privilege of a new life this day.
- We pray for all parishes holding Vestry Meeting and elections to elect new leaders, praying especially for this Parish that the Lord will guide us to have a successful Vestry meeting and elections. We pray that he will guide us to make right choices for the good of His Church.
- We pray for a new evangelism drive in the church and among all Guilds and Associations.
- We pray for all Polytechnic teachers on strike, we pray for God’s divine intervention that they will be able to go back to teach the affected students who are preparing for end of Semester exams.
- We pray for the leadership and entire members of the Brotherhood of St. Michael and All Angels, that they may be committed to their aims and objectives.
- We pray for the sick, the poor, the needy, the suffering and underprivileged for God’s help at their various points of need.
SUNDAY, 18TH MARCH, 2012
- Let us thank God for strength given us in this Lenten season. Thank Him for all mercies He has bestowed upon us.
- Pray for a revival for the Church of God. Pray that the Holy Spirit will visit our church in a special way. We pray for all clergymen and their families asking for God’s protection and guidance.
- Pray God may have mercy on our children. We pray that they may grow up in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. We pray for all parents and guardians for strength, wisdom and the patience to nurture their children in the love of God.
- Pray for the fruit of the womb for all couples waiting upon the Lord.
- We pray for the leadership and entire members of the Trinity Guild. We ask for God’s wisdom and guidance and pray for zeal and commitment as they contribute towards the development of the church.
- Pray for all sick persons for God’s divine touch. We also remember all in any kind of danger of stress. Pray God to relieve them of their sufferings.
SUNDAY, 11TH MARCH, 2012
- Let us with one accord sing praises and offer thanks to God for his ever increasing mercies and loving kindness towards us.
- Let us thank the Lord for a successful launching of the 2012 Harvest last week. We pray for the hosting Guild that the Lord himself will assist their efforts to make us reach and exceed our target this year.
- We pray for our great country Ghana thanking God for all mercies showered on us for the past 55years that the Lord will bless every government efforts for the progress of this Nation.
- We pray for the A. Y. P. A. that being guided by the Holy Spirit, they will unite the youth of this Church, especially this year as they celebrate 60th Anniversary. We pray that the youth will grow up to be disciplined, loyal and committed members of this Cathedral as well as becoming useful citizens of this country.
- We pray for the sick, needy, poor and unloved, that the Lord will be gracious to them.
- We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and discernment as we prepare to elect new leaders for the Cathedral church on 25th March, 2012.
SUNDAY, 4TH MARCH, 2012
- From the depth of our hearts, we give thanks to God for His innumerable benefits that we continue to enjoy and bringing us to the beginning of another month.
- ·Pray for the Church universal, asking for the guidance and strengthening of the Holy Spirit to enable us live to His glory.
- ·Pray for the President, the three arms of government and the nation as a whole, pray that God will prosper our endeavours for the growth of our nation.
- · Pray for the security personnel and the media for wisdom to discharge their duties effectively.
- ·Pray for wisdom for all teachers that the good Lord will bless them with more knowledge to impart unto all those entrusted into their care. Pray for patience and understanding as they teach our children to be responsible citizens.
- ·Pray for the Women’s Fellowship. Ask God for wisdom and direction and pray that their efforts will make an impact on the Church and the society at large.
- · Pray God to mercifully look upon the sick persons especially our members and relieve them of their sufferings.
SUNDAY, 26TH FEBRUARY, 2012
- We thank the good Lord for the very gift of our life and the strength He gives us. We are grateful for His love and compassion.
- ·We pray for all Christians worldwide and ask for more grace during this Lenten period.
- ·Let us continue to ask for the enablement of the Holy Spirit to help us go through with all seriousness in order to grow spiritually.
- · Pray also for the Cathedral clergy and other ministers for strength to go through this discipline and come out stronger spiritually to face the task ahead of them.
- ·Let us pray for peace in all troubled spots throughout the world. Pray also for our own nation Ghana asking for wisdom for our leaders and pray that they will seek the face of the Lord daily in taking decisions.
- ·We pray for Mother’s Union. We ask God to give them direction and true vision. We pray for the leadership and ask for Godly wisdom and abundant grace.
- · We remember all in any kind of distress especially the depressed, the afflicted, the mentally challenged, HIV. and Aids patients and the marginalized in society.
SUNDAY, 19TH FEBRUARY, 2012
- With Hearts full of gratitude. We give thanks to God for a brand new week and the gift of life.
- We pray for the Alpha course which is about to take off in all the parishes during this Lenten season. Pray for God’s direction and for more souls to be won for the Lord.
- We pray for the Archbishop, the Bishop – elect and all clergymen. We pray for unity of purpose and for vision. We also pray for the Clergy spouses and children of clergymen for God’s protection and direction.
- We pray for the Guilds of St. Andrew thanking God for their induction service. We pray for zeal and commitment and to follow the footsteps of St. Andrew to bring in more souls to the kingdom of God.
- We continue to pray for the re-roofing project asking God for His continues protection for the workers and all around the premises.
- We remember the sick, the aged, the bereaved and all in any kind of danger.
SUNDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY, 2012
- We are grateful to the Lord for His protection, guidance and abundant grace.
- We thank God for the week-long celebration of the Bible Society of Ghana, for making God’s Word available and affordable to the people of this nation.
- We pray for peace throughout the world especially Nigeria. We pray for our President, the Vice President and all in authority. We pray especially for peace in this election year.
- We pray for the youth of this Cathedral for God’s guidance and commitment. We also pray for those looking for employment. May the good Lord open doors for them.
- We pray for the striking lectures and workers of the Cape Coast University. We pray that their demands will be met for normal lectures to begin.
- We also pray for the Guilds of St. Michael and all Angels, asking for God’s guidance and direction as well as commitment and dedication. We also pray for the leadership
SUNDAY, 5TH FEBRUARY, 2012
- With hearts full of joy and gratitude we bless the name of the Lord for safely bringing us into the beginning of a new month.
- We pray for the Lord’s divine presence and assistance to aid us throughout this month.
- We pray for the ongoing re-roofing project of the Cathedral and ask God to protect the workers and all on the church premises.
- We pray for the leaders and members of our various Guilds and Association, asking God for direction, guidance and vision for this year. We pray for loyalty and commitment.
- We remember the sick, the orphans, widows/ widowers, aged, the poor and all in any kind of distress.
SUNDAY, 29TH JANUARY, 2012
- We thank the Lord for the beginning of another week; praying that His constant love and care will continue to sustain us.
- We pray for the re-roofing project of the Cathedral to go on smoothly devoid of any mishap. We ask for God’s protection over all the workers.
- We pray for the Lay Readers and lay pastors that they will receive divine empowerment and guidance in discharging their duties. We pray that the Lord will bless them as they do this work in the church
- We pray for the Archbishop, the Bishop elect, the Dean and the entire clergy of this great Diocese. We ask the Lord to unite us and bind us together with love as we continue to discharge our priestly duties. We pray for their families for protection.
- We pray for the sick, the lonely, the depressed for the Lord to restore them to health.
SUNDAY, 22 JANUARY, 2012
- We pray and thank the Almighty God for safely bringing us to the beginning of another week. we thank Him for the gift of life and for His numerous blessings.
- We thank the Lord for a successful synod.
- We pray for the Lord’s assistance this year as the church starts with the Cathedral re-roofing project.
- We pray for the government especially for the President, the Vice and all who are in leadership positions, that the Lord will grant them the wisdom they need in leading this nation.
- We also pray for the Guild of the Servants of the Sanctuary. We ask the Lord to help them do their work as unto the Lord. We pray for more commitment and dedication.
- We also pray for the Sunday School and the youth. We ask God’s hands to be upon them and guide them. We pray for the Sunday school teachers that the Lord will bless them mightily and reward their efforts in taking care of our children.
Today, in our text, we hear that the Son of God, the Christ, the Chosen One of God, has chosen us, and chosen us not simply to be servants, but to be his friends. So many of us are so afraid, so uncertain that even when we are chosen we do not feel the joy that being chosen can bring to us.
Hear this day and every day, that you are chosen! Chosen by the Christ, the Chosen One himself! He wants you on his team not for what you can or cannot do, not for your abilities or lack thereof, but because he loves you and wants to show his love to you and through you to others. He knows who you are and he calls you. He knows what you have done and what you will do and he chooses you. He chooses you not to be his servant or his slave but to be his friend, such is his love, and the love of the Father, for you.
That’s what it says in today’s gospel reading! Jesus calls those who have been following him, those who have been listening to him, those who have been trying to do what he asks of them, whether they have done it well or poorly, his friends. “I do not call you slaves or servants any longer”, he says, “but I have called you friends” (John 15:15)
Jesus calls us his friends. He has chosen us for that role, that position, that intimacy, even when we, like the first disciples, have not thought or dared to choose him or regard him in that fashion. It means that we do not need to gaze longingly at God from afar off; we are not like slaves who have no right whatever to enter into the presence of the master, but are simply expected to obey his order. We are not like someone in a crowd whose only glimpse of the king is in the passing on some state occasion, but who nonetheless must pay taxes and serve that king.
Rather, we are privileged to enter into the very bed chamber of our God and to speak with him on the most intimate terms about those things he wants us to do and those things we would like him to do. We are allowed to see what is in his heart to share his joys and concerns and we are told that he will listen to those things upon our hearts, those things that excite us and those things that disturb us.
Jesus knows us and he loves us so much, he loves us that he became one of us. That is part of what makes the gospel such good news. Jesus has walked our walk and he did it as a friend does it is not simply to show us how things should be done, but to accompany us on our way to be our companion as well as our guide, our support as well as our teacher.
Like other friends Jesus shares himself with us, he trusts us with his treasures, he is faithful to us even when we do wrong, he does things for us even when we are not able to do things for him, he treats us as an equal, as his brothers and sisters before the Father, he forgives us when we ask for forgiveness and often when we don’t, and he seeks for us the joy that should be ours.
Indeed, as our Lord says to his disciples in today’s reading: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy be full.”
Jesus is our friend, a friend who shares with us all that he knows of the mystery of God, a friend who opens to us the gates of heaven that we, with him, might rejoice and be glad and enter in.
We are his friends, not slaves, chosen by him to bear fruit that will last, fruit that will please the Father. As you go forth today, go knowing that Christ has chosen you, that he finds you worthwhile, that he values you, that he thinks you are important, that he wants you for his friend. And rejoice in it! Take the joy in it that Christ wants you to have!
“NOT GOOD IF DETACHED”
The image of Jesus as the vine and ourselves as branches reminds us that salvation and wholeness, and indeed all good things that we experience and produce, come not because of what we do, but because of what we are and where we are. For us the right place to be is in the vine that has been planted by God and which is tended by God – the vine which we call Christ. Each one of us, as people who profess that Jesus is our Lord and believe in our hearts that he rose from the dead, are part of the vine of Christ. All we need do to be fruitful is remain a part of the vine, and perform the simple tasks that every branch performs as a means of maintaining a fruitful life in the vine.
First the branch receives energy from the sun through its leaves. So we too receive energy when we unfold ourselves before God and accept from him the light he offers to us in his Word, both the written word of scripture, and the living word of Jesus Christ. I am sure you have all noticed how plants track the sun, how they focus on it, how they lean towards its light and turn towards where ever it is. In the same way we need to be exposed to the word of God, we need daily contact with the light it sheds, we need to hold his teachings in our minds and in our hearts so that we might draw from them the strength and energy we need. When we do that – when we lean out to receive God’s word, when we absorb his words like the plant absorbs the sunlight, then a miracle occurs in us – God’s word gives us part of what we need for life and the production of life.
Secondly the branch is connected to the stem or trunk, receiving from it the nutrients and moisture that it needs. The branch is for want of a better word, in communion with the vine and through that communion it is able to produce fruit. The same truth applies to us. All the light in the world, all the reading of God’s word and meditation upon the gospel of Jesus, will not avail us much unless we are connected to him.
The connection is established by God; and it is maintained by us through the way of faith and prayer, the way of trust and worship, the way of willingness to receive from God by making ourselves available to God as part of Christ’s living body, the church. These things both keep us in the vine and feed us – that we might produce fruit.
When Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and you are branches”, he also said “no branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine”. We remain in the vine and produce fruit when we desire a relationship with God that goes beyond being content with having our names in the membership register only.
We remain part of the vine when we are willing to obey the commandments that Jesus has given us, when we are willing to love each other and to love God, when we are willing to forgive each other and trust God to forgive us, when we are willing to be seen with the rest of the branches in the vine. We remain a part of the vine and produce fruit when we commune with God when we are willing to pray to him and listen for his answers, when we are willing to worship him even if it takes us away from our Sunday omo tuo and other sporting activities, when we are willing to trust in him even when we think that he is not doing enough.
Communion with God and God’s church is the connection to the vine which feeds us. Communion with God involves our heart and our will: the heart that loves all things that God has made, and the will gives Him praise for them; the heart that aches for all the sin of the world, and the will that tells the good news of Christ’s love, the heart that believes that God alone makes the difference and the will that asks God to make a difference to oneself. Indeed, being connected to the vine is a matter of the heart and the will, the heart that trusts God, and the will that leads one to act as if every single one of God’s promises can be counted on. When we have the heart and the will God does the rest through us.
Your grief will turn to joy
It’s hard to accept reality sometimes. It’s painful for a student to spend most of the time studying while others are having fun in the world. It’s hard for a pregnant woman to be always dressed in big clothes while others can swing from attire to another, be stuck to certain diets while others are free to bite all they want. But great will be the joy of the results thereafter. All the weeping, mourning and grieving in your life are just like a woman in labour pains, so is your life but don’t worry a child is coming into the world. Your grief will be turned to joy!
It’s a hard teaching that Jesus Christ gave to His disciples just before His death. How can the Lord of Lord say you will weep, mourn, grieve and face troubles while the world rejoices one may ask? I have even heard many people after a loss of their loved ones mourn saying God Has left me, God Has mocked me, God Has rejected me. That’s fatal ignorance of the word of God.
Jesus says in this world you will have trouble but take heart because He has overcome the world. God has never promised us no trouble but he said in all that he will give us His peace. God does not view our mourning and grieving as a loss but as a process of child birthing.
When troubles are hard on you God is seeing a child of some sort coming out of you. Remember a child is a blessing; it is a good pleasant and admirable gift. However a child does not come easily, there is a lot of blood lost, sweating, crying, pain, mourning, grieving and great displeasure.
No one has ever said to someone who has just given birth I am sorry for all you went through, or it’s not fair what you went through. Instead people will say congratulations, how is the baby. Congratulations what a lovely baby boy/girl.
Now when troubles come don’t have a pain mentality instead have child focused mentality. Have a result oriented mind, have joy focused mind, and have a victory focused mindset. Its surprising how women quickly forget the pain they get in labour but cannot endure the pain of forgiving their husbands when they foolishly misbehave.
If you are mourning or grieving today just know it’s the time to grieve but you shall rejoice again. You are in labour pains a child is coming soon. You are still in the world where troubles are rampant. Don’t worry just Put your faith and hope on Jesus Christ who overcame the world. He endured the most painful moments that no one has ever endured yet He focused not on the pain but the joy at the end.
Now He is highly exalted, sitting pretty well in His father’s kingdom, with many angels and elders exalting His name. He is crowned with glory and honour. Victory and power is with Him. You too can be crowned with victory and joy today. You just need to know that your grief shall be turned to joy one day. You shall rejoice again. No one shall take away your joy again. You shall one day peacefully sleep in your home; you shall peacefully walk without fear or worrying how you are going to meet your bills and debts. You shall peacefully cherish your marriage without regretting ever marrying your partner.
Are your weeping and mourning today, are you being troubled, don’t worry you are in labour Just continue to PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens), the child is not very far. If you just remain patient trusting on Jesus Christ who overcomes, soon and very soon many roads will be leading to your life, home and a celebration party is just on the corner. Soon your grief will turn to joy.
Who Knows Who
Throughout the scriptures this truth is expressed in a very simple, but very profound image, the image of God as a shepherd. Shepherding in the mid-east at the time of Jesus and before was very different than it is in other parts of the world today. Sheep were kept by their owners for years and years, they were not animals slaughtered for their meat, but rather providers of wool. Shepherds led their animals – they did not drive them, and they stayed with their flock both by day and by night, protecting them with their rod, a short knobbed club, from wild animals and robbers – of which there were many; and retrieving them from dangerous situations with their staff, a long pole with a crook in the end that could go around the animal’s body and drag it to safety.
The shepherds kept their animals for many years -and so they came to know them very well and the sheep in turn knew them very well. The shepherd’s job, of course, is to protect and provide for the sheep. And that is what God does for us; The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Great, words about the Lord, words that we do well to remember and take comfort from, for God, like a shepherd, helps his sheep, he helps us. It was won for us on the cross of Jesus, and secured for us forever by his resurrection.
God watches over and protects his flock. When we cry out – he comes to us, when we look for him – he is there to assist us, and when we are in danger, he rescues us, but the most marvellous thing of all is this: when we stray away from him, he seeks us out and calls us to him, he constantly strives to nourish us and bring us back to the safety and the comfort of his fold.
Christian, it is so easy to get lost in our world, to run around doing things that must be done, and to lose track of where we are, and where we should be. It is so easy to be so busy, that we get tired out, and find ourselves hungering for peace but not know any longer how we can find it. It is so easy to stray, and end up in need of help.
At these times all we have to do is stop doing things for a moment, to stop and look at where we are, and if the shepherd is in our sight, if we are not lost, but simply busy, then all we need to do is to continue doing nothing for a moment or two and enjoy the place that God has led us to -FOR IN IT will be green pasture and in it will be still waters which we can refresh ourselves at.
This is such a place. God has led you here today, and here there is food for your journey, here there is water for your refreshing, here there is what your soul needs – a time of rest – a time of strengthening in the presence of the Lord, and of his people.
But if, when finally we realize our need for a helping hand, and we stop to look around and we cannot see the shepherd, and we cannot see the other members of our fold, then what we need to do is simply call out to him, because, the good shepherd is looking for you, and your voice will help him find you faster.
Yes – it is a busy time for many of us, and much, if not all of what we are doing needs doing, but these times of activity will not drain us because God is our shepherd, and he is here to comfort us, and to restore our souls.
Christian pause for a moment, close your eyes, and sense his presence. Think about how God knows where you are and he is answering your call and even now giving you the strength that you need. Praise be to God, our Shepherd, Friend and our Lord.
Showing The Marks
In the gospel reading today we heard about the Apostle Thomas DOUBTING THOMAS as he has come to be known. Thomas had not been with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared to them after the resurrection, and when they told him about it his first reaction was a normal one – he did not believe it.
Thomas had a healthy scepticism, and like most people who have a healthy scepticism, he would not believe until he first had some proof, and he did not hesitate to tell the others that. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands”, he said, “and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe it”.
Most of us, no matter what is said about how blessed it is for us to believe without seeing, really want to see first. Like Thomas, we want some evidence before we accept as truth what other people tell us, particularly when they are telling us things that seem impossible. Thomas would not believe until he himself saw the marks on Jesus. I believe that no one can fault him for that, particularly since he was being confronted with a story that simply defies human imagination.
Jesus appeared again to the disciples a week later, and the first person he speaks to, after he says to his disciples “Peace be with you”, is Thomas. “Put your finger here”, he says to Thomas. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” And Thomas – seeing him, believes and says to him, “My Lord, and my God!”
Because he saw the risen Lord with his own eyes – he believed, he believed and he went forth to do what all the other disciples did, he went forth and spread the good news about Jesus, that Jesus died so that we would know the love of God, and that he rose from the dead so that we might know that God’s love is forever and that all who follow him receive eternal life.
But what happens today to those who want proof before they believe? How can we expect all the people to believe that Jesus is risen from the dead and persuade them to become his disciples without providing them with some evidence – some proof that it has really happened.
Jesus said to Thomas after showing him the marks of his love: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Quoting that verse to a sceptic will not help very much. And Jesus was not suggesting that we should not present proof to others of his resurrection as we attempt to fulfil the commission he gave us to baptize and make disciples of all the nations.
When you look at the gospel reading today one thing stands out very clearly. The very first time Jesus appeared to his disciples in the upper room he showed them the marks of his love – a full week before he showed Thomas the wounds that pierced his hands and his side. Jesus is simply saying ‘Blessed indeed are people who accept Jesus as their Saviour, their risen Lord, without having had any proof presented to them. Blessed are they who start walking in faith before they have all the answers to their questions, because they will start experiencing the benefits of faith straight away. In other words, Jesus was not suggesting that there are no blessings for those who believe only after seeing, he was only suggesting that doubt can get in the way of our experiencing those blessings.
Jesus showed the marks of his love so that the blessings that faith in him brings might become available to more people. Today it is still the same. But rather than the marks of his love being shown in his physical body, they are shown, or are meant to be shown in us, in the people of his church, which is everywhere called the Body of Christ. Yes – blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe! but blessed too are those who have seen - blessed are those who have seen the marks of Christ in us and have believed! And blessed too are we who have those marks, blessed are we who have fellowship with God and who show it by how we love each other.
“What We Believe”
We celebrate today the resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus – whom his friends, his family, and indeed all of Jerusalem, thought dead, was raised to life thousands of years ago. The first Easter was an incredible day, one that started with disbelief, with fear and trembling and bewilderment beside the empty tomb, and ended with astonishment, excitement and thanksgiving.
Despite all the disciples had seen Jesus do, despite all the disciples had heard Jesus say about how he would be killed and on the third day be raised, not one of them expected – after the cross was raised, not one of them hoped – after he was laid in the grave, to ever see Jesus again. No one stood watch near the tomb, No one waited to see if he would rise.
When Jesus died their hopes died, their convictions died, indeed their faith died and they huddled in the upper room where they had celebrated the Passover hiding there in fear that the authorities would treat them just as they had treated Jesus.
What is striking about the first Easter day is that the resurrection is first discovered – not by Peter upon whom the church is founded, but by two women — and that these women do not go to the tomb to see if their Lord is risen, but rather they go to finish the job of burying him. No one expected the resurrection. Despite what they had seen. Despite what they had heard. Despite what they had experienced.
But, Praise God – it did happen! It happened because God made it happen. And, praise God too, because not only did God make it happen, God went on and raised the faith of the disciples, he brought to life again their dead convictions and restored the hopes that they had lost. It is because of the resurrection that we are here today. If it had not happened the disciples would never have gone on, they would never have had the courage, the audacity, the nerve, or the boldness to say another word about Jesus in public, let alone to claim that He rose and is Lord of the living and the dead.
The resurrection is the most important thing that we believe in as Christians. The resurrection is the centre of our faith, it is the foundation of our Christian experience, and it is the goal towards which our lives move. The resurrection is of first importance to us, not because it is a nice ending to the story of Jesus, but because it is the beginning of our story, a story in which our faith can triumph over death just as did the faith of Jesus.
As Christians we are urged over and over again to trust in and accept the reality of the resurrection and to make it a part of our lives through faith in the one who rose from the dead. We are a people who are called to believe in the power and the love that it shows. We are promised that what we believe will make a difference to us — And indeed it does.
Christian, what you believe to be true affects you to the core of your being, it shapes you and makes you what you are. After the first Easter morning, after they finally accepted and believed in the resurrection that Christ had told them about. The disciples came out of the upper room where they had huddled in fear, and they went to the ends of the earth, and they created a mighty church despite the efforts of Emperors and Princes to stamp it and them out of existence.
They went from being people afraid of dying, to being people who offered their very lives to help others come to the faith, hope and joy that they had.
They were transformed and changed because of the resurrection and their conviction that it was for them that it occurred.
The disciples were changed by their faith in the resurrection and in the God who brought it about. They were given power to heal and to help others. Power to conquer their own fear and despair and power to defeat the fear and despair that afflicts others. This is what the resurrection is about, what our faith is about. God can bring back to life that which has died, God can bring good out of evil, love out of hate, and hope out of despair. This is what we believe; and what we believe makes a difference. HE IS ALIVE! Amen
Why Me, Lord?
Bob Henderson writes that Simon of Cyrene may have been rich enough to take a ship, but he probably walked every step of the way from Cyrene to Jerusalem. He made good time, 3 miles an hour, across the harsh, dry sandy reaches of north Africa, through Alexandria, across the Nile delta, up through what is now the Suez, to Jerusalem, it probably took Simon of Cyrene two months of walking to get to Jerusalem.
But, because of the uncertainties of travel: the need to wait for a large group to travel with, the weather and stops along the way, he probably left in early January, just to be sure he did not miss Passover in Jerusalem.
Passover in Jerusalem was something every Jew wants, every Jew strives and saves for, to eat the Passover meal in Jerusalem. And there he was, Simon of Cyrene mingling with the crowd, drinking in the sights, the temple, the pilgrims, the sounds of celebration, the sounds of Passover in Jerusalem.
As the crowd pushed and shoved and jostled in the narrow streets he saw the procession coming. “What this time?”, he must have thought as he strained to see over the heads of those around him. Then, as he saw the Roman soldier leading the way, and got a glimpse of the tattered dirty men carrying their crosses. Simon of Cyrene realized it was not a temple or Passover procession. It was a procession of criminals going to execution.
Then, as he turned to leave, just as he turned to go on about his Passover business, Simon of Cyrene felt the tap, saw the flat part of a Roman spear, tapping him on the shoulder, and he froze. “Why me? Why now, why couldn’t they just go on by?”
Simon knew he had no choice. Any person, anytime, anywhere, could be impressed, drafted to do the Roman’s bidding, simply by the tap of a spear on the shoulder. Christian just imagine the bitterness and the resentment Simon must have felt.
How it must have swelled up inside, how much he must have hated the Romans and that dirty criminal! To have come so far for the event of a life-time, carefully planned so as not to waste a moment, and, suddenly, become a beast of burden for the Romans and this criminal.
Why me, Lord, Why did this have to happen to me? I have saved, I have sacrificed, I have prayed to be here. Why this right now? I don’t deserve this! Those must have been his thoughts as he shouldered the cross and moved on with the procession on to Golgotha.
Christian, those thoughts are not unique to Simon. We see them reflected on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We see Simon’s thoughts reflected in us, in our lives, when things big and small don’t go right, when there is pain, suffering, grief. We ask Why me? Why now? I don’t deserve this! Why have you forsaken me?
Simon’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the Holy Week, Palm Sunday, all began with such excitement, such promise — and suddenly, so quickly, it moves to such depths of despair we can hardly comprehend it. And, like we do in our own lives when promise turns to despair, we wonder how and why it happened. We see a man hanging on a cross and we know he did not deserve it.
The despair of the crucifixion reaches out and touches our lives this week, just like it reached out and touched Simon’s. The shadow of the crucifixion – Christ’s pain, our failures, our shattered dreams – reach out and touch us, deeply and profoundly. That is where we are left on this Palm Sunday – with our despair, with Christ’s despair, betrayed, forsaken, broken and alone, waiting. Christian, ask the Lord Jesus to help you to trust his loving Providence as he permits suffering to weave itself in and out of your life.
“LIFT UP JESUS AND LIVE”
Jesus came among us to rescue and reclaim lost souls, to set them free from the power of sin and death by returning them to the ocean of God’s love, God’s law, God’s power. He came to restore wholeness to those who lay helpless and stranded upon the shore of life because either the tide and wind had cast them there, or they had thoughtlessly stranded themselves on the shore.
Jesus renounced everything for the sake of bringing life to those around him: – his family – his home, – and finally, his very life he lay down so that others might live, so that others might know the blessings of God, so that others might be returned to the ocean of God’s love. The power of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, the joy and the sorrow of Jesus, and the life everlasting of Jesus, are all available to us if we are willing to walk as he walked, and die as he died, in obedience to the Father.
Jesus said – Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains but a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life in this world will lose it, but the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This is part of the law of God – given in the new covenant; the law that is written upon our hearts, and which is fruitful in us, if we but allow ourselves to hear it and to heed it.
Jesus knew the inner law of God that states that the more we seek for ourselves, the more attached we become to the life we have, the more we seek to avoid pain and suffering, the more we ignore the needs of others and seek instead to meet our own, the more wretched we become and the closer to death we are. Jesus did not want the pain of the cross – he did not want death, he prayed to God that the cup would pass him by — as do we.
What profits a man to gain the whole world, but loose his soul. There are so many around us today with lost souls, they cling desperately to their families, they crave acceptance and love and hope to find it by gaining power and influence, or by simply doing whatever anyone else asks, no matter how good or bad it may be for them, or for the one that has asked it of them. Others drug themselves into a stupor to avoid the pain they feel – they use the wonderful things God has given us to conquer physical pain with, or the things that God provides for simple enjoyment, to deaden in themselves all feeling, for they do not like themselves, nor do they find joy in the world.
What we really need in life cannot be grasped by us, it cannot be fashioned by our own desperate efforts, it cannot be taken by us from the shelf in the store, rather it can only be received as a gift of God. – a gift that comes to all those who give up trying to grasp it, trying to fashion it, trying to take it; – a gift that comes to all who follow Jesus, and with him love God and those around them that God has entrusted to their care. Jesus walked among us as one who cared for the living, and sought to restore them to the ocean of God’s love. Because he was faithful in this, God was glorified by those around him – those who felt his care and his compassion.
Jesus was a seed — like you and I, He was a seed which did not stay lifeless in the bag, but which instead fell to the ground and gave up all that made him a single seed, thereby giving life to others. Jesus could have enriched himself in this world, but he chose instead to follow the law of love.In doing so Jesus conquered evil, and destroyed the power of sin and death.
Christian empty yourselves of your desire to save your life as it is, – turn to Jesus and call upon his name and his strength, that you may become a seed that instead of remaining lifeless in the bag, falls to the ground and receives new life, and gives new life to the world.
“NOT TO CONDEMN”
In John 3 we hear Jesus speaking these words: “Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come to the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done through God.”
Christian, how often have we come to hate the light of God, just a little bit, how often have we come to fear it, because we know that it exposes us for what we are? How often have we become angry when we have had heard the truth about ourselves uttered by another person, angry at the fact that we have been found out or pinned down as it were, and angry at the messenger who spoke that truth.
When we get wrapped up in evil, in sin, the light, or the truth, becomes hateful to us; it becomes hateful because it can expose our duplicity, our hardness of heart, our lack of desire to change or be obedient to God. In fact the light of God, the truth of God, becomes so hateful to some that they would rather hurt others than admit their errors, they would rather kill others than be exposed, they would rather die themselves, than try to change. There is a sense in which each one of us, as a sinner, as a person who avoids the light out of shame and guilt, helps to drive the nails through our Lord’s hands and feet.
Each of us has fallen short and have chosen darkness, but God still reaches out and calls us to the light of his presence. Without that call to come to the light, we would all be doomed to spend eternity in darkness. We grieve God so we run and hide from him as Adam and Eve tried to hide in the Garden after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when we can not hide from him any longer we blame others for our faults, and try to avoid the light of his presence from shining upon us.
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send Jesus to us to condemn us – but to save us! And although we meant his death for ill, he was raised up on the cross to bring us forgiveness. And yet so often we run from him, we would rather cling to the darkness than come to the light. Those in darkness don’t believe in anything but themselves and what they know, and though they feel threatened and insecure, they puff themselves up.
The scripture we heard today said: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already.” He is condemned my friends because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. He is condemned because he has not believed in the power of truth, the power of goodness, the power of love, He is condemned because he does not believe in God’s mercy shown through Jesus Christ. He is condemned not because God has condemned him, but because he has not walked in the light, he has not walked by love and by faith in the Creator of life and so – because he wants it this way – He is condemned and his suffering has already begun.
But this need not be the end of the story for anyone, there is nothing too bad that God cannot forgive, there is no woman too lost that God cannot find her, there is no man too wicked that God cannot transform, and there is no life that God cannot change. God yearns to do these things, he yearns for us to turn to the light, and to walk towards him (the prodigal son).
While Jesus hung on the cross he prayed to God about us, saying: “Father, forgive them”. So come and behold the words and ways of God, he who made the lights of the heavens, will light your path. Harken to him in the words we have heard from Jesus, and see his ways in the actions of the Christ. Come from darkness and enter into the light for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Clearing The Temple
In today’s gospel reading (John 2: 13 ff) we see an angry Jesus. What happened there in the temple to provoke this rather startling reaction? The Temple in Jerusalem was built to be a place where the faithful could go to encounter God. It was built for their sake as a special place for them to go to hear his word and to experience his grace and forgiveness and to reflect upon his love and goodness. The temple represented God’s presence, his availability to all who sought him, his love for all who called upon him. Yet something happened to this good place, something happened to turn it into a place where it became difficult to hear God and experience his goodness.
The temple was a place where, in accordance with the law of God, people offered sacrifices. Often religious duty required that you bring a young male sheep, or a kid, or a pair of pigeons to the temple, where it would then be sacrificed by the priests for you. When you went to the Temple to make your sacrifice, the Temple authorities made it easy for you by having sacrificial animals for sale right there on the premises, the only catch being that you had to use temple coins to make the purchase. If you didn’t have temple currency available to make the purchase, to help you, you could change your Roman money into Temple money right there in the Temple’s outer courtyard.
Jesus walks into this environment and he sees the people selling the animals and the money-changers at their counters with their constantly changing rates of exchange. He becomes tremendously angry! And he takes some cord, and he lashes out with it, he flails at the merchants and money changers, tossing over their tables and flinging their coins to the ground. Jesus set the animals free, chasing their owners from the courtyard shouting: Get these things out of here! You have turned my father’s house into a market place, you’ve made it a den of thieves.
Christian, it sometimes takes a fresh eye to see just what we have done to the Holy Things of God, to those things that are meant to help us meet God. Everything Jesus rejected in the temple was put there – at first – with the best intentions, it was put there to help people who came to the temple to seek God’s will for their lives and to thank him for his love. What had started as a good thing, had become an evil thing. The temple had become a place that exploited the need for salvation, rather than a place that furthered it.
I wonder if there are still today some things that provoke Jesus to that kind of anger? I wonder if there are some things that have to be driven out of our lives and out of the lives of our churches and our communities, because instead of bringing us closer to God they prevent us from meeting him? We see all around us the commercialization of religion, the exploiters who cash in on our needs for forgiveness and a loving word.
What do we need to have cleansed from our lives? What ideas and practices need to go if we are to truly meet God in the temples of our own bodies and in our temples of stone, brick and wood? What have we taken that is good, and made into our god? Turning it from a thing that brings us closer to salvation, to a thing that impedes it? Have we reduced our faith to business and success on one hand, and law and ritual on the other, so that there ends up being nothing different – nothing unique, nothing holy about it? Has our faith become like everything else, some kind of commercial transaction? That is the point of the dialogue that occurs between Jesus and the authorities after his rampage: when they ask him what sign he will perform to justify his behaviour and he replies:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” No-one understood his words then, but later, after the resurrection, the disciples remembered them and understood. They understood that Jesus was the temple, that in him they met God and talked to God, and experienced God’s love and forgiveness among others. Christians let us pray for Christ to clear our hearts as he cleared the temple and ask that he may guide us in God’s way.
“Acting As If”
It is hard for us to think of the cost of discipleship. It is hard to face the fact that Jesus lost his life and calls us to lose our lives as well, that he took up a cross – and tells us that we must also do the same. It is hard too to face the future – not knowing what will happen, to think like Abraham and Sarah that you will end up childless, to think that your life will end without hope or meaning. It is hard to believe when all around you it is dark, and all you have is a promise. Such a situation calls us either to despair, to giving up, to an endless life of wondering why, or it calls us to faith, to “acting as if”.
When we consider the future, when we consider the choices we must make, and the price we may have to pay, we owe it to ourselves- and to those around us – and to God himself, to “act as if”. We are called to act as if Jesus is Lord.- to act as if Death is conquered, to act as if faithfulness makes a difference, to act as if God will do as he promised. We are called to face all that life may throw at us, and to do all that God may ask of us – no matter what the cost, in the raw hope and simple belief that God will make us more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Abraham is the father of faith – because he believed – and waited patiently – all the while acting as if God would do as he said. He left home and country and wandered in a foreign land as commanded by God he faced old age and the slow decline of the body and while he occasionally jumped the gun and tried to do on his own that which God had promised to do for him, and while he had moments of doubt all in all he had confidence that God would fulfil his word, even when God called him to sacrifice the child of promise – Isaac. For this Abraham is called the father of faith.
Jesus is our model of faith. Jesus is the model of faith because he believed and went about doing great good, even though he knew a cross waited for him. Jesus endured persecution, scorn, and hatred because he was convinced that God was with him, that the Kingdom of God was near at hand, and that God was able to do all things, and because he acted as if all these things were true he was able to make those around him whole.
Abraham and Jesus – believed and they acted as if, they acted as if God was, and is, and will always be, and so they were able to endure the trials set before them, and so they found the glory promised to them. Do you have a challenging problem in your life? Do you have to face something that seems un-faceable? Start off by acting as if the problem can be overcome, – as if the un-faceable is faceable, and continue by thinking – God is with me and God has promised that I will overcome when I walk in the path of Christ. Go forward in trust, despite your doubts, despite your fears, despite the easy ways out that are offered to you.
We all want good things – none of us wants a cross, None of us really believes that the Son of God should have to die, but – when we face these things, and actually take up our cross as Jesus suggests, and walk with the one who was crucified as if he was risen, we discover that not only are the written words of scripture true, we also discover that they lead to great goodness.
Abraham hoped against hope, and became the father of nations. Jesus believed that God would use him – even in death – and he became the way, the truth and the life. There is no easy way out of what life demands of us, there is no avoiding the words of Jesus: “those who want to save their life
“Acting As If”
It is hard for us to think of the cost of discipleship. It is hard to face the fact that Jesus lost his life and calls us to lose our lives as well, that he took up a cross – and tells us that we must also do the same. It is hard too to face the future – not knowing what will happen, to think like Abraham and Sarah that you will end up childless, to think that your life will end without hope or meaning. It is hard to believe when all around you it is dark, and all you have is a promise. Such a situation calls us either to despair, to giving up, to an endless life of wondering why, or it calls us to faith, to “acting as if”.
When we consider the future, when we consider the choices we must make, and the price we may have to pay, we owe it to ourselves- and to those around us – and to God himself, to “act as if”. We are called to act as if Jesus is Lord.- to act as if Death is conquered, to act as if faithfulness makes a difference, to act as if God will do as he promised. We are called to face all that life may throw at us, and to do all that God may ask of us – no matter what the cost, in the raw hope and simple belief that God will make us more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Abraham is the father of faith – because he believed – and waited patiently – all the while acting as if God would do as he said. He left home and country and wandered in a foreign land as commanded by God he faced old age and the slow decline of the body and while he occasionally jumped the gun and tried to do on his own that which God had promised to do for him, and while he had moments of doubt all in all he had confidence that God would fulfil his word, even when God called him to sacrifice the child of promise – Isaac. For this Abraham is called the father of faith.
Jesus is our model of faith. Jesus is the model of faith because he believed and went about doing great good, even though he knew a cross waited for him. Jesus endured persecution, scorn, and hatred because he was convinced that God was with him, that the Kingdom of God was near at hand, and that God was able to do all things, and because he acted as if all these things were true he was able to make those around him whole.
Abraham and Jesus – believed and they acted as if, they acted as if God was, and is, and will always be, and so they were able to endure the trials set before them, and so they found the glory promised to them. Do you have a challenging problem in your life? Do you have to face something that seems un-faceable? Start off by acting as if the problem can be overcome, – as if the un-faceable is faceable, and continue by thinking – God is with me and God has promised that I will overcome when I walk in the path of Christ. Go forward in trust, despite your doubts, despite your fears, despite the easy ways out that are offered to you.
We all want good things – none of us wants a cross, None of us really believes that the Son of God should have to die, but – when we face these things, and actually take up our cross as Jesus suggests, and walk with the one who was crucified as if he was risen, we discover that not only are the written words of scripture true, we also discover that they lead to great goodness.
Abraham hoped against hope, and became the father of nations. Jesus believed that God would use him – even in death – and he became the way, the truth and the life. There is no easy way out of what life demands of us, there is no avoiding the words of Jesus: “those who want to save their life
In the Wilderness
Today’s scripture reading from the Gospel According to Mark tells the story of how Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit of God into the wilderness . He was there for forty days while Satan tested him. And wild beasts were all about him, but angels took care of him.” (Mark 1:12)
Think of it for a minute: The Spirit descends with blessings (Mark 1:9-11) and the Spirit drives the one blessed out into the wilderness – into the barren place, the dangerous place and allows him to be tested, to be tempted, to be placed at risk. Christian, the wilderness experience is a part of God’s plan for life.
The journey of Jesus is like our journey it progresses through stages. Growing to maturity, being called to do the work that God wants us to do and being equipped for that work. Then the wilderness – the testing of our skills, our faith, our trust. The striking feature of Jesus is his willingness to be Spirit-driven; his willingness to enter into the wilderness.
Christian, the Wilderness, the aloneness, the solitude that the wilderness affords, the hardship, is an opportunity, a blessing from the Spirit of God. It is a place where we can be tested, a place where we can grow into the maturity that we require so that we can indeed face the world, in both good times and in bad, and do there those things that God would have us do.
Jesus matures in the wilderness. He listens to his inner voice, he connects the blessings of the past with his need to rely upon God and God alone for the day at hand and for the days to come. He understands who God has called him to be and what it requires of him, not just in his head (as when Spirit descended upon in the Jordan), but in the nitty-gritty of actually facing trial and adversity and temptation on his own (with no help other than that of the word of God he has learned and the presence of the angels that are present around us all) and when Jesus goes through all this, then he is able to move back out into the world and be fully ready to serve.
In the loneliness of the wilderness Jesus discovers in his own experience that he is not really alone, that God goes with him, that the angels care for him and that with the aid of God’s prescriptions, with the aid of God’s word, he can survive – and in fact prosper – no matter what the situation.
Our journey is like that of Jesus. How many times have we had experiences like his? Filled with the Spirit, we are determined to go forward with a new commitment and serve God, we get pumped up and ready to take on the world after a special experience of God, a special blessing; and then the difficulties begin, the time of testing comes, almost as if we are being driven into it.
The reality is that we, like Jesus, are tested whenever we try to truly serve God, to use our God given gifts and powers. This may not happen immediately (though it usually does) but, despite appearances to the contrary, when the testing comes, it is a blessing if we let it be so, if we let the angels minister to us as they ministered to Jesus, if we hold onto the faith that we profess and exercise it in the circumstances that come to us, as did he.
When we have made it through a time in the wilderness, we will always feel stronger, more focussed on what needs to be done and more able to help others. So in this Lenten season as you fast, pray and give alms, I call you to take very seriously the fact that you will all have wilderness experiences in your life and that you need to be ready for them. The good news is that God is near and He wants to help us and through us, God wants to help all the world.
Mountain Top Experiences
Sometimes you have to climb a mountain to have a mountain top experience. So many important events in the Bible happened on mountains. Moses sees a burning bush and receives the law. Abraham is called to offer his son on Mt. Moriah. The Temple is built on Mt. Zion. The sermon on the mount is preached – on a mountain. Jesus is transfigured on the mountain. God’s son offers his life on Mount Calvary.
Sometimes you have to climb a mountain to have a mountain top experience – to know in your hearts and your minds and in the very nerve endings of your hands and feet that God is doing something right before your eyes and in your ears. Sometimes you have to climb a mountain so you can see things in a different way, from a little different perspective. Sometimes you have to climb a mountain to bring things into focus.
Have you ever driven in an area with poor radio reception and then started up a mountain with that radio still on. Before going up, the station you want is fading out, but you just didn’t want to change channels. Then you start up the mountain and as you climb the signal starts getting clearer the higher you climb, coming in stronger and stronger until you reach the peak and it is crystal clear. Maybe this is what happened to the three disciples with Jesus, for the signal came in loud and clear that day, that voice from the cloud “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him”-
Today is the Sunday next before Lent, we are reminded to climb a mountain so we can listen better, get a clearer vision of Christ and who we are called to be. Even then we must hope and pray that we will – when we have struggled to the top of the mountain – that the conditions will be right, that our heart will be right and that we will in fact have that experience we seek and desire. It is not every time that the conditions are right, but still, sometimes you have to climb a mountain to get away from the clutter and static.
Christian, everyone is right who says we are called to live and work in the valleys where the rest of our brothers and sisters are – those folk who need us – and whom we need – if they and we are to be whole and complete. But we all do need some encouragement, some strengthening, some experience of the Holy Spirit, some experience of the power of God if we are to have a dynamic and confident faith.
We are called in fact to see as well as to believe. We are called to experience – as well as to hope. We are called to know as well as to have faith. And there is nothing like the mountaintops to bring all these things into focus. To give us knowledge, faith, experience, hope, sight as well as belief.
If you have not had a mountain top experience it is primarily because you have not bothered to climb the mountains. Sometimes you need to climb a mountain to have a mountain top experience – as did Jesus and Peter and James and John – who struggled up a long slope in the hot sun one day to end up experiencing what they experienced. The person who exercises the discipline of coming to church each and every week – with a focus- will not only worship God and learn more about God and support his/her fellow believers with his/her presence – but will also by God’s grace experience some special moments of the Holy.
I have felt and heard his presence by myself and in the presence of others and I know that those who seek, do find; and that those who knock, do find the door opened to them. I know the mountains and the valleys – and the importance of each – and I know that to have the strength and the vision one needs in the valley, one needs to climb the mountains to do their part, so that when they arrive, they may have the mountain top experience that they need. May this be your portion in Jesus Name. Amen.
“CLEANSED AND RESTORED”
Lepers were isolated not only physically, they were also isolated socially and spiritually; so much so that even now, today, to say that someone is being treated like a leper is to say that he or she is unwelcome in every way, that people refuse to interact with them, refuse to see them as part of their community, refuse to see them as a child of God who is as important and as precious as every other child of God.
In the Gospel we see that the leper comes up to Jesus and falls on his knees before him. Lepers were not supposed to come that close to anyone. Then we hear the leper beg Jesus for something that at first hearing sounds like a plea for a physical healing – but is in fact much more than that. He says to Jesus, “If you choose, if you will, you can make me clean.” In other words, he says to Jesus “if you choose, you can restore me to normal human life – you can bring me back into community, back into a normal relationship with other people; you can make me acceptable to God and acceptable to God’s people. You can, if you want, restore my life, make me able to go anywhere I choose and not have everyone stare at me, everyone avoid me, everyone fear me, everyone talk about how unfortunate I am.” And Jesus wills it.
Jesus breaks every rule about how one should protect oneself from someone with leprosy and reaches out his hand and touches him – perhaps the first time that poor man has been touched in years – and then he says “I am willing, be clean!” The story then goes on to say that “immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured” and that Jesus then commands him to go to the priests have them certify the leprosy had indeed departed and that he is now “clean”, that he is now acceptable to all of society.
If you will, you can cleanse me. If you will, you can heal me. How about us here today. Are you willing? Are you willing to do what you can do. Are you willing to treat those whom others reject – those whom others fear – those whom others avoid – because of how they look or where they come from, or what disease they have as human beings who are worthy of being treated like all other human beings?
Are you willing to forgo judgements based on appearances, – judgements about those who have AIDS – judgements about those who live in rags and sleep on the streets of our cities – judgements about those who come from different ethnic backgrounds – judgements about those who are different in appearance and in background from us and see them as human, – as people who are loved by God as much as you are loved by God.
When the King of Israel received the letter from the King of Aram asking that he heal Naaman of his leprosy, he cried out in despair and in fear – “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?” (2 Kings 5: 1-14). The answer of course is that he was not God. But it turned out that there was something he could do, he could turn to God – to the prophet of God that was in the land.
We here today are not God either. But there is something we can do to help cleanse and restore those who are in need of it, – there is somewhere we can turn to find help with our disease and afflictions. We can bring ourselves – and others – before Christ and pray for healing and pray for cleansing. We can treat one another as we would desire to be treated we can love one another as God loves us, we can love one another as we love ourselves, we can love one another without fear.
God was with Christ and gave him power over the most dreaded disease of his day. And God is with Christ still – to cleanse us and our world – and to make us part of one family,- to restore us fully to one another and to himself in life, in death, and in life beyond death. Call on his name. And do as he did. Amen.
I WILL RAISE YOU UP
In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus on the Sabbath doing many things. He has already, attended worship at the Synagogue and there, during worship, cast an unclean spirit out of a man and brought him healing. Then he went with his disciples to Peter and Andrew’s home – and there he brought healing to Peter’s mother-in-law. Later, in the evening. a huge crowd gathered at the door and Jesus healed many of the sick – many of the possessed. It was a full day. Very full. Very busy.
The next morning, very early in the morning – while it was still dark, we hear that Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, a quiet place, where he prayed. We see Jesus drawing aside from the crowds that gathered to hear him and to be healed by him to go and to pray. We find Jesus leaving his disciples for a time and going to a quiet place by himself for a talk with God, for a time of waiting upon the Lord, for a time of developing his relationship – and maintaining his relationship with God – for a time of strengthening – a time of remembering – a time of being “re-attached” to the Father.
How about us? Do we remember why we are here in the first place? Do we recall the simplicity of what God wants of us? Do we recall the glory of what God has promised us? Do we recall how God has helped us in the past? Do we remember where there is fuel for our tanks, food for our journey, supplies for our task, recovery for our soul, hope for hearts, and direction for our days? Do we turn aside from the hustle and bustle – the fret and the worry – and allow God to inhabit us – to fill us – to restore us – to guide us so that we can do with those days what God wants us to do? So that we can be what God wants us to be? What God has made us to be?
The message of God for us today in the prophet Isaiah is precisely this. It is a call to them to remember who God is and how God has helped them in the past. It is a call to them to come to God so that everything can be put into perspective. It is a call to them to wait upon God, to listen to God – as well as to speak to God, so God can raise them up, so God can restore them to health, so God can unfold his plan for them, a plan in which their freedom is to be restored, their nation rebuilt, and their cup of suffering replaced with the cup of eternal joy.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth… God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day? Week in and week out? Why did he continually turn aside during his busy days of doing God’s work, of preaching, and go to a quiet place and pray? Why did he withdraw from his disciples and from the crowds to go up on the mountainsides – or into garden groves to wait upon God? He did this because that is what helped him keep on track? He did this because that is what gave him strength. He did this because without doing it – he could not have done all he did. God has a purpose for us. God will redeem us. God will raise us up.
When we feed ourselves with God’s word. When we allow God to speak to us – instead of just talking at him all the time, When we take time aside – when we take time to be holy – God moves in us to do what we cannot do on our own. God moves in us to give us the strength and the peace that lasts. God says “I will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand”. Praise be to God who raises us up. May his Word – his Gospel – his promises – his direction be heard by you, be loved by you, be clung to by you, day by day. Amen.
SPEAKING WITH AUTHORITY
Today’s scripture readings are about authority and power. As Christians each one of us is granted authority by God to speak in his name, we are called by Jesus to go out and to preach, and teach, and heal; to care for others and to show them God’s love. Jesus even gives the authority to forgive the sins of others in the name of God. He gives to us a tremendous power, a tremendous authority.
What has happened to the church, what has happened to the people of God that so many fail to exercise this authority, this power to speak for God, to help and to heal, while others, who clearly have authority, end up using it so badly.
All true power and authority, that power and authority that creates and heals, and does good instead of evil comes from the Lord that is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. All other power and authority is either a corrupted version of this true power and authority, or it is the power and authority that comes from pure evil.
In Deuteronomy, when the people of Israel are promised another prophet like Moses, they are told that they should heed that prophet and do all that he says because what he says comes from the Lord. They are also told to beware of false prophets – of those who speak in the name of other gods or who presume to speak in the name of God a word that God has given them. They are warned, in other words to not listen to people who sound good, but who, in addition to teaching what God has taught – teach what God has not given them.
The book of Deuteronomy, in fact the entire bible, proposes tests that we can apply to those who claim to speak for God; tests which determine whether or not they speak for God, or someone or something else. First, the word they speak must come true – if they predict something – it must happen. Second, the word they speak must not contradict the other words God has spoken. Third, the word they speak must glorify God – not themselves. And Fourth, the person who speaks for God must produce good fruit – not bad. – thus the lives of those who heed these prophets must change for the better, not the worse.
In the gospel reading today we see a man possessed by a demon. The people around this man surely knew what he needed. Those around this man knew he needed to be healed, that he needed to have the demon cast out -but none of them could do it. Then Jesus came – and he commanded the demon to come out of the man – and it did. The spirit obeyed him and the man was healed.
Jesus had the authority and the power needed to make a difference. He had the authority and power of God, a power that can change any situation, heal any person. Jesus still has this power and this authority. And he offers it to us. He calls us to use it to do the work of God in this world.
He calls us to employ it to heal, to teach, to bring justice, and to grant mercy with. When we put ourselves at Jesus disposal. When we go forth to speak
JESUS CARES
John 2:1-11 pictures a Jesus who is concerned with, and gets involved in, the problems and situations of ordinary everyday life. In this passage, we encounter a Christ who cares, who can and One who carry’s through for His own!
It was a wedding, always a huge social event those days and the celebration could last as long as a week. Mary was involved in the festivities. Jesus is present at the wedding. When He was called, Jesus came! In all the events of life, the child of God need never fear Jesus not coming to the aid! He cares and when we call, He will answer us ( Matt. 7:7-8; Jer. 33:3).As the old song says:”Oh what peace we often forfeit,Oh what needless pain we bear, When we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”
Sometime, during these festivities, they ran out of wine. This doesn’t sound like much of a problem to us, but to the Jews, it could be ruinous! First, it was a matter of honour. The bridegroom was responsible for providing adequate supplies. If something ran out before the party was concluded, it simply meant that he hadn’t planned well and hadn’t provided for all of his guests. Secondly, to run out of wine would cause public embarrassment for the groom and his family. Thirdly, in some instances, the offending family could even be fined. Therefore, this was a problem of considerable size to these people.
Life doesn’t always go as we had planned it! There are times when problems arise and troubles come our way. It is good to know that when our problems do come that we can take them to Jesus. Those all around us may see them as nothing, but Jesus understands our pain and feels our need ( Heb. 4:15.)In this time of trouble, Mary shows us just what we need to do when troubles arise in our lives. She gives us two steps that we should always take in the troublesome times of life. Firstly, Flee To Jesus -. When the problem arose, Mary took it to the Lord. This is exactly what we need to do (Phil. 4:6-7), and secondly, Follow His Commands – Mary said just do as Jesus says!
The lesson for us is clear! When problems arise, and troubles toss our lives, the best thing we can do is simply to do what Jesus says we should do. Now, what does He say to do? Come to Him (Mat. 11:28), Cast your cares on Him ( 1Pet 5:7), Trust Him ( Rom. 8:28) and Believe on Him for salvation (Acts 16:31). Jesus takes the commonplace and makes it extraordinary! He can change any situation if He is given the opportunity to do so.
Christian, when you have carried the water and felt its weight, and God moves in and changes it from some ordinary, common event into something that proves to be a blessing in your life, you never get over it. Nobody in this world may understand what you are going through. Jesus does! And, when He moves in your time of need and turns your darkness to day, when He lifts your burden and shoulders your load, you know it and you will never forget it! To everyone else it was just wine, but to those who knew the truth, it was a miracle!
Jesus will meet your need! Your faith in Jesus is never misplaced! If you display, “mustard seed” faith in your hour of trial, Jesus will enter into that need and will move your mountain. He will never fail His children!
When you see Jesus come through in your hour of crisis, it will do something for you! It will strengthen your faith and give you hope for tomorrow.
Jesus is tied to the events of your life. He is not just some remote supernatural being who is totally removed from our need. He cares about the smallest details of your life, (Matt. 10:29-31), and waits for you to call Him into our times of need so that He can minister to you. What is your need today? Salvation? Are you back slidden? Some burden? A bad situation? Some circumstances beyond your control, but not beyond your ability to worry over? Do as Mary did, bring it to a Lord who cares. Bring it to Jesus!
- Bible Studies are held every Sunday before services.
- Daily celebration of the Eucharist is at 5:30 a.m.
- Afternoon Meditation: Monday to Wednesday at 12:00noon.
- Please contact any of the Clergy at their office for Baptism, Outdooring, etc. to be conducted only on the 1st and last Saturdays of the month.
- Visitors and New Members should please contact the Wardens after Service.
- The PCC meets monthly on the third (3rd) Tuesday.
- Weddings are done by arrangement with the Clergy.
- Counseling sessions are by arrangement with the Clergy.
- Alpha Course on Friday’s at 12:00 noon
SUNDAY, 22 JANUARY, 2012
- Bible Studies are held every Sunday before services.
- Daily celebration of the Eucharist is at 5:30 a.m.
- Afternoon Meditation is held everyday from 12 noon to 1 pm.
- Please contact any of the Clergy for Baptism, Outdooring, etc. to be conducted only on the 1st and last Saturdays of the month.
- Visitors and New Members should please contact the Wardens after Service.
- The PCC meets monthly on the third (3rd) Tuesday.
- Weddings are done by arrangement with the Clergy.
- Counseling sessions are by arrangement with the Clergy.
