Perspective - Peace on Earth?
As we played our Christmas CD’s this year, one song grabbed my attention. ‘I heard the bells on Christmas Day’ was originally a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on the 25th of December 1863. It’s not your typical Christmas song. It’s both sad and honest, asking ‘Where is the peace on earth that was promised by the angelic song in Luke Ch 2:14?’ Perhaps it’s a question you have been asking yourself. 2016 has been a year of upsets and anxiety both internationally as well as here in South Africa. There is every chance that you may have felt some of that burden in your own life this year too. If so, perhaps Henry Longfellow’s story, and his honest reflections of faith, will help you express gratitude to God without the pretense of trite Christmas platitudes. The poem begins with these words;
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet, the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Words which Henry Longfellow believed to be true, despite deep personal sadness. Only two years before his wife had died in a fire, despite Henry’s attempts to save her. He was also badly burned, and grew a beard to cover his scars. At the age of 55, he was left to raise their 6 children alone. But the dissonance between the angel’s song and his own experience was about to grow more acute. In 1863 his eldest son Charles ran away from home to join the Union Army and fight in the American Civil War. Charles was just 18 years old at the time. After his first battle, he fell ill with typhoid fever. Once he had recovered and returned to the front, he was shot and wounded. The bullet grazed his spine and he barely escaped paralysis. Henry received the news of his son’s injury only a month before Christmas. As his country was being torn apart by a bloody civil war, and with his own son one of the casualties, he added these verses;
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound, the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
And yet despite what he saw around him, he entrusted himself to the Christmas gospel. That God is not absent in our pain, but has intervened by sending His own Son. Rather than abandon us, Jesus comes to join us. The incarnation, that God Himself would become like one of us, tells us that in the midst of war, illness and death, God puts His love for us into action. He gives us His best while we
are at our worst. The final verse of the poem reads;
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
By coming to earth, Jesus experienced this broken world first hand (Isaiah 53:3). However, He came not just to sympathise, but to reconcile us to the God we have rejected. The good news of the angel’s song is that peace with God is within our grasp, even while the world is groaning under the weight of sin. There is no circumstance or suffering that can undo what Christ has come to do (Romans 8:37-39). The arrival of Jesus ensures that God’s plan to restore this world is not in vain. It means there is a guarantee for those who trust in Christ for peace with God. What began at His first coming will be realised in full at His second coming, ‘that wrong shall fail and right prevail’. Henry Longfellow was able to express in his poem what we learn at the manger; to know the peace that comes at Christmas doesn’t require that we shut our eyes to the troubles around us. Rather, that we open them wider still. To see the overlap between a world in chaos and the arrival of the one who brings real peace, doesn’t discredit the gospel, it makes it all the more compelling. At our point of greatest need, God meets us with His greatest gift; Jesus, the One who makes peace between man and God.
Written by Scott Tubman. Original article can be found here.
Why the wise men were wise
There is a remarkable account of what happened a few years after Jesus’s birth. This account tells us about Jesus’ being a King and it is the visit of the magi or wise men.
The wise men were not Jewish, but they were revered, learned men who had heard of the ancient Jewish prophecy of the coming of a great king.
The wise men certainly did many wise things:
1. They asked the right question
The magi came to Jerusalem and asked,
“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2)
They asked: Where is the King?
In our world today people are asking a lot of questions. How can I be happy? How can I make the best of life? How can I provide for the future? What happens when I die? Does life have meaning?
These are all good questions.
But there is a more fundamental question that enables us to answer these others questions: where is the King?
If you have not found the King of the universe, all these other questions of life will be very difficult to answer.
The Magi asked the right question and King Herod was very upset because he fancied himself as the legitimate king. King Herod then has all the toddlers in Bethlehem killed to destroy the competing king. Herod wanted to be King himself – didn’t want a rival king to rule over him.
We’ve been hearing about the terrible bloodshed and destruction in Aleppo in Syria. Various armies and groups, including the government of President Assad, are fighting for control, territory and influence. The trouble was that no group wanted to give up control or territory or influence.
We are like this. We don’t want to give up control of our lives. We want to be our own rulers and kings – just like Herod.
But there is a new King, a far greater king. We will never understand life unless we give up control over our lives and submit to him.
2. They followed the right direction
Originally the magi saw a star which lead them to Judea and the went to Jerusalem its capital, the most logical place for a king to be born. In Jerusalem, they learnt that the Old Testament in the Bible prophesied that the Great King would be born, not in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem. So, they went to Bethlehem and found Jesus, not in a palace, but in a humble home.
The Bible led them to Jesus.
The Bible still leads us to Jesus today. The Bible contains 66 books, written over 1400 years, by over 40 authors in 3 languages, yet with one unifying and consistent message centering on King Jesus.
Out of all the books on our planet, there is no book like the Bible.
What are you book are you basing your life on? Maybe it’s the “book” of your own opinions? I challenge you read and study the Bible and follow its lead.
3. They made the right decision
What did the Magi, these great and learned men, do when they saw the toddler?
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.(Matthew 2:11)
The Magi fell down and worshipped a toddler.
They then presented gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh
In other words, the Magi laid down all that they were and all that they had before the King from God. Worship is the proper response to Jesus.
The magi weren’t church people, they didn’t go up in Sunday School, they had no baptism certificate, they weren’t even Jews: they were outsiders! But they heard about a promised king and they searched until they found him. They made the right decision.
Have you searched and found Jesus?
The wrong decision would be to ignore Jesus and trying to run your own life.
The reality is: there is a king. He was born; he lived; he was killed; and then rose back to life never to die again. Jesus now reigns and rules from heaven. It’s not myth or legend or fable. It’s true.
What will you do about it?
You can learn more about King Jesus and the Christian faith here.
Written by Andre Visagie. Original article can be found here.
News from the Presiding Bishop December 2016
Advent 2016
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4)
In recent reflection on Hebrews I’ve been struck by the extent of the focus on the absolute superiority of Jesus. Why does the writer take most of the first ten chapters to nail home this one great point? It helps to understand that the writer of Hebrews is talking largely to Jewish believers who were beginning to drift back to the old religion. At first they stood firm for Christ against great opposition (Heb.10:23f) but in time, the daily demand of faith in an unseen Saviour began to weary them and they slowly slipped back towards the old religion with its comforting rituals and religious practices. It's true that the slow burn of nagging unbelief can produce more apostates than the hellfire of harsh persecution.
This should not surprise us. The life of trusting Jesus by faith alone is not as simple as it may look to outsiders. Its tough to cling to the invisible God day after day, year after year. A number of converts have spoken about the nagging nostalgia for their old lifestyle and religion. The years can gradually take their toll as the disciplines of daily faith are overcome by the spreading cancer of doubt.
So what is the solution to the danger of drifting faith in the unseen Saviour? Simple. You need to see Jesus! That is exactly why Hebrews takes nearly ten chapters to draw for us a glorious picture of the Person (1:1-7:28) and Work (8:1-10:18) of the Lord Jesus. The Introductory verses of Hebrews (above) are the seeds that bear fruit in the entire epistle. Hebrews will show us a striking picture of Christ, the owner,creator and sustainer of all creation (v.2b). God made visible (v.3a). As to His Work, Jesus provided the purification for our sins by His death upon the cross (v.3b) and is now seated as ruler over all creation having completed His great work of salvation for us. This is the Jesus Hebrews wants us to see (1:1-10:18) and continue to follow by faith (10:19-13:25) until we see Him face to face.
Hebrews brings us the Jesus we need to see this Advent season. The solution to our daily nagging battle with unbelief will not be accomplished through some renewed spiritual or religious experience. The answer to our anxiety is not ultimately solved by doctors, lawyers or political leaders. Certainly no amount of presents under a Christmas tree will give us comfort in our faith. We need, above all else this Advent, to see Jesus. Not just the baby in the manger, but Christ, our Prophet (v.1), Priest and King (v.3b). The Christmas Babe is our Creator, sustainer and Saviour.
In a world where believers are distracted from their faith by spectacular emptiness and celebrity endorsed sin, we need to pay more careful attention to the remedy of Hebrews. The solution to a disillusioned, distracted and drifting faith is a renewed look at the Person and Work of Christ. Take time to see Jesus in Hebrews these holidays. There can certainly be no better thing to do in this season of expectation than to see afresh just who our Saviour is and what He has done for us.
“How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” (Heb.2:3)
May the Lord give us eyes of faith to see our Saviour this Christmas.
Every blessing to you all over the season and into the year ahead.
Glenn Lyons
Prayer
- Pray for our clergy and gospel workers as they plan and prepare for ministry in 2017. That the Lord will open doors for the gospel to find hearts and bring souls to Christ. Pray for fruit to come from every church that runs with the #REACH500 vision.
- Pray for the Lord to bring rain to our drought stricken country.
- Pray for the leaders of our country to rule and govern rightly in the fear of God.
- Pray for the people of South Africa to bow the knee to the real Jesus this Christmas.
Post of the Month
November Activities
George Whitefield College meeting and presentation.
Attending GWC graduation service with Bp. Jomo Mchunu.
Confirmees at Holy Trinity Scottburgh
Meeting with the Lamontville Church Plant team (KZN) for prayer and site inspection.
New building for Christ Church Msunduzi
Meeting with the leadership of St. John’s Umlazi
P.E. Church and city leaders breakfast. Joining in prayer for Mayor Athol Trollip.
Two new members of the clergy at Christ Church Umhlanga. Rev. Graham Heslop, Rev. Steven Gounden with. Bp.Raj Moodley and Rev. Grant Retief.
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7 Ideas for Christmas Songs
We recently asked Rob Booth from St James Kenilworth for some suggestions for songs to sing this Christmas...here are his seven suggestions for you to think about...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRVs0HikGeM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdlNeU26xtI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2e4nIIMN1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0jXVeI0FE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg0jVjDaZ6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AN2jIO81s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWFzMvCfLE
This Same Jesus
“This same Jesus that has been taken from you into Heaven will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into Heaven” Acts 1:11
In the Western Church, the season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and thus for 2016 on Sunday 27th November. Advent is part of the Church Calendar and unlike Easter or Pentecost is a traditional rather than a Biblical festival. It is however of real value for it provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the two comings of the Lord Jesus (Advent is the Latin word for ‘coming’). Thus at Advent we think about Jesus’ first coming into our world to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and we think about His return when “He will appear a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28). In this article our focus is on this second coming of Jesus as described in Acts chapter 1, a God-given promise that Jesus will indeed return as Lord and King.
There are several things that strike one in reading Acts 1:1-11. First, one is struck by the reference to the ‘convincing proofs’ of His own resurrection that Jesus Himself provided by His numerous appearances to eyewitnesses (1:3). Second, one is struck by the promise of and the result of, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the first fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and the second continuing to be fulfilled to this day as the Spirit empowers God’s people to bear witness to the resurrected Christ (1:4-8). Third, one is struck by the allusion to Daniel 7 and the taking up of the Son of Man in the clouds, a reference to the heavenly enthronement of the Son of Man and His consequent authority over all nations (1:9; cf Daniel 7:13-14). Fourth, and most significantly for our purposes, one is struck by the certain promise of Jesus’ return, a promise delivered by the angelic messengers and therefore carrying the authority of the Lord Himself (1:11).
In regard to this certain promise that Jesus ‘will come back’, it is also worth noting the use of the word ‘same’. In verse 11 the disciples are assured that the Jesus who will come back is the ‘same Jesus’ who had risen and appeared to them. They (and we) are thus reminded that the world to come will not be a merely spiritual, immaterial world – a new Heaven – but a real, renewed, re-created world in which all of God’s people will enjoy resurrection life in a new Heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. The return of the resurrected Christ ensures our own future resurrection and the real reality of the world to come.
But the disciples are also assured that this same Jesus will return in the same way that they saw Him go into Heaven. This surely means that Jesus’ return will be public and visible rather than private and hidden. Just as these people were eyewitnesses of His ascension, so every eye will see Him at His return (Revelation 1:7). But Jesus’ return in the same way also implies a reference to the clouds of verse 9. In Daniel 7 the Son of Man ‘coming with the clouds’ was associated with the Son of Man’s entrance into the Divine Presence and His receipt from the Ancient of Days of all authority over all nations. ‘Coming with the clouds’ is thus synonymous with world-wide authority and rule, a rule which Jesus receives in God’s presence at His ascension into Heaven (see Acts 2:36). What Jesus’ return ‘on the clouds’ thus signifies is that this heavenly rule of the Son of Man will at last be manifested not only in Heaven but also on earth. Thus when He returns ‘on the clouds’, the kingdom of the world will at last become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).
The final thing for us to note from this important passage is the response that the Lord expects from those who are waiting for His return. For the Jesus who rose, ascended and will return is the same Jesus who entered our world to die for sinners. Advent reminds us that the first and the second coming of Jesus are inseparably connected in the Person and Mission of Jesus. Thus while we wait for His return, we work for the extension of His Kingdom through the worldwide proclamation of His death and resurrection. Those who wait are called to witness. This is our responsibility and our very great privilege.
Written by Mervyn Eloff. Original article can be found here.
Giving, not to get, but to give
Every year at our church we have a “Planned Giving Sunday” when we ask our members and friends to prayerfully consider their giving to the church. We don’t use coercion or guilt. We don’t say “Give to Get!” We simply remind the church of the importance of gospel ministry. This year I reminded the church of Zacchaeus.
The account of Zacchaeus gives us a lot of insight into our view of money (Luke 19:1-10). He was Jewish and he also loved money. We know he loved money because he was willing to be a tax collector for the hated Romans who were the Jews’ political oppressors. He loved money, stole money, and was willing to be socially ostracized for the sake of money.
Many, many people in our world today love money as well. They will go to great and even illegal lengths to get money and, once they have it, hold on to it or spend it on themselves.
One day Zacchaeus met Jesus, he was converted and his life changed. He gave people back all the money he stole – even 4 times the amount. From a lover of money and tight-fisted, he became a generous, open-handed giver. What made the difference? Jesus did.
So too today. Knowing and following Jesus radically changes our attitude to life and money. If the gospel about Jesus has saved and transformed us, we want others to hear and grow in this gospel also. We are more than happy to support gospel ministry with our time, talents and treasure.
Many years ago, we decided as a church that we would embrace the view to “employ for growth”. We reaffirmed that our primary goal as a church is gospel ministry and we would seek to employ more people to get more ministry done. Of course, we want to better equip and teach our members and friends and better reach our community with Christ. But we also realized that the more full-time, paid, gospel workers we have the greater gospel impact there will be.
At the beginning of the year we appointed a full-time Pastoral-Assistant to enable us to better help our members and friends deal with all the complex issues that we face in a fallen, broken world.
Recently we looked at the church and our demographics and made 2 decisions for 2017:
- Because our children’s ministry is growing and so crucial, we decided to employ a full-time children’s worker.
- We also want to be a training church, so we decided to employ a curate (trainee minister).
These decisions will cost money, but we believe that we are investing in eternity and this all forms part of our strategic, ministry planning for the future.
I reminded our church that:
(1) We are a self-funding church; all our expenses are paid by their generous giving. I thanked those you give so faithfully and generously. (Thank you!)
(2) The church functions on 80% of our income: 10% goes to our denomination REACH SA and another 10% we give to Missions.
(3) We are to see our giving to the church not as an expense but as an investment in gospel ministry and eternity. The more we give, the more ministry gets done.
(4) In Christian giving we don’t give whatever is left-over at the end of the month, we prayerfully decide what we want to give at the beginning of the month.
(5) We don’t police the giving. I don’t know who gives and who doesn’t. (and I don’t want to know!) The giving is between individuals and the Lord.
(6) We think that faithful and generous giving to your local church is a right Christian discipline and a sign of spiritual maturity.
(7) We think that 10% of monthly income is a good guideline for the amount to give; but this is not a legalistic law. Many of our members and friends can afford much more than 10%.
(8) In Christian giving, we don’t give because we must, we give because we want to, because God has given us Jesus.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
Written by Andre Visagie. Original article can be found here.
Contending for the Faith
“…contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”
Jude vs 3
As people and especially as Christians we know that there are things that are worth standing for, things worth fighting for, things, to use Jude’s word, worth contending for. We would all agree that it is worth fighting to protect the family, to oppose racism and injustice, to protect the weak and the marginalised, including the right to life for an unborn child. We know that it is right to stand for truth and justice, to defend basic human rights, to stand up and to speak up when integrity or freedom is at risk or under threat.
But how many of us have come to understand that it is also our duty and our privilege to fight for the Gospel, to contend for “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” as our verse puts it. Yet that is exactly what Jude urges his readers and us to do and to keep on doing. Our aim in this article is to think a little more deeply about what this may mean for us in our daily walk with Christ.
Firstly, we need to think about the context in which this stand is to be made. And Jude leaves us in no doubt at all about this, for he warns his readers of a great and continual threat that the church of Jesus will face until the day that the Lord returns, the threat from false teachers. This is a common theme in the later New Testament letters such as 1 & 2 Timothy, 2 Peter and Jude. In Jude, the false teaching that is in view is described in verse 4 as an attempt to “turn the grace of God into a licence to sin”. In essence then these teachers taught and modelled the belief that since Christ had died for our sins and since salvation was by grace, Christians were under no obligation to seek to live holy lives. Indeed, such an attempt to live in a new way was to add our unworthy works to Christ’s death and to deny grace. Since we are under grace therefore we are free to sin without any compunction or twinge of conscience. And as we look at what Jude says about these false teachers in the letter, expressed in very graphic terms, it is clear that they practised what they preached to their own shame and spiritual harm. Jude’s point then is that the best way to avoid this path of error is to stand up for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus, a Gospel of grace which teaches us to say ‘No’ to sin and ‘Yes’ to what is right (see also Titus 2:11).
Second, let us note what it is that Christians are called to contend for. And Jude’s answer is that we are to contend for “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”. This is a reference not to our personal faith or the right to faith, important as these are, but to the Faith, that is the Gospel truth that came from Jesus and the apostles and that has been given as a sacred trust to the church, once and for all, to be protected and taught and passed on unchanged to the next generation. These words remind us that it is the Gospel that must rule the church and its teachers, not the church or the teachers who rule the Gospel. We have no right or freedom to change the Gospel or make it fit our particular opinions or tastes, be they theological or moral. For the Gospel belongs to God and it comes from God and it is our place and privilege to hear it, to understand it, to believe it and to teach it to others. That is in the very least how we contend for the faith once for all delivered.
Thirdly, let us note that Jude reminds us that it is every believers responsibility to contend for the Gospel and to stand against any perversion of the Gospel. Jude’s letter speaks about the false teachers in the churches but it is not addressed to the true teachers. His letter was sent to the congregation and was designed to remind each one of them of their responsibility to stand up for the truth.
Fourthly and finally, let us note that a key part of the way in which Christians are to contend for the Gospel is by standing firm in their own personal convictions and belief of the truth of the Gospel. This is what Jude means when he urges believers: “keep yourselves in the love of God” (verse 21). The preceding verse tells us how this is done, “build yourself up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit”, that is, in the power that the Holy Spirit gives to His people to pray faithfully and to stand firm. It is clear that Jude believes that it is indeed the Lord who keeps us and will keep us to the end (see verses 1 & 24). But it is also clear that the way in which the Lord by His Spirit works to keep us is by our standing firm, building ourselves up in and through the Gospel and thus keeping ourselves as we contend for the faith that has been once for all delivered to the saints. This is the good fight and it is well worth fighting!
Written by Mervyn Eloff. Original article can be found here.
How To Make a Decision [Part 1]
It seems that many Christians don’t like making decisions – they would prefer God to make their decisions for them.
To this end many Christians are constantly looking for signs, confirmations, fleeces, open door or closed doors (please excuse the Christian jargon).
Or else they are waiting for a “word of from the Lord”, a neon sign in the clouds or the nebulous “peace in my heart about the decision”.
Many decisions can be very important and we should certainly be spending time in prayer asking God for wisdom in making God-honouring choices. However, it is important to not that God gives wisdom so that we can make the decisions, not Him.
It also goes with saying that in the decision-making process the Bible is the highest authority in the Christian’s life. As the Bible is the revealedWord and Will of God, so our decisions should be based on what the Bible says – that way we can be sure that we are honouring God with our choices.
Having God’s Word as our highest authority may sound simple, but we also have many other competing authorities in their lives, for example:
- Experience – this makes me feel good about myself, or this gives me peace in my heart
- Tradition – this is what we always do, or this is what my parents did, or this is what the church teaches
- Reason – this seems the most reasonable, logical thing for me to do
None of the above mentioned authority are bad things, in and of themselves, as long as they are not the Christian’s highest authority. God’s Word as our chief authority must trump (excuse the word) these other, lower authorities. The Bible is the only book on our planet that is God’s book (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Experience
Obeying God’s Word might not always make you feel good, especially when you decide to break up with a non-Christian boyfriend. Obedience might not take you to that “happy place” when you end that inappropriate relationship that has been an infatuation for you. If you are a Christian struggling with same-sex attraction, it will probably be tough experience to abstain and yet that would be the right decision.
Tradition
God’s Word might be at odds with what you were taught at church, especially if you come from a Roman Catholic background. Complete and lasting righteousness through faith alone in Christ alone may not be quite what your priest teaches. Obeying God’s Word may cause a ruction with your extended Roman Catholic family. We may also grow up with wrong traditions; your father treating your mother in an unkind way will be a tradition that God’s Word challenges.
Reason
Obeying God’s Word will seem very unreasonable to your non-Christian friends who think you’re crazy to give your church so much of your hard-earned income. In fact, believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus as a wrath-satisfying sacrifice will seem even more unreasonable and nonsensical to an anti-Christian world. It may seem unreasonably for a father to decide against a promotion at work to spend more time with his family. Obedience to God’s Word is totally reasonable, but reason itself is not our highest authority.
Therefore, when it comes to making decisions:
- Pray and ask God for wisdom.
- Consider carefully what the Bible says about the issues concerned.
- Use the brain God has given you to make a decision.
- Don’t wait for or expect God to make your decisions.
In years to come you will look back on your choice and see God’s good providence in that decision, guiding and directing you.
Written by Andre Visagie. Original article can be found here.
Presiding Bishop Newsletter October
I write to you all on the eve of the 499th anniversary of the Reformation. This also means the official beginning of our REACH 500 challenge. As most of you will know, this anniversary celebrates the return of the Gospel to the people when Luther stood up to a Roman church that had all but forgotten the Gospel. There can certainly be no better way to celebrate the upcoming 500th birthday of Luther’s watershed stand than by following in his footsteps. So the challenge is for each local REACH-SA church to make this anniversary year a time to reach 500 new people with the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith.
I've heard of so many amazing outreach ideas from our churches and I’m thrilled to see the enthusiasm with which our workers have embraced the challenge. I've seen initiatives like movie nights, markets, concerts, specialist talks, dinner evenings and guest services - to name just a few. We've opened a #REACH500 Facebook group for churches to share pics of their events. Make sure you join the group.
Remember too why we do what we do. Our Saviour holds out the world's only hope of eternal life and we have been entrusted with that Truth. Our world continues to pursue dead end solutions and the urgency of our message ought to ring all the more louder in these uncertain times. May the Lord empower us for the task! Amen!
October Highlights
St James Bloemfontein's 30th Anniversary Celebrations
Visit to Hillbrow Care Center - with Rev. Mike Sunker
Opening of new building at Emmanuel Edenvale. With Rev . Eric Sabela
Preaching at Trinity Church Morningside - With Rev. Nigel Richardson
City Gate outreach team in PE. Blaque Nubon, Lilly Million, Lutic Mosoane
Meeting with various pastors & ward counselors for prayer. Port Elizabeth.
Click here to join our #Reach500 page
Post of the Month
10 Things You Should Know about the Reformation
by Tim Chester
Prayer
- Pray for our country over this critical and turbulent time. Pray for our Government to show decisive leadership and wise decision making. Pray for a resolution to the crisis in our universities and for a cessation of violence that has led to serious injury and even loss of life.
- Give thanks for a new crop of graduates from our Bible college. Pray for the Lord to continue to provide funds and students for GWC in the year ahead.
- Give thanks for many gospel outreach initiatives in our churches. Pray for God to open hearts to the message of Christ and for a great influx of souls for the Kingdom.
The Fruit Bearing Gospel
“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…” Colossians 1:6
In Colossians chapter 1 Paul gives us a very striking description of the gospel, one which is well worth our careful consideration, given the confusion about and lack of confidence in the gospel that is so prevalent today.
First, Paul reminded the Colossians (and us) about the objective truth of the gospel. The gospel, he writes, is literally ‘the word of the truth’ (1:5). This means that the gospel is true as opposed to being false, but it means far more than that. What Paul is also saying is that the gospel is not just one truth among many truths, all equally true and valid, but that the gospel is the one and the only truth, at least as far as a saving knowledge of God is concerned. Behind Paul’s phrase ‘the word of the truth’ to describe the gospel lay his clear understanding of God’s Word as the Truth, an understanding based upon the way in which the Old Testament Scriptures spoke about the Word of God. Thus in calling the gospel about Jesus Christ the word of the truth, Paul is equating this gospel about Jesus with the Word of God of which it is the full and final expression. That this is indeed how Paul saw the gospel is abundantly clear from what he says about it in his other writings, e.g. Romans 1:1 where he calls the gospel about Jesus Christ the ‘gospel of God’. And it was because he saw the gospel as objective and absolute truth from God that he was so determined that no other gospel should be preached or believed among the churches. For Paul then, the gospel had the authority of God behind it and his role with respect to the gospel was to be its true and faithful servant (Colossians 1:23).
Secondly, Paul reminded the Colossians (and us) of the universality of the gospel. The gospel, wrote Paul, was one word of truth to be preached “all over the world” (1:6). This is of course a very important truth and one which needs reaffirming in our own day just as it needed to be affirmed in Paul’s day. For Paul lived in a multi-faith society just as we do and one of the key building blocks of a multi-faith society is that all religious truth is equally valid and therefore that no single religious truth should be held out as the only way.
Paul’s response to this, while being respectful to those whose beliefs differed from his own, was in the name of the God who had entrusted the gospel to him, to call upon people to turn away from their false way of thinking and to accept God’s gospel about Jesus Christ as the only message by which anyone could or would be saved. For Paul the gospel of God was thus an all over the world gospel, a gospel that had to be preached and believed all over the world. It was precisely for this reason that Paul himself was willing to endure all kinds of hardship and persecution to travel all over the known world of his day preaching the gospel. Indeed, when he wrote Colossians, he wrote from within a prison cell, placed there because of the gospel he believed and preached.
Thirdly, Paul reminded the Colossians (and us) of the effectiveness of the gospel. This gospel, wrote Paul, was not merely being preached all over the world, it was “bearing fruit and growing” all over the world (1:6). This is striking language indeed and speaks of the gospel’s power to take root within and transform the lives of people and indeed the lives of entire communities. And Paul has good reason to say this, for the gospel had brought about a total transformation in his own life and he had seen this same gospel bring about this same transformation in the lives of others, not least of all were the Colossians themselves. Not that Paul thought for one moment that the gospel itself had some kind of magical power. Grateful though he was to Epaphras for his faithful work in teaching the gospel (1:7) and glad though he was that the Colossians had not only heard but also understood the gospel which they had been taught (1:6), it was to God that Paul expressed praise and thanksgiving, for he understood that in the final analysis it was God and God alone who by His Spirit made the word of the gospel fruitful in the lives of those who heard it. Behind Paul’s statement that the gospel was a growing and fruit bearing gospel lay his clear conviction that it was God’s power at work through the gospel that made the gospel effective. As he wrote elsewhere: “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to save everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
It is this same “word of truth”, the “all over the world, fruit bearing and growing gospel”, that we are called to believe and not only to believe but also unashamedly and eagerly to preach in our own day.
Written by Mervyn Eloff. Original article can be found here.