-Offering of something valuable to God!
In Genesis 22 when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he didn’t even question God, he didn’t argue.
He just got up and started preparing for it.
Abraham feared God cause he was going to sacrifice his only son.
Do we fear God in that way?
Honour God in what he’s asking you to sacrifice—He Will Provide!
And You will be Blessed!
And even your descendants will bless and be blessed
Because you have obeyed God!
Louie Giglio shared a story on a DVD about rock climbing.
Those guys Trust those little metal things pushed into rocks.
Their lives depend on them
They all in
Full weight of their bodies and all.
And the challenge he asked…
Do we Trust God like that?
Do we Trust Him with our ALL?
Lean back
Even with all our head tells us and all our bodies know how to do
Out of our depth
Not out of our own strength
Trust Totally on God
Trust in All and for All
With All
Total Trust!!
Read Jeremiah 17:7-8
Why are our hearts important to God?
He does all the works anyway
God wants our hearts to be pure
Be intimate
Know Him deeply
Know His heart.
Communicate with your Father
1 Samuel 16:7
Psalm 51:6, 10, 17
I’ve been given an orange
For it to become fruitful
I need to bury it
It will grow and then bear fruit
From death comes life
The orange had to die
For another tree to grow
And bear fruit
and so the process continues.
Jesus had to die with our sins
So that He would rise again
So that we receive eternal life
We need to die to self
so that God’s life would be lived out through us
From Death come Life!!
Stop with all our selfish needs
and wants and see the bigger picture
See God’s picture
See what God sees
Feel what God feels
The flower dies to bear berries
The fruit has to be opened and exposed
For the seeds to be seen
For the seeds to fall out
We die right now
We lay down our lives
All our worries
All our cares
The old flesh dies
And the new life comes.
My god was made of tin then the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin. I was miserable for some days and hoped to change my ways. I met a Christian man who told me of God’s plan. As I pictured Jesus on the cross to reject would be my loss. To Him I surrended all and felt my sins fall. I knew I was forgiven and would go to heaven. Born again to live in peace which only God can give. Many years have past and my love is steadfast For my Saviour, when we meet I will kneel at His feet. Seymour Mattinson
I was going through my old notebook from church services and I was reminded of going to the Victoria Falls on the Zambia side. You have to walk across a little bridge between mainland and the island type pinnacle and you get so wet from the splash and spray from the falls.
It was refreshing. New Life. We are Set Apart.
Scary to take that step but well worth it.
Leviticus 20:26 You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Growing up on a farm just outside of Eshowe made me open my eyes to nature and all God’s wonderful creations.
In my junior days I went to the Catholic school and from standard six I was in big school and the real world shocked me. I went up and down, as I’m sure every child does through life.
Youth on a Friday evening at the Methodist church used to be so great; we would play games, be happy and be ourselves. Getting to church on Sundays was a bit of a problem, living so far out of town, but my parents would always try and rush around everywhere.
After matriculating, I studied Tourism, Pinetown Technical college. The res. was the best place to make great friends and going to a new eye opening church, it was so cool, like a huge party for Jesus. I thought that the way The Holy Spirit touched people was so beautiful and I dreamt of it one day happening to me.
After staying at res. for a year it was time to move out and stay in a flat with our friends. A lot happened and everybody’s lives changed and I am so glad mine changed for the better and I never want to go back again.
When I first heard about home groups I thought they were for people with problems and difficulties in life but then I realised that I was the problem. I want to encourage you not to think of home group as something that you just have to go to but something you want to do. I find it gives me something to look forward to during the week and it really helps me through. It lifts my spirit and I just want to Thank God For Everything All The Time.
I was a very insecure person, always depending on other people. I realised that God wanted time with me to grow and develop in our relationship before I could commit myself to anybody else. God has helped me so much and in so many different ways.
I have got such a great love for Him and I never want to loose it.
Sunday, 5 March 1995
When I got filled with The Holy Spirit, it was the most amazing feeling that I have never felt before. I could feel myself been pushed back by a wonderful power inside my body. The tears rolled down my face and dripped off my chin down onto my leg. A friend of mine placed her hand on my back, in her twitching state and spoke words that I have never heard before. She amazed me, everybody amazed me, Jesus always amazes me, God amazes me and The Holy Spirit is so amazing.
I knelt down on my knees and prayed a prayer the elder spoke. My stomach would draw me in and push me out again. I was filled up, full of love, care, kindness and tears. My body lurched like I had never felt it lurch before. I couldn’t stop this power my body had over my mind. I couldn’t stop it and I didn’t want to stop it. I heard the laughter, I heard the lions cries, I heard Your people been filled by The Holy Spirit. Your people, my brothers and sisters smiled at me, all those beautiful smiles, so alive and shining, full of love for life. I am so happy, everything is so beautiful, nobody can and is going to ruin this wonderful feeling that I can feel in and around my body.
Something that struck me on Sunday the 3rd of February when our pastor was speaking from John 21:15…”Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord;” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” and again Jesus asked and then said, “Take care of my sheep.” and again he asked and then said, “Feed my sheep…” Then he said to him, “Follow me!” I always felt at the back of my mind that was the pastors job to “feed the Sheep” but I realised if I love Jesus, I need to feed the lambs, take care of the sheep and feed the sheep. It’s a huge responsibility, it’s laying down your life, you’ve got to keep watch and protect them from the enemy.
This past Sunday, our pastor spoke about Vision and we all know that scripture in Proverbs 29:18, NIV says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” and KJV says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” This morning I had to reverse my car out the garage and my car window broke last week so my husband stuck plastic around the frame in preparation for the drive to get it fixed. I was so nervous to reverse as I could not use my side mirror to check how close I was to the wall. Even reversing out the gate I was hesitant though I knew I had plenty of space. At the four way stop I was also very cautious as not quite sure if another car would come. We need Vision, what does God want you to do? We need Ambition and we’ve got a Mission, to do what God want you to do.