24th January 2010

Promises of God

Today we looked at promises of God and how we see God's faithfulness in our lives. If you want to hear some amazing testimonies then please listen to the podcast for today and hear Gill, Rachel & Karl as they share. The link to the podcast is listed above.

BELIEF
" I have come into the world as light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." John 12:46
" Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12
COMFORT
" God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
" I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart ! I have overcome the world ! " John 16:33
" Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28
COURAGE
" He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak " Isaiah 40:29
" Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine" Isaiah 43:1
ETERNAL LIFE
" I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life." John 6:47
" Jesus said: 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies'....." John 11:25
FAITH
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" Heb.11:1
"We live by faith, not by sight" 2 Cor. 5:7
FAITHFULNESS
"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Deut.7:9
"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be moved, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed." Isaiah 54:10
GUIDANCE
" I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8
" I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them, I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16
JOY
" I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy maybe complete" John 15:11
"...but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." John 16:22
LOVE
" I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." Jeremiah 31:3
" I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me." Proverbs 8:17
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Cor. 2:9
PEACE
" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27
" And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7
PRAYER
" Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:12
" This is the assurance we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." 1 John 5:14
PROTECTION
"The Lord will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:7, 8
" When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:1,2
SALVATION
" But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour. " Titus 3:4-6
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Cor 5:17
WISDOM
"For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:5".....He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths...." Isaiah 2:3

Please watch this clip from "Pay it forward." When you think you can't change your world just remember it is not in our own strength but in the power of The Holy Spirit and also that most of us don't get to see God change the whole world but just the little bit around us.

Life in the kingdom!

Galatians 5

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

As people living in the kingdom of God let us make sure that we take notice and examine our lives before God everyday.

Making sure that JESUS IS LORD OF ALL THAT WE ARE!

Righteousness, peace, joyIn the Holy Ghost,

That's the kingdom of God.

Don't you want to be a part of the kingdom?

There's love in the kingdom.

Come on everybody.
There's peace in the kingdom.

Come on everybody.

There's joy in the kingdom.

Come on everybody.

I'm an heir of the kingdom.

Come on everybody.

Sunday January 10th

Commitment Sunday

Hebrews 8:10-12
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Today we read the story of Noah, you can find it Genesis read from chapter 8 onwards.

God is a God of promises!

God promises us that he would never flood the whole earth again as in the days of Noah. He gave us the rainbow as a symbol of that promise. He promises that he will never leave nor forget us. The Bible says that our names are carved in the palm of his hands and he even knew us before we were born! God promises that he will forgive us. The cross is a great reminder of this promise. Jesus died on the cross for you and for me. When we tell Jesus that we are sorry for all the bad things we have done in life, he will forgive, which means he takes that sin away and forgets it for ever! God promises that he will always love us and that nothing will ever keep him rom loving us. his love is as wide as the universe! We can never hide from his love, nor can we ever take it away. God promises eternal life to those who believe in him.

In these times when the keeping of promises, oaths, vows or covenants is increasingly rare, is it still feasible to ask people to make public pledges and commitments to God?
What encourages or discourages you from making them?

What are the benefits of making promises?

Happy New Year - 3rd January 2010

Joel 2:28-32
The Day of the LORD "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

We believe it people will get saved, people are getting saved, they are chooseing to follow Jesus. It's a New Year and we want everybody we know to know Jesus. we talked about the wise and foolish builders - the story is in Matthew 7, in church this morning and checking out our foundations. As we go into a New Year check out where you are at with Jesus and then if you need to do something, change something, refocus, then do it and experience the most amazing adventure as you see Jesus working in and through your life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!