Category: Identity

  • Advent Joy

    As Christmas draws ever more near, we joyfully look forward to our celebration of Jesus’ birth. We look back at the blessed event and rejoice in a promise fulfilled, a Saviour born. 

    In the years and centuries before Christ’s birth, God’s people waited in joyful expectation, for a Saviour promised, but One who had not yet come. Throughout the Old Testament, God calls his people to joyfulness. 

    When we take time to reflect on what God has done for us and offer him our very best—in time, effort, skills, gifts—the inevitable response of our souls is joy.

    The Bible is clear that joy comes from God (Neh. 8:9-10), and our joy is a product of what God has done and continues to do. It is gladness and contentedness flowing out of the well-spring of God’s faithfulness and mercy, quite independent of our circumstances. The Psalmist writes, “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it…Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness” (Psalm 96:11-13). 

    Our joy is anchored in the knowledge that God fulfilled his promise. It is important to remember that the joy we have in Christ is not seasonal or situational. Like the joy of the ancient Israelites, our joy is a response to what God has already done and continues to do.

    When Christ came and dwelt among his people, he was their rabbi or teacher. He taught them about God’s love and urged them to remain in him, saying “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11). It is a kind of joy, grounded in thankfulness for the first Advent of Jesus Christ and looking forward toward his second coming, that is a marker of faithful believers.

    Today, our joy, fuelled by the Holy Spirit, is what God uses to spread his joy throughout the world. Mother Teresa once said “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.” True biblical joy is what God calls us to, and it is a joy that endures whether we’re in the throes of cheerful Christmas anticipation or the lows of post-holiday blues. So, this Advent (and beyond), will you respond to God’s call to be joyful?

    adapted from an article 26.11.18 by Robin Basselin

  • Beyond Waiting 

    If you read last weeks newsletter or attended one of our services then you would be aware that the season of Advent has kicked off. We are in a season of preparation, anticipation, and waiting. Sometimes I think we like waiting because it means we do nothing. Francis Chan in his book ‘Crazy Love’ says “Most of us use “I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life” as a means of avoiding action.”  

    Francis Chan throws out a very compelling challenge to us in this season of waiting … “Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn’t that television, vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God.” (more…)

  • Empowering Our Future with Mind Renewal – Part 2

    “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”.  Proverbs 23:7
    If we think we are weak, we are weak.
    If we think we are less than others, we are less than others.
    If we think we are righteous, we are righteous.
    If we think a problem is a problem, then it is a problem.
    If we think a problem is an opportunity, then it is an opportunity.

    We can become the sum total of our repeated thoughts. We cannot consistently do what we don’t believe we are. For instance, if we try to act righteous, but we think (believe) we are a sinner, we will actually sin by faith, and this negative experience will bombard our thoughts with the lie we are prone to do wrong. Truly, our thought life is where the biggest spiritual battles are fought. (more…)