Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for morning tea.

This week I had a revelation that most of you, I'm sure, will have known or seen for a long time. I can't believe I haven't noticed it earlier - so this is it - that the word 'devil' is  the letter d + evil. I have since asked a number of others and they haven't noticed it either. Which made me think - sometimes things can be right in front of our eyes and we can miss them completely!

We sing the song 'Open the Eyes of my Heart', but what does this mean? I believe part of it is asking God to open our spiritual eyes - to see things that He wants us to see and to not be blinded by the things of this world. In Ephesians 1:18 Paul writes "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened...." (NIV). As such, "to open the eyes of the heart" is to see spiritual things clearly; specifically, "so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints". To open our spiritual eyes is to see the truths of His Word. As the world gets 'madder' and the time draws near, let us continue to ask God to open our spiritual eyes to the things He wants us to see and understand in His Word and around us. 

Blessings,

Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for morning tea.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 we read "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Our joy, prayers and thankfulness should not fluctuate with our circumstances or feelings. We know that feelings aren't always reliable! 

We often find it difficult to 'rejoice always' when we are in the midst of trials, temptations, difficult decisions, sickness....the list goes on. But the very fact that we have a God who loves us without measure and have been saved by the finished work of Jesus on the cross should ALWAYS be more than enough to rejoice in any circumstance. We have been saved, redeemed and set free! That is what we need to remember. Paul also says 'in everything give thanks' not 'for everything give thanks'. The two are very different. Once again, it's not what we're going through that determines our thankfulness but that at all times, in every circumstance we can give thanks for the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

Blessings,

Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for morning tea.

Peace is a wonderful feeling. We know it when we have it, and we all want more of it. In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Jesus doesn’t say we won’t have trouble - He says we don’t have to let ourselves be troubled. When we know God as our Heavenly Father we can live securely. We can experience peace. 

Living in peace is possible in every aspect of our day — from the moment we wake up in the morning, throughout the day as we work, study, go about our daily lives and in the evenings when we return home. Wherever we are going we can walk confidently and have peace. This unshakable peace comes from knowing God and trusting Him with every detail of our lives, like sheep in the care of a good shepherd. “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.” No matter the things we go through, we have someone watching over us. And even though we can’t always see it, we are secure. God’s peace is available to all of us - we just have to humble ourselves and allow Him to run our daily lives.

Blessings,

Sandra

Welcome to our service today. It is great to have you here and we would love to invite you to stay after the service and join us for morning tea.

On Easter Sunday, all around the world, Christians will proclaim “Christ is risen!” and the response will be “He is risen indeed!” We join centuries of Christians in marking this day as the day that changed everything. We celebrate the amazing truth that although Jesus was dead, He’s now alive forevermore. Jesus Christ rose victorious over death. He is risen!

It’s interesting to notice how John, the gospel writer, anchors the event of the resurrection to a day, a time, and a witness. On a particular day in history, early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been moved away from Jesus’ tomb. John wants to be clear. The resurrection of Jesus happened here on earth, in our time, for the benefit of each one of us whom God created and loves. Because Jesus is risen, life for us is forever anchored in good news.

Christ’s resurrection gloriously demonstrates that God’s sovereign love has the last word. As a powerful hymn puts it, “No power of hell, no human plan, can ever pluck me from his hand.” We now live in the joyful assurance that because Christ lives, we too will live for all eternity.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Blessings, Sandra