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 tea and coffee.

In the process of refining metals, the raw metal is heated with fire until it melts. The impurities separate from it and rise to the surface. They are then skimmed off, leaving the pure metal. Without this heating and melting, there could be no purifying. As the impurities are skimmed off the top, the reflection of the person carrying out this task appears in the smooth, pure surface. I'm sure you can see where I'm heading with this!

As we are purified by God, His reflection in our lives will become more and more clear to those around us. He calls us to be holy as He is holy. Sometimes we can be stubborn and dig our toes in, believing that we don't need to change but that it is someone else who needs to. Let's not be those stiff necked people! Let us continue to ask the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, refining and purifying us, so we can be the people God is calling us to be. 

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 tea and coffee.

We read in the bible of Isaiah, who as he saw the Lord and listened to the praise of angels, had the realisation that he was a man of 'unclean lips' and therefore unclean before God with no hope of measuring up to God's standard of holiness. However when his lips were touched with a live burning coal he was told his sins were forgiven. We know that it wasn't the coal that cleansed him, but God. In response Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God's service. No matter how difficult his task would be he said, "Here am I, send me!" The painful cleansing process was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill the task to which God was calling him. 

We know that when Jesus died on the cross and said 'It is finished' that we too, if we confess our sins, will be forgiven through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross and His finished work. At times this may also be a painful process for us however we must let God purify us so we can truly represent God, who is pure and holy, if our hearts cry is "Here am I Lord, send me".

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 tea and coffee.

Over the centuries, many believers, overcome by an awareness of their own sins, have found in the words of the 'confessional' psalms, a ray of hope. The psalmists shared with God both the depth of their sorrow and repentance, as well as the height of joy at being forgiven. They rejoiced in the knowledge that God would respond to confession and repentance with complete forgiveness. We, who live on the other side of the cross of Christ, can rejoice even more because we understand more. God has shown us that He is willing to forgive because His judgement on sin was satisfied by Christ's death on the cross. The psalmists responded to God by recognising their sinfulness and tendency to do wrong. They realised that sin was rebellion against God Himself and admitted their sins to God. They also trusted in God's willingness to forgive and they accepted His forgiveness. Often I think this can be the hardest part -  acknowledging that God has forgiven us and then moving forward from that. We are to learn from our sin but not dwell on it for Jesus paid the price once and for all. 

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 tea and coffee.

People often ask "do I have to go to church to be a Christian?". Of course we know the answer is no, but it is also a biblical instruction. Corporate worship is more than just a good idea. It is crucial to God's purposes for His people. The spiritual passion of Israel under leaders like David, Josiah and Nehemiah was accompanied by a commitment to authentic corporate worship. The same should be true of the church today.

Corporate worship provides encouragement and support for those around us. We grow spiritually by spending time alone with God but when we come together we can help and encourage others to grow. Corporate worship means God receives the greater glory - we can praise God individually but there is something powerful about praising God together. When we gather together we also learn together under those who teach us, we care for each other and we can pray for one another. There is opportunity for the gifts God has given each one of us to be used in 'body ministry'. Finally, corporate worship reminds us that we've been drawn apart from the world and drawn together to God. Gathering together is a physical demonstration of our unity in the gospel. It causes us to rub shoulders with those who may not be like us and to recognise our need for mercy at the foot of the cross - together.

Blessings, Sandra