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 and for the soup and savoury lunch.

Where there is no law, there is no sin, because people cannot know that their actions are sinful unless a law forbids those actions. God's law makes people realise that they are sinners, yet it offers no help. Sin is real and dangerous. Imagine a sunny day at the beach. You plunge into the water, then you notice a sign on the pier: "No swimming. Sharks in water." Your day is ruined. Is it the sign's fault? Are you angry with the people who put it up? Probably not! The law is like the sign. It is essential, and we are grateful for it - but it doesn't get rid of the sharks. 

Throughout God's Word, the Bible, there are plenty of words of advice, encouragement and exhortation of how to live holy lives rather than lives in rebellion. We need to be in the Word daily so we can not just know, but put into action what we have learned. And of course we have the Holy Spirit who lives within us who will  'guide us into all truth' if we let Him.  

With love & 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.

Whether we are studying the Bible for ourselves or teaching it to others, moving toward application is the most important part of the studying and teaching process. Just having information about what is in the Bible is not enough (even Satan knew enough of the Bible to be able to quote it!). Understanding the context or the concepts is not enough either. For the Bible to really make a difference in our lives we need to receive the message personally, reflect on our lives and identify what needs to change as a result of God's Word and ask the Holy Spirit to help us make that change. Application is the step between knowing what the Bible says and doing what is says. While the truths of the Bible never change, our life situations are different and constantly changing. We must continue to study the Bible and learn the new things God wants us to learn. What a privilege to let the Creator of the universe speak to us through His Word. 

With love & 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.

On Sunday Tony mentioned the fruit of the Spirit....love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we desire to see these qualities exhibited in our lives, then we know the Holy Spirit is leading us. At the same time we must be careful not to confuse our subjective feelings with the Spirit's leading. 

Being lead by the Holy Spirit involves the desire to hear, the readiness to obey God's Word, and the sensitivity to discern between our feelings and His promptings. We need to live each day guided by the Holy Spirit. Then the words of Christ will be in our minds, the love of Christ will be behind our actions and the power of Christ will help us control our own desires. 

A reminder that we have an evening service tonight at 7pm in the church with Peter Kumar as our guest.

With love & 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.

Studies show that one of the primary reasons we are tempted to give up on something is people. They have narrowed it down to around 20% of people who encourage us to ‘give up’ on any given task or dream.

How many battles would never have been won without  persistence? How many men and women would never have graduated, developed a career,  stayed together in marriage or raised children? How many criminal cases would not have been solved without the persistence of detectives or great music never finished, or amazing artwork completed? After 700 failed attempts the man working alongside Thomas Edison exclaimed “what a waste”, to which Edison replied “we’re closer than we’ve ever been before.” Each of these things takes incredible persistence and determination. 

God honours persistence. He models it throughout the Bible. Think of His patient persistence in continually reaching out to the lost, “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  I’m sure we can also each think of times in our lives when God could have given up on us – but He didn’t. Why is that?  Because “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” The One who began will continue right up to the end. Being the original finisher, He will persist.

With love & blessings, Sandra