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.There is a high price to be paid if we want to follow Jesus, as a disciple. We cannot have any ambition of our own, we are simply to be a follower. We have seen in Scripture that we have to be prepared to say 'goodbye' to all and everything we have if we are to follow Jesus. We are to "deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him".Yet how many of us or those around us only want a 'part time' Christian life? Is Church when we feel like it? Is reading the Bible only when I have time? Is praying just when I need something? Do we simply lead a normal secular life most of the time with a splattering of these things here and there?I think we know the answer to these questions. Jesus didn't die and rise again so we could live a life like that. In the words of the well known hymn it is summed up in the last two lines - "love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all".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.Jesus did not arrive unannounced or unexpected. The Old Testament prophets had clearly predicted the coming of a great one, sent by God himself, who would offer salvation and eternal peace to Israel and the entire world. Then came John the Baptist, who announced that the long awaited Messiah had finally come and would soon be among the people.In God's work in the world today, Jesus does not come unannounced or unexpected. Yet many still reject Him. We have the witness of the Bible, but some choose to ignore it, just as many ignored John the Baptist in his day. However we must not give up. We must continue to pray for our unsaved family, friends and colleagues, knowing that God hears and honours our prayers.This Wednesday is our monthly church prayer meeting at 7:30pm in the lounge. I encourage you to come along and join with us in praying for the many lost souls around us and to seek the Lord for all He has for us as His church.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.I find it helpful to be reminded about certain key points regarding my Christian walk on a fairly regular basis! This week I was reminded of one of these - I am a stranger in a foreign, hostile land.We are only passing through this land - (or this life!). It is temporary. It is not ours and was never intended to be. How easy it is to get ensnared by the ways of the world - to put things, activities and even people in a place of importance that can often be in place of or even higher than where we put God. Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with these things in themselves but do they have a hold on us and have they become idols in our eyes and our life?More and more there is growing persecution and a hatred toward Christians and our beliefs. We are 'strangers' to those who don't believe. People can be hostile towards us. We shouldn't be surprised because Paul speaks about it in scripture. It was and always has been that way. As we 'pass through this land' let us give our lives to the Lord in everything we do. The reward when we leave is something our minds cannot conceive because it is so wonderful. In the meantime let's continue to daily lay down our lives and live for Jesus in everything we do.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.When we're born we have so much to learn. We have to learn how to speak, walk and write among many other things. But no one has to teach us to do the wrong thing. No one has to show us how to be selfish, ruin relationships or be proud - among many other things! We know how to do this and sin from the very early stages of life.Because of this it means that every one of us needs the forgiveness that God offers. The amazing thing is that God provides a way for all of our sins - past, present and future - to be cast away from us. All we have to do is confess our sin, turn from it and accept the saving grace offered through the death of Jesus on the cross. This is simply how extravagant God's love for each of us is.When we forgive others our hearts don't become hardened and bitter, we're given peace of mind and most importantly we're obeying God. Forgiveness means we're letting go, moving forward and not allowing it to rule our lives. Often it is a journey and it isn't always as easy as it sounds but it is key to our growing relationship with God. Is there anyone we need to forgive today? If so, ask God to help you do this, just as He does for us when we sincerely ask Him.With love & blessings, Sandra