Bible references:  Romans 11:1-10;  Psalm 69; Romans 4:3, Elijah 19:18 Did God reject his people?  No! We are saved by grace, not by works.  God has kept a remnant of faithful people.  The Psalm refers to the suffering of His servant,  the passion, and the gentiles.  Its God who gets us saved,  not us.  God makes us good enough.  When we say no, we're telling him he's not good enough.   Pray to God, he can give you the strength,  comfort,  and perseverance to do his will.  Sometimes people will say things about you that will be bad, but count them as suffering alongside Christ.  The psalm tells us some of Christ's suffering.   He went through all on the cross for us.  If people persecute you because of Christ. pray for them,  they are in strife.   The jews sin was that they could not see the light and preferred darkness.   If this is what we desire, we will be given over to their own lust, passion.  God will not shut anyone out from righteousness.  Acts 20:24 - our purpose.

Bible Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7-8; Acts 20:24 We must first recognize and understand that God has given us a ministry  - reconciliation. If you want to do something with your life - meet God, your Father in heaven. We are not volunteers,  we are conscripts.   Volunteers choose.  Our enemy works 24/7.  We are conscripts in the army of God.   We are called to stand firm.  Paul did.  He went with and without.   He was flogged,  shipwrecked,  stoned.  He said he was blessed.   It's not all about getting 'blessed' with stuff. Jesus was so 'blessed ' he was crucified...for us. To finish the course we need to feed upon and claim the whole gospel of God.   Paul didn't shirk anything that was hard.  Recognize the battlefield. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 What is the sense of fighting the good fight for nothing?  We're there to win the crown of righteousness. Ephesians 6:11-18 Our fight is not against circumstances.  It's against the spiritual realm.  The biggest probl

Bible References:  Psalm 63:1; Psalm 42:1-2; John chapter 4; Jeremiah14:1-3; 1 Samuel 23 and 24 Water.  An essential part of life.  For people, for animals and for plants.  Water is even essential for fish and marine life. Water is often spoken about in the Bible.  Sometimes water is referred to as life giving, refreshing.  Sometimes it’s referred to as being in cisterns.  What is a cistern?  It’s a  storage facility to hold water.  Places that have cisterns hold the water for the dry times, or times of siege. Cisterns are not life giving.  They often hold stale, still, stagnant water. “…In the Middle East, water is scarce and precious, and very much needed for survival. Only a few months of the year does rain fall in Israel, and the rest of the time the ancient peoples survived on stagnant water that was stored in cisterns in the ground. When rain does fall after many months of clear blue skies, it seems to be a miraculous gift from God. The difference with or without rain in I

What do you believe?   What do you value? Recap:   Unity, liberty and charity (love) are important as we establish the essentials of what we believe. Unity – as a body of believers in Christ Jesus – Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us, “There is one body [of believers] and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when called [to salvation]— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all who is [sovereign] over all and [working] through all and [living] in all.” (AMP) Liberty -   Romans 14:1,12, 22 says “…As for the [a]one whose faith is weak, accept him [into your fellowship], but not for [the purpose of] quarreling over his opinions.” (v12) “…So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God…” (v22) “…The faith which you have [that gives you freedom of choice], have as your own conviction before God [just keep it between yourself and God, seeking His will]. Happy is he who has no reason to condemn himself for what he approves.” Charity (love) 1

Living a Life of Victory - 3 Types of People (1) Romans 1:19-31 New International Version (NIV) 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Cre

Today’s Secular Priests From:   http://sheridanvoysey.com/who-are-todays-secular-priests/ "... Whether on TV or radio, the talk show host has emerged as a modern-day priest. They are confessors to whom guests share their sins of adultery, drug abuse, compulsive eating and ‘mommy rage’. They are counsellors dolling out advice on phobias, depression, child-rearing and ‘love matches’. They are preachers delivering homilies on taxes, welfare cuts, injustice and ‘moral decline’. One sociologist has described such TV hosts as ‘revivalists’ who put sinners on stage, call them to repent, and offer conversion through the ‘religion’ of therapy. Christina’s father might well agree. Some hosts recognise and cultivate this semi-religious status. ‘I’m very clear about what my role and purpose is,’ says the Queen of talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey. ‘I am the messenger to deliver the message of redemption, of hope, of forgiveness, of gratitude, of evolving people to the best of themsel

Bible References:  Phil 4:4; Prov. 2:3-5; Rev.1:3; Prov. 4:23, Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 4:4; Ezekiel 48:35; John 10:11; Genesis 22:8; 2 Cor. 1:8-10; Ex. 15:26; James 5:11-17; Phil. 3:9; Phil. 2:12-13; Lev. 20:8; Judges 6:24; Ex. 17:15 Every Church will be known by what they are committed to.  Every believer will be known by what they are committed to.  If you don't practice the Christian life as a Christian, you will sit, soak and sour.  That is, if you don't read the Word of God, pray, fellowship (spend time with God's people), worship and then put into action what you have learnt, you will simply sit, soak up negative influences and then go sour (bitterness). Worship is celebrating God's presence in your life.  Praising God is where we start.  Don't go around trying to show how good you are, how much you have it together, or think you do.  Our victory is only in Christ Jesus, not in ourselves.  The One who lives in you is greater than the one who lives in the wor

If you lost everything, would it destroy your life? We work so hard to get things, to make ministries work, to be accepted, to be saved ?!  But as God's people, as Christians it is Jesus who carries us.  1 Peter 4:2-4 Love is a gift given by God - it's our choice to respond to His love Christians are to be affectionate in  a real way - caring, honest, integrity - and express this in the local church.  We all fall short, we all need to be given a second chance.  We all need help.  Ernest affection will help carry us - love covers a multitude of sins.  We are to love each other regardless and like the early church experienced - people will see it and respond to it. Love: we're not talking about romantic love.  We're talking about the choice to care, show charity (love) as God shows it.  It's not how we feel, we're to respond to others like JC did.  All Chrisitans are to express God's love. Offer hospitality without grumbling Serve each other Have p

References: 2 Corinthians 6:2-10 John 3:17 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Luke 19 Acts 13, 14, 17 2 Corinthians 5 The Story of the Woman at the Well John 4:7-26 Good News Translation (GNT)  "A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink of water. (His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)  The woman answered,  You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink? (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)   Jesus answered, If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.  Sir, the woman said, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water?  It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?  Jesus answered, Those who drink this water will get thirsty again,but

Reading:  Zechariah 4:3-7; 2 Peter 3:8;1 King 11:1-13 We have a real enemy - Satan.  He tries to trick us into thinking we can live our Christian walk and also live in the world, and keep them separate.  But we can't.  No where are we told this in God's Word.  It's a lie. Everypart of our lives must express our devotion and love of God and following Him in every part of our lives.  Another lie is that our education, skills, talents and thinking will help us overcome any task - using our own strength.  This isn't true.  You can't live out your calling without God's help.  Zechariah 4:6 Life lesson:  Solomon - a little compromise can lead to complete ruin. 1 kings 11:1-13 "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, It's all about You, Lord. I'm sorry for the thing I've made it when it's all about You, all about You Jesus." (M Reedman )

Job says, Ï know that my Redeemer lives"..  Do you know this?  "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,          And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. "  Job 19:25 In tough times do we remember that our redeemer lives, and that we will yet see God?   We can hold onto the promises of God’s Word during the difficult times in our lives. It’s easy to become defensive or strike out with harsh words when we are under stress.   I know because I have done this. I have also had to live with the consequences of such actions – broken friendships, distrust of others because of their actions, being defensive about what I am doing or decisions I’ve made.   But hurting others with words doesn’t build people positively, it hurts and builds wall between people.   Job wanted God to answer him.   Plain and simple Job wanted God Himself to explain why he had to go through such dark times.    Job sought God during this time of great suffering and misery.   His friends

Our Worship Leader on Sunday shared with us about Hope when it hurts most. Sharing from Louie Giglio's talk on Hope when it Hurts most. The Anchor of Hope... The good news is that we know where peace is found - in Jesus Christ - because trouble is coming.  John 16:33    Where do you turn when life hurts most?  The cross of Jesus Christ.  At the cross we see that:  God loves us (1 John 4), God allows freedom but he maintains control (Acts 2), God can use the worst for eternal good, God paints a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. The cross is proof that He always has a purpose through every circumstance. The cross anchors us to that hope - Jesus Christ - when trouble comes. (posted by Administrator on behalf of TCC)