It's the week-end!

O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

Be strong in the Lord!

Fixing our eyes on Jesus!

At the interval, in the church of Vaussais

The audience, during the break Vaussais

Why do we focus on Jesus-Christ solely?(a) Why do we keep our eyes on Jesus-Christ?
Maybe because our trust is in Him who walked on earth and was perfect! So, Jesus-Christ obeyed his Father and went to the cross, giving his life to save ours! He practised what he said!

When I talk to people about being a Christian or christianity, some will mention wars started because of religious leaders, i.e. crusades ...
I have been going to the choir Sinfonia since March and it's great fun. Some members of the House church attend it too. Tonight, after our concert, somebody, let's say R mentioned that so many wars started because of religion and religious leaders, i.e. crusades, the world wars..I just replied that Jesus asked us to love our enemies and I realised that there was a surprised look in R's eyes. 
I quoted Luke chapter 6 verse 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
My friend agreed and mentioned that he couldn't think of many people who turned the other cheek!

Wise and foolish builders

Build Your House on the Rock, Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

I found this video very funny and different. Ideal for Sunday school.

Both wise and foolish hear the words of Jesus but the difference is if they put in practice what they hear (cf The fruit v 16, by their fruit you will recognise them).

So we may profess something and do another! Are we having this special relationship with Jesus? Is it a genuine relationship, is our life reflecting that of a true disciple of Jesus?

Messy church in Weston

 Messy church is about spreading the good news about Jesus, our saviour, in an  informal environment usually on a school day.
This is just what's happening in Weston once a month on the fourth Thursday.
Children are having fun, parents and teens are either having a cupper or helping out. The event is always well attended.
So if you live in the area and haven't been yet why don't you give it a go. Bring along your friends and you do not need to book for the session.  The next one will be on the 22/03/2012 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. For more information, have a look in the Compass magazine.
Do you have a messy church in your parish? Let us know why you started it and how is it going.
The theme of this particular session was about light.

In John, we read that Jesus spoke to his disciples saying, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
God said, “Let there be light; and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The first thing that God created on the earth
was light; and not because He needed light to see, but because the heavens and the earth were still dark
and void. The words God spoke, caused the light to appear from His very countenance and expel the darkness. ‘Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us” (Psalm 4:6).

The psalmist says ‘Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Psalm 119:105). When we walk with the Light of the world, we will never again experience darkness. Have a blessed week-end! Your sister in Christ. N

6 Christmas myths demystified

Myth 1: Christmas is the most important date on the Christian calendar.

For all the cards sent and trees decorated — to say nothing of all the Nativity scenes displayed, this is not true. Easter, the day on which Christians believe Christ rose from the dead, has more significance than does Dec. 25. Christ’s resurrection means not just that He conquered death, nor is it proof of Jesus’s divinity to his followers; it holds out the promise of salvation for all who believe in him.

Myth 2: Jesus was born on December 25.

No one knows the date on which Jesus was born and there is no record of any date being set apart to mark his birth during the first 300 years of the history of the church. It was not until the 4th century that Christians started to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 in an attempt to Christianise the pagan celebration of the birthday of the sun.

Myth 3: Jesus was born in a stable, surrounded by cattle.

The fact that Jesus was laid in a manger — an animal’s feeding trough — has led many to assume that he must have been born in a stable in the midst of cattle. However, the Bible does not mention a stable and it certainly doesn’t refer to the presence of animals. The precise setting in which Jesus was born and spent his earliest hours and days is not described.

Myth 4 : Three Eastern kings followed a star to Jesus’s birthplace.

The visitors from the East are nowhere described as kings in the Bible and, although it is fair to assume that they were men of some standing, their precise social status is unknown. The tradition that there were three Magi or ‘wise men’ is based on the fact that they presented three gifts to Jesus — gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Myth 5 : It was by chance that Jesus was born in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph just happened to be staying there at the time.

The location of Jesus’s birth was far from accidental. Some 700 years before his birth, the prophet Micah declared that the promised Christ would be born in the insignificant town of Bethlehem.

Myth 6 : The biblical account of the birth of Jesus is a lovely story for children at this time of year, but it doesn’t make any difference to me.

The birth of Jesus makes a profound difference to all of us, whether young or old. Without Jesus, we are cut off from God and none of us is good enough to make it to heaven on our own. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the only person who can bring us to God, because he is both God and man. He knows what it is like to be human, and he also has the divine power that is needed to bring us back to God.
If Jesus had never been born as a baby in Bethlehem, there would be no hope for any of us. But as a result of his birth, and through his subsequent death and resurrection, he has opened up for us a way back to God. Jesus himself said: ‘I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness’ (John 12.46).

Source : Norman Wells on the following website and the Washington post