Dear Northside
Hasn’t the rain been wonderful this month. Please remember to thank God for His loving kindness to us. According to my stats from home we have had the most rain in February for 5 years. We still need more and so we are also praying that the rains continue.
Our nation needs more than physical rain. We need an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on our dry and barren country. I found Judges 17 a really challenging chapter. Challenging to understand and then to apply. But once I found the main idea, it became extremely relevant in our lives, country and world. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was no ultimate authority. We see this every day here, don’t we? In Galatians 5:19ff we see the acts of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. That is a description of our country.
So, what is the cure for all this? Galatians 5:16. So I say, walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And if we walk in the Spirit the result will be the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You cannot get a picture more opposite to the one in verses 19ff. Which country would you like to live in?
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We saw a picture of this on Sunday with the 4 people being baptised. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? And yet we know it is actually hard. So, what are you doing, what are you going to do, to ensure that you are walking in the Spirit this year?
We have a visiting preacher with us this Sunday. He has stated working with ZimWorx. I was amazed when Lionel told me what he was hoping to preach on as it fits in so well with where we are as a church. God doing His thing again – building His church here at Northside.
On Wednesday Lent starts. We will be talking about this more in the weeks ahead. Watch out for the short videos in the services during the period of Lent. Please use this time to prepare yourself and your heart for Easter. Easter is such a roller coaster. One week up and the next in despair, but in the end, Sunday comes, and we can declare, He is not here, He is alive! Please get excited with us about the message of Easter. Who can you invite to join you for our Easter series?
We are excited about the new membership class and the class on “Finding the heart of Worship”. If you are interested in either of these please register with the church office.
God bless, Pastor Gary