TITLE: Gospel in Life 7 : Justice
PREACHER: Philip Quinn
DATE: 26 JUNE 2011 – Sunday PM
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TITLE: Born to be Wild
PREACHER: Marcus Herbert
DATE: 26 JUNE 2011 – Sunday AM
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It’s been pretty cold lately – particularly early in the morning – and it’s got me thinking. Church musicians, why do you do what you do? Why practice an ever-changing bunch of songs to play and sing with people in your Life Group, your Youth Group, your church meeting or wherever you do it? Why do you rehearse on a Saturday when friends and family are relaxing? Why do you get up at 6:00am on a Sunday morning in the middle of winter and try to warm up your fingers and voices to a point where they work to some semblance of fluidity before standing in front of a crowd of people to sing and play music. It’s fun? Yeah, I guess it is, but if it’s for some sort of gratification, whether the recognition of people or your own entertainment, it’ll be short-lived – especially when your delicate musician hands are so cold.
We have to be worshippers of God first before we are musicians. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. Now, I’m not entirely convinced that that’s our purpose in it’s entirety during this life but I do believe that it is, at the very least, a very big part of it. God has created us for relationship with Him and our most natural way of relating to Him is in worship.
Ok.. So, if we are to be worshippers and if we try as far as possible to take our lead from the bible then I’d like to look at a biblical character that models a worshipper and attempt to learn a few things from this person. No prizes for guessing who I’m about to look at. Ok, so maybe a small prize: a chocolate to the first person who names the character. I’ll even double the stakes if the answer comes with a good explanation. Ok, go!
For those who are able to take a breather over the July holidays, enjoy. For those who can’t, I trust you will still find time to recoup physically, emotionally and spiritually. Probably the greatest gift you can give to your family and your people is a happy and fresh you!
It’s been said that if your output exceeds your input, then your upkeep becomes your downfall. Your “input” therefore is most important. That’s why Jude encourages us to “build ourselves up in our most holy faith”. No one can do that for you; you have to know how to dig your own spiritual wells, to resource yourself spiritually! He goes on to say, “and pray in the Holy Spirit”. Martin Luther knew the value and power of praying in the Holy Spirit: “Prayer is the single most important thing in my life. Should I neglect to pray for a single day, I would lose a great deal of the fervour of my faith”. Jude then urges us to “keep ourselves in God’s love…” (Jude 20-21). It’s our responsibility to do that! God’s love is always reaching out and available to us; we’ve got to embrace it, receive it and hold onto it.
One of the greatest lessons we can learn from David is that he knew how to encourage and strengthen himself in the Lord (1 Sam 30:6). It’s this lesson that will put us in good stead for longevity in ministry. My plea is stay connected to the Vine (John 15:4) and keep tapping into the Spring of Living Water (Jer 17:13).
We so appreciate who you are and all you do for the King and His Kingdom.
Fondest regards,
Mark
Wow – what a God given opportunity to run our parenting course at Edenvale High School. It came about after a series of conversations, and the school, along with us, were not too sure on how a slightly modified version would be received by the parents.
Well the first night was somewhat lively, but it quickly got to the point where we all recognised that we need a little help in the responsibility and privilege of raising children, especially the teenage kind!
The 4 evenings gave us time to explore different aspects of parenting, and with biblical truths as a base, we managed to teach Godly principles that work in the family.
The end result was a group of parents that really appreciated the course, and almost all asked that we run something for their children as well. The vice principle and I are busy investigating how we can do this for all the learners via normal schools hours.
To me the best feedback was from one of the dads when he said “When I came to the first night I thought we were just going to be hammered again about what we must and must not do, but now I see that what is taught here is really to help us, and I really needed and enjoyed it”.
That is the gospel hey, when we do things Gods way it “helps” us – hugely – eternally!!!
Praise the Lord for his timing and anointing. We had fantastic morning where Dieter & Sue Uken were ordained onto eldership with Derek & Heidi at New Covenant Church Secunda (19th June).
Mark preached a really great message on the call of eldership and also what it means for every believer. One of the points made was that timing of the call of God is always right, and it was very evident that the timing for Dieter & Sue was absolutely perfect.
Dieter said afterwards that to him it was taste of heaven, where we could feel the wonderful presence of Jesus, and the united fellowship with all who were there was truly amazing.
Ray Olivier managed to join us and it was great to hear the words and prayers spoken over them and the church.
The church itself looks and feels very different from what it is was at the beginning last year, and we just praise God for His showering of blessings over that church and the people of Secunda. His favour is tangibly evident in all that is going on there, and it is growing well in life and numbers.
So, after a huge spread that was put on for all present, we made our way home knowing that NCCS just experienced another heavenly moment.
TITLE: Gospel in Life 6 : Work
PREACHER: Glenn van Rooyen
DATE: 19 JUNE 2011 – Sunday PM
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On the weekend of 3rd to 5th June 2011 Mark and I had the privilege of ministering at Foresight Church in Krugersdorp. This church is lead by Chris and Susanne Zeelie. We were asked to do a marriage enrichment weekend. We ministered on Friday night together around “His needs and Her needs”. We spoke around the 5 most important needs of a husband and wife.
Saturday morning saw us sharing the first session together, where Mark spoke about Healthy Communication in Marriage” and Colette spoke on “Learning the Art of Listening in marriage”. Communication actually hasn’t been successful unless the other person has heard and understood what the other person is communicating.
The second session of the morning Mark took the men aside and spoke around “Loving your wives with consideration and respect” whilst Colette spoke about “Living out Loyalty, commitment and faithfulness to our husbands”.
Sunday saw Mark speaking around the Biblical model of Marriage and 2 unbiblical models to avoid. All in all it was a great weekend of teaching and interaction. Loads of question and answer times filled with lots of fun and laughter. I don’t know that Foresight Church will ever be the same.
Our team of 6 men and 1 woman drove for 4 weeks through 7 countries, crossing 10 borders. That’s over 8 000 km driving at an average speed of 40km/h through incredible humidity & unbearable heat. On top of all that we also had a tyre blow out and faced many other dangers all for one purpose; not only to preach the gospel with words but also to be the hands and feet of the Gospel, aiding our brothers and sisters in Christ in a practical way.
The Sudanese church we visited gathers under a tree in a village in Paduk every Sunday for a meeting. During the week the children of the village meet under the same tree for school. Together with seven others who flew into Sudan, we went to build classrooms for the school and a hall for the church. This hall will also be used as a training centre for leaders to meet and be equipped, to form a base from where the church can go and preach the gospel in that village, to other villages, to the nation of South Sudan and the surrounding nations. By the time we had to leave on our long journey back home we had helped build four classrooms and the hall.
I want to thank the Cornerstone family for all the prayer that went into this trip. We needed every bit of it. Please don’t stop praying for the church in South Sudan. In July South Sudan will become an independent country. This is a real opportunity for the church to rise up and display practical nation building. Let’s keep this nation in prayer!