By Mark Meeske
9 June 2014 at Bedfordview
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Recently, Lance de Ruig and Keir Tayler visited Montenegro on an apostolic trip. Montenegro is one of the most unchurched cities in the world. He asked the leaders there some questions that will challenge you.
Read Lance’s blog about the trip as well.
by Lance de Ruig
Keir Tayler and I have just come back from the country of Montenegro, after having met (literally) all the Christian leaders in that whole country. There were three. One guy has been there for 25 years and has only 30 people in his church. Another guy has been there for 15 years and only has seven people in his church. He has just suffered a church split where his deacon took a whole lot of people with him, but they have nowhere to meet so they don’t even fellowship together.
That’s not easy. But caring means nothing if God doesn’t change our hearts.
Here’s how this motivates me. Montenegro might be on the other side of the world but I ask myself this question: What is stopping South Africa from being like that in a hundred years time? What is stopping our city from becoming like that?
I’ll tell you what’s stopping that from happening here: you and I telling others about Jesus.
You might never get a chance in your life to go to Montenegro or send money for the people there or do anything along those lines, but what you can do is care for your city, the people around you, and ask God to work on your heart. You can make sure that your children and your grand-children and your grand-children’s children grow up in a country where Jesus is loved and praised.
We can ask God to give us a heart for the lost simply because it’s something we say, or we can really let the reality of that sink in and mean it. Here’s a reality: 99 percent of Montenegro’s population right now is going to spend an eternity without Jesus. There are only three men giving up their lives to try and stop that from happening. So the question is, what are we doing?
Let’s open our heart to God and ask him to give us a heart for the people in our city, for the people in Montenegro and Eastern Europe, and the people of this world. This is about this world – this is about the fact that so many people are without God and hope. What are we doing? There are millions of people in Johannesburg right now without God and hope. We have a mission before us.
By Mark Meeske
13 April 2014 – Sunday AM at Bedfordview
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Our new theme
We’ve had a fantastic season studying Jesus’ discipleship process with his twelve disciples. Our tag line for The Twelve series was “Preparing for the mission with Jesus’ disciples.” As we’ve come to the end of this series we’ve become aware that God wants to change our perceptions of mission and evangelism. In short: Evangelism needs to move from an event to a lifestyle.
We’re still working through God’s challenge to us at the beginning of this year – the challenge of seeking and saving the lost. Christ’s life can be summarised in that phrase. But if we’re honest, seeking and saving the lost is not our culture. Our culture is more about maintenance, self-centredness, and “I”.
The reality is this: if we don’t care for the lost and the fact that people are not being born again, we’ve got sick hearts. That’s why we want to focus on the heart in this next term with a theme called My Heart // My Love.
When our heart is moved with the Gospel our heart has a love for our city and the nations of the world. Inward to outward. We’re trusting God to change hearts. We’re desperate to see revived hearts which care for the lost – hearts which know, deeply, the benefits of the Gospel; hearts that urge us to pray for others and trust for real opportunities where we can share this wonderful liberating Gospel. This sharing is a lifestyle.
How we’ll be doing this
The My Heart // My Love preaching series will take place across the sites and we’ll also be running Equipping Courses on evangelism on Wednesday Nights at Bedfordview. Elders and some of the deacons will be taking teams out to practically engage people with the Gospel. We want to provide some practical learning opportunities like Jesus did with his twelve disciples.
With Easter and voting day (7 May) the term will be structured a little differently in the beginning. We’ll let you know how the dates are going to work out so keep your ear to the ground about that.
As always, thank you for your partnership, friendship and passion. It’s such a wonderful privilege serving our King together with you.
– Marcus and the elders
By Marcus Herbert
30 March 2014 – Sunday AM at Bedfordview
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TITLE: The Twelve: Andrew and Nathanael
PREACHER: Mark Meeske
DATE: 16 MARCH 2014 – Sunday AM at Bedfordview
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TITLE: The Twelve: Andrew and Nathanael
PREACHER: Waldo Kruger
DATE: 16 MARCH 2014 – Sunday AM at Rosebank
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Name: Andrew, meaning manly.
Hometown of origin: Came from the little fishing town on the North coast of Galilee called Bethsaida.
Relatives: Simon Peter’s brother
Profession: Fisherman, in partnership with his brother, Peter and their friends, James and John.
Married: Unknown.
Age: Unknown. Probably younger than Peter.
Best remembered for: Introducing people to Jesus; Peter his brother, the boy with the fish and loaves of bread and some Greeks.
Social status: Unknown. Perhaps slightly higher than others if his low opinion of Nazareth is considered.
Personality: Skeptical.
Position amongst the 12: Seems to have been friends with Philip.
General facts: Andrew is not a startling character: there is no dash and activity like Peter, no strong determination and unpredictable character like James and John, and no dramatic conversion like Matthew. He appears to be quiet, thoughtful, persistent and unassuming – but his work was vital. He brought his brother to Christ and little realised what far-reaching results that would have. In fact, he seems to have learnt from John the Baptist that the most important task in life is not to make a name for oneself, but to bring people to Jesus: his brother, a little boy with some bread and fish, and a party of Greeks. There are no impressive exploits, no crowds following him, no miracles recorded and no great preaching. But through Peter, thousands heard of Christ and millions have read his letters, through the young boy thousands were fed from one of Christ’s most outstanding miracles, and through the Greeks our Lord finally revealed his purpose to reveal himself to the whole world as its only light.
Ministry after the ascension: According to Hippolytus (an early church father from Rome):, Andrew preached to the Scythians (modern day Georgia) and Thracians (modern day Bulgaria, both Georgia and Bulgaria are adjacent to the Black Sea near Turkey).
Death: He was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patrae, a town of Achaia (Greece); and there too he was buried.
Name: Nathanael or Bartholomew. Nathanael means “gift of God”.
Father’s name: Unknown
Hometown of origin: Cana in Galilee
Profession: Unknown. Perhaps a fisherman. He was fishing with Peter, James and John and three others on the Sea of Tiberius when Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection, resulting in the second miraculous catch of fish.
Married: Unknown.
Age: Unknown. Probably young. Most sources say Peter or James were probably the oldest of the 12, being between 20 and 25 years old. It is quite possible that he was still in his upper teens or low twenties.
Best remembered for: Being introduced by Philip to Jesus. Being seen under a fig tree.
Social status: Unknown. Perhaps slightly higher than others if his low opinion of Nazareth is considered.
Personality: Skeptical.
Position amongst the 12: No significance.
General facts: Often mentioned with Philip. Was skeptical about Jesus being the Messiah because he came from Nazareth. He obviously had a low opinion about Nazareth.
Ministry after the ascension: Initially in Jerusalem and then we have no sure Biblical account. Tradition puts him in various places, including having traveled to India, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Parthia, Ethiopia and Lycaonia. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia to Christianity.
Death: Traditional accounts claim that he was martyred in Albanopolis in Armenia. Some say he was beheaded others that he was flayed alive and then crucified upside down.
When we look at Andrew and Nathanael, what we want to highlight is that it’s about learning to become Christ followers. In this series there are two things God is putting his finger on: character and mission. And as we look at these two disciples we see how God developed their character.
Character is not an old fashioned idea that we no longer need. It’s still extremely important to God. In fact, God looks at character more than He looks at gifts and callings. Whenever you read about the qualifications for leaders in the Bible, most of the time it focuses on character more than anything else. Read more
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by Ryan Peter
We had a hugely encouraging time with Hennie Keyter and his motley crew on Sunday night as they shared with us their stories, struggles, and joys of living out the apostolic call of God. I couldn’t help coming away and feeling that, even if I’m not as tough as Hennie, God has a plan and purpose for us all and, perhaps, I just need to “get over myself” and go for it.
Hennie launched his book His Call, My All at the event. Janet Batchelor has been reading the book and here’s what she thinks:
“His Call, My All” has inspired me about God’s call for our lives in a very big way. As you read it you start saying to yourself, “I want to have a heart like that.” Hennie reflects on many things in this book – and you get to know him, find out more of his background, and how he met Rita and led his family – but one thing that comes up again and again is God’s goodness and that if you trust God, He comes through. Through all the stories Hennie relates in this book – and it’s been a gripping read – you see the Lord honour Hennie’s determination for the apostolic call in the most amazing situations. Doors open as a result and the Gospel can spread further. I know that anyone who reads this book will, at the end, want to go fulfil God’s purposes for them.
TITLE: Responding to the Call
PREACHER: Q&A with Hennie Keyter
DATE: 23 FEBRUARY 2014 – Sunday PM
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TITLE: Gifts of the Spirit on Mission
PREACHER: Waldo Kruger
DATE: 16 FEBRUARY 2014 – Sunday PM
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