(by pastor Norman)

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21; NKJV). Christ died on a cross so that we could be forgiven. for our sins (Col 1:14) and walk by God’s grace in His righteousness (Rom 5:17). When we acknowledge our need for Him, repent of sin, ask His forgiveness and ask Him into our lives to have control (Rom 10:9,10), He comes and we receive His abundant life (John 10:10) and righteousness. God sees us as righteous (2 Cor 5:21) and justified (Rom 4:25). Righteousness is to have right standing with God, in line with His will for us, acquitted of sin. To be justified is to be made, “just as if we had never sinned!” God does not remember our sins (Heb 8:12). God blesses the righteous (Ps 5:12, Matt 5:6), brings peace, quietness and guards us (Isa 32:17, Prov 13:6). He also delivers us from evil (Ps 34:19, Prov 11:6). Our Lord hears the prayer of the righteous (1 Peter 3:12) and brings life (Prov 12:28). In the book of Proverbs, we read that, “Righteousness exalts a nation” (Prov 14:34). We are God’s righteousness but as with every aspect of our new life as Christians we need to grow in righteousness. We are exhorted to seek (Matt 6:33) and pursue righteousness (2 Tim 2:22), “hunger and thirst for it” (Matt 5:6). We grow in righteousness by allowing the Bible to instruct us (2 Tim 3:16), walking in faith (Phil 3:9) and allowing the Holy Spirit to change us (2 Cor 3:18). Remember that the righteous “are as bold as a lion” (Prov 28:1), bold to tell the world about Jesus! Merry Christmas!

(by pastor Norman)

God completed His creation over 6 days and on the 7th day He rested (Gen 2:2). God set aside the 7th day as a day of rest for His people, when no work was to be done (Gen 2:3, Ex 23:12). As Christians, we keep Sunday as our Sabbath or rest day, a day we focus on God. In the book of Hebrews we read that we can enter into the life of rest He has for us (Heb 4:1). As Christians as we ask Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Saviour (Rom 10:9-10) and give our lives to Him we can walk in the ongoing abundant life He has for us and this includes His rest (John 10:10). We can live in God’s rest in this life just as Jesus did. He and His disciples were in a storm at sea, the disciples panicked but Jesus slept, He was at rest! When He woke, He “rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm” (Matt 8:24; NKJV). Rest was restored to the lives of the disciples. How often we labour and struggle physically and emotionally in our own strength to achieve things in life, this results in a life of stress, anxiety, tension worry and concern. Jesus has a better way, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30; NKJV). Jesus is saying here, quit toiling and struggling on your own and take my yoke or in other words, submit to me and do things my way and experience true rest! How do we find His way? Well, pray, get close to God, in His word and He will show us the way!

(by Pastor Jean)

“Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion towards Him burning hot!” (Rom 12:11; TPT). The NKJV says “fervent in Spirit” for passion, either way the Greek word is zeo which according to the NKJV Spirit filled Life Bible Word Wealth on page 1589 means, “living fervour, fiery hot, full of burning zeal. It signifies a high spiritual temperature, inflamed by the Holy Spirit.” In simple English paraphrase, the sense of the word is to be on fire or passionate for God! The person that is on fire for God has an intense desire for God’s presence, an insatiable hunger for more of God. The Psalmist reflects this in Psalm 84:10, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (ESV). (See also Ps 42:1). We become fervent or passionate for God by spending time with Him in prayer and the word and also by fellowshipping with other like-minded Christians. If ever there was anyone who was passionate for God in the Bible it was King David. He says, for example in Ps 138:1 “I thank you, Lord, and with all the passion of my heart I worship you” (TPT). In the New Testament we have so many examples including Apollos who Paul said was, “spiritually passionate for Jesus” (Acts 18:25; TPT). With regard to Paul, he said of himself, “My passion is to be consumed with Him” (Phil 3:9; TPT). Let’s not forget Mary who anointed Jesus with precious oil that was worth a year’s wages! (Mark 14:3, John 12:3). Not only are we to be on fire for God but also passionate about prayer (James 5:16), for love (1 Peter 4:8) and good works (Titus 2:14). Let’s not be lukewarm but become on-fire Christians and set others on fire while we are at it!

(by pastor Norman)

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; NKJV). The English word, to be proud, is to be pleased with our accomplishments or those of others. For instance, Jean and I give thanks and all the glory to God for having given us successful careers. However, the Greek word for proud in the verse above refers to an arrogant and over-exaggerated estimate of our achievements and merits, ignoring what Jesus said, “For without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5; NKJV). God hates this arrogant pride (Prov 8:13) and the apostle Paul exhorts us, “Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rom 12:3; NKJV). We are warned that pride will result in our being humbled (Luke 14:11) and even facing disgrace (Prov 11:2) and destruction (Prov 16:18). However, there is good news, “He who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). God said that if we would be humble, pray, seek His face and repent, He would forgive and heal our land (2 Chron 7:14). The humble person lowers himself is humble minded and submitted to God realizing he can only succeed through Christ’s strength (Phil 4:13). We are called to, “Put on humility” (Col 3:12) and, “walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8); this brings God’s life, honour, favour, riches and wisdom (Prov 22:4, 11:2, 3:34). Jesus said He came to serve and not be served (Mark 10:45) and, “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2:8) Amen.