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The new birth

“Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭2‬:‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What Peter said is basically what is needed to be a Christian. I am not a Christian because I was raised by parents who took me to church; by living in a Christian country, but by actually having an encounter with the Lord. I still remember the night He came and showed me my sins, I was grievously aware of them and repented and asked for forgiveness. He then told me, “go to Anne!” Annie was a Christian friend who knew Jesus like I did not, she had a personal relationship with Him. I went and she opened my eyes to the scriptures. we prayed together and i knew had become a new being. i resisted baptism as I had been baptised as an infant, however, watching others be baptised and the change it brought, I joyfully joined in. A few weeks later I was baptis...
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The light

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  John‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Jesus was teaching in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the things celebrated at this feast was the light that God led the people in the wilderness by. The chandeliers in the women’s court would be lit all night and the people would dance. When Jesus said He was the light of the world, He identifies himself with the light that led the people of Israel. Whilst the light of the chandileers was temporary He was offering permanence. He used the words, ‘  I am’. God was know as the ‘great I am’. Jesus was giving His opponents fuel for their fire. For us who come to Him, He is our light when we are surrounded by darkness. Yesterday, I troubled my mind about a planned trip to Denmark for a friends wedding. I thrashed about doing my sums wanting to be wise. When the pe...
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Workers

“He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭37‬-‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬ There are many Christians but few of them are workers. I can also fail to see the harvest right in front of me at times. I can be distracted by fellowship with other saints. This happens on Sundays when I go to church, lunch afterwards and then coffee and sweets at my place, along with a game or two (this happens now and then, especially when one friend who lives further away from the city comes to church). Several of my friends and I like to play a card game called 5 Crowns, or another called Skippbo. We chat about the week and the future wedding in Denmark we will attend. It is usually my only chance to see these friends, unless they also attend our weekly Bible study and then they are busy chatting to others. As I reflect on the people in the harvest I interacted with yesterday I w...
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The Good News

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.”  Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Back in 1974, I turned 21. For my birthday my husband to be gave me a Bible with this verse underlined. In 1974 we were all on fire and wanting to share the gospel of Christ. It is still a potent verse today.  Why did Paul write this verse? In verse 14 he wrote: ‘I am obligated both to Greeks and babarians. Who were Babarians? Not the Romans, but rather the people of Spain and Asia Minor. Again why did he write verse 16? Why would he be ashamed of the gospel? A crucified Jew being God seemed strange to Roman ears. The Romans despised the Jews. Those crucified were the lowest of low in society.  Onky the Holy Spirit could make any testimony powerful, and this He did. The book of Romans is a powerful letter about the truth of the gospel. Peopel are saved by faith. Faith is not the cause of salvation,...
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A new heart

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Whilst this prophetic word was spoken to Israel, and speaks of a time in the mellennium, when Jesus will return to earth, it also applies to an encounter with Him now. A new heart is exactly what He gave me, a heart to love and obey Him. In the born again experience this transformation takes place just as soon as I confessed my sin, asked forgiveness for my sin and asked Jesus to come and live in my heart. His Holy Spirit came in and now resides there. This transformation was an act of grace on His part and faith on mine. Jesus loves us so much He had already paid the price for our freedom from sin and the gift of eternal life. I can trust in this! I can , by faith, live out of that new heart. It loves Jesus and it loves others. Amen!
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Spirit lead

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬ The books of Galatians was written to a group of people who had been troubled by the teaching of Jews who wanted them to be circumcised as a beginning point of salvation. Galatian’s tells them that Christ is the beginning of freedom and how to walk in the freedom won for them. He tells them ‘for through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness’. He goes on to say, ‘for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision not uncircumcision accomplishes anything, what matters is faith working through love’. Paul cites the evidence of the Spirit walk as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He has first given them the list of evidence of works of the flesh: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, disse...
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Everyone who believes

“He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭10‬:‭43‬ ‭NLT‬‬ These words were spoken by Peter to a man named Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman who was a follower of God but did not, at that time, know about Jesus. God had sent Peter to share the good news about Jesus. As Peter was speaking the Holy Spirit was poured out on Cornelius and his household who had come to listen. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Prior to this happening God had taught Peter that the good news was for all mankind, not just the Jews. He did this by giving Peter a vision in which he saw many different types of animals,  unclean to Jews (that is those which the Jews were unable to eat). The Lord had commanded Peter to rise and eat, but Peter refused saying, “no Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean!” This happened three times. As he was pondering why God showed him this the Holy Sp...
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