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THREE QUICK MESSAGES
PRAYER
If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19-20)
"Where two or three are gathered together in my name," Jesus says, "I am in the midst of them." The power of the church does not lie in the numbers that it can gather together. What a mistaken idea it is, that if we can get enough people together, we shall have enough power to correct the things that are wrong in the world and set them right again. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nor is the power of the church the status that it occupies in a community. The power of the church does not rest in its numbers, its status, its wealth, its money, and its position.
The power of the Church of Jesus Christ is stated right here. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."
Let us rejoice in this! Jesus Christ lives and moves in our midst. We belong to him and his life is expressed through us. It is only through him that prayer makes its glorious impact.
It is only through his presence that prayer has world changing power, meaning and value.
THE TIME OF GOD’S FAVOUR
When Jesus was asked to preach in his home town, Nazareth, he claimed these words form the Book of Isaiah to refer to him: (Luke 4: 19) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour”. It refers to what in the Old Testament was known as the Jubilee year.
A Jubilee year is a year to celebrate Israel’s entry into the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. It is a year to celebrate Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, and above all, to celebrate God’s goodness towards his people, Israel.
In a Jubilee year the land lies uncultivated. Both the land and the people rest and are restored. And it is in this year that debts are cleared: a time when mortgaged land is returned to its owners and Hebrew slaves are freed; it is a time of restitution and fulfilled hope. A Jubilee year had a theme of forgiveness and restoration.
These celebrative events continue to declare the will of God for his people. God’s will is to forgive and restore us; no matter what we have done or who we were before we became a child of God.
Jesus came to proclaim that the time of God’s favour has come for you and me.
It means -
In Christ, God restores what is impossible for us to do.
In Christ, God has cancelled our debt to him.
In Christ, God has forgiven us our sins.
In Christ, God has set us free to live as his children.
In Christ, God has set us free to enter the eternal promised land of his glory.
In Christ, God gives us renewed life through his presence with us.
SAVED THROUGH TRUSTING
The word "saved" is a remarkable word within Christianity. It is a descriptive word that says that although we were lost, now we are found. People, whom the Lord saved, are people that he found and brought back o his family. The Lord, in his mercy, searches for us until he finds us. This is the process by which he helps us understand and accept that we are lost without Christ, and if we surrender to Jesus Christ, he found us, and we are saved.
There are not many roads that lead to salvation. There is only one way to heaven. Tragically, many do not travel on that way.
Paul writes the following about being saved: If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10: 8-9)
To be saved means that you believe and that you confess. You believe that God raised Jesus from the dead – that he is victorious over anything and everything that made us into “lost people” and then you (sincerely) confess that he is your Lord. This is what saved people do.
There is something within us, part of our weak sinful hearts, which prefers to work for, and earn to be saved. We hope that if we could just do enough good things, yes be good enough, we will somehow be worthy enough to inherit God’s promise of eternal life with him.
Can someone who needs to be saved from drowning tell the life guard he or she would rather try to swim to safety? Can someone beneath the rubble after an earthquake afford to say to the person who came to save him or her, that they would rather dig themselves out of that life threatening danger? Will anyone who became lost from Christ’s family and God’s church and who is in the dark, find the way home by themselves, without the light, Jesus our Lord?
I completely owe my salvation to God. He saved me. Jesus Christ had to die for me, and I have to surrender to him in order to have eternal life, I have to give him my life. If I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead and confess out loud that he is my Lord – I know that he saved me.
To quit trying to save yourself and start trusting the living Jesus has done just that and surrendering to his Lordship, is what the Bible calls faith. And faith through which we are saved.
Surrender now to him. Confess it today. Live it everyday!
There is only one way to heaven and it is not the way of human effort. It is the way of responding to God’s divine initiative. It is the way of having a personal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ. It is the way of surrender to Saviour. Surrender to Lord Jesus, the Saviour today, and you are saved.
DRIE VINNIGE GEDAGTES
GEBED
As twee van julle op aarde oor enige saak saamstem en daaroor bid, sal my Vader wat in die hemel is, hulle dit laat kry, want waar twee of drie in my Naam saam is, daar is Ek by hulle." (Mat 18:19-20)
"Waar twee of drie in my Naam saam is," sê Jesus, "daar is ek by hulle." Die kag van die kerk lê nie in groot getalle nie. Wat ‘n verkeerde gedagte is dit nie dat as mens baie mense bymekaar kry, hulle die mag sal hê om wat verkeerd in die wêreld is reg te stel nie. Niks kan verder van die waarheid wees nie. Die mag van die kerk lê ook nie in die status wat dit in die gemeenskap beklee nie. Die krag van God se koninkryk lê nooit in getalle, status, geld of wêreldse invloed nie.
Die bron van die krag en die mag van die kerk van Christus word hier duidelik uitgespel: "Waar twee of drie in my Naam saam is, daar is Ek by hulle.”
Kom ons wees baie bly hieroor. Jesus Christus is, en werk, by ons. Ons behoort aan Hom en Hy maak sy lewe deur ons sigbaar in die wêreld. Dit is slegs deur Hom dat gebed die wonderlike impak maak wat ons weet dit kan.
Dit is slegs deur Christus se teenwoordigheid dat gebed die krag het om die wêreld te verander en deur Hom dat gebed groot betekenis en waarde het.
DIE TYD VAN GOD SE GENADE
Toe Jesus in Nasaret gepreek het, het Hy die volgende woorde uit Jesaja op Homself toegepas: "Die Gees van die Here is op My omdat Hy My gesalf het om die evangelie aan armes te verkondig. Hy het My gestuur om vrylating vir gevangenes uit te roep en herstel van gesig vir blindes, om onderdruktes in vryheid uit te stuur, om die genadejaar van die Here aan te kondig."
“Genadejaar” verwys na wat die Ou Testament ‘n Jubeljaar noem, waarin die intog in die beloofde land herdenk is, bevryding uit slawerny gevier is en die goedheid van die Here vir sy mense onthou is. Dit was ‘n jaar waarin land wat as gevolg van skuld verloor is teruggegee is, skuld kanselleer is en Hebreeuse slawe vrygestel is.
Die Jubeljaar verklaar God se wil vir sy mense. God wil ons herstel en vergewe, wat ook al gebeur het voordat ons kinders van God geword het.
Jesus het gekom om die aanbreek van hierdie tyd van genade, vir jou en my aan te kondig.
Dit beteken
In Christus, herstel God wat vir ons onmoontlik is om te doen.
In Christus, het God ons skuld aan Hom, kanselleer.
In Christus, het God al ons sonde vergewe.
In Christus, het God ons vrygemaak om as sy kinders te lewe.
In Christus, het God ons vrygemaak om die land van sy ewige heerlikheid te erf.
In Christus, het God aan ons nuwe lewe gegee deur altyd by ons te wees.
GERED DEUR TE VERTROU.
“Redding” is ‘n baie belangrike woord vir gelowiges. Dis die Woord wat sê dat ons weggeraak het uit die veilige gemeenskap met God en dat die Here Jesus Christus ons gevind het. As ons weggeraak het, moet ons gevind word. Die Here, in sy groot ontferming soek na ons, totdat Hy ons vind. Om deur Hom gevind te word, beteken dat Hy ons bewus maak daarvan dat ons sonder Hom verlore is, en ons wys op die alternatief, om ons lewens totaal en al aan Jesus oor te gee. Dit gebeur omdat Hy ons gered het.
Daar is nie baie paaie wat na redding lei nie. Daar is net een pad hemel toe. Dit is tragies dat so min mense op dié pad is!
Paulus leer ons in hierdie woorde:
"Hierdie woord is die boodskap van die geloof, en dit is wat ons verkondig: As jy met jou mond bely dat Jesus die Here is, en met jou hart glo dat God Hom uit die dood opgewek het, sal jy gered word - Rom 10: 8-9.
In dié teks vind ons die beginsels van geloof: Vertrou met jou hart en bely hoorbaar dat Jesus Here en Redder is!
Daar is iets in ons hart wat eenvoudig wil werk daarvoor om onsself te red. Ons wil nie deur God gevind word nie, want ons dink dat ons God self kan vind! Ons dink dat as ons baie “goeie “ dinge doen, en baie kerklike dinge doen, kan ons in eie krag en op eie stoom na God toe terug gaan.
Maar sal iemand wat verdrink vir die lewensredder sê dat hy liewer self na veiligheid wil swem? Of sal die persoon wat onder bourommel lê na ‘n aardbewing vir die redders sê hy wil liewer self sy pad na veiligheid grawe? En kan ons, as ons in die donkerte van ons menslikheid verdwaal geraak het, dink dat ons sonder die Lig, Jesus Christus, die pad terug na God toe sal kan vind?
Jesus Christus het vir my gesterf, en deur sy opstanding vir my oorwin. Daarom wil ek my totaal en al aan Hom moet oorgee. Dit sluit my hele lewe in en ek kan nie meer die voorwaardes stel op grond waarvan ek Hom sal aanbid en dien nie.
Ons word gered deur op die Redder te vertrou en dit te bely. Dit is wat geloof is! God se pad, genade en ontferming is vir jou genoeg. Gee aan Jesus oor. Maak soos die Lewensredder sê. Vertrou op Hom.
Is jy gewillig om Jesus as Heer te bely en so, deur totale oorgawe, te ervaar dat Hy red?
Daar is net een pad hemel toe. Dié pad is nie die weg van menslike pogings of selfs godsdienstigheid nie.
Dit is die pad waar mens reageer op die Goddelike roepstem van die Een wat jou gevind het. Dit is die pad van ‘n verhouding met Jesus as Here en Redder! Het jy al jou lewe volledig aan Christus oorgegee, omdat Hy jou so wil red?