The Pastor’s Pen

I wish to encourage you to rejoice in your weakness. The world would have you believe that any and all weakness that deprive you of fleshly happiness is bad, wrong, and unloving if caused by someone else. This is the grossest of errors at every level. Unfortunately, we Christians can easily buy into this wrong…

I wish to encourage your appreciation of being “in Christ”. Appreciation, is one of those words we often associate with how we respond when getting what we want. Well, the opposite is true for the Believer! We appreciate God because we didn’t get what we wanted, or deserved. Instead, we got Christ! Furthermore, getting Christ…

I wish to encourage you to persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ. We live in a world pervaded by floating morals. We change whatever, whenever, and as often as deemed necessary to maximise pleasure. If this ever-floating attitude is allowed to exist in our lives, or in the church, the very essence of permanency…

I wish to encourage you in God’s peace. Often misunderstood, the peace of God is central to the Christian faith, with approximately 340 mentions in Scripture (ESV), peace is obviously important. Peace is the one thing that most humans long for. Some think we can purchase it, we take holidays and buy property to accommodate…

I wish to encourage you in enjoying Jesus Christ this evening. It’s ironic how we Christians possess the greatest treasure in the universe, yet we can so quickly diminish our rejoicing because we have lost our joy of being “in Christ”. For the believer, the Cross is the beginning and focal point of any and…

I wish to encourage you in your expressions of thankfulness to God today. It’s so easy for our thanks to revolve around ourselves, instead, be thankful for those things which are God centred and Christ focused, things which would be appealing and satisfying only to God. We get a glimpse of heaven in Revelation 4:8-9,…

I wish to encourage you in living out the selflessness of Jesus Christ. Most of us are familiar with the apostle Paul’s precise exhortation in Philippians 2:3. As those who have the Spirit of the resurrected Christ living within us, we should do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more…

I wish to encourage you to Pursue love… (1Co 14:1). As the apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthians, …faith, hope, and love abide… but the greatest of these is love (1Co 13:13). I was reminded today by my good friends Kevin and Cheryl Bartlett of the simplicity of stepping momentarily into someone else’s life and dispensing…

I wish to encourage you with the realisation of our security in Jesus Christ. As surely as Christ died for your sin and rose victorious from the grave, your belief in the glorified Christ triggers the Fathers many facets of salvation. For us, we realise experientially the permanency of Christ’s security as we persevere in…

I wish to encourage you in the matter of sanctification. A big word which is uncommon in today’s vocabulary. It’s a wonderful word, rich in meaning and application. For today, I wish to leave you with the sweetness of the relational side of sanctification. The word “sanctify” in the Greek New Testament simply means to…