2-44pm
Today’s the day we went to the new gathering in Noordhoek. Informal is the best way to describe this easy going, children welcome, coffee drinking little meeting!
Tea and coffee was first and it was great coffee. Plus, you could take it to your chair and enjoy it during the meeting which was quite fun!
Being small and informal, children welcome and they stayed in to enjoy the service…
After the welcome, we sang a few songs and then Pastor John Thomas spoke. One of the challenges of doing church in Noordhoek is finding a suitable venue. The local hotel has provided a spot for the first couple of meetings but the church is on the hunt for another. I can imagine that this kind of country church would suit a small-holding with a barn or cellar…informal where chickens peck while people sing. There was a bit of conversation about different options, which added to the informality and relaxed atmosphere. All good!
At the next meeting in two weeks time, Pastor Neil Smith will be the leader so he was introduced…
Then Pastor John spoke from the book of Hosea, deep in the Old Testament. He told the story of Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife and how God used Hosea’s problems to draw a parallel of God’s love for us. Some broken marriages have so much ‘stuff’ that reconciliation seems impossible. In the book of Hosea, we can see no one has gone too far not to be reconciled to God – He is the God of second chances. 5 great lessons came out of Hosea 2:
1. God treats you with kindness, not harshness. He says, “Come, I love you.” (vs14)2. God take the place or point of when you messed up and turns it out for good. (vs 15) God will take your Valley of Trouble and make it into a Door of Hope. For you it may be something you are ashamed of, but God uses it to bring you hope.
3. God will rebuild your relationship with Him. God will do the rebuilding. (vs 16)
4. God will give you a harvest in the place of your mess-up. (Vs 21)
5. God will change your reputation. God will call you “mine” or “loved”. (Vs 23)
That was a great message! Afterwards, we had coffee and chatted. And I took this photo of cute cute Kezia…
She told me she listens to me on the radio! 🙂
If we lived in Noordhoek, we’d definitely go to this gathering! If you know of anyone who has a barn or cellar in Noordhoek, let the Sun Valley church office know – tracey@kingofkings.org.za or phone 021-7854200.
The rest of the day has been lazy, although I did cook lunch (from scratch for a change!) and then (against my better judgement) slept for 2 hours. It’s such an unwise thing for me to do on a Sunday! It means I end up getting to bed much later than usual and then I wake at a really early hour and by 10am tomorrow morning, I’ll be ready to nod off!
It’s been a relaxing weekend. All work for tomorrow is done! I am looking forward to the week and we’re looking forward to two nights away next weekend.
Hosea 2:15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope.
God bless you loads!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂