Reasonable Service

We are stateside now and just wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well and are busy getting ready to report into churches and hopefully have opportunities build new relationships. Thanks for your prayers and we will keep you updated as we progress and meet goals that we have set. Please continue to have Madiba Bay Baptist Church in your prayers. Remember these key men; Sipho, Lubabalo, Wisani and Dewalt alongside all the other wonderful believers at Madiba Bay.

Today was an exciting day as we chartered Madiba Bay Baptist Church. Everything went smooth and we had twenty+ people sign on. Numerous others will join the membership of Madiba Bay in the next few weeks but for some reason or another could not today. In order to be a member of Madiba Bay we require that everyone to have trusted Christ as Saviour, have been baptized at Madiba Bay, finished four lessons of basic discipleship, and read and signed a copy of our church covenant and by-laws.

Outside the formalities of the day we had some of the best music ever and two tremendous messages by Pastor Dennis Nkosi. Our mamas sang two beautiful specials (unbelievable!!!), our young adults sang another wonderful special, also we had the Sitole family sing and the Sunday School children. I was blown away with how our people came together today and really lifted up the name of Christ in song today. I would have bought a ticket if necessary.

Pastor Nkosi preached two tremendous messages and did a wonderful job leading us into the chartering service. Our people listened intensively and I think they came away with some real Biblical teaching. Let’s be praying for Pastor Dennis Nkosi and hopefully he will be able to be back with us in the near future.

I think the church really enjoyed hearing from my own Pastor Wayne Cofield. We heard from him via video and it was a real encouragement for them to see where our church comes from.

Awesome day! Good to see all the holiday guys and gals back in town.

Just a quick thought today. Have you ever wondered why God would use a particular person? You look at that person’s life and it seems like God has done amazing things through him/her yet that person’s character is terribly flawed. Maybe something horrible has become known about that person, yet even during the time that person was doing whatever sin he/she was involved in it seems as if God was still working mightily through him or her. How can this be?
I am not claiming to have all the answers to this frustrating question but God has given me some insight that has helped me understand this better. Take a look at I Samuel 12:22, the Bible says, “For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.” God’s people had just done a terrible thing. They had rejected Him (God) as their King in order to have a human king like other surrounding nations. Yet Samuel assures God’s people that God would not forsake them, why? Because of HIS GREAT NAME’S SAKE!!! It’s all about Him! When you see a Christian, maybe a famous pastor, go down for maybe a secret affair he was having over a long period of time, all the while the church he was pastoring was growing and people were being saved, etc, etc, don’t get discouraged and play the why game? Just know that God’s Great Name and His glorious kingdom were what was being furthered not that man. It was His name at stake not the man or woman that fell into sin. If you want more examples read the book of Judges. You will find some wild characters and find yourself asking why in the world would God use such a person. Answer: Because of His Great Name’s Sake!

Looking at Judges 14 into the life of Samson you can get some great ideas for destroying your life. We looked at three of these today. The first was that of taking and doing whatever looks good in “your eyes.” Samson saw the Philistine girl and she pleased him. Secondly, don’t listen to or ask for any counsel before making a big decision. The Bible goes on to explain that Samson TOLD his dad to go get the girl for him. He didn’t want any advice or counsel and when his dad and mom did pipe up Samson wasn’t having any of it. Thirdly, forget about all your responsibilities and or privileges with God. Samson was a Nazarite from birth, seperated unto God, and was to live a peculiar life, but in this chapter alone we see him marrying the wrong kind of girl, touching the unclean, and taking part in a drink fest. Samson lived a costly life. Just at the end of the chapter we see that the pleasures sin boasts are so empty. The girl he was going to live happily ever after with was given to his best man! Beyond that we know that Samson’s life ended by killing himself. These are three good steps to ruining your life.

We had a great service. People really responded to the message. I had several come and say that they really appreciated the message. There were some that haven’t been in a while and I think the message was just what God wanted those to hear.

Wisani preached a great message in the second service! The preachers will get together on Thursday to comment on what he had to say.

Thanks to those young adults that sang the special today. Wow! You guys need to make a c.d. I have never in my life heard “Are You Washed in The Blood” sung the way you guys sung it today. Look forward to more awesome singing in the future.

Mfundisi