Dear Ones,
We hope you are all well, looking forward to entering the festive season, that reminds us all to rejoice in the Lord and remember His great goodness towards us! “God is not unrighteous forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister”, and we want to THANK YOU for the wonderful teamwork throughout the year.
TEACHING:
Together we rejoice at the fruit it has born in new people coming to the Lord, believers, being established in the faith, lives being changed and new hope and courage being born in the hearts of many. In the photos below are pictured some of our Bible study groups. Because we have grown we are now meeting at Emily’s Play School 3 times a week in order to ample space to accommodate everyone that would like to participate. In the first photo Andrew Wommack is teaching on Ä Better Way to Pray (via DVD), then, Philip is teaching on how to avoid some common pitfalls, and in the last picture Rita is teaching a course called “Open Bible” which provides guidelines and pointers on how the study the Bible and how to avoid taking Scripture out of context, etc. -- This month one of our students was also baptized, with two more to go!
HOME IMPROVEMENTS:
House improvements are continuing. In the picture above is K.’s floor which is almost done. The old wooden floor was broken up and tiles are now being laid. K’s living conditions are being completely transformed from what they were. Next she is receiving a new mattress and a sleeper couch for her living room. There are also plans of painting the dark walls white, hanging curtains, etc.— In the photo below is the new bathroom of the brick house we recently put up. This month the plumbing, which was a big job, was more or less completed (In the new year we hope to provide a geyser, which then will need to be installed) meanwhile the family has been tiling the bathroom stall. — As seen the wall still needs to be repaired, etc but many big improvements have been made for this family that were all living in a small shack. Thank you to all of you who directly or indirectly are helping us helping others!
SUPPLIES:
We were overjoyed when the Lord miraculously provided approximately 400 kg of chocolate ice-cream. It came at a perfect time for Christmas and was distributed to 4 soup kitchens (3 of them for children) and 8 kindergartens as well as to private families! A wonderful blessing to many!
100 liters of milk was distributed to the kindergartens and the main kitchen. Joyce’s soup kitchen also got 25 liters of cooking oil just in time for the Christmas celebrations. A bakkie full of clothes, which we received from our precious Gracelife family, was shared out as well, plus the twice weekly food pick-up from Woolies and @ 60 kg of bread and crackers which was received from Dis-Chem.
HOME STRETCH ON CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS:
We want to thank all of you who helped us with gift cards/and or the funds towards it. We are presently busy writing Christmas greetings, which will include a wonderful message about our “Man of Love” and all He has done for us. We are happy to have been able to start early as we along the way are being reminded of yet another needy soul...But we rest assured that no one will be overlooked and that the joy of the Lord will be spread abroad in all of our hearts.
We still hope to do something special for the children in the kindergartens and will let you know more about that next month.
In closing we want to wish you all a joyous Christmas season and to encourage you to take time to spend time with the One that it is all about! Enjoy!
Christmas is a time of celebrating the miraculous birth of Jesus and all that this means to us. It’s easy to get caught up in the Christmas hype and the consumerism, but I want to encourage you to join me over the next few days as we reflect on the birth of Jesus and prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus this Christmas.
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
This prophecy from Isaiah foretold the virgin birth of Jesus 700 years before it happened. This verse is quoted in Matthew chapter 1 in the account of Jesus’ birth:
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”Matthew 1:22-23 NKJV
This is supernatural: a virgin will conceive! This is not normal; virgins don’t usually get pregnant but it was an essential part of Jesus coming to save us.
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.”Romans 5:12 TLB
Through Adam, sin entered into the world and became part of every person’s inheritance. From Adam onwards, every person born would be born with a sinful nature, except for Jesus.
“Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you; so the baby born to you will be utterly holy—the Son of God.”Luke 1:34-35 TLB
God’s Holy Spirit placed Jesus inside Mary’s womb, and that meant that Jesus was born perfectly righteous and holy; He didn’t have Adam’s genes. It was essential that Jesus was born without a sinful nature so that He could save sinful man.
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”Matthew 1:21-23 NKJV