Diamonds are....beautiful

Lesson: Diamonds are known as the most beautiful and most valuable jewels.  Of course, the real expensive ones are quite large and specially cut.  Did you know they cut diamonds?  That is what they call the way they split them into smaller sizes.  They hit them a certain way to break them. Diamonds are not only beautiful, they are also useful.  They are the hardest gem stone in nature!  (“Gem” is another word for jewel).  Because they are so hard, people use them in industry to cut and grind things.  They put a diamond point on special drills to cut very hard things.  The only thing that can really cut a diamond is another diamond! Where do diamonds come from and how do we get them?  They are formed in the earth, from crystals that contain carbon, just like coal but more special.  Then, when there is an earthquake, they are pushed up closer to the surface of the earth.  The first one was found by a child in South Africa, who was playing on the beach and thought he found a pretty stone!  Now there are diamond mines in that place that dig up 3 tons of earth in order to find one diamond!  People also make artificial diamonds, but they are not as fine as the real ones. Application: Diamonds are beautiful and useful.  That is how God makes His things.  The Bible talks of something that is even more valuable that a jewel.  What could it be?  It is someone who speaks with wisdom and knowledge.  Each one of you is like a diamond whose life can be polished up to shine for the Lord. Conclusion: Is that how you are?  Pretty and useful, speaking wisely, shining for Jesus?  That is just exactly what all of you can be, as you love and serve our great God.  He will make His love shine in you and will help you to speak the truth with love and to tell others about Him – wonderful words of wisdom!  More valuable than diamonds!  Would you like that?  Let’s pray and ask Him to help us speak well.

Proverbs 30:7-9 New King James Version (NKJV) 7 Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): 8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; 9 Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.

NGC Movie Nite - 7pm, 9th March 2013

Come and join us to view this touching movie together on Sat, 9th March at NGC from 7pm till 9.30pm. Living the Dandelion Life When we live the dandelion life, we're living a life invested in others - when our efforts are blown to the corners of the world, our neighborhoods and our homes to bring hope and healing. Our hope is that through this film, more and more discussions about orphan care, adoption, foster care and strengthening the family will surface in churches around the world. And, that ultimately, children will find permanent, loving homes, that suffering will be alleviated and the world will know that God is good and that we are His people. James 1:27

Dandelion

All About the Dandelion Flower To most people, a dandelion is simply a bother, but for others it is something that means a lot to them. The dandelion actually has a Latin name of Taraxacum, which is not a nice name. But, the name actually comes from a French word and means “lion’s tooth”. While a lot of people look at this flower as a pest and a weed, to other people it has some meaning. The floral meaning of the dandelion is that it is a gift to a loved one that will provide happiness and is a promise of total faithfulness. SO, it can mean a lot to some people. Description of the Dandelion Flower Everyone knows what the dandelion looks like, it is such an easy flower to recognize. A dandelion can be characterized by its long hollow stem and the yellow flower that it has on top. Depending on the season that it is, it may have white fuzz on top of it that is the pollination and how the dandelion spreads. This flower is a tap rooted biennial, so it will keep coming back time after time; it is a hard plant to get rid of if you don’t want it. The flower on top has a ton of little florets or petals and at some point it will become a seed head that will spread throughout the area and create new dandelion plants. Uses for the Dandelion Flower So, of course, for some people, with the floral meaning of the dandelion, they give it out to show their faithfulness to their partner. This is one thing that people do with a dandelion. But, there are a lot of other uses for a dandelion too. Chances are, this isn’t a flower that you are going to find in a bouquet, so be aware of that. There are many people that will use the dandelion as something that they put into their salads. Also, it makes a wine that people really enjoy too. There are also some medicinal uses for this flower. The dandelion is said to help with anti-inflammatory issues and can even help with urinary tract infections. But, people need to be careful if they are eating it, for some people they have had allergic reactions to the dandelion pollen that is in the flower that they are eating. Why do people plant the Dandelion Flower? The thing with the dandelion is that it generally doesn’t seem like you really have to work hard to grow it. In fact, for most people that have a garden, they see the dandelion as a pest because of the root system that it has and the ability to spread its pollen easily and take over an area. This flower is able to rapidly colonize an area, so if you are working on a garden in a certain area and the dandelions move in, you are probably going to need to remove them so that there is no issue and they don’t take over your garden.

United We Stand - Divided We Fall

Article by Jeremy Gibson, Derby, England Unity is at the heart of Christianity. In the upper room, just before His suffering, the Lord Jesus laid foundational truths for the church. He taught that love for fellow believers is a proof of discipleship, ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another’, John 13. 35. The apostle John confirmed this acid test for spiritual reality, ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren’, 1 John 3. 14. Writing to churches in Galatia, Paul also emphasized our oneness in Christ despite differences in nationality, social class or gender, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus’, Gal. 3. 28. But if Christians are expected to love each other why are churches rent by schisms? Why are there so many church denominations? Why do newly born-again believers, having sensed an immediate affinity with other Christians, soon find some saints to be irksome and that many others do not share their doctrinal beliefs? To begin with, let us remember that discord amongst God’s people is not new. The Old Testament records repeated infightings within Israel, and the New Testament is littered with divisions between Christians. Early into church history ‘there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews’, Acts 6. 1; even the apostle Paul and Barnabas – both godly men – fell out, ‘the contention [being] so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other’,15. 39. Christian disagreement has numerous causes. One of these is doctrinal variation. Never forget that the Bible, being the word of the living God, is an exceptionally complex book and our minds are intellectually limited. Add to this the retention of the flesh nature at conversion, and the ongoing propensity to sin, and it is easy to see how our capacity to fully comprehend divine truth is impaired, even though the indwelling Holy Spirit has been sent to ‘guide [us] into all truth’, John 16. 13. Some of these doctrinal differences have a major impact on church practice and affect who we feel free to have fellowship with. Others have enormous ramifications for our view of scripture as a whole. So, for example, should sisters wear a head covering and be silent in church gatherings? Should baptism be for believers only and that by immersion, or does the sprinkling of infants answer to the New Testament’s teaching on this subject? How do we view the thorny issue of divorce and remarriage? Do we see a distinction between Israel, the nations, and the church which is the body of Christ? Is salvation down to God’s eternal electing purpose or the free-will choice of human beings who are dead in trespasses and sins? Be honest. These controversies divide true believers and probably always will until the coming of the Lord, but by remembering that many of them have raged for centuries we will be more gracious when confronting the opposing camp. A more sinister cause for splits between Christians is the deliberate propagation of error by ungodly men. Peter made clear that ‘there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of’, 2 Pet. 2. 1, 2. They teach error for money, v. 3. And they do it to gain a following. Paul warned the elders at Ephesus, ‘Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them’, Acts 20. 30. While doctrinal error is an exceptionally serious cause for strife, sadly, the truth is that most disruptions in local churches boil down to nasty feelings and personality clashes. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians exposes some of these nasty thoughts. The letter expressed Paul’s gratitude for the Philippians’ generous support of his ministry, Phil. 1. 5. It also addressed disharmony within that church, 4. 2. Envy can play a big part when it comes to church rifts. ‘Envy, phthunos’, 1. 15, is ‘the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others.’1 ‘A sound heart is the life of the flesh: [But] envy [is] the rottenness of the bones’, Prov. 14. 30. Unrestrained envy eventually consumes with bitterness and leads to ‘strife’, Phil. 1. 15. The word translated ‘contention’, v. 16 is erithia, meaning ‘ambition, self-seeking, rivalry’.2 Paul knew of men whose motivation for preaching the gospel was envy, an ambitious flaunting of themselves, and a deliberate attempt to ‘add affliction to [Paul’s] bonds’, v. 16. May God preserve us from the serving out of any desire for personal ‘vainglory’, 2. 3. Malicious ‘murmurings’ against fellow believers create much hurt and ill feeling, v. 14; after all ‘the words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the inner most parts of the belly’, Prov. 18. 8. Furthermore, by bearing constant grudges, harbouring a critical spirit, and ceaselessly fault-finding we will inevitably disturb the unity of a local assembly. The word translated ‘disputings’, Phil. 2. 14, is dialogismos. Referring to ‘inward reasoning, an opinion’,3 it described the Pharisees’ harsh criticism of the Lord Jesus, ‘And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, dialogismos, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason, dialogismos, ye in your hearts’, Luke 5. 21, 22. Since the common denominator in all of these sins is pure selfishness, Paul wrote, ‘All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s’, Phil. 2. 21. Any attempt at unifying all professing Christians will almost certainly fail. There are too many differences. So what can we do? We can hold the truth tenaciously as we see it in the Holy Scripture, be ‘valiant for the truth’, Jer. 9. 3, and do our utmost to maintain unity within the local church in which God has placed us, ‘endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’, Eph. 4. 3. The Philippian Epistle provides some straightforward ways to achieve this. A local church should have a unified interest in the gospel of Jesus Christ, support missionaries financially, Phil. 1. 5; 4. 10, 14-16, work together in gospel outreach, 1. 27, and live lives consistent with the gospel message which they preach, v. 27. Linked to this is the importance of having a healthy prayer life, praying for all the saints, v. 4, and being freed from unnecessary anxieties by praying about everything, 4. 6, 7. Such a prayerful interest in each other and the gospel promotes affection between Christians and enables us to fulfil Paul’s desire for the Philippians, ‘If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind’, 2. 1, 2 ASV. A significant barrier to Christian unity is human pride. Thus, Paul exhorted the Philippians, ‘Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves’, v. 3. We can avert many splits by having a truly humble disposition. The ultimate example of such self-humbling is the Lord Jesus, vv. 5-8. Paul showed his own humility by likening his eventual execution to a ‘drink offering’. In the Old Testament, ‘drink offerings’ consisted of fractions of a ‘hin’ (about one gallon) of wine, Num. 15. 1-10, combined with other sacrifices (e.g., burnt offerings). Paul viewed his own death as merely a small drink offering poured out upon the much larger sacrifice of the Philippians’ own priestly service, Phil. 2. 17. Other shining examples of people who humbly sacrificed themselves for others were Timothy, vv. 19-24, and Epaphroditus, vv. 25-30. These examples remind us that an important aspect of assembly fellowship is emulating godly, humble believers, 3. 17. Retaining a Christ-centred focus is another useful defence against divisive thoughts. The Philippian Epistle presents Jesus Christ as the purpose, 1. 21, the pattern, 2. 5, the prize, 3. 14, and the power for Christian living, 4. 13. Paul exhorted the Philippians to ‘rejoice in the Lord’, 3. 1; 4. 4. Paul himself counted ‘all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death’, 3. 8-10. As well as having a strong desire to know Christ better, by looking forwards, ‘for-getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before’, v. 13, we will be preserved from resentment, from brooding over wrongs done to us, and be helped to confront believers who genuinely wrong us with a sincere desire to forgive them, Luke 17. 3, 4. Such forward thinking will also remind us that ‘our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ’, Phil. 3. 20 ASV. The Lord Jesus so prioritized unity amongst His people that, with Calvary looming, He prayed ‘that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me’, John 17. 21. May we share His desire and do all we can to foster unity within our own local assembly. Endnotes Vine W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers), pg. 377. ibid, pg. 408. ibid, pg. 324.    

Why does Isaiah 45:7 say that God created evil?

Answer: Isaiah 45:7 in the King James Version reads, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” How does Isaiah 45:7 agree with the view that God did not create evil? There are two key facts that need to be considered.

(1) The word translated “evil” is from a Hebrew word that means “adversity, affliction, calamity, distress, misery.” Notice how the other major English Bible translations render the word: “disaster” (NIV, HCSB), “calamity” (NKJV, NAS, ESV), and “woe” (NRSV). The Hebrew word can refer to moral evil, and often does have this meaning in the Hebrew Scriptures. However, due to the diversity of possible definitions, it is unwise to assume that “I create evil” in Isaiah 45:7 refers to God bringing moral evil into existence.

(2) The context of Isaiah 45:7 makes it clear that something other than “bringing moral evil into existence” is in mind. The context of Isaiah 45:7 is God rewarding Israel for obedience and punishing Israel for disobedience. God pours out salvation and blessings on those whom He favors. God brings judgment on those who continue to rebel against Him. “Woe to him who quarrels with his Master” (Isaiah 45:9). That is the person to whom God brings “evil” and “disaster.” So, rather than saying that God created “moral evil,” Isaiah 45:7 is presenting a common theme of Scripture – that God brings disaster on those who continue in hard-hearted rebellion against Him.

Recommended Resource: Deliver Us from Evil: Restoring the Soul in a Disintegrating Culture by Ravi Zacharias.

Commentary on Hebrews 11:39,40

The world considers that the righteous are not worthy to live in the world, and God declares the world is not worthy of them. Though the righteous and the worldlings widely differ in their judgment, they agree in this, it is not fit that good men should have their rest in this world. Therefore God receives them out of it. The apostle tells the Hebrews, that God had provided some better things for them, therefore they might be sure that he expected as good things from them. As our advantages, with the better things God has provided for us, are so much beyond theirs, so should our obedience of faith, patience of hope, and labour of love, be greater. And unless we get true faith as these believers had, they will rise up to condemn us at the last day. Let us then pray continually for the increase of our faith, that we may follow these bright examples, and be, with them, at length made perfect in holiness and happiness, and shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father for evermore.

The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Parents

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Exodus 20:12


Many cultures throughout the world train people to honor people of older generations, including parents, grandparents, and so on. Even adults show respect to their elders in these cultures. But the dominant culture goes in the opposite direction. We prize youth and ignore or even despise old age. Elders are disregarded as being outdated or disparaged as bothersome. We’ve seen this happen again and again in families, neighborhoods, churches, businesses, and politics.

The fifth commandment, therefore, calls us to a countercultural honoring of our parents, and by implication, those who are from older generations. The Hebrew verb translated here as “honor” (kabed) is related to the adjective “heavy.” It might be paraphrased here as: “Give your father and mother the weight they deserve in your life.” The opposite of this would be treating your parents lightly, ignoring them, minimizing them, or even mistreating them.

What it actually means to let our parents be weighty in our lives depends greatly on many factors. If we are minor children, honoring our parents includes obeying them. But this is not true during all stages of life. If our parents are suffering from serious dementia, we might find that honoring them would involve actually disobeying them. As a pastor, I have walked alongside people as they have had to get care for their parents that their parents didn’t want, even though they desperately needed it. I have also worked with people whose parents were so abusive that they needed to keep considerable distance from them. Nevertheless, the fifth commandment urged them to do this without scorn or mockery, but with godly grief and costly love. For most of us, honoring our parents means listening to them, respecting them, and loving them. It means continuing to remain in relationship with them, even if this happens over a long distance. And, as our parents get older, the fifth commandment encourages us to care for them with deference and costly love. Sometimes we are forced into terribly confusing and trying situations when our parents are aging. We may not be at all sure what honoring them implies. Nevertheless, God will be glorified by our efforts to fulfill the fifth commandment, and he will bless us as we honor him through honoring our parents.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: If your parents are still alive, in what ways do you honor them? How might taking the fifth commandment seriously make a difference in your life?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, first, I want to thank you for the wonderful parents you have given me. They faithfully raised me to know you and serve you. They loved me consistently, reflecting your own love through their faithfulness.

Thank you for my father, who has been with you for almost 23 years now. I cannot honor him in a direct way, but I can esteem him in my memory and in my prayers of gratitude.

Thank you for my mother, who continues to be such a loving presence in my life and in the life of my family, not to mention a leader in your kingdom. Help me to honor her through offering her love and respect.

And thank you, dear Lord, for those who have been like parents in my life. May I offer them the appreciation and love they deserve from me, even though we are not literal relatives.

Finally, today I pray for people whose relationships with their parents are difficult. Where there is division and hurt, bring reconciliation and healing. Where aging parents present tricky challenges, grant wisdom, patience, and strength to their adult children. And where children are mourning the loss of their parents, give comfort and hope.

All praise be to you, Heavenly Father. Amen.

Extract article from TheHighCalling.org

p/s NGC is having its annual NGC Parents Night on Sat, 23rd June from 7pm at the assembly hall.