Flight 2021

I was ready to post my blog for this week entitled – “making disciples in the pandemic” – just as I was catching up on my holiday emails. I knew as soon as I read this email that I had to share it with my church family. The faith and strength of our congregation is an example to me, and I want to share it with you. By permission of course. Thanks, Lorna, for a faith filled flight!

 
Welcome aboard FLIGHT 2021.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is “Captain Emmanuel” (God with us)

Thank you for choosing SALVATION AIRLINE I assure you comfort during your flight as bestowed in John 3:16 and John 10:10b.

Please be reminded that we will land in 12 interesting sites during our flight, taking us to a total of 365 discovery days.

We shall be cruising at uncountable blessings per day and at millions of miles above the sorrow level.

The weather may be cloudy, but Grace is sufficient. There may be some turbulence, but Divine intervention is certain.

The Prince of Peace will speak, “Peace be still” to your storms.

The Angels are our Cabin Crew. They will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. You shall not lack anything good.

Our menu includes: shalom/peace, grace, mercy, love, favour, sound health, success and prosperity. Amazingly, they are all free, courtesy of Captain Emmanuel (Jesus).

Note that this is a “No weeping, No mourning flight!”

Please, fasten your prayer belt!

You and all the members of your family will land safely.

For more information about your safety on board, please refer to your Safety Manual on a Daily basis – The Bible.

For any questions you might have about your flight, The Holy Spirit will give you answers any time.

In Jesus, there shall be no losses! (John 17:9-19)

Should we lose the altitude under pressure, during the flight, reach up and pull down a prayer. Prayers will automatically be activated by faith. Once your faith is activated you can assist other passengers.

There will be NO baggage allowed on this flight! The Captain has cleared us for takeoff.

Destination Greatness.

Go In Peace, and with Blessings. Enjoy your flight!

Tracking with you with all our love and shalom,

The Martins



In the beginning

When I find myself bewildered by the pressures of daily life, I always find it helpful to go back to my roots, so to speak.  That is, I ask myself a few simple, clarifying questions about myself and the circumstances that I face.  Who am I?  What really matters to me?  What do I want to achieve?   When I spend a few minutes getting my bearings, I usually find that any fog clouding my thinking is cleared away.  

To that end, I encourage you to start this new year remembering who you are created to be.  Read the first chapter of the book of Genesis again.  Go back to the garden and spend a few minutes getting your spiritual bearings.  Who are you?  What really matters?  What is the meaning of your life?  Read about your roots in the living God who created you in His image, after His likeness.  It helps a lot for a Christian to re-visit the first three words of the English Bible…“in the beginning.”  When you read the first chapter of the Bible you will soon come upon the crowning work of God’s six days of creation.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.     Genesis 1:26-28

The Bible blows away any doubt about who you are and why you are here on earth.  You were created as God’s image-bearer to have dominion over creation.  In effect, you are a co-regent with God to govern planet earth, just as He Himself would manage.  You were made to live in relationship with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Of course, we all know the rest of the story.   Sin made a mess of God’s plan.  That is, we disobeyed God’s simple instructions and as a result the image of God in us was “defaced”.  But the rest of the story of the Bible details how God, through Jesus Christ, restored His original image in us.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”  (1 Corinthians 15:22).  That’s why Paul wrote in Romans 6 that sin will have no dominion over you”.   In His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ restored your original purpose for being. 

The simple message for us is that we are meant to reflect the image that is stamped on our DNA as we go about taking dominion over the works of creation.  When you begin to feel overwhelmed by the chaos around you, remember the image of God in you and the gift of God to you in Jesus Christ.

Determine to start 2021 with a renewed commitment to who you are in Christ.  Remember Paul’s word to the Corinthians . . .  “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.  (1 Corinthians 8)

Blessed New Year church family,
Pastor Deric