The praise and worship this week was led by piano and vocals.
Jackie Rodda spoke about 'Daring to be a Daniel,' based on the story of Daniel standing up courageously for what he believed. Living among a culture and religion which were foreign to him, Daniel stood firm in his personal faith in his God and his own beliefs and convictions about how to live his life. He dared to stand out from the crowd and was even prepared to lose his life for it, but God delivered him from the lions' den and showed that God rules even over the kingdoms of this world.
Daniel was found to be trustworthy - his accusers couldn't find any fault with him. As Christians we need to live correctly and blamelessly, but even when we do make mistakes God loves us so much and helps us to live right lives.
Jackie spoke of how there is a lot of uncertainty in the world, with banks collapsing and fragile economies, mixed-up weather systems, "wars, rumours of wars, famine, earthquakes," etc. (Matthew 24). The Bible tells us of how these events will happen before Jesus Christ returns to earth to take his followers to heaven. It says how "two men will be working in the field - one will be taken and the other left" (Matthew 24v39). We need to be ready for Jesus coming back, and know that we have trusted in His death on the cross to save us.
Jackie finished by playing a track from her new CD to be released soon, a song about Jesus being risen and victorious, having defeated death and coming back for His followers. We have a wonderful future ahead, as we will be with Jesus in heaven forever.
The service ended with a praise song 'How wonderful, how glorious is the love of God, Bringing healing, forgiveness, wonderful love.'
We invite anyone to join us at 10.15 am on Sunday.