UPDATE: The online service will be posted here at 9:50. Pastor Dr. Brian Krum will speak on Jesus Calms the Storm. You can still join the WCBCWorshipWatchParty by clicking the link just before 10am.
Kia ora Whanau,
With our Level 4 lockdown now being extended through Tuesday next week, I wanted to let you know that even though we can’t meet in person, we are excited to meet online this Sunday Morning at 10am. It will be a bit shorter than our norm, but it will include everything that makes a Sunday together both hopeful and Christ-focused.
You can watch our service on your own with YouTube, here on the website, or on our FaceBook page.
Or you can join our “watch party” on Zoom and attend our worship service together. During the service you can type comments and after the service we’ll turn on everyone’s computer cameras and mics and share what stood out from the service for each of us and finish the morning by praying together.
To join our worship watch party, simply click WCBCWorshipWatchParty. And while you shouldn’t need it, here is the “passcode” to join just in case: 796691
And as always, don’t be hesitant to ask for help, offer help, or simply call someone that comes to mind while we weather this lockdown in our homes.
Early on the first Easter morning, a small group of women made their way to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body. “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance” they asked. But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
That morning the women found, that Jesus was not there. The lamb of God had conquered death. The King of kings was risen.
Ps 57:8 “Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn”
Fear, worry, panic, depression, and much more are plaguing many of our mind of late. But in all of this, we have God. We have His peace that He gave us, and we can focus our thoughts on His peace alone. But we do know that Jesus already overcame the world. He took our sins to the cross, bore it, and died as a sinner, when He was never one to begin with.
John 16:33 “ I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have many troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world”.
I am no longer a slave to fear.
We are God’s children. He gifted us a great peace, and we can focus our thoughts on His peace alone. So, let’s keep renewing our minds in His Word. Press pause on all the news /messages/newspaper articles and focus on God. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast on you, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”
His resurrection proved that Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of God, sent from Heaven to save us from our sins. But it also proved for all time, that there is life after death. The Resurrection Story.
John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” The resurrection is our great hope. And today the world needs hope more than ever. Do we believe him. That what Jesus says is true. That he is who he says he is.
Jesus, never leaves our side. Even as things are looking very bleak and dark, know that He is there. Let us rise to praise him even as the pandemic storm is raging around us, let us take comfort in the fact than when our strength feels low He carries us, He is with us always. His mercy and grace is greater than ever, when we need it the most.
Psalm 121: 1-8 Let him watch over you now and forevermore.
kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui: Be strong, be brave, be steadfast, Whangarei Central Baptist Church.
An Easter gift from the Baptist Union to you… the April/May 2020 issue of the Baptist magazine is available now. This time it is completely digital (thanks, lockdown!) and we would like to bless our whānau far and wide by sharing the link to it. Don’t forget articles are also available via our website www.baptistmag.org.nz. Happy reading!
The readings in this devotional take us on a journey through to Resurrection Sunday. Reading our Bibles is a good spiritual habit to have. Reading the Bible with intentionality leads to spiritual growth and maturity. This ‘Holy Week in a Box’ was designed for families or individuals to be intentional through a guided reading of Scripture and activities to go with the readings.Click on the picture to get a pdf you can download to make this box.
