PEACE, JOY, LOVE : Our Nursing Home Ministry

Welcome to our nursing home service!

Peter always does such a wonderful job with leading the music!

Miss Margret playing the piano.

He is accompanied by the very talented Miss Margret.

She is one of the residents 

and can play about anything without any sheet music.

For this service, I had the priviledge of playing a flute prelude of Christmas carols.

The humidity made some of my keys stick, but the people enjoyed it.

There is nothing like the singing the songs 

about the Saviour to get your heart ready to hear the Word!

Pastor Jeff preached to us about -

PEACE,

JOY,

&

LOVE

PEACE: True peace comes from God~

Luke 2:14 

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

John 14:27 

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, 

give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

 John 16:33 

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. 

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; 

I have overcome the world."

JOY: Joy comes from knowing Christ and living a life glorifying to God.

Luke 2:10 

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold,

 I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 15:10

"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence 

of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

 Nehemiah 8:10 

"Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

LOVE: God loves you more than anyone ever could!

AND

His love can be perfected in us, if we show His love to others.

John 3:16 

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

1John 4:12 

"No man hath seen God at any time. 

If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us."

Please pray with us, for the dear people at the Winston Park Rest Home.

Christmas can be a very lonely time of the year for the elderly.

Also pray that the Word of God will help some to find 

the true PEACE that only comes through knowing Christ as Saviour;

and for others to have the encouragement 

that God LOVEs and cares for them and will bring them JOY, 

even in the lonely times.

Carols by Candlelight

Every year, here at Village Bible Baptist Church,

we host a Carols by Candlelight Service.

It is a special service where we sing the hymns of Christmas by candlelight and hear preaching about the true meaning of Christmas.

Below, I have posted pictures and a video from our service.

Between each photo, I have put meaningful Scriptures that go along with the acronym for CHRISTMAS (this was adapted from http://www.homeschooled-kids.com/christinchristmas.html). 

 May you be blessed as you read these verses 

that remind us of that Light that came to us so very long ago.

C- is for the Christ child who was born long ago in a manger in Bethlehem. Luke 1:31  "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb,  and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS."

H- is for the hope that Jesus brings to all who believe in Him  and trust Him for their salvation. Romans 5:2  "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,  and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Jeremiah 29:11  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD,  thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. "

R- is for the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin,  lived a sinless life, was both man and God, died on the cross for our sins, and then was raised from the dead (resurrected)  and is now sitting at the right hand of God in Heaven. 2 Corinthians 5:21  "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;  that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 

I- is for Israel, who God chose to bring forth  the promised Saviour of the world. Acts 13:23  "Of this man's seed hath God according to His promise  raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:"

S- is for the salvation that Jesus offers to all who are willing  to confess their sin, believe in Him,  and confess their belief in Jesus with their mouth. John 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Romans 10:9  "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

T- is for the empty tomb. Matthew 28:6,7  "

He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. 

Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

 And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead;

 and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; 

there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you."

M- is for the mercy God has shown the world by sending  His only Son to die for our sins. Hebrews 4:16  "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,  that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

A- is for the amazing grace He shows us every day  by loving us unconditionally. 2 Corinthians 9:8  "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye,  always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"

S- is for the shining Light that Jesus is to the world. This is the Light 

that we ha

ve shared with the people 

in Hillcrest,South Africa 

during our Carols by Candlelight service

.

John 8:12 

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: 

he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life."

Blessings in Disguise

For a while I was hunting for a small desk for my home.

You know, the "small, but functional" kind.

I have seen a number of possibilities here at second hand shops,

but I was not willing to pay the price they were asking.

Furniture in South Africa is expensive!

I continued to wait and trust that God would provide exactly what would meet my needs.

On one of my outings, I found the cutest desk.

It was small, with bookshelf beneath, and the top opens into a desk - PERFECT!

Huh!  The price was far from perfect.

It was so tempting to purchase because I had never come across 

something like that which would fit my needs perfectly.

Did I mention, it was perfect?

Well, being the thrifty spender that I am, I walked away from the desk.

my desk

The very next week, there was a desk listed in the online second hand site.

It was almost identical to the one I had seen earlier.

The best thing is - it was half the cost of the first!

Praise the Lord, I phoned the man and it wasn't purchased yet.

Of course, I snatched it up!

Thank you , Lord for providing for our needs!

The man only lives a few streets from me,

so he volunteered to load it in his van and bring it over.

my desk (check back in a few weeks to see what I do to update it)

 I make it a point to share the Gospel with every one I meet, 

so I planned talk to him when he brought the desk over.

In talking with this man, 

I found that he was also a christian.

As an American in South Africa, I can never hide my accent,

so he was curious to why I was here.

I shared my testimony of salvation and 

then in how God burdened me to come here to serve Him.

Then I shared with him what the Lord has been doing in our ministry.

He also has a burden for the "unlovely" people 

and has been on a number of mission trips throughout Africa.

I told him how difficult it is to reach the whites here too.

As a white South African he agreed that in areas like Hillcrest, 

it is very hard to reach the people because they feel they have no need for the Gospel.

He was very encouraging to me as an outsider,

 to keep sharing the Gospel with whoever will listen.

At the end of our talk, he revealed that he was a buisnessman.

He told me how the UShaka Aquarium in Durban

 gives his buisness free tickets for nights at the aquarium.  

 He gave me 5 tickets to take some of the children from our ministry to see the aquarium.

It was truly a blessing in disguise!

~~~

Below are pictures from the night that Robbin & I took

 the 3 most faithful kids from church to the UShaka aquarium.

Enjoy!!! (we did!)

The kids loved this fish and called him the "grumpy fish"

kids inside the aquarium with the fish

This guy was my favorite.  He looked like a puppet.  He makes me smile just looking at him.

During the evening, I shared with the kids 

how I used to want to be an Oceanographer.

In my teen years, while other girls had pictures of cats and horses on their walls,

I had charts of the ocean, shell identification posters,

 and aquariums with fish, crayfish, and frogs.

Then my pastor had a burden to start a Bible Institute 

to train people to serve the Lord.

Between taking Bible Institute classes and serving at year-round camp, 

the Lord showed me that ministry is much more meaningful.

I still love the ocean and if I could,

I would live by it and visit the aquarium as often as possible,

but my burden for the lost around me is a bigger need.

Hopefully, my testimony will be something that the children will think about.

Maybe, just maybe, He will change their heart's desire, 

as they grow older, to being used of Him in ministry.