eNews | Sat 4th Sept '21
Dear e-News friends & church family,
Fake or Real??
Once when Ivan and I were in India we were offered ‘knock-off’ watches by a street vendor, he took great pride in telling us that they were real fakes, and not fake fakes.Even fake watches come in varying degrees of quality it seems.Faith likewise also comes in varying degrees of quality. Is your faith fake or real? Then, even real genuine faith is qualified in the New Testament as weak, little or great.Paul writing to Timothy, in what was a very challenging time for any Christian, tells him clearly that the goals of his instructions would hopefully result in a people with a sincere faith. Those days like ours were very challenging times, and the truth is that real faith is only seen in adverse conditions and revealed under pressure. And great faith can only be forged in the furnace of affliction or the heat of battles.Many of us have been through fiery trials of late, and the whole world has been sorely tested by covid.The difference between us and the world however is that God will work all things together for our good, Christians are designed by God to grow under pressure.Many say that this word ‘sincere’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘without wax’. They say that this was a sign used in Roman times by street vendors. Sculptors would use the sign ‘sin cera - without wax’, meaning there were no faults covered over in the sculpture due to a fracture or faulty workmanship. No heat of any fire was going to melt away the pretend part. Others said honey sellers used the same sign to show that the pot was full of honey and not padded out by wax. Yet others think that it was used by potters selling jugs and goblets, meaning these won’t leak when put into daily use since we haven’t covered over any cracks with wax.We do know for sure that the word as used in the Greek of the New Testament means without hypocrisy - this is the real deal.Only difficult times show faith for what it is, and it takes difficult times to move the quality of our faith from one level to the next.This is the reason why James tells us to count the trial as pure joy - because whilst unpleasant, great good for you and me is working its way through it. James tells us that it’s designed to make us complete lacking nothing.This church, along with many other churches has also been through a testing time, so we all now need to pull together, demonstrating that we also have a sincere faith.We need you with us this Sunday in Edinburgh if at all possible. We understand the pressures of the covid uncertainties, but let’s be together as one.We are setting several people into key offices, please come, stand with, and support them and the churches they represent.Sunday 11.00 am at Destiny Edinburgh, Gorgie location promises to be a great time for all the family, kids and youth included. Transport is available for those who need it.Use the moment to bring your unsaved friends and family.BOOK YOUR SPACE ON THE BUSFor those who can’t make it, much of the meeting will be live-streamed.Our heartfelt prayers are with all who are seriously challenged at the moment - but our prayers are full of hope as we know God is good and He will be good to you.A special offering will be taken to help our churches in India feed widows who are suffering greatly, and for our German churches who are helping all those families who lost loved ones and their homes in the very recent flooding.Looking forward to seeing so many of you that we haven’t seen in person for such a long time, and to meet many others perhaps for the first time. Guests are joining us from Germany and other parts of the UK, plus a special film crew from BGEA in America. (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association).It’s still not too late to book a place, go on adjust those other plans to be with your church family on this very special day.
With all our love,Andrew & Sue BOOK YOUR SPACE | TOGETHER AS ONEJOIN ONLINE | TOGETHER AS ONE