Newsflash: Friday, 8 July 2022

1. FAITH, TRUST AND HOPE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

I call on all our Pastors and Assemblies to earnestly intercede and pray for our country South Africa this coming Sunday. We believe in the power of prayer.

We are thankfully coming out of the worst part of the Covid-19 Pandemic, but we are still experiencing turbulence and insecurity on a worldwide scale.  For us as believers, this should not come as a surprise. God’s Word gives us a picture of how life will unfold leading up to the return of Jesus Christ.

This is not the first time in history that the world and God’s people are experiencing difficult times. Nearly everything in the Bible reflects a context of uncertainty: The process of creation; the journey to the promised land; the birth and life of Jesus; the establishment and growth of the Church; the history of the Church across the world, and as mentioned above, the end of time.

When one investigates history, one thing stands out above all: Times of great uncertainty are times of enormous opportunity and God’s greatest activity.

In times of uncertainty, we do not have all the answers and we do not always know what to do, but we know in whom we trust and we must remember what we believe. This might be a time of great uncertainty, but as believers, we can never be unclear about our beliefs. We must have clarity about our purpose (what God has called us to do). We must have clarity about our trust in and our dependence on God and His Word.

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deut. 31:8 (NIV).”

Over the span of history, in Old and New Testament times we stand on this truth: “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deut. 31:8 (NIV).

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid…” Heb. 13:5-6 (NIV).

In difficult times, we can confirm the testimony of Paul: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:8-10 (NIV)

I like the way the Message expresses this verse: “We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.”

Please be assured that in this time of many worries, insecurity and difficulty, I am praying daily for all our Pastors, Assembly Leaders, their families and the members of our beloved church across the country. Let us “Be on our guard, stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in Love.” 1 Cor. 16:13 (NIV).

2. AN INVITATION TO THE 2022 GBM & CONFERENCE

The 2022 GBM and Conference are scheduled to take place from 18-21 September 2022 at AFM Word and Life in Boksburg, Gauteng. Refer to the link (https://afm-ags.org/category/events/) to download information pertaining to:

3. 2022 NOB EMPOWERMENT VISITS: YOUR INPUT & SUGGESTIONS

Your input and suggestions are important to us. We invite all our Pastors that attended a NOB Empowerment Weekend in 2022 to kindly give us candid feedback, input and suggestions. The NOB members will take these inputs and suggestions under thoughtful consideration when planning for the 2023 visits. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

This short online survey will take under 3 minutes to complete if you have not yet done so:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7MSWWY5

4. PCD (Pastor’s Continuous Development): URGENT NOTIFICATION

We have reached the middle of the year and would like to remind you that it is a good time to re-evaluate your PCD credits. We are in the 4th year of the 2019-2022 cycle, therefore if you still need PCD credits you will have to catch up during the remainder of 2022. The required credits for the cycle is 150. Book reviews must be sent as soon as possible before/on 20 November 2022 and can easily be uploaded to the PCD website:
www.pcdafm.co.za

Contact the PCD office at pcdafm@gmail.co.za, 083 793 9112 or 083 2828 432 if you have any questions.

Friendly Regards!
Henri Weideman