Sunday, July 02, 2006

Holidays and Self Denial Appeals don't mix!

It's been an interesting morning at church for me.

First there was the speaker - his text was from Amos and normally my heart would sink thinking "Yet another one of THOSE sermons". But as he gave a brief outline of the events leading up to Amos, I was thinking "YES! I know this stuff, I can follow it, I understand it", and a feeling of surprise as I thought "I'm actually looking forward to hearing this passage expanded upon"- all the hard slog of learning I have done in the Old Testament class at Bible College is really helping me to make more sense and understand better the Bible and who God is.

But then the whole sermon was tied up with the Self Denial Appeal. Not a sermon you want to hear when you are about to head off to the Gold Coast on holiday!! Especially when the Gold Coast is home to one of the largest malls in Australasia!! But I also know that God has a sense of humour and I sensed he was laughing with me as I put it all into perspective.

Yes, I will take on board the message of Self Denial, I do believe with all my heart that God is passionately concerned with poverty and oppression, and yes, I do believe that I can make a difference by contributing to this appeal.

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