Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books. 

 Preparing the way of the Lord

Mark 1 v 1:4 “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” a voice of one calling in the desert,’Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

These words apply to John the Baptist.  He was sent as a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord.  This is a very significant development and we should not miss out on the importance of this passage for us today.

In those early days of the Roman Empire it was a common thing for a messenger to be sent ahead of a victorious Roman general to proclaim his victory on some far off battlefield.  It served as a spur to confidence and encouragement in the local people regarding the ability to their armies to protect them.  But in this passage we have the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy (Malachi 3 v 1 Isaiah 40 v 2) regarding the long awaited Messiah.  God would raise up a messenger who would prepare the people for the Messiah’s appearance by appealing to them to repent and to be ready to receive Him when He appeared.

There are two ways in which John the Baptist’s proclamation helps us today.  Firstly, we can be sure that the One to whom he pointed was truly the Son of God.  He was not a fake, not an illusion.  He was the true Messiah who came to bring redemption to his people.  But secondly, John’s proclamation was one of the signs that marked Jesus out as utterly unique.  So unique was he that a messenger was sent ahead of him. Unlike the messengers who were sent out to proclaim military victories for Roman generals, this messenger prepares the way of the Lord Himself.  Furthermore this “Lord” who comes does so not as a mighty warrior, but as a servant who will rescue HIs people by dying for them.

The uniqueness of Jesus is spread throughout the opening chapters of Mark’s Gospel but it is probably better to describe His uniqueness in terms of His great authority.  Have a look at Mark chapter 1 and see how many signs of his uniqueness there were at his baptism with the voice from Heaven, His temptations in the desert, His power over the men He calls to be His disciples, His authority over evil spirits, His power to heal the sick – these all point to a truly unique individual with unusual authority over all the brokenness of the human condition.

We should take great courage from this.  No matter how much it may seem from time to time that Christ’s kingdom is about to disappear we must remember His power and greatness.  It is this authority He has exercised over you when he called you to Himself and it is this authority and power that accompanies us on our way.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for endowing your Son with such power and authority so that I may be sure my sins are all forgiven and that He will keep us safe until we reach that Heavenly Kingdom. “Amen”

Purchase your books from our online shopping cart,
Email orders@christianbooks.co.za or
Visit one of our stores

Candice is a busy wife to Matt and mom of Noah (5) and Tyler (3 going on 21).  Candice also works part-time at our Rosebank Store of Christian Book Discounters.  In her spare time Candice writes for her own blog and is a travel consultant.

Dear Me,

Right now, I know you feel like you’re drowning. I know you feel like your world has crumbled, that when everyone finds out about the little baby you’re carrying, you’re going to shatter people’s dreams – dreams they had for you, and dreams they had for themselves which involved you. I can see how you feel like the baby you’re carrying, is actually carrying you. You feel like people will only see the baby and what your pregnancy says about you right now, and people will never see you as you. People don’t see you struggling for every smile and fighting for each step.

• I know you wish you were invisible but instead, you feel that you give failure a face.
• You feel like you are the poster child for pain.
• You feel like your name symbolises shame.

I see you are walking in the valley. You feel that God has left you – that any kind of good He could’ve done through your life is now shattered. You wonder about your worth, you question your character. No-one could possibly love you through this right? Including God? He abandoned you before you even knew yourself that you walking this road to motherhood. He knew you were, before you did and He gave up on you then, along with everyone else when they find out.

Stop…

You see that empty seat in the doctor’s waiting room? He’s sitting there.

You see the man sitting next to you, whose life has plunged into chaos just the same as yours has been? God chose him, for you, to walk with you right now (and forever) – Noah and you, He’s entrusted to him. Funny, his name is Matthew. Matthew means gift from God. Yes. He’s a gift from God for you. Dear Candice, Love Jesus.

Listen, me, six years from this day in the doctor’s room, you will tuck your little boy into bed, hold him close and realise these things:

1. Your baby boy will be the dream that, those close to you, never knew they had. He will heal relationships, he will bind up broken hearts and he will shine light into lives that are trapped in the darkness.
2. God never left you. In fact, when you look back to this time in your life, you will realise that it was this time right now, that He as closer to you than ever before.
3. God doesn’t make mistakes.  Ever.
4. From your greatest trial, came your greatest blessings. You will look back on this time and not wish it away, I promise you. These few months defined who you are, made you re-evaluate what you thought about God and carved your character in a way that you can’t even conceive right now.
5. The little boy’s arrival will teach you all about unconditional love. Your friends and family will show you more about God’s grace lived out, than you will have ever experienced before. Abandonment should not even cross your mind. The next few months, they will prove that to you.
6. The life you have now, six years later, is so much more fulfilling than the one you planned. I know you can’t see that now. Right now, you’re broken hearted about the life dreams you lost. I can assure you, this life you didn’t plan for – a life of jumping headfirst into motherhood and marriage so suddenly – that’s the life that actually makes your heart happy. You won’t cry for what you feel like you lost – because you actually didn’t lose anything of significance at all. You gained. You are where you weren’t planning to be but nonetheless, you are where you are meant to be.
7. The greatest lesson you will learn is that grace means that everything in your life, including the hurt, the disappointment, the pain you’re going through right now, the products of your mistakes, all serve a purpose instead of serving shame.

Everything you believe about yourself and about what God thinks of you is eradicated by what is there on the screen. Look over.  You see that little hand on the sonar screen? Can you hear that heartbeat?  Noah is created by God. His time is right now. God loves you enough and finds you worthy enough to be his mom.

This time is the right time…

You are worthy, in fact so worthy, God entrusted you with another life. He made you a mother.  If I could hug you right now, me six years ago, I would. I know you feel you don’t deserve it. I know you will have to learn to love yourself again, and it won’t come easily. In fact, you will have days where you feel like you’re back here again.

But at least in the future, you know where to run to. He’s waiting. He never left you. Nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, you do will ever change that.

Now if you weren’t where you are right now, on this day six years ago, where you are at a tipping point of grace without knowing it, you may have never had the chance to experience that for yourself.  God is about to become more real to you than you’ll ever know. He’s there. Just lean into Him – you’re carrying a baby, and He’ll carry you both.

Love,

Me

Purchase  Parenting Books from our online shopping cart,
Email orders@christianbooks.co.za or
Visit one of our stores

By Tim Challies

Have you ever dreamed of being rich?  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to know that money poses no barrier between you and your dreams?  I think we all have at one time or another, haven’t we?  And most of us are convinced that we would use our wealth for good, to serve others rather than ourselves.  We imagine handing over the keys to a new home, or donating the full-ride scholarship to that person who could never afford it.  We dream of using extravagant wealth to do extravagant good.

We attach great significance to great deeds, don’t we?  And we attach little significance to little deeds.  And yet so few of us ever have the chance to do those exceptional things.  But what if we are measuring it all wrong?  John Stott says it so well as he comments on Galatians 6:2: “To love one another as Christ loved us may lead us not to some heroic, spectacular deed of self-sacrifice, but to the much more mundane and unspectacular ministry of burden-bearing.”

I think the reason we dream of helping others through extravagant wealth is that it feels like those extravagant deeds count for more.  So many of our good deeds are so small. They seem paltry.  Instead of handing over the keys to a brand new car, we hand over a slightly over-cooked casserole. Instead of funding an extreme makeover for that person’s home, we show up on Saturday morning to help apply a new coat of paint.  Instead of giving them a check to pay off their mortgage, we give them a few hours of our time to listen and counsel. Instead of funding a wonderful vacation, we take their children for a couple of hours so they can escape for a date.  It is hardly the stuff dreams are made of.

But I love what John Piper says: “Here is a vocation that will bring you more satisfaction than if you became a millionaire ten times over: Develop the extraordinary skill for detecting the burdens of others and devote yourself daily to making them lighter.” This is the extraordinary ministry for every ordinary Christian—bearing the burdens of others. What seems so mundane and so unspectacular, is actually bringing great glory and honor to God.  Read more…

Purchase your book requirements from our online shopping cart,
Email orders@christianbooks.co.za or
Visit one of our stores

By Trevor Bradley

Some people use Red Bull, others coffee and still others stimulants for a lift …. albeit temporarily.  I want to use His word… Psalm 91…

David must have been facing some horrific things when he wrote this psalm.  He talks of “terror by night”, “arrows by day”, “pestilence that stalks” and “destruction that lays waste”.  Notwithstanding, this is what David says he was privileged to learn, and I trust that this word carries you through 2015 and becomes part of your life:

• GOD IS AND WILL BE YOUR REFUGE from and in the storms of life.  We can run to Him and find a safety house;
• MY FORTRESS:  When the battles rage, God will fight for us while we look on.  He will gain our victory (in fact he already has at the cross).
• HE WILL DELIVER:  He is Jehovah Sabaoth who delivers us in and out of our troubles. God will live up to His name.
• HE WILL COVER YOU:  God will be your surety and security.  And there is no better comfort to know, than that He has your back.
• HE WILL BE FAITHFUL to His word and that which He has covenanted to do for you in His word.

Why, you ask, will God bother with me and to do this for me?  Because of who He is… and because you matter and you are precious to Him as we are repeatedly told in scripture.

So may I encourage you to bask in the glory of God’s unimaginable love for you, His inexhaustible grace toward you and His ever available mercy outstretched toward you.

Purchase all your book requirements from our online shopping cart,
Email orders@christianbooks.co.za or
Visit one of our stores