Growing in Christ to glorify God and enjoy him forever!
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
The Christian message is that evil has been overcome by good. On the cross, Jesus defeated Satan and bore the the sin of the world whilst remaining perfectly obedient to God. Even though, he was treated unjustly and abused in the lead up to his brutal crucifixion, he did not retaliate, but bore it all to bring about our salvation. Jesus overcame evil with good.
Our good works grow out of our relationship with God, but they also point others to the God to whom we belong.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)
This week in our Fruits of the Spirit series we are considering kindness. Kindness is about helping and caring for others in a generous way. Kindness does make a difference to the world. Blaise Pascal said, “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” Kindness works in our most intimate relationships, but also with strangers. Showing kindness to your spouse is one of the best ways to improve your marriage, whilst a kind welcome to a stranger opens the possibility of a lasting and fruitful friendship. Let’s pray for more kindness.
Princess Diana, who herself was known for showing kindness, was reported as saying, “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” There is truth in this. Kindness often begets kindness, whereas unkindness spawns more unkindness. As Christians, however, we are not motivated to show kindness in the hope that it will rebound on us, but because God, our Father has already shown kindness to us.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2)
This week we are returning to our 10 part series on the Fruit of the Spirit. We started by looking at the list of characteristics as a whole as Paul gives it in Galatians 5, then we looked in turn at the first three of the nine traits that make up the fruit of the Spirit, the godly character that the Spirit works to form in us. Those first three were: love, joy and peace. Over the next few weeks we will be considering the next three in the list, starting this week with patience.
We live in a world where we can order almost anything more or less instantly on our phone or even through our smart speaker. In the past you would find things out by going to the library and trawling through books. Now you just ask google. We live in an instant world, where we don’t expect to wait for long and so we are not trained in patience.
There is no livestream or service at St. Luke’s.
However, there is lots happening at St. George’s. Lots of fun and a great opportunity for us as a church to connect with the wider town community and show our desire to serve the town.
“Then Jesus said to Thomas: “”Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.””” (John 20:29)
This week we continue the Easter resurrection theme and look at the part Thomas played.
“Go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead…” (Matthew 28:7)
The Easter Story is an emotional rollercoaster. It takes us from the depths of human cruelty and agony to the highs of the most incredible and hope-giving miracle and for many, this story is the most important moment in history. Why not join us this Easter and discover afresh what it means and why it matters so much?
The Easter Story is an emotional rollercoaster. It takes us from the depths of human cruelty and agony to the highs of the most incredible and hope-giving miracle.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate