Dear loved ones,
This week one of our own Valley Church “locals” will bring us a message from God’s Word.
He writes, “During a visit to Nepal a couple years ago, my eyes were opened to the tangible reality of God’s salvation among Hindus and Buddhists in that region. Time and time again, we heard testimony from locals of instances where God had shown himself strong in the lives of people who had next to nothing—little food, poor health, many times bearing the status ‘untouchable’—and who had never seen their gods answer their prayers. Christians have come alongside these people and have asked if they could put those same prayers before the living God. Time and time again, he answers! Yet the most exciting thing is that the One who has authority to heal the body can also forgive sin and bring life to the soul—a tangible image to a spiritual reality. And in many of these stories, people’s eyes have been opened to the beauty of Christ, so that they place their trust in him!
When Jesus began his public ministry, he gained quite a reputation throughout the land as a well-spoken miracle worker. He shared in lots of synagogues around the lake, and in many of the places he visited he was gladly received. One week he was finally scheduled to speak in the synagogue of his own home town… But how would they respond? Would they hail him as the expected Messiah who had come to redeem his people? Would they, like many of those other towns around the lake, celebrate his arrival and hail him as Lord?
On Sunday, we will work our way through Luke 4:14-30, considering both the implications of Christ’s message, and the response to it from his fellow Nazarenes. May God be praised through the study of his Word!
In his care,
Daniel de Villiers