THE SANCTUARY Watford C.O.G.I.C 
 Church of God in Christ, Beechen Grove, Watford, England, UK

14th October 2023

 

Good Morning, Saints, This morning, I was reflecting on the song that I had been singing in the week.

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The song is an old-time tune, where the words are:

Keep me true, Lord Jesus Keep me true.

There's a race that  must run and a victory to be won.

Every hour, give me power, keep me true.

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This has been my prayer for this week, believing that God will honour that request, coupled with the striving to get closer to Him every day.  I have to admit not always successful, but boy, am I trying!

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The words tell us that we should seek for the old path and walk therein (Jeremiah 6:16).  Whilst words are always good and declarations are wonderful, the knowledge of the old path is one thing, but more importantly, so are our actions.

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As we seek to develop our walk with God, we sometimes do not realise that the things we do to our fellow Christians, and to those outside of Christendom, enables us to accumulate treasures of great substance.  These treasures are not necessarily physical but spiritual as they emanate from the heart of good men and women.

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I am praying that every word conveyed and action displayed to my fellow man, to include family members, will convey a part of that treasure that God has enabled me to accumulate.  The recipient will be blessed and will see the need to bless others where they are able to do so.

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In closing, I'm RICH and hopefully getting RICHER!!!!

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Much love and blessings to All.

 

PJ

03 October 2023

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Good  morning, Ministers, brothers and sisters.

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This morning we were led to pray for the areas in which our churches represented.

Gang knife crime is a sickening pandemic, which is sweeping not just the inner cities but is extending to the provincial areas.  Destroying our youth, the families of the victims, and also the perpetrator's.

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A Pandemic develops when the virus is allowed to flourish.  In my quiet time, the Lord showed me in Psalms 118 how we should be proactive in our prayers binding and destroying every demonic attack against our young men and women.  The latest casualty was a 16 year old stabbed to death in Edmonton by two balaclava youth outside his home.  This is in addition to the 15 year old girl violently stabbed to death in Croydon.

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Can we please agree in prayer that we will petition God for his help in this pandemic that this virus be destroyed, our churches are receptive and open to young folk, that we reach out to our young people in our local areas, talking and inviting them to church through a Sunday service or through a youth group, arranging for activities that would get our young people off the streets and under our covering for us to talk and minister to them.

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As a young minister, I was amazed at how the late Bishop Bell knew and remembered every one of his young people and children in his church.  Not blessed with that gift, I have developed a list on my mobile phone, and when a young person joins our youth group or attends our service, they are added to that list and we call out their names in prayer at every opportunity for protection, their development, education and more importantly salvation.

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There are more things that we can do regarding our youth on the streets with relevant workshops and discussions, such as getting them to focus on their future, courting and other life skills.  You may not agree with some of my approaches but let us try.

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Getting to know the parents of the youth is important, as a large percentage of our youth do not have parents attending our church.

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A final thought.

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Sinners are turned into Saint, through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Saints become ministers of the great gospel and the future of our church is secured.  Let us as a church invest in our local youth that are on the streets.  It's not easy, but we know that with God, all things are possible.

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God bless you, brothers, as we carry out the work of the Lord with our youth in our respective areas.

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Pastor Joe

09 September 2023

 

Good morning Saints, I trust you are all well and enjoying the warm weather.

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I was thinking how, in the past eight months, God has led me to claim victory for each day that he has allowed me to live.

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Yes, I am not exempt from every temptation and fleshly desires, but recognising that in the midst of these issues, God has been awesome.

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Every day is a challenge to live right and not be hap-hazard in my operations.

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The reality is that every day, spiritually, we are climbing a mountain, trying to secure a foothold and stretching forth to spiritually cling to that part of the mountain that enables me to go higher.  Every one of us has a Mount Everest to climb.  At the bottom of the mountain, when we look at what we have to climb, it may look very hard to conquer, and the tendency is to give up but others have succeeded, so why can't I?

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As we climb, there are things to shed, the unnecessary things that can weigh us down and then to fix our thoughts on the Christ who has saved us and changed us, and as we allow him, the Holy Spirit is changing us to walk in a better way each day.

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Philippians 3:14 says that we should forget those things that are behind us and to reach forward to those things that will help us to grow and develop.

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For that mountaineer, if he remains halfway up the mountain ad does not progress, it is likely that he/she will not succeed, resulting in a number of unfortunate things.

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Jesus is very brutal on the subject when in Luke 9:62, he says no one who puts their hand on the plough and looks back is not worthy of the Kingdom of God.

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Let us not try but STRIVE to make it in to Heaven, serving God with all meekness.  LET US NOT GIVE UP! Galatians 6:9

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Much Love and Blessings

 

 PJ

27th August 2023

 

Good Morning Saints.

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I woke up thanking God for many things, in particular placing peace in my heart that comes through via allowing God's fruits to develop in my life.  I have problems and concerns, but truthfully, I am learning to pray and leave them with God, as HE instructs us to via His Word (1 Peter 5:6-7).

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For those who may be in the ministry or who have not yet started to operate in your ministry, or you are a child of God, through Salvation, praying for God's help and then leaving it with him to address and to determine the solution is faith.  I am asking you DO NOT GET INVOLVED, TRYING TO FIND A SOLUTION.  You will only develop anxiety and will cease to operate in true faith especially all God wants is TRUE FAITH that comes from a heart that has been radicalised, broken up and ploughed up ready to receive the seed of God's word.

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Be still and know that I am God (Psalms 46:10).  He is in control.

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God bless you as you go through your trials and tests.  Take up the cross as you follow God and serve Him with all of your heart (Mark 8:34)

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Much love and blessings

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PJ

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