This week we look into Jonah as we continue with our "minor prophets" series. Stacey walks us through how Jonah ends up in the belly of a fish and how he ultimately ends up where God had called him to be. Some encouraging points to take home from this sermon are

1. God calls

2. God pursues

3. God forgives

“Wherever you go, you will find that what you, are running from is there ahead of you.” Rowan Williams

On women's day in South Africa, Colleen walks us through the book of Obadiah as we continue with our "minor prophets" sermon series. As we consider Obadiah, we should reflect on whether we identify with Obadiah and his purpose within his context and ask ourselves the following questions

• Is God inviting you or us to take action, to take the risk of speaking out against injustice, oppression and cruelty?
• Is God opening the way for you to be a voice speaking on behalf of the poor, the marginalised, the unloved, the maltreated?
• Is God asking us to be beacons of hope in a despairing world?

"The role of the prophet is to criticise injustice and energise hope" (Walter Brueggeman)

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

DC Talk

This week, Brendan walks us through the book of Amos. exploring themes of justice and hypocrisy giving us a timely reminder that God hates fake faith. In us pursuing a life void of hypocrisy, Brendan shares some things we should look out for. These include

• A divided heart - We serve other masters (idols)
• The desire for approval - When reputation becomes more important than integrity
• Self-deception - We easily overlook our own sin
• Cognitive dissonance - Our actions conflict with our beliefs
• Self-serving bias - We interpret events in ways that protect our self-esteem or ‘our people’.
• Moral licensing - After doing something good we feel we have earned the right to behave less ethically later.

The book ends with a promise of restoration. Despite our shortcomings, God does not give up on us. He was able and willing to restore us to what we ought to be!

In beginning a new sermon series on "The call of the minor prophets", Martin looks into the life of Hosea. Before diving into the life of Hosea, he teaches us that the "minor" prophets are not regarded as "minor" because they are less important but simply because their writings are short and their messages were tailored to their present day.

There are key lessons, Martin draws fro the story of Hosea that we can apply in our lives. These are

1. Let our lives be a witness to God

2. Receive Jesus as our redeemer

3. Turn from idols and turn to God

4. We ought to pray for repentance and revival.

In continuing with our Meeting Jesus sermon series, Brendan walks through Acts 16 wherein Paul & Silas end up in prison and God encounters the jailor. From this encounter and the events leading up to it, we learn that

1. The gospel disrupts

2. Faithfulness does not equal comfort

3. Comfort does not equal joy

4. The gospel creates a new community

"Acts 10 is one of the most revolutionary chapters in the New Testament." NT Wright

In returning to our meeting Jesus sermon series, Brendan walks us through Acts 10 which looks into Cornelius' encounter with God and Peter. Key lessons we learn from this encounter are

1. The Gospel Is for everyone

2. God may challenge our preferences and traditions

3. The Holy Spirit works beyond our expectations

As we commemorate youth day in South Africa, Keenan looks into the story of Saul who is a man who carries deep conviction much like the youth of 1976 albeit, Saul's conviction is misguided. Keenan walks us through the journey of Sauls conversion to becoming Paul.

This week, Brendan looks into the faith of a man who had met with Jesus but has not been transformed in the depth of his heart. Brendan further encourages to guard against fraudulent faith which often looks like

1. Faith that is only intellectual

2. Temporary faith

3. Faith based on miracles

4. Profession without relationship

Instead we should pursue genuine faith. That is a faith that loves God and loves people. A faith that produces fruit of the spirit and a faith that is dependant on God's grace.

As we continue looking into encounters with the risen Jesus, we engage with encounters in scripture that happened after the. day of pentecost. This week, Keenan walks us through an encounter between the Ethiopian eunuch and God through Phillip. Keenan aptly reminds us through this text and in the words of David Bosch that it is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission who has a church in the world. Some lessons. we learn from this encounter are

1. We can expect God to constantly be at work.

2. We should pray and be expectant of God's Holy disruption.

3. We ought to rest in His finished work.

As we learn from this encounter, we ought to also lean in to the Holy Spirit to lead us into an encounter with someone who needs it just as the Ethiopian needed it.

Reflecting on the day of pentecost, Brendan shares and causes us to reflect on the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit.