Gospel News — Mar-May 2012

NEWS FROM BROTHERS & SISTERS

Sister Bertha relaxing and doing her readings.

LINGA

Now we have five ecclesias in this area: Mnduluka, Mkaika, Mwamsambo, Linga, Thale and Msenjele May God bless, and all I want is some more Bible Basics and Bible books. I am eagerly waiting my brother John Aldersley from New Zealand so that he can assist with baptism, God willing.

MTENTHELA

God "will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath." Rom.2:6- 8. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor.5:10.

We saw earlier that God offers us salvation, Titus 3:5, but the Bible says that we will be judged by our works. Nowhere does it say that we will be judged by our faith. How can this be? This is not a contradiction. If we have a vehicle which works well, do we say that vehicle became well-built by doing its job well? No, there is nothing it could do to become well built, yet the true test of how well it is built is how it works. So we are created in Jesus Christ unto good works, Eph.2:10. We are saved by faith but tested (or judged) by our works. That is

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why faith without works is dead. (James 2:17). God can see our hearts. He would not need to see our works to know how to judge us. However, by our works we can tell if we are truly His children. It is for our benefit that He tells us how He will judge.

MZUZU

A child would go around bare without any feeling of shame. However, the opposite is true with a normal grownup person. If you happen to see an adult person going around naked be assured that, that person is not normal.

The Bible presents the word nakedness in this way: Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, realized that they were naked. This realization was accompanied with shame. In other words, these first two parents had sinned.

They went around looking for a covering for their nakedness, but what they discovered was not ideal enough. It was God who had the solution for their covering: An animal was slain and its skin was used for man's covering.

This animal slaying had foreshadowed one vital thing: the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God prepared for the covering of our sins. One thing is important: we need to admit that we are naked (sinners) and hence the need for our covering – Jesus.

NENO

Thanks very much for the 2 cartons of Bible Basics and other booklets, that is what I wanted, and as I said, it is my duty now to distribute them to various places and to different people. I am happy receiving these books so that the word of GOD may spread. I am hoping some will be ready for baptism by the time Bro Aldersley comes.

NGABU

I want to thank CAT for the books as they will enable me to teach my fellow friends the