Bethany Baptist Church Blog

Man of Sorrows – The Saviour for the grieving

Text: Isaiah 53v3 “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…”

Introduction

One feels so much for those who grieve over the loss of a loved one. We have all been through that – and it is painful!

J.I Packer defined grief as follows “It is an inward desolation that follows the losing of something or someone we loved – a child, relative, life partner, a job, ones hopes, ones dreams, one’s health or whatever.” When we lose something or someone we love and cherish we feel a sense of loss and grief. When it is someone close that we have loved for so long, the pain can be intense. There is a longing and yearning for one who was so much part of your life. Continue reading »

Comfort, Gospel, Grief

Fight the Good Fight

sacrifice-the-privilege-of-free-men-war-is-hell-store

“Fight the good fight of the faith.” 1 Here are words fit for a soldier. A bold encouragement to take up arms, to struggle, to resist, to attack and to defend. The Apostle in times past gives an earnest plea for his dear friend to fight. The words come down to us and the charge is made afresh. Fight. Before any war should be waged, some solemn questions need to be asked. Why should I fight? What am I fighting… Continue reading »

How to Pray for the Soul – Yours or Another

Article posted by John Samson in Effectual Grace

by Dr. John Piper, Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

For thoughtful people, how they pray for the soul is governed by how they believe God acts. So, for example, if they believe God changes people’s souls so that they make new and right choices, then they will ask God to make those soul-changes through evangelism and nurture. But not everybody is thoughtful about the way they pray. They don’t think about what view of God is behind their praying.

So what I suggest is that we learn first to pray for the soul from the way the Bible prays for the soul. If we do that, then our prayers will probably be good prayers, and in the process we will also learn about how God acts. Here is the way I pray for my soul. I use these prayers over and over again—for myself and my children and wife and for the staff and the elders and for all the church. This is the meat and potatoes of my prayer life.

Tribute to my Dad, Martin Holdt – Forever with the Lord!

What a privilege it is to be able to stand before you and speak a few words concerning my father.

I would like to briefly mention 3 areas of my father’s life that stand out:

Firstly, I think of his preaching ministry

As a child even in my unconverted state I believed that my father was the greatest preacher ever. I clearly remember the passion and fervour with which he preached. He loved Christ. He loved the Word of God. He loved the church of our Lord Jesus.

If I were to describe my father in a simple biblical phrase it would be with the words “man of God.” Like Moses, like Elijah he was a man of God. Those of you who knew him will remember him as a man of godly conviction and persuasion. He stood firm on the reformation principal of “Sola Scriptura” – The Word of God alone. He did not make decisions in his ministry as to what was popular in evangelical circles; he did not pander to human applause; his pastoral leadership and decision making was based upon the principle “What does the Word of God say?” When he preached one had no doubts that his goal was to preach the uncompromised truth of the Word. He had a fear of God which superseded any fear of man which enabled him to remain firmly committed to the truth when others in the ministry would compromise to popular appeal. He would no doubt want me to appeal to those of you who are ministers of the gospel here today to be faithful to the Word rather than seeking worldly fame and applause.

Jonathan Holdt

7 January 2012

Articles, News & Events, Pastoral

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Martin Holdt Tribute

The Forgotten Prayer Meeting

The power of prayer is immense! Prayer full of faith in Christ, in his Word and his promises is embracing omnipotence itself and unleashing heavenly power that strikes terror into the forces of darkness. God’s people have always been amazingly helped in times of extremity when they have lifted up their cries to God in faith. Think of Hezekiah who was faced with the might of the Assyrian army that had invaded Judah and were threatening to utterly destroy the kingdom of Judah. He turned to God in prayer, crying to the Lord for deliverance. We know the end result of that prayer – an angel from God sent to decimate the Assyrian army. 185000 soldiers killed in one night by this mighty angel of God! (Isaiah 37) What deliverance in answer to prayer! Think of Peter locked up in prison about to be executed. He was chained, between two guards and behind iron doors with no human way of escape. He had no connection in government that could arrange for his release. No human army was on the way to rescue this poor disciple of Jesus. But God’s people were praying for Peter. And God sent an answer to their prayers – an angel sent to rescue Peter from prison. What a scene unfolds as Peter is roused from sleep in prison by the angel, his chains fall off and he is led safely out of the prison before seemingly blinded guards. What deliverance! What power in prayer. Many such stories could be told of God’s answers to prayer, both in biblical times as well as through the age of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer is powerful! Prayer is of great importance! How much we need to pray in the battle we fight against the powers of Satan and sin. All God’s people need to rally together in joint, concerted prayer in this great spiritual battle we are engaged in. Continue reading »

Finding Satisfaction in Life

Finding satisfaction in life

““Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13, ESV)

In these words God calls us to be amazed and shocked at the absolute stupidity of our decisions when it comes to finding satisfaction in life. We all want to be happy. We make decisions that we suppose will lead to happiness but often we leave God out the picture. We don’t ask, “What is His will.” We don’t seek to please Him in our decision making. It all boils down to what we want; what will make us happy without any thought of God. The result of this is that we find ourselves frustrated and dissatisfied in many ways. We are like Cain, restless wanderers, until we find true rest and full satisfaction in the living water that God provides.

Life, Living water, Satisfaction

Reflections on Mashushu outreach in November 2011

By Jonathan Holdt

Mashushu, a remote tribal village nestled between mountains in the Limpopo province was our destination as we left the city of Pretoria on Friday, 11^th November. At about 10am a group of six men climbed into two vehicles and headed North on the 7 hour trip. This group consisted of myself, Buks van Ellewee, Danie Nel, David Sage, Benji du Toit and Martin Geerdink. We stopped off for an hour in Hammanskraal to visit pastor Johannes Sebopa who is busy with a church planting work in a poor section of Hammanskraal. Driving out of Hammanskraal one was made aware yet again of the massive need there is for church planting and solid gospel preaching across our needy land. Just after 5 pm we arrived out our camp site in Mashushu. We were grateful for the vehicles of Danie and Martin that enabled us to negotiate the rough and rocky roads from Mafefe to Mashushu. Pastor Lazarus and his wife, Rose joined us later that evening for supper. He spoke of the numerous challenges and difficulties they were experiencing including the problem of sexual immorality among some members within the church. He spoke too of the witchcraft in the valley. We knew this was a spiritual battle and that we needed to be clothed with heavenly power in our ministry as well as to be in fervent prayer for Lazarus and the church.

Steve Jobs and his view of death

The greatest lie that anyone can believe is that there is nothing to fear after death. Steve Jobs for all his intellectual brilliance believed a terrible lie that has devastating consequences. He had everything materially he could have wanted prior to his death – fame and wealth beyond imagination. In reality however, he grasped hold of a lie that held him captive and plunges so many to eternal ruin.

Bead-a-thon in Aid of Pregnancy Crisis Centres

On Saturday, 01 October 2011 at the Kolonnade Retail Park with Pieter Koen as the master of ceremonies, history was in the making when Amato (formerly Neo-birth and situated in Pretoria) and Bethany Pregnancy Crisis Centres (situated in Centurion) attempted to break the current Guinness World Record^®of the longest chain of beads currently held by U.S.A. Their 1 759m was achieved on 20 November 2010.

The Sabbath day is a full day

Devout Christian Euan Murray has questioned the need for World Cup matches to be played on Sundays. The Scottish prop has chosen to prioritise his faith this weekend, meaning he will miss Scotland’s Pool B clash with Argentina on Sunday. “I don’t believe in pick ‘n’ mix Christianity,” he said. “It’s not a case of a couple of hours in church then playing rugby or going down the pub, it’s the full day.”

The article appeared on BBC sport on Thursday the 22nd of September 2011 and can be read here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/15016776.stm

Past Jonathan Holdt

Man of Sorrows – The Saviour for the grieving

Fight the Good Fight

How to Pray for the Soul – Yours or Another

Tribute to my Dad, Martin Holdt – Forever with the Lord!

The Forgotten Prayer Meeting

Finding Satisfaction in Life

Reflections on Mashushu outreach in November 2011

Steve Jobs and his view of death

Bead-a-thon in Aid of Pregnancy Crisis Centres

The Sabbath day is a full day

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