I am sending you messages for Good Friday, Sunday and Tuesday Bible Study.

On Good Friday at 3pm for those are who available we will be having communion in our own houses but being aware that we are not alone. We are part of a worldwide community of believers who will be together in spirit remembering the Lord till He comes.

Please, if you are able on Good Friday at 3pm to celebrate alone, or if there are other believers in your household celebrate with them the Last Supper. You will need bread, wine (Ribena or water). At 3pm stand for 1 minute silence in respect for what the Lord Jesus has done for us. Please have communion after you have read the message below.

Pray and sing a song

Please read Luke 22: 44 -56

It took them 33 and ½ years for the authorities to put their hands on Him. We know through the scriptures that when Jesus was born, King Herod tried to kill Him (Matthew 2:13-18). More than once  people tried to kill Jesus (Luke 4:28-30;John 11:53). Even though it took them 33 ½ years to lay their hands on Him, they were always harassing Him. Jesus was truly bullied by many people in those days. His enemies tried to embarrass Him, tried to cause Him to say or do something against the law of God, they tried hard to incriminate Him, but they could not because He was an innocent man. It took them a long time, but a day came when Jesus was caught by those who hated Him.

In the mind of the disciples it was just another Passover meal and it was a  time when they reminisced about the escape of the Hebrew children from Egypt. It was a very meaningful day when the whole Jewish nation would stop and celebrate the Passover. However this Passover was a different one from all the other Passover celebrations which took place. They were a representation of the True Passover. The True Passover would be when God Himself would be the Lamb to be sacrificed for us. In Genesis 22:7,8 we read about Isaac asking Abraham a question ‘Father, the fire and the wood are here but where is lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham gave an answer ‘God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering’. We know that God did provide a lamb and Isaac’s life was spared. The question asked by Isaac ‘where is the lamb?’, was also answered by John the Baptist. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said ‘Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Going back to the last Passover meal Jesus had with the disciples, He was eager to eat it with them (Luke 22:15). When Jesus entered the room and saw everything was prepared for them to ‘enjoy the feast’,  because for the Jews it was a festive occasion – Jesus saw the lamb on the table He knew what it represented, it represented Him, who would be the  very sacrifice that would be taking place just in matter of hours. 33 and ½ years and the time had come for the authorities to lay their hands on Him because He could not escape any longer. No, it was for this very hour Jesus had come into the world. Jesus willingly gave Himself into the hands of those who were going to crucify Him.  Isaac had a lamb which took his place, but Jesus was the very Lamb that was going to take our place. He prayed and cried out to God to help Him “Father if you are willing take this cup from Me” (Luke 22:42). God had the power to do so, God had the power to take that cup from Jesus, however, God decided not to. It broke God’s heart when His only Son cried out and pleaded with Him to pass that cup from Him. God knew it was the only way mankind could be brought back to Himself. God’s commitment to redeem mankind was stronger than His desire to spare His Son. God knew this was the only way we could find forgiveness and reconciliation with Him. The whole of the universe felt the pain of what was taking place. The Lord did not share The Last Passover only with His disciples, spiritually speaking He shared it with all of us. When we take Communion together we remember what He has done for us.

Calvary was not an accident in Jesus’ history. Calvary was planned by God. God in His infinite compassion provided a Lamb that was slain for us to take away our sin. Good Friday is a day of great paradox. A great paradox because an innocent man – Jesus – was found guilty so that the guilty ones could go free – us. It was a day of great sadness but also of great joy. Sadness because Jesus died, but joy because through His death we obtain eternal life. It was a day of what seemed to be a great defeat when  the Son of God was sacrificed, bur also great joy, because through His sacrifice we find forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

It was done for us, it was done for me.

God bless you.

At this moment if you wish sing a song to the Lord – I would suggest ‘When I survey the wondrous cross.

Now as we take communion together first we give God thanks for giving us Jesus.

If you have done anything you know that has displeased the Lord confess it now.

Open your bible and 1 Corinthians 11:23 – 26

Break the bread which represents the broken body of Jesus, pray and eat the bread

Take wine which represents the blood of Jesus, pray and drink the cup.

Tuesday Bible Study

The Lord’s Supper – 14/04/20

Pray and ask the Lord to speak into your heart.

We have just celebrated Good Friday. Good Friday gives a very clear teaching of the Last Supper and in our Bible Study today we are going to look at Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper.

Sing to worship Him.

Read 1 Corinthians 11: 17-33

The city of Corinth was, and is located in the south of Greece. Paul first visited it during his second missionary journey. Corinth was a port city and because of that it was influenced by many different parts of the world. It was a very idolatrous town and also promiscuous . This is the sort of place where Paul took the gospel and he succeeded to plant a church which developed well. However, to put all of these people together proved to be a big challenge and they had a lot to learn in how to behave as children of God. They had a heart for God but it was necessary for them to learn to do things in God’s ways. Paul was afraid their meeting was causing more harm than good (in verse 17). This is a challenge to us as believers today  – our gathering should do more good than harm. We are part of the meeting and not just spectators. Paul had a lot to teach the people in Corinth of how to behave as Christians. In this passage we just read he was teaching them about ‘The Lord’s Supper’. These people came from a pagan background and found salvation in Christ but they did not have a Christian culture to support their new faith and they were doing things that weren’t right and Paul was teaching them how to live in newness of life.

It was part of the pagan culture of those days when people were meeting together in the pagan temples to eat and drink. The animals that were sacrificed to the pagan gods would be slaughtered and cooked and the meat given to the people to eat. The person who paid for the sacrifice ‘the patron’ he, and his family and friends would be the first ones to eat and also to drink. Then the rest of the food would be distributed to others and some people who were hungry would be fighting over the food and drink. Those people used to have proper food parties in the pagan temples and some people would go there only to eat and drink. Of course, when some of these people were converted to Christianity inadvertently they brought with them their pagan culture which would not resemble at all the Jewish Passover meal.  Paul took the opportunity to teach them about the ‘new faith they had embraced’. In our own walk with God we can be discouraged when we see people doing things that are not quite right. Do not lose heart but be willing to teach them the ways of God, it is part of discipling them about God.

To avoid problems of gluttony and drunkenness, Paul taught the Corinthians to eat and drink at home so that when they would have the Lord’s Supper together they would concentrate upon Jesus sacrifice. Paul never met with the Lord, he was not part of those who were present in the Last Supper, but he learned to ‘remember the Lord till He comes’.  The broken bread symbolizes the broken body of Jesus. All the physical and emotional torture He went through in order to save us. The punishment that was upon Him, was our punishment. He did not do anything that deserved such cruel punishment. The wine is a symbol of Jesus blood which was shed for us. Blood in the Bible represents life. The Lord Jesus shed His blood ‘life’ to redeem us from our sins. He paid the price.

Paul also calls to our attention for us not to participate of the Lord’s table with sin in our hearts. That’s why it is important for people to put their lives right with God and in some instances with others before they take communion. If we do it with impure hearts we are going to be bringing judgement upon ourselves. It is very unwise and it shows no fear of God when we take communion with sin in our lives. Paul said that it could even bring death to those who dare to do so (in verse 30).

One of the things we should refrain from doing is  looking around and thinking ‘this or that person should not be taking communion, I know what they have been up to’. Paul came across this problem in his days and that’s why he says in verses 28 to 31 ‘ let a man examine himself and judge himself’. I am not saying that we approve of people’s wrong doing, what I am saying is, when taking communion concentrate on what the Lord has done for you when he died on Calvary and do not be distracted from it.  During the Last Supper the Lord served even Judas Iscariot the one who betrayed Him. Communion is for us to partake in Remembrance of Him.

Prayer Points;

Joanne Morgan, and Joanna Davies (Mair’s daughter) as they work in Tonna Hospital.

People who are unwell

John Jervis, Kathy, Bethany, Terry Brock, June Harris, John Jervis, Alun Jones (Maureen’s brother)

Keep praying for those who are in the frontline (doctors, nurses, shop keepers, carers etc)

Pray for vaccination and medicine to combat Coronavirus to be found

Pray for the leadership in our country. Pray for the Prime Minister Boris Johnson

VALE OF NEATH PRACTICE – EASTER OPENING 2020

Easter Weekend 2020

The Vale Of Neath Practice has decided to open over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, to help support our colleagues working in secondary care during this COVID-19 pandemic.

This means we are available for our registered patients to contact us with any urgent medical problem, as you usually do, rather than contacting 111 for the out of hours service.

Please note that we kindly ask that you contact us for urgent medical problems only, as we will not have the usual numbers of staff to be able to deal with routine or admin enquiries during the Easter weekend.

Our opening hours will be:

Good Friday: 08:00 – 18:30

Easter Saturday: 08:00 – 13:00

Easter Sunday: 08:00 – 13:00

Easter Monday: 08:00 – 18:30

Many thanks for your continued patience and support, as we all deal with this ever evolving situation.

The Vale Of Neath Practice

{Please COPY the following LINK and PASTE into your Browser}

https://www.valeofneathgps.org/news.aspx?pr=W98046

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Food Package: The free food package from Neath Port Talbot (NPT) contains a variety of essentials including pasta, cooking oil, pasta sauce, long life milk, spreadable butter, a variety of fruit and vegetables, tinned goods such as baked beans/soup, eggs and biscuits. The NPT food distribution centre will cater for dietary needs and are hoping to add ready meals to the list of items in the parcel. Members of the community can either have a one off delivery or a weekly delivery. The food package is free and delivered directly to the person.

Better to Stand Alone than to Follow the Crowd – Message 05/04/20

In the book of Acts 14 :8 – 20; we read a very interesting story on Paul and Barnabas’ ministry. The story is interesting for different reasons (a miracle took place, Paul and Barnabas were seen as gods. Paul and Barnabas reaction, the change of mind of the crowd, Paul and Barnabas courage). This episode took place during their first missionary journey and it was in the city of Lystra. Lystra was located in Asia Minor, in modern day – Turkey. This story took place during Paul’s first missionary journey. Paul and his companions were visiting the city of Lystra and they came across a man who was paralyzed from birth. So, he never walked or climbed a tree. He was very limited in what he could do. When Paul saw him he had a spiritual discernment that that man had faith to be healed. Paul commanded the gentleman to walk and straight away he started walking. When the crowds saw what had just taken place, the people started shouting ‘the gods are amongst us’. They thought they were two of their pagan gods and they wanted to offer sacrifices to them. The gods the crowd proclaimed them to be were Zeus and Hermes. Zeus in ancient Greek mythology was the god of sky, lightning and thunder, and ruler of all the gods on Mount Olympus. Hermes was the god over many different activities but above all he was the herald and messenger. Paul and Barnabas were horrified that people could even consider the idea they were gods. So they tore their clothes just to prove they were flesh and bones like them. Paul and Barnabas made the most of a ‘bad situation’ and used it to proclaim the kingdom of God. We need to learn to make sure miracles are to point the way to God and highlight His power. Miracles are not to prove what a great man/woman of God we are. Miracles are not to highlight our faith but God’s power and compassion. It is the responsibility of the believer to point people out to the Lord and teach about His ways. The enemy tried to spoil what God was doing by diverting peoples’ attention to pagan gods. How dare he?

The crowds were very impressed with them, but soon after this so amazing episode, some of the Jews from Antioch turned the same crowd against Paul and Barnabas. The Jewish people hated the paganism of the Hellenistic culture. However, they hated Paul even more so, to the point, they were willing to side with those who were on the wrong instead of adhering to the truth. They  became friends with their spiritual enemies in order to cause problems to God’s cause. Hatred is a very ugly thing and it is always destructive, no good thing will come out as a result of hatred. If you have a hint of hatred in your heart, ask the Lord to set you free from it. It will cause massive problems later on if you do not deal with it. The Jews won the crowd over and now they saw Paul and Barnabas as two evil people and Paul was stoned by the crowd. They stopped throwing stones at him because they thought he was dead.  It is just shocking how the crowd changed their mind and behaviour so promptly. People lose their sense of responsibility when they are in a crowd. Things they do when in a crowd they would never do if they were alone. The government has used an expression in order to contain the Coronavirus ‘herd Immunization’, I think I can understand what they mean and what they are doing. But looking from a different perspective, we Christians are not a ‘herd’ we are ‘flock’ and our Shepherd is the good Shepherd. We Christians, we must learn to stand as individuals even when in the midst of a crowd. We cannot allow the crowd to carry us with them, we are individuals and we are going to face God as individuals. Our relationship with God is strengthened in our individual relationship with Him. Please, do not misunderstand me, it is wonderful to be part of a good community, it is wonderful to belong to a good and solid Christian fellowship, but it can never take away the fact that our relationship with the Lord is first and mostly based upon a personal (individual) relationship with Him . During this time of ‘quarantine’ , please keep in touch with one another and encourage one another. However, we are experiencing an historical event in our lives, something very rare is taking place now and many nations are on lock down. My advice to you is ‘make the most of it and learn to develop your own relationship with the Lord’. If we take such a step we as a fellowship of believers will come out on the other end of the tunnel much stronger and healthier than when we first entered it. It is a possibility that we have to work on it, but we need to work on it as individuals, so, when we meet up again we are going to be a much stronger community. We need to learn to be a strong individual but in the midst of a crowd.

If you carry on reading the story, you will see Paul and his companions went from Lystra do Derbe and after Derbe they went back to Lystra to encourage the disciples. In the midst of all of this trouble Paul and Barnabas stood against the crowd, paid the price and made an impression 0n peoples’ lives, the fact is that they returned to the place where they suffered a lot to encourage the local church. We cannot allow negative experiences in life to put us off, if we allow that we have lost the battle.

Just to finish if you look at Acts 16:1, you see Paul in his second missionary journey went to Lystra ‘again’ and there he found a disciple called Timothy. Most probably he and his mother were converted during Paul’s first visit or as a result of the first visit. Learn to stand as an individual in the crowd and God will certainly stand by your side. As Marlene says. ‘A man with God is a majority’.

God bless

As it is the first Sunday of the month and we always have Communion together we are going to have it now in our own homes. If there are other believers in your household ask them to join you. If there aren’t other believers in your household you take it alone. You will need bread and wine; if you do not have wine you can use Ribena or just water. We are going to celebrate it only on the first Sunday of the month but you feel free to celebrate it different days of the month.

The broken bread symbolizes the body of Jesus that was broken for us.

The wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus that was shed for us.

Read your Bible in 1 Corinthians 11:23 – 26.

Pray and give God thanks for Jesus broken body and then eat the bread

Give God thanks for Jesus blood and then drink the wine

Bible Study – 07/04/20

Today we are going to be looking at the life story of Joseph. The name Joseph in the Bible means ‘the Lord will add’. I am sure we are all very familiar with the story of Joseph. He was Jacob’s 11^th son and the first one with his wife Rachel. Joseph was one of twelve boys and his father’s favourite. We should have no favourites but it shows us the honesty of the biblical accounts. Favouritism will cause problems within a family. Joseph had a coat of many colours (there is a play about it). He had dreams from God and he spoke them out. His brothers were jealous of him and because of that they even planned to murder him but instead they sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites who in turn sold him to the Egyptians. It was a terrifying experience for Joseph, he was betrayed by his own, his own planned to murder him, but instead sold him as an object. Sometimes we think to ourselves ‘I am a Christian and look at the mess my family is in’. It is right to ask questions but it is wrong to think because you are godly you are vaccinated against troubles and disappointments. Joseph went from being a favourite son to be a slave, as a slave he had no shoes to wear, no rights whatsoever, he needed to learn a new culture, a new language, he was taken to the human market and sold as a slave. We know the outcome of Joseph’s story, but he did not. He needed to wake up every day and believe God was going to step in. Today we are going to concentrate on chapter 39, it is when Joseph was sold as a slave to Potiphar who was the captain of the Palace guard.

In the book of Genesis chapter 39, things started going well for Joseph and the Lord was prospering him. We read 3 times in this chapter and ‘God was with Joseph’ – verses 3,21,23. Joseph was young, handsome and above all he feared God. Potiphar’s wife desired him but he ran away from her but left behind his cloak. That cloak became evidence of a crime he never committed. I am sure Joseph created in himself the ‘garment complex’. Twice in his life he was in trouble because of a garment – one of many colours and the other one he left in Potiphar’s house. Joseph was found guilty of a crime he never committed and down to prison he went. He had no one to fight his cause, he was alone and once again betrayed but this time in a foreign country. Even though it was painful to be betrayed by Potiphar’s wife it was not as painful as being betrayed by his own brothers.

The closer the person is to you, the more painful is the betrayal. A friend is supposed to protect you and not harm you. Joseph got in trouble because of his good character because he feared God. If you get in trouble because of your faithfulness towards God in a very positive way be proud of yourself. Joseph was found guilty but the most important thing was ‘God and Joseph’ both knew he was innocent. You can see the hand of God in this whole matter because Joseph was supposed to have been punished with death but his life was spared. The prison Joseph went to was for those who have acted against the national interest of those days – treason -. It was a very harsh prison and Joseph was there for many years. What catches our eyes in verse 20 ‘Joseph was in the king’s Prison’. Even today we believers  are confined into  God’s Prison. Lots of us are confined to our houses, we are in the ‘King’s Prison’. God has not lost control of the situation, God is doing something much bigger than what we can see or understand. Carrying on reading the story we learn Joseph tried to get out of prison, any of us would have done the same. Praise God, He did not allow Joseph out of prison before ‘His’ time. God elevated Joseph, but before He elevated him he brought him to a very low place. The wonderful thing is that in all this process ‘God was with Joseph’. This ‘confinement’ we are facing now can drive us mad or can drive us to a very close relationship with the Saviour. I do not believe in the prosperity theology but God certainly will prosper us in our lives and will teach some very important lessons that is costing the whole world billions if not trillions of pounds. So, my advice to you is ‘be still and know He is God’. We are seeing the mighty hand of God acting in ways we could not even think or imagine. What a wonderful God we serve. Joseph could not even dream of becoming the second man in command of the most powerful nation on earth in those days. But God did it and not Joseph.

Prayer Points:

John Jervis, June Harris, Phillys, Vernon, Kathy

People working for the NHS

Sharon France, Savannah, Rebecca and Nigel Rhys, Vicky, Gareth and Anna LLewllyn, Gaynor, Hanna Williams, Dr Paul Harries. Rebecca Chappel-Harries, Alison (Marion’s Daughter)

Pray for our country and its leaders

Pray for our fellowship and God will keep us close to him and close to each other

Phone people and check how they are.

Coming Friday is Good Friday and we are going to have a Special Remembrance Service at 3pm.  We will have Communion together and meditate on God’s love for us.

God bless

Pastor Fortunato Santos