Why we must get in trouble

No one wants to get in trouble. If possible we avoid that. But to get in trouble is unavoidable in life. Christianity does not offer an easy escape. On the contrary, believers in Jesus Christ face troubles they otherwise would not have had. Why? It might help us to understand more about the reasons. Upcoming Sunday we read from God’s Word I Peter 4:12-19. Here we receive understanding, comfort and equipment for hard times.  We invite you to join the service and learn more.

CELEBRATE HOLY COMMUNION
Upcoming Sunday we will celebrate Holy Communion as a fellowship. We warmly invite everyone connected to the ICF-Delft professing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour to join this communion, in person, or online. After the live streamed YouTube service, we will open a Zoom meeting, so that those joining from their homes can participate in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We always encourage to prepare for the Lord’s Supper. But how can you do that? In the Campus Bible Study we learnt that we might do that by reading I Corinthians 13 several times and then listen to what the Lord tells us through this passage. So you might also do this to prepare yourself for our Holy Communion service. If you have any questions or hesitations concerning participation in the communion, do not hesitate to let me (ds.josslager@gmail.com) or any other council member know!

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Pentecost service: How you can face the future

What do you think your future will look like? Much depends on this question. We need to think of the future, we should think of it – whether we like it or not. But can you think of the future with confidence and joy? Can your thoughts of the future even inspire you to act out of confidence and joy in your daily life, rather than out of fear and anxiety? Through faith in Christ, we can! God sent his Son Jesus to save us. From a bad future. For a good future. And God sent his Spirit to sanctify us. Which means: to transform our lives so that they are adapted and prepared for the future. No, God will not save us, because we are so well adapted for the future. But because He saved us from a bad future, He will also sanctify us and make us ready for a good future. This is what Pentecost is all about. Upcoming Sunday you can learn more about this, when we read from the Bible I Peter 4:7-11.

You are so welcome to join the service in person! (Please, register beforehand). Or to join online! A wonderful and blessed Pentecost to you all!

 

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Anxiety deeply dealt with

We all know feelings of anxiety at times – don’t we? Even if we don’t, we know enough people who do. Can anxiety be dealt with? And has the Bible a meaningful message in case we struggle with feelings of anxiety?

Upcoming Sunday we will see it certainly has! Feelings of anxiety are closely related to the fear that we might fail the instance whose judgement (according to our conviction) ultimately counts. Such feelings are deeply rooted. They do not spring only from our thoughts, but from deep within our hearts. How can such feelings be dealt with?

Of course we can try to meet the standards. But in Peter’s letter – the letter we are reading these weeks – we discover a better way. It starts with realising that blessing and freedom of condemnation are offered to us by God through Jesus Christ. Our ascended Lord is the only One whose judgement ultimately counts. He died for our sins and rose for our justification. In this good news, in this Gospel we receive arms to weapon ourselves in our thinking against feelings of fear, failing and anxiety. And as a result we are equipped to freely live beautiful, honourable lives for Him (our new instance to look at).

Come, join and learn more in the service of upcoming Sunday! If you like the theme, you might invite your friends (with Instagram/WhatsApp/etc.) to join this service.

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Some radical ideas for strangers

Christians live their lives as strangers in this world (1 Peter 1,1; 2,11). But what does such a life look like? Peter has three ideas that turn out to be quite radical. The challenge is to put them into practice today: submission in our lives as citizens towards the government; mutual respect in our lives as men and women towards each other and tolerance and justice in our dealing with suffering and injustice in society.

 

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Reasons for hope

Greetings from others

In a confusing time, when much is being demanded from all of us, I would like to reflect with you on the theme of “hope.” It is an extremely important theme. When you hope, you live with expectation. A beautiful image of hope is a pregnant woman. She knows it is coming. She doesn’t know exactly what will come but she organizes her life according to what is to come. The Christian community is like such a woman. We don’t know exactly what will come, but we believe that what we are doing now has meaning because of Jesus, because of what He has done for us, but also because of the promise of his return.

How can we exercise hope when life is sometimes discouraging or even devastating? See and hear next Sunday, when we will focus on a passage from the first letter of the apostle Peter (1 Peter 1 : 1 – 13).

Pastor Niek Tramper