I was reminded today from Acts 4 (when Peter was asked about healing of the cripple) that everything that has been done in here has been done “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth”. For 2000+ Jesus has been actively involved in changing lives, from healing leapers and cripples to the physically and spiritually blind. Everything that has been done in Nakui over the last 18 years – through the Kings, Phil, the Gibsons, the Greenlaws and Askews has been accomplished in and through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is working in our midst.
In our discipleship time today I was greatly encouraged by Svse, who talked about the pressure on him to perform ceremonial customs on his sick child. “Your kid will die” they tell him. The accumulated pressure is immense to just slip back a bit in this area in order to get the crowd off his back. Svse’s faith is strong, however, and he has drawn the line. “Not me” he says. “If God takes me or my kids, it’s OK. We hangup on him. If I ever did one of the customs, my fear would be that it might work. Then others would see this and they too would want to follow that path.” Huge statement by Svse … reveals where his life is truly found and – life or death – where he finds his security. The fact that he would rather see his child die without the ceremony than have him live with it reveals a man of deep faith.
