Northfield Methodist Church

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our service! If you are a regular worshipper at Northfield, it is very good to see you! If you are new to Northfield or visiting us, can we extend a special word of welcome to you and please make yourself known to us.

We are in the second week of our sermon series called 'When Life Breaks Down'. The series runs through May culminating in a weekend healing mission at the end of the month which will be led by Trevor Hudson and Alexander Venter from Vineyard.

This week we look at 'God's Plan For Our Lives'. It goest without saying that life is tough. When we are in the midst of trouble it is difficult to see God's plan. So often we start out with the best of intentions and through no fault of our own things go wrong. We know life will never be easy but we also need to know that it is not God's plan or intention that we should suffer:

One of my favourite stories in the Bible is that of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector, as told in Luke's Gospel (19:1-10). Zacchaeus was a wealthy man thoroughly disliked by his fellow Jews. After all, he had taken a lot of their money sometimes dishonestly in order to make himself rich. Verse 3 of the parable goes like this: "he wanted to see who Jesus was but being a short man could not because of the crowd."

We can surmise that Zacchaeus had come to some sort of crisis in his life. He had heard about Jesus and decided to go and see Him. The decision turned out to be life changing. Jesus certainly had other plans for him.

I think the same goes for us today. When we are hit by problems and wanting to know God's plan for us then we can decide like Zacchaeus, to put ourselves in a place e.g. Church, Cell group or Bible study where we can be together with God's people. In Community with other Christian believers, it is often easier to hear and discern God's will and plan for us.

Mike