Southpoint Church » Messages

To conquer discouragement we need God’s perspective

sp_becky — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:43:38 +0000

Ephesians Chapter 1
3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

from The Message

The Chase – Begins 9 January

admin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:30:27 +0000

An Empty Chair

admin — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:00:10 +0000

If you’ve been around Southpoint for a while you’ve heard the term – ‘an empty chair’. An empty chair represents a person who is yet to come to Southpoint and experience life change through Jesus. The empty chair represents neighbours, friends, family members and even people you have not yet met.

By continuing to give and serve, you are making an empty chair available to someone yet to experience a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. By continuing to invest in others, and then inviting them to church, you are filling these empty chairs with people who have yet to meet Jesus Christ.

By giving, serving and inviting, we are creating a place for everyone.

Simon’s Story

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:00:54 +0000

During week 2 of ‘A Place For Everyone’, we showed a video of Simon telling his story about trusting God with his finances even when everything around him told him otherwise.

A story about trusting God even when it doesn’t make sense

God doesn’t need your money. He owns everything. But we give first because it takes faith to give first and God wants us to trust Him. He tells us in Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops and then your barns will be filled with overflowing.” We give first and the blessings of God follow. God doesn’t want your money, but He does want your heart, and the Bible tells us that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. When you are not giving, your heart is not in what God is doing. ‘I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.’ Malachi 3:10.

If you haven’t picked up and returned your pledge card, be sure to do so from :connections this weekend. And if you missed week 2 or ‘A Place For Everyone’, stop by the messages page to listen to it now.

A Place for Everyone

admin — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:56:19 +0000

Our culture feels let down by parents, friends, leaders, religious authorities, church and even God Himself. Many have given up on the hope of true love, feel no sense of belonging and feel that the world holds no place for them.

On Sunday we launched a four part series in which we will explore how Southpoint Church exists to bring hope and purpose to people of all ages. This video highlights four people who have found renewed hope and relationship with God through Southpoint Church.

A Place For Everyone from Southpoint Church on Vimeo.

New Message Series – Dealing With Doubt

admin — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:00:12 +0000

We all experience doubt at some point in our lives.

But what should we do with our doubt? Can doubt inspire hope? Does faith mean never having any doubts?

We might experience doubt when following God requires unexpected sacrifice. Or we’ve been left confused, wondering why God does something seemingly out of line with His character.

In this two part series, we explore how to deal with doubt and discover that we don’t need all our questions answered to follow God.

Southpoint Church
17 & 24 October
09h30 to 10h30
Invite A Friend

From the Pastor’s Desk

sp_becky — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:34:27 +0000

I have just listened to Andy Stanley’s talk at North Point Community Church Sunday 26 September, where they were celebrating their 15th anniversary. I encourage you to listen to this message called “Together: Celebrating 15 Years” online at northpoint.org/messages. In his message, Andy refers to the fact that the latest stats show that North Point is now the 2nd largest church in the USA. That is amazing!

What is so humbling to me is that they started off not knowing whether their idea of “creating a church that unchurched people love to attend” would even work. They just knew they had to do it. Today thousands upon thousands of people have come into a relationship with Jesus Christ through attending North Point and their influence continues to grow worldwide. At the end of the message he speaks about what are they going to do now that they are so BIG!

Haven’t they reached their goal? Are they not big enough? His answer is – it’s got nothing to do with size. Being the 2nd biggest in the USA means nothing if they are NOT growing and continuing to reach people with the amazing message of Jesus. Where God has brought them to, has provided them with more influence and more responsibility to share what they have, so they are going to continue to build new churches, not just in the USA, but across the globe, because it is their heart not so much to be BIG, but to grow and continue to provide places where unchurched people love to attend.

My dear friends at Southpoint, we are in this TOGETHER! We might become the 2nd largest church in SA, I don’t know, but that is not our aim. Our aim is to “lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ” by creating a church that unchurched people love to attend. My friends, this is happening now. Don’t miss it. It’s here!

Every week we see new people. Every month we are growing! I took a walk around on Sunday and was introduced to many people I had not met and did not know their names! I regret that but also LOVE it. Unchurched people want to attend Southpoint! Listen to the words of a person who has hardly missed a Sunday since she started attending 9 months ago: “if you had said to me a year ago that one year from now you will be looking forward to attending church every week – I would have thought you were insane!”

She is just one of many who have been invited to Southpoint and their first impression is: “I want to come back!” Well done all of you who are “Investing and Inviting” your friends, who are giving generously to the church, who are serving faithfully every Sunday to make our great environments great and who are praying faithfully.

I am humbled to be your partner and a part of what God is doing in the world today.

John

This is Southpoint

Ron — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:47:34 +0000

These past few weeks John has been leading us through the things at the core of Southpoint church. We believe that Pinelands does not need another church, that Cape Town does not need another church. We at Southpoint feel called to be a different church.

Because God has given the most amazing gift we are passionate about sharing that gift with others. We put in huge amounts of effort to create attractive, fun, engaging and relevant environments for all ‘Pointers (current or future) no matter what age they are. And it is a huge team effort, everyone comes together to pull off something amazing each week so that we can share God’s free gift of life with as many people as possible.

Midweek Moment – Staying in Love: ReModeling

Phillip Gibb — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:39:55 +0000

INTRODUCTION
While it is easier than ever to fall in love, it is harder than ever to stay in love. And, no one wants to fall
in love and just endure. We want to stay in love. Is this even possible? If so, what should our plan be?
In this message, Andy answers both of these questions by sharing a blueprint for enduring love.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Who is the most famous person you have ever met? How did you interact with that person?
2. What is your most valued material possession? Describe this possession and how you treat it.
3. Read Philippians 2:3-4. What are some specific things you can do this week to “value others above
yourselves?” Specifically, how can you apply this idea to someone you love?
4. Read Philippians 2:5-7. Describe a time when you saw someone with position or power choose to
serve rather than to leverage that position or status for his own benefit? How did you feel when you
saw that? Were you surprised by his actions?
5. Andy says that we can’t have it both ways. We all must face the dilemma between choosing what we
deserve or choosing submission. What does he mean by this? Why can’t we have it both ways?
What are some ways that you can choose to submit to the person you love this week?
MOVING FORWARD
To stay in love you have to choose to love each other the way that Christ loved us. In other words, you
have to choose to treat the person you love as the most important person in the world to you. You have to
be willing to put them first. What is keeping you from this? Is it worth missing out on the love
relationship that God designed for you?
CHANGING YOUR MIND

In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in
very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather,
he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Philippians 2:5-7

Midweek moment – Listen & Learn: Listen Up

Ron — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:00:33 +0000

INTRODUCTION

Isn’t it odd that we even have to talk about listening to God? If you believe that God created everything, then you have to believe that God created communication, which would lead to the assumption that God is the best communicator. So, why is it sometimes so hard to hear him speak? What if the issue isn’t whether or not God is speaking, but whether or not you are in the right position to hear him?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Most people agree that God speaks in several ways. What are some of these ways? Do you hear God more clearly in one of those ways than the others?
Read Ezekiel 12:2. In this passage, God is speaking to the prophet Ezekiel. Jesus would sometimes quote this passage after giving a sermon. What does this passage have to do with being in position to hear God?
What does it mean to have your “back turned to God” in an area of your life? How does this explain why brokenness is often the precursor to hearing God?
Read Matthew 6:8-10. What does this passage on prayer have to do with whether or not we hear God?
Oftentimes, we go to God for advice in a particular area of our lives without opening up our entire lives to him. Why, even though we are turning to God, do we sometimes not hear him when we approach him like this?
Read Psalm 46:10. What does this passage have to do with hearing God?

MOVING FORWARD

The ‘King’ reserves the right to speak only when we are in a position to listen. What is keeping you from being in that position? What are you clinging to that is keeping you from hearing him? Is it really worth missing the voice of God?

CHANGING YOUR MIND

They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people. Ezekiel 12:2

[all info and questions from www.groupcurriculum.org]