30th Building Anniversary of the Walvis Bay Baptist Church

                                           15^th – 17^th  March 2013

l-r Sue Watson; Peter & Linda Radmanovich; Don Watson

What an exciting weekend  this  has been for me ! 

Time, distance  and circumstances prevent us from  staying in touch with many people from our past. But not this weekend! A glorious get together  was organized  by the Walvis Bay  Baptist Church under the leadership of her deacons and pastors.

The occasion  was the 30^th  anniversary of the  opening of the church building  in January 1983. 

Clive & Lynn van Rooyen

Now for some perspective.  The Walvis Bay Baptist Church isn't 30 years old.  It was actually constituted in 1972,  and there had been a Sunday School work going on before that, which had already started   in 1962.  So the Walvis Bay Baptist Church can look back over a history of at  least  50 years. This  fact  actually makes the church the oldest  Baptist  church in Namibia.

What we celebrated   then was actually  the  30^th anniversary since the church building  was  dedicated  as a place of worship.  The building  had  originally  been a hospital laboratory  which had   become an old derelict  building. Pastor Peter Radmanovich  had approached the  Walvis Bay Municipality  with an offer of purchase, which was eventually, if not reluctantly,  granted. The members of the church,  in the ever practical hands of Pastor Radmanovich  undertook to renovate the building – a project which may have taken  2 years to complete, and now the time  had come to look back and to give thanks for 30 years of God’s faithful faithfulness to the church.

Old friends:  Ivo & Kaiko de Gouveia

Old friends : Andrew and Soleil  Ratcliffe

Celebrations began on Friday evening as past and present pastoral  couples  came together for   fellowship, hosted by Callie and Carol Rossouw,  at their home.  Pastor Don and Sue Watson (1977-1980), Pastor Peter and Linda Radmanovich  (1980   - 1987),  Pastor Clive and Lynn van Rooyen (1987-1995)  had served  the church at their various times, while Pastor  Paul and Ethne Jones  and Pastor  Les and  Elsabe  Wiseman  had served the church as interim pastors  at various times. Don Watson  was the  pastor  who  welcomed me into the Walvis Bay Baptist Church  after I had  I had returned from Cape Town where I had become a Christian in 1978. He baptized me in 1980. Peter Radmanovich impressed upon me the  seriousness of Christian  discipleship.  

Since  December 1999  the church  has been led  by  Pastor Callie  and Carol Rossouw, assisted by Student Minister Marinus and his wife  Ilse de Bruijne.

A great church dinner

Present pastor : Callie Rossouw

A Church Dinner  was held on Saturday, 16^th March. This was yet another grand occasion when  God’s faithfulness was remembered. A slide show  visually  reminded us  of the church’s history. Peter  Radmanovich spoke  afterwards and  reminded us that  at the opening ceremony, and before turning the key, he had prayed that  God would honour His Word taught and that  He  would close down the building if ever       there was a departure from His truth!  What a legacy to abide by!

On Sunday morning  a worship  service  led by Pastor Rossouw resounded to the Glory of God as we  continued to exalt the Lord our God for His faithfulness to this church,  which had survived  all these years  through the Grace of God alone, through some very difficult and challenging times.

I had the privilege of preaching the Word. I took  as my text  1 Samuel 7:12  “Ebenezer- until now the Lord has helped us!”  The exposition can be found on my sermon blog.  http://joachimrieck.blogspot.com

SOLI DEO GLORIA !

Joachim Rieck

March 2013

 
 

Paul and Ethne Jones

Les and Elsabe Wiseman

What is the Greatest of All Protestant “Heresies”?

Now  that the Catholic world has  a new pope, it is time  for Protestant Christians  to think afresh as to why they are Protestants. I came across this helpful article  written by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, and I highly  recommend that you should read this!  Greetings, Joachim Rieck

Let us begin with a church history exam question. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism. On one occasion, he wrote: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .” Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement.
How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies? Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords?
Those answers make logical sense. But none of them completes Bellarmine’s sentence. What he wrote was: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is assurance.”
A moment’s reflection explains why. If justification is not by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone — if faith needs to be completed by works; if Christ’s work is somehow repeated; if grace is not free and sovereign, then something always needs to be done, to be “added” for final justification to be ours. That is exactly the problem. If final justification is dependent on something we have to complete it is not possible to enjoy assurance of salvation. For then, theologically, final justification is contingent and uncertain, and it is impossible for anyone (apart from special revelation, Rome conceded) to be sure of salvation. But if Christ has done everything, if justification is by grace, without contributory works; it is received by faith’s empty hands — then assurance, even “full assurance” is possible for every believer.
No wonder Bellarmine thought full, free, unfettered grace was dangerous! No wonder the Reformers loved the letter to the Hebrews!
This is why, as the author of Hebrews pauses for breath at the climax of his exposition of Christ’s work (Heb. 10:18), he continues his argument with a Paul-like “therefore” (Heb. 10:19). He then urges us to “draw near … in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22). We do not need to re-read the whole letter to see the logical power of his “therefore.” Christ is our High Priest; our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience just as our bodies have been washed with pure water (v.22).
Christ has once-for-all become the sacrifice for our sins, and has been raised and vindicated in the power of an indestructible life as our representative priest. By faith in Him, we are as righteous before the throne of God as He is righteous. For we are justified in His righteousness, His justification alone is ours! And we can no more lose this justification than He can fall from heaven. Thus our justification does not need to be completed any more than does Christ’s!
With this in view, the author says, “by one offering He has perfected for all time those who come to God by him” (Heb. 10:14). The reason we can stand before God in full assurance is because we now experience our “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and … bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).
“Ah,” retorted Cardinal Bellarmine’s Rome, “teach this and those who believe it will live in license and antinomianism.” But listen instead to the logic of Hebrews. Enjoying this assurance leads to four things: First, an unwavering faithfulness to our confession of faith in Jesus Christ alone as our hope (v.23); second, a careful consideration of how we can encourage each other to “love and good works” (v.24); third, an ongoing communion with other Christians in worship and every aspect of our fellowship (v.25a); fourth, a life in which we exhort one another to keep looking to Christ and to be faithful to him, as the time of his return draws ever nearer (25b).
It is the good tree that produces good fruit, not the other way round. We are not saved by works; we are saved for works. In fact we are God’s workmanship at work (Eph. 2:9–10)! Thus, rather than lead to a life of moral and spiritual indifference, the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ and the full-assurance faith it produces, provides believers with the most powerful impetus to live for God’s glory and pleasure. Furthermore, this full assurance is rooted in the fact that God Himself has done all this for us. He has revealed His heart to us in Christ. The Father does not require the death of Christ to persuade Him to love us. Christ died because the Father loves us (John 3:16). He does not lurk behind His Son with sinister intent wishing He could do us ill — were it not for the sacrifice his Son had made! No, a thousand times no! — the Father Himself loves us in the love of the Son and the love of the Spirit.
Those who enjoy such assurance do not go to the saints or to Mary. Those who look only to Jesus need look nowhere else. In Him we enjoy full assurance of salvation. The greatest of all heresies? If heresy, let me enjoy this most blessed of “heresies”! For it is God’s own truth and grace!

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.