Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church

Heidelberg Catechism | Lord’s Day 8

Part 10 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 8.
Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Gratitude to a Generous God | Exodus 25:1-8

The prosperity gospel is a scourge in our city and throughout much of the African continent. It peddles the lie that God only wants you to enjoy health, wealth and happiness in this life. And in order to enjoy this prosperity, you need to do your part, sow your seed, give lots of money to the church, and then you will unlock these temporal blessings in your life.
Most of us recoil when we hear this sort of thing, and rightly so, it’s a false gospel. Yet the potential problem that we have is an overreaction against this. Because of the excesses of the prosperity gospel, there is a temptation to see all giving and tithing as wrong and unnecessary. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Giving of our finances to God is an important sign of our commitment to Christ. In fact, our willingness to give to God is an important marker of our spiritual health. A life marked by generosity, of our finances, time, hospitality – is a sign of real Christianity. A Christian who isn’t giving probably isn’t growing.
In this text, God instructs Moses to take up an offering from the people of Israel in order to build the tabernacle. Israel is instructed to give to God as their hearts move them, and give of their best to him out of gratitude for what he’s done for them. What we’ll see from this text is that because God has generously poured out his undeserved grace in Christ to us, we are to give of our best to him.
Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Heidelberg Catechism | Lord’s Day 7

Part 9 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 7.
Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

A Royal Banquet | Exodus 24:9-18

In a few weeks’ time we’re going to be in full swing of end of year parties as we enter the Christmas season, which culminates in Christmas Day lunch. We’re going to have the opportunity to share meals together with friends and family over good food and drink. Time to fellowship, relax and connect with those whom we love, and unwind after the stress of the year.
In this text, we read about a very special meal. Moses and the elders of Israel come before the very presence of God. They are granted the immense privilege of sharing a meal before him. There is something deeply significant about this event that even reaches through to us today. What we’ll see is that because Jesus’ blood was shed for us, we can enjoy fellowship with God and behold his glory.
Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Heidelberg Catechism | Lord’s Day 6

Part 8 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 6.
Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Rejoice in the Lord Always | Philippians 4:4-7

Preacher: Dr. Chris Viljoen.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Heidelberg Catechism | Lord’s Day 5

Part 7 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 5.
Teacher: Mr. Cullen Loubser.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

The Blood of the Covenant | Exodus 24:1-8

When man and wife get married, they come together before God and witnesses, they hear what marriage entails, they make a series of promises to each other, they exchange rings as signs of their commitment to each other, and then sign the registry, putting into writing their life-long commitment. In many ways, the marriage ceremony is a covenant-making ceremony – two parties covenanting to be loyal and faithful to each other, to serve one another, to love one another, come rain or shine.
We’ve reached the point in Exodus where God, having saved his people from slavery in Egypt, has brought them to Mount Sinai in order to establish them as his covenant people. From Exodus 19 to 23, he has laid down before his people the terms of the covenant – the law – how they are to now live, as God’s own covenant people. Now this covenant is going to be ratified and confirmed through a covenant-making ceremony, a worship service. God’s people are going to hear once again the terms of the covenant, they will promise to obey these terms and then the covenant will be sealed by the shedding of blood. What we’re going to see in this sermon is that this blood of the covenant points us to Jesus and the new covenant that he will initiate through the shedding of his own blood. We’ll see that because Jesus’s blood has been shed, our sins are forgiven and we are united to him through his eternal covenant with us.
Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Heidelberg Catechism | Lord’s Day 4

Part 6 of Covenant Waterfall's catechism class on the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 4.
Teacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!

Reformation Day Special: Why We Need Another Reformation

Today marks the 507th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Five hundred and seven years ago to the day, on the 31 October 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther, in protest against the Roman Catholic Church, nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This set off a series of events that forever changed the church.
How was the church changed? Thanks to the Reformation, the true apostolic gospel has been recovered and we can hear it preached today in God-honouring churches. We also have the Scriptures readily available almost every language of the world. We can worship God in congregational singing in our mother tongue, approach God directly through Jesus Christ and know with certainty that if we repent and call upon the name of Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we will be raised up with him on the last day.
Yet on the other hand, this apostolic gospel that Luther and the other reformers like Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Bucer, Bullinger and Melanchthon recovered is being obscured in some parts of the church. In our own South African context we are seeing a rise of frankly unbiblical practices which are contrary to the gospel.  This should not surprise us. The gospel needs to be defended and recovered in every generation because it is so contrary to human nature. Our human nature says that we need to earn our way up to God through our good works or spiritual practices. The gospel says God has come down to us in Christ and done everything necessary to restore us to him, all as a gift of grace. I would suggest to you that the need for another Reformation in our church here in South Africa is even greater than it was in Luther’s time.
* 8:31 -correction: "sacramental system" not "sacrificial system."
Rev. Antonio Coppola, Pastor of Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church.
For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: https://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!