Olive Tree Church

Ross Rodger and Nhlanhla: This week, we were deeply inspired by Nhlanhla Khambule, who through his story of starting an education value chain, called us to living a life of impact by giving away the skills we have been blessed with!

Ross Rodger: Once a year we do a series to reinforce our love and value for the city God has placed us in. This year we have called the series Isibusiso, which means to BE a blessing. The goal of this series is to help connect God’s personal will for our lives to His will for the city He has placed us into. Over these next four weeks, we will be looking at how God views cities, how he expects us to view them and what he expects from us when it comes to caring for the city.

Gary Blair: God wants to make you fruitful and fruitfulness looks like creating, leading, confronting, risking and taking your place in the epic story of the sons and daughters of God who work to see things on earth as they are in heaven. Bearing fruit like that is really sweet!

Ross Rodger: Once a year we do a series to reinforce our love and value for the city God has placed us in. This year we have called the series Isibusiso, which means to BE a blessing. The goal of this series is to help connect God’s personal will for our lives to His will for the city He has placed us into. We will be looking at how God views cities, how he expects us to view them and what he expects from us when it comes to caring for the city.

Gary Blair: God's heart for the city is not just that they will be a concentration of people, but that the concentration of skills and industry result in increased prosperity. And that this prosperity benefits all those in the city. Unfortunately, greed and indifference towards the poor results in systemic evil that locks people into poverty, which God hates. God has given His people a generous heart to break this systemic evil and meet the needs of the poor. He has anointed us for this task!

Ross Rodger: This week we are looking at how God’s plan for our lives is worked out in the context of the city He has placed us in. As we look at cities throughout the bible, we are able to better understand both God’s perspective on them and our role in them. This sermon will help you to understand what kills cities and How God can use us to change them.

Natalie Naude: Be led like Him Now we get to the specific and exceptional things that are in God’s will for individuals. Jesus trusted His father enough to follow Him into some amazing adventures, this week we look at what it would take for us to do the same.

This sermon we have a guest speaker named Audrey Mbuyazi. Audrey is a singer-songwriter, speaker and author. As she finishes off our God's will for your life series, she speaks into being fruitful in the spirit. How we need to grow it, maintain it and look after it.

Natalie Naude: Love like Him Have you ever experienced the power of genuine love to totally change a situation? Fear, doubt, cynicism, anger can be totally diffused by receiving it and even mundane activities can be made glorious by giving it. Love for God, love for self and love for others is the great diagnostic of whether or not you are aligned with God’s will.

We have Gugu Dlamini who turned Umgeni water around, it was running at a loss of around 250M when she took over and ran at a profit of 50M/yr 3 years later. We also have Ajiv Maharaj who heads up economic development in Durban and Aurelia Albert who heads up Innovate Durban. They spoke the opportunities in Durban despite the economic climate we’re in. 

Lutho Ngebeza: Be led like Him Now we get to the specific and exceptional things that are in God’s will for individuals. Jesus trusted His father enough to follow Him into some amazing adventures, this week we look at what it would take for us to do the same.

Siya Madonsela: Live like Him/die like Him Everyone has a plan for your life. Marketers, your in-laws, Google and Facebook, your friends, maybe even you. Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly what God’s will for your life is, especially considering He says it is good, pleasing and perfect for you? We start the series by looking at the life of Jesus to see what it would look like to live in God’s will. We’ll see that it is much more to do with who you become than what you do and that, just like everything in nature, Jesus shows how the beginning of every great life is a great death.

Steve Roux

Ross Rodger: Love like Him. Have you ever experienced the power of genuine love to totally change a situation? Fear, doubt, cynicism, anger can be totally diffused by receiving it and even mundane activities can be made glorious by giving it. Love for God, love for self and love for others is the great diagnostic of whether or not you are aligned with God’s will.

Siya Mandosela: Live like Him/Die like Him. We start the series by looking at the life of Jesus to see what it would look like to live in God’s will. We’ll see that it is much more to do with who you become than what you do and that, just like everything in nature, Jesus shows how the beginning of every great life is a great death.

Gary Blair: The Prodigal Rebel The parable of the prodigal sons is about two sons that, though they are sons, live like orphans. Both of them mistrust their father. The first has the heart of a rebel, and takes his inheritance and squanders it, believing that his father is a kill-joy and that life will be better without him. The result is brokenness and desolation, for rather than finding joy, he found that life apart from the father is bankrupt. He was made for the father. So, this son returns home, hoping to become a slave. But rather than becoming a slave, for the first time he discovers the full extent of his father’s love. He is restored to the position of a son, with significance, acceptance and security.

Ross Rodger: The Inheritance of Sons Every believer is called to live as a son of God; and every son has an inheritance. This inheritance is not only stored up for us, but available to us every day. The promises of God are for his sons. Unfortunately, many sons never walk in their full inheritance because they either live as a rebel, or a Pharisee. Neither of them believe the Father can bless them, and so both choose to live orphan-hearted lives. They fight and compete to try and get what they want, and even if they get it, they can’t enjoy it, for there is no security that it will be there tomorrow. They struggle with authority all their lives, for they always mistrust it. They find security in sin patterns and false-affections, in idols of the heart, for they can’t receive it from the Father. And they never feel like they have a home. But the Father is bringing us home. In this home we are loved for who’s we are, not what we do. We are provided for as sons, not slaves. Slaves have just enough to stay alive

Ross Rodger: We all need a Father Luke chapter 3 describes Adam as the son of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they bought into the lie that God was not a good Father, that He was withholding His best from them. This resulted in spiritual death - they were cut off from the Father, and their state was reduced to that of a spiritual orphan. Ever since then, the Father has been fighting to bring us back into relationship with Him. His desire is that Jesus would be the first born of MANY sons and daughters. He wants us to find our significance, acceptance and security in relationship to Him, and not the things of this world. His whole plan, His whole heart, in sending His Son to die on the cross, is for us to know Him as a Father, and it gives Him great pleasure!

Ross Rodger: We all need a Father Luke chapter 3 describes Adam as the son of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they bought into the lie that God was not a good Father, that He was withholding His best from them. This resulted in spiritual death - they were cut off from the Father, and their state was reduced to that of a spiritual orphan. Ever since then, the Father has been fighting to bring us back into relationship with Him. His desire is that Jesus would be the first born of MANY sons and daughters. He wants us to find our significance, acceptance and security in relationship to Him, and not the things of this world. His whole plan, His whole heart, in sending His Son to die on the cross, is for us to know Him as a Father, and it gives Him great pleasure!

Rene Leitch: Skin & Bones ‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." - 1 Corinthians 12:27