esn1

El Shaddai
Teaching the World one scripture at a time
Weekly Newsletter
3 rd Sunday in Lent
Year C
29 th Feb 2016
‘We teach, not in the way in which philosophy is
taught, but in the way that the Spirit teaches us: we
teach spiritual things spiritually.’
1 Corinthians 2:13

Cooper’s Corner………:
Sunday’s gospel reading can be better understood when
it is read alongside Leviticus 19:23-25 "And when you
enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you
shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be
forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year
all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.
And in the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit, that its yield
may increase for you"
It was obvious that this vineyard owner had gone past the
first 3 years of expecting figs on the tree. This was now the
7 th year he was waiting for some fruit and hence in
frustration he was ready to cut it down, but the keeper
begged for it stay around for a year more.
Symbolically, this parable seems to be teaching us that the
legalistic Jewish leadership had enough time to repent of
their sins, and bear some fruit, but it was not happening and
God had suffered with them long enough.
As Christians are we behaving like the legalistic Jewish
leaders and refusing to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit? i.e.
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These are just the internal characteristics… what about
external manifestations of those fruit? Ministry to others?
Are you bearing fruit in furthering the Kingdom of God? If
not it is never too late to start NOW.
Audrey Cooper

Thought 4 the week:
With guns you can kill terrorists, but with education you
can kill terrorism. Malala
Wisdom 4 the week:
You cannot be glorified without being crucified.
Quote 4 the week:
Some people try to expose what’s wrong with you because
they can’t handle what’s right about you
Fact 4 the week:
Counting other people’s sins does not make you a saint.
Food 4 thought:
When the teachings of MEN conflict with the WORD OF
GOD, it would be wise to go with God.
Word 4 the weak:
With God ALL things are possible. Mt 19:26

Christian views:
I AM The I AM. Christ can be whatever you want Him to be.
To the baker He is the Bread of life
To the banker He is the Hidden treasure
To the doctor He is Great Physician
To the plumber He is the Water of Life
To the florist He is the Rose of Sharon fair
To the farmer He is the Good Shepherd
To the carpenter He is the Door to the Father
To the geologist He is the Rock of All Ages
To the education system He is the Good Teacher
To the architect He is the Cornerstone.
To the vine grower He is the True Vine
To the electrician He is the Light of the World
But to me He is my Father, my brother and my Best
Friend.

Bible reading: A part of the 52 week (5 days a week)
plan, for those who want to learn more about ‘a particular’
person in the bible. This week all the scriptures will be about
Joseph
The newsletter will be sent out on Mondays so that you can
start your bible reading on time.
Gen 39:1-23;
40:1-23
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5
Gen 41:1-45 Gen 41:46-57;
42:1-38
Gen 43:1-34 Gen 44:1-34
ESB meeting: I attended the ESB ministry meeting last
week. We discussed various issues re the ministry and then
it was Michelle’s turn to start the meeting with the opening
scripture and expound on it.
What a fantastic job she did. I was impressed with the
trouble she took to actually dissect the scripture on the
Aaronic Blessing right down to the Hebraic translation
along with the cross referencing et al. but the icing on the
cake was when she decided to bless us all by ‘singing’ the
Aaronic Blessing over us all.
Well done my dear! I write to you the same words that
Bishop Agnelo Gracias once wrote to me “I wish the priests
had the same passion for the Word as you have”.

Lenten Retreat: Where do I start!! My mind is still
reeling from the memories of the retreat. Firstly let me begin
by thanking my God for showing up and showing off in His
usual casual way. I couldn’t have done it without Him.
Thanks to Rev Sarah for giving me the opportunity of a
lifetime. I must be the first Catholic preacher preaching in
an Anglican church
Thanks also to Robin for his invaluable help and support
and for handling the sound system at COTS (which was
quite intricate)
Thanks to Michelle for handling all the finer details behind
the scenes. You should be the secretary to the Pope
Thanks to the ES Breakthrough ministry and everyone else
in the ES bible group who have been praying for this retreat
for the last one month.
Thanks to Mavis for making it to all the practices and for
singing so well.
Thanks to Claire for handling the workshop so well. You did
a marvellous job my dear.
Last but not the least thanks to Ravs for baking all that cake
and to those brought a plate and who helped in the kitchen
to set up and clean up. God bless you all.
I was thrilled with the feedback I received from the
Anglicans etc….they were really impressed with the
singing, Stations of the Cross and the teachings. There was
this elderly Kiwi lady from COTS who kept hugging and
thanking a million times over for organising the retreat. It
really made my day!!

Thanks to all those who emailed, texted or phoned to give
me your feedback…I am just so glad you enjoyed it all. I
guess it was worth the one month of preparation that went
into it.
Though I must admit that there were a few points that I had
to omit in my talk as I couldn’t cram everything into a 45 x
45 minute teaching session… though Rev Sarah thinks…I
am an amazing preacher! Coming from her I take it as a
compliment.
It was nice to see so many new faces around, especially
the ones from COTS. I was impressed by the fact that the
people who were 80+ years old sat through the entire 4
hours.
To all my Catholic friends. If you would like me to conduct
the same retreat in your parish, I am more than willing to do
so (for the glory of God), but you will have to get me the
permission of your parish priest. Btw two people have
already approached a neighbouring parish but they were
politely refused…..but don’t let that deter you, cause you
never know; your parish priest might just be wise enough to
understand the spiritual aspect of lent and give you the
permission.
So before I end I wish to thank each and everyone of you
for attending the retreat esp Mariefleur ( I really appreciate
you taking the time to come given that your new
granddaughter was born less than 20 hours ago)
Now I am happily exhausted! Robin came home and
jumped into the pool to unwind while yours truly who was
too tired to even move a muscle just sat at the edge of pool
and dangled her weary legs in the water
I thought I was so tired I could sleep for a week, but last
night my body clock woke me up at 2am as usual to study!!
But you guessed right!! I snuggled right back into bed

Prophecies: I am on cloud 9 as there have been a few
prophecies that were prophesied over my life that are
recently all coming to pass.
1. Five years ago Russel (from COTS) had the following
prophecy for me “ Audrey I see a very BIG door and a
very BIG key, and the Lord says…give her the key but
tell her NOT to open the door, for at the right time I will
open it for her. Tell her not to ask Me what is on the
other side of the door cause at the time I will tell her.
Then he told me ‘The Lord is calling you to pastor a
church’ to which I replied “I am Catholic; women don’t
pastor churches” then he said “The Lord is calling you
to do far greater things than you are doing downstairs”
(downstairs was the hall where I conduct my bible
study classes which I didn’t tell him about)
2. This Sunday Beth (also from COTS) had a prophetic
message which was like a follow-up of the one I had 5
years ago. She said “ I see a door and the door is
HALF open and I see a person peering through that
door and is totally overwhelmed by what is on the
other side of it, and the Lord is saying ‘Don’t be afraid
to go through it for I Am with you’.
3. Five years ago, Maria D’sousa had a vision in which
she saw me preaching in a place that was totally alien
to her. Together we racked our brains as to which
church that might be. She described it as a place with
‘no walls’ just ‘windows on either side’…but at that
time neither one of us could figure out a place that
fitted that description. Last evening when she entered
COTS main church (for the 1 st time) she told me
“Audrey!! This is the church I saw in my vision, and
you were standing and preaching in exactly the same
spot as it was in my vision.” …..(btw if you noticed

COTS has no walls just rows of large windows on
either side)
Now I am nervous and extremely excited! Just think that the
Good Lord knew all along what was going to unfold in my
life……….I just wish I could have jumped from 5 years ago
straight to this day without having to go through the fiery
furnace. But then again; God has a way of working
everything out for our good and His glory!
Passover Meal: On the 20 th of March we will be
having our usual Solemn Passover celebration. Please feel
free to bring your whanau along.
For catering purposes, please let me know if you are
bringing any guests along.
B/A Roster: By now all of you that are on Jeff’s B/A
roster would have received my email with the details. Kindly
look up the website calendar and check ahead of time if you
are rostered for that day.

ES Breakthrough & Rapha Ministries: Please
note that both these ministries have been given the
permission not to accept “lifelong” petitions (to keep praying
for the person forever and ever)….unless I specifically
advise them to do so.
All petitions have to come through the website; as then we
have the contact number and the name of the person who
has referred the petitioner to us…so that we can follow-up.
All petitions have to be “specific”…….e.g. marital problems,
financial problems, cancer, heart diseases etc. you don’t
serve a vague God so don’t let your petitions be vague.
All petitions have to be kept ‘confidential’.
Members of both (intercessory and healing) ministries are
required to have 95% attendance on Sunday’s. There is no
way you can pour out your heart during the week and pray
for people if you don’t allow the Holy Spirit to pour His
anointing into your heart Sunday after Sunday.
Leaders please make sure that your team members are
committed to their regular daily prayer time.
ES Breakthrough ministry members have been given the
permission to delete the names of irregular people and their
families from their ‘daily prayer list’ if the person has not
been attending for 4 Sundays in a row. (you do know that
the whole team prays for all ‘regular ES members and their
families’ on a daily basis)

ES Debate: Since summer will soon come to an end, I
thought it best to make full use of the good weather and do
outdoor activities and leave the indoor activities for the cold
winter months. Hence I have moved the ES Debate to the
month of August, and bring the overnight picnic ahead.
Huia Picnic: As it was on a first come first served basis,
all the 24 the beds have already been booked out for our
overnight trip to Huia in the month of May. For those of you
who still wish to come, you can give your names to
Michelle, and we will see how we can accommodate you.
Cruise: There will be no prayer meeting on the 13 th of
March.
Updated Calendar 2016: The ES calendar has been
updated. Please go online to view the same.
Shalom and I hope you have a blest week ahead.
Audrey Cooper
www.elshaddainz.com
021 1415 778
09 626 5223
To all our visitors:
If you wish to join us for a time of praise and worship and a study of
the Word, you are more than welcome to come every Sunday at
Church of the Saviour, 2 Heaphy street. Entrance from Kinross rd.
Timings are from 4-6pm