What do we have in common with Pharaoh king of Egypt that was described by Ezekiel in chapter 29? Sometimes we tend to rely on our own powers, skills, prestige, reason, money, as he did. Meanwhile all this is a false foundation and it is dangerous to build up our life on it. This was the things that at the Sunday church meeting of the church “Philadelphia” pastor Oleg Malykh talked about on August 2. God is the real pledge of our security. On the other hand it is a big mistake to think that “if I’m a Christian, than nothing bad will ever happen to me”. God tests us, shapes our character, at the same time helping us to go through all this.

Senior pastor Pavel Zhelnovakov, having come back from a short trip to city Bryansk where he served with his sermon at a youth gathering, spoke on a topic which is a stumbling block for many people — on sacrificial offering. As an example he took a story about two women from the New Testament. In Matthew 26:6-13 it is said about a woman who poured a very expensive perfume on the head of the Saviour before He was taken by the soldiers. Luke told in chapter 7 another story about a woman who wet His feet with her tears and she wiped them with her hair. In both these cases the followers were indignant at such a lavish waste of money: “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor”. Though this exhibition of offering and sacrificial service is not a simple silly extravagancy. This step taken by these two women helped grace to come to their life and change their destiny forever. Moreover in such circumstances often the true character of people around is revealed: their envy and false righteousness.

The church also heard the testimonies of children and young people about miracles that God showed in their lives when being in the children and youth camps respectively.