What a wonderful week! Next Door Bible Studiers will be back in Genesis this coming week. They watched a film this week as I was standing in for the secretary at church. Whew! Pray for them. The copier was confused by the operator and therefore couldn't do what it was supposed to, which was print the prayer sheet loaded with information about our members and things to come.
Isn't that just like us? We get confused by people we choose to give authority over us. There is a cure for that and it's giving only God authority over you! For God is not [the author] of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Corinth. 14:13
Now we may have to abide by the rules at work and we may have to abide by the rules at school. We do NOT have to allow them to abolish our spirit and crush our joy! God is still the giver of all good things. He is the lifter of our heads. He is the One who tells us, "I [am] the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Psalm 81:10. While the workplace and school and every other authoritative body over us may appear to be the center of our provision, our real provision is Jesus Christ. He gives the breath, the ability, the resources, the employers/employees- everything, period. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12. Do you get the picture?
Once we are under the proper authority and yielding to it, then we can do what we were created, designed and placed in position to do. Just like the copier, once it was tweaked with the right program (and a few other minor annoyances dealt with), it did what it was designed to do, and the prayer sheets were printed.
So, what were we created to do? Glorify God, tell others about Him and make disciples. I love our church mission statement, because I believe in it. It says, "Under the Lordship of Christ and by His power, the mission of Green Acres Baptist Church is to passionately worship Him, win the lost to Him, and equip every believer to be a disciple of Him." This is our purpose.
I am so pleased to see God working in the lives of our Middle Schoolers. Thanks for your prayers and continue to pray. Pray that God continues to break through the darkness and deceit that we are born into and that the world portrays. We so need Jesus! The kids are really beginning to open up and get to the root of their fears, problems and concerns. This is showing a great deal of trust on their parts. Kids today don't trust anyone and their beliefs are wide open and off the charts! They seriously lack wisdom as they've been taught to give in to every whim and desire by today's society. They are immersed in it! They need the helping hand of God to pull them out. Can you picture it? Do you remember what it was to be without the love of Christ? Alone, confused, hurt? Hopeless.
We are beginning to see the honest work of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for us! This is not something that can be done in a week or two! This takes an unfailing commitment! This takes endurance. We cannot leave these children and abandon them to the world! We must continue to love them and pray for them and fight on our knees! Help us in this. You may not be a leader in this ministry, but you are surely a partner if you pray for these children. We may never know, I'm sure we never will. BUT, God does and He will honor those prayers.
The Kings Kidz met this morning and again we saw the softening of hearts as they are learning how to love their families. We learned about helping our family through the story of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 2. Pharaoh was killing all the male Hebrew children. Moses' mother had to do something! She made a basket and coated it with tar to waterproof it and put it in the river where it couldn't float off but would be discovered, and she left her daughter there to watch him. Mom returned to her forced slave labor. Giving up a child to the complete abandon of God to save them is not an easy thing! But Moses' sister was there to watch God put the puzzle together and when it was time, she did her part.
Miriam watched as Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe and she found the "abandoned" child. Now they didn't have grocery stores or QT's then. Someone had to feed the baby. The only one who could was someone who'd just had a baby. Miriam knew this and jumped in! She went to Pharaoh's daughter and asked if she wanted a Hebrew woman to feed the child. Of course she did! Miriam fetched her Mom-Moses' Mom, and Pharaoh's daughter offered to pay her to take care of her own child.
When Pharaoh was finished nursing, he lived in a place fit for a king. A palace actually! Read it for yourself! But, if they had not trusted God and helped each other, baby brother Moses could've died. He lived to be God's deliverer for the entire Hebrew nation. By saving him, they saved themselves.
Who is your Moses? Who in your family or church family is in harm's way? What can you do to help? Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do [so]. Pro 3:28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give [it]," When [you have] it with you. Pro 3:29 Do not devise evil against your neighbor, For he dwells by you for safety's sake. Pro 3:30 Do not strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm. God's Word is pretty clear here.
The kids this morning promised to find ways to help their families; cleaning, being obedient, thinking of others before themselves, and praying for each other. Not a bad lesson. Not a bad group of kids.
This is what God has called us to do. Our leaders love these kids and give so much of themselves and their resources. There is so much you can do. If you don't want to partner with this ministry, why not start one of your own? You don't have to go overseas, all you have to do is open your door and your heart and say, "God, here am I." Then, watch as He fills your house with children or adults. He's just waiting...
We are having another Bible drive. We are asking people to leave prayer requests on the Mercy Abounds facebook page and providing them with Bibles if they need one. Please help us with this. You may use the Pay Pal at this site or contact Sharlene Bond at Green Acres Baptist church to donate for postage or Bibles or you can message me on the Mercy Abounds Facebook page or email me at the email on this site to donate Bibles. Most importantly, pray for those who might ask. Praise God we can still read and have Bibles in America today without dying for them!
Thanks for all you do and God bless you this week!
To God be the glory!
Jamie
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
I can certainly tell you ministry is not for the faint hearted, nor the lazy of Spirit! I promise you that each time I open my door to the kids at this ministry, that I open my door to the unsaved, the unexpected and sometimes the unloveliest of this world, in the mindset of those who are not yet His.
These middle-schoolers give us a run for our money! I am convinced that God brought all of us together as leaders to minister to these chosen children. Chosen by God to be given His Word and Truth 2 hours a week in the form of song and fellowship and the dividing of His divinely inspired, inerrant Word of the Living God. I am encouraged and challenged and prayerfully covering this group and I am asking for your prayer covering as well.
So many times when we meet the lesson is not what we plan out. These children begin to pepper us with questions of a profound spiritual weight. We never know what they will ask, but God never fails us and we have developed enough of a relationship with these children that, if we cannot answer, they understand what we mean when we say some things must be believed by faith. However, this week was a challenge and a very hotly contested meeting by some. For the first time since we began as a group, as we explained God's truth and read His word to answer questions asked by these children did we see resistance to His word being read. I saw at least two children, maybe three, with their fingers in their ears! They literally were trying to block the hearing of God's word as the truth was applied to their questions of hell, homosexuality and free will. I was shocked and immediately the scripture, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Ti 4:3-5 I witnessed this very scripture last night.
These children were having a hard time, a struggle, with God's word and our teaching. It was hard for them to truly consider that someone might actually go to hell. Why would God allow this? What's wrong with homosexuality; God knew people would be that way so why can't they go to Heaven? Why won't God just let us do whatever we want? Will Catholics or people of other religions go to Heaven? These are the questions that weighed on their minds, not the lesson I began to teach. I cannot tell you how many times this happens. It is such a blessing to be able to minister to these kids and make no mistake, we answer with the Word of God, each child has a Bible and reads with the leaders. But Friends, it is so hard for them to hear the Truth and apply it.
I would ask you to please pray for these children in their struggle! They want to believe us and they are trying to believe God's word, but everything they hear tells them differently. We are studying "Worldview" and the importance of it, material from the North American Mission Board. They are coming face to face with the Truth and it's hard! We know their struggles having been there. Please, pray for these children!
And as you read this blog, would you please comment and let me know that you are praying for them as a source of encouragement to the leaders here.
This is a critical time to be teaching God's word. The Bible says, " And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man," Luke 17:26. They had no regard for God's word and did as they pleased and when they were warned of destruction they laughed and did not repent. They (Noah's friends) refused to believe that there was a God who would judge and as we taught last night, we saw the same thing in the faces of these kids who have trusted us and listened to us. It is not God's desire to see one perish and it is certainly not our desire either. As we prayed last night, each persons' unsaved family members and these kids were heavy on our hearts. God help us! We cannot make anyone believe, nor will we try to "brainwash" by manipulation or playing on sympathies. BUT we will teach the whole counsel of God and answer the questions these children ask with the Word of God. We encourage them to read the Word themselves, to think about it and make their own decision. Again, please pray for these children, for us, for the lost in your families and lives, for your church leaders and for yourselves. And may God hear the fervent prayers of His saints!
To God be the glory!
Jamie
These middle-schoolers give us a run for our money! I am convinced that God brought all of us together as leaders to minister to these chosen children. Chosen by God to be given His Word and Truth 2 hours a week in the form of song and fellowship and the dividing of His divinely inspired, inerrant Word of the Living God. I am encouraged and challenged and prayerfully covering this group and I am asking for your prayer covering as well.
So many times when we meet the lesson is not what we plan out. These children begin to pepper us with questions of a profound spiritual weight. We never know what they will ask, but God never fails us and we have developed enough of a relationship with these children that, if we cannot answer, they understand what we mean when we say some things must be believed by faith. However, this week was a challenge and a very hotly contested meeting by some. For the first time since we began as a group, as we explained God's truth and read His word to answer questions asked by these children did we see resistance to His word being read. I saw at least two children, maybe three, with their fingers in their ears! They literally were trying to block the hearing of God's word as the truth was applied to their questions of hell, homosexuality and free will. I was shocked and immediately the scripture, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Ti 4:3-5 I witnessed this very scripture last night.
These children were having a hard time, a struggle, with God's word and our teaching. It was hard for them to truly consider that someone might actually go to hell. Why would God allow this? What's wrong with homosexuality; God knew people would be that way so why can't they go to Heaven? Why won't God just let us do whatever we want? Will Catholics or people of other religions go to Heaven? These are the questions that weighed on their minds, not the lesson I began to teach. I cannot tell you how many times this happens. It is such a blessing to be able to minister to these kids and make no mistake, we answer with the Word of God, each child has a Bible and reads with the leaders. But Friends, it is so hard for them to hear the Truth and apply it.
I would ask you to please pray for these children in their struggle! They want to believe us and they are trying to believe God's word, but everything they hear tells them differently. We are studying "Worldview" and the importance of it, material from the North American Mission Board. They are coming face to face with the Truth and it's hard! We know their struggles having been there. Please, pray for these children!
And as you read this blog, would you please comment and let me know that you are praying for them as a source of encouragement to the leaders here.
This is a critical time to be teaching God's word. The Bible says, " And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man," Luke 17:26. They had no regard for God's word and did as they pleased and when they were warned of destruction they laughed and did not repent. They (Noah's friends) refused to believe that there was a God who would judge and as we taught last night, we saw the same thing in the faces of these kids who have trusted us and listened to us. It is not God's desire to see one perish and it is certainly not our desire either. As we prayed last night, each persons' unsaved family members and these kids were heavy on our hearts. God help us! We cannot make anyone believe, nor will we try to "brainwash" by manipulation or playing on sympathies. BUT we will teach the whole counsel of God and answer the questions these children ask with the Word of God. We encourage them to read the Word themselves, to think about it and make their own decision. Again, please pray for these children, for us, for the lost in your families and lives, for your church leaders and for yourselves. And may God hear the fervent prayers of His saints!
To God be the glory!
Jamie
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