God is truly a loving and gracious Father. He blessed us again on Sunday by spending time with us in His house. As a testimony of His infinite glory, His Holy Spirit visited us in both the morning and evening services through messages in tongues and interpretations. It is so humbling to have God, who created anything before our eyes, ears, nose, or any other monitoring system (either man-made or God-made), to stop what is happening and directly communicate with us through His Holy Spirit. Words cannot describe the joy and gratitude within one’s heart; only the love for the Father can describe it. Through those messages, God wanted us to know that “His banner was over us” and “Jesus would be returning soon…be ready!”
Our praise and worship team led our congregation through a wonderful time of just adoring and worship the Lord. Hearing and singing poetic words and phrases that God has placed through a composer, continues to serve as another method of imaging the greatness of God. Our praise and worship team leader, Beth, is returning from a missions trip this next Sunday. We look forward to hearing the testimonies of her trip in the weeks to come.
During prayer time in the morning service, a number of people came forward for special prayer. This act of faith follows God’s Holy Word: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). Sometimes “sick” doesn’t always refer to the physical illnesses.
I began a new sermon series entitled, “Beginnings”. Everyone has had, or will have, a beginning in their life that literally changes the direction of their life. These occur from time to time according to God’s perfect will for each person’s life. So if you haven’t started going to Church on Sunday morning, now would be the perfect time to begin. And if you haven’t given your heart to Jesus, now is excellent time to begin. Just offer a simple prayer to God telling Him you know you’re a sinner; that He gave His only son, Jesus, over to men; man crucified Him on a cross; but Jesus rose from the dead and gives us eternal life because of His resurrection. If you believe this in your heart and confess it with your mouth, you will be saved. Now that is a beginning!!
Sunday evening we continued our study of the book of Revelation; chapter 11. In this chapter we learn of the 2 witnesses testifying of the mighty love of God. We see these men die only after an appointed time set by God; but then He raises them up after 3 days, in sight of the whole world. Then God and Jesus take over. In the business world, when you file chapter 11 you are reorganizing an organization in bankruptcy in an effort to restore order. In Revelation, chapter 11, we see a bankrupt world being reorganized with a new leadership that has the unlimited resources to place everything in perfect order. Interesting.
At the end of the service, God’s Holy Spirit visited the sanctuary, and many in the congregation just waited before the Lord and sat in His sweet audience. Not in loud and jubilant praise, but in still and quiet reverence of the Lord’s presence. There will be more of this description in a subsequent post.
Bonnie and I are so thankful for where God has placed us. He continues to draw closer to us and this body of believers each week. Seeing God’s majesty around us in the form of His creation, the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or in the changed lives of others is wonderful to experience, but it pales in comparison to simply be sitting in His presence. He is truly a loving God.
Sincerely,
Pastor Claude
