church

Going with God

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

After 16 years of Sundays this was our last at New Covenant Fellowship. Serving as assistant pastors with our Brazilian brothers and sisters has forever changed and marked our hearts and lives. We have learned so much more than just Portuguese and how to enjoy a good plate of Vaca Atolada ( cow stuck in the mud), we have been adopted into a family. Just as in any family we’ve had our share of struggles and tears but in the end our hearts have been forever knit together by the love of Jesus Christ. We entered in to the church with hope and last night as they prayed for us a blessing we were given the verse from Isaiah 55: ” you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace…”

In Portuguese there is a farewell exchange : ” Vai com Deus” “Go with God” to which you reply “Fica com Deus” , “Stay with God”. That is what our hope and prayer has been. It has been a great honor to have served and as we go out with their blessings our prayer is that God’s blessings will remain in the hearts the hands and families of our church.

Where ever God is leading you today may you also experience His blessings as you go out with joy and His peace leads and directs your path!

F

or you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/isa.55.12.NKJV

Choosing a Destination

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

My GPS has a curious insistence that I set my destination before I begin driving my car. In the same way it matters to God that we ask Him to direct our path early each morning. We might have felt very close to God in church Sunday morning but the distance between praising and complaining is not as great as we think. To keep from making that journey we need to ask God to reset our spiritual GPS before we begin each day. Our words are steps along a pathway. If we truly want to walk with tour Savior it helps to remember that Jesus is listening to every word we say!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord , my strength and my Redeemer. Psalms 19:14

Happy or Sad?

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Sometimes church gets filled up with all kinds of different people who for all kinds of different reasons want tp come see Jesus. Do we feel happy or sad when we find someone else sitting in our pew? Will we go home joyful ot irritated if lots of different folks show up to worship? God so loved the world- the whole world that He gave His only Son. How will we respond when a small breeze of change begins blowing through our church? Why not check to see if our spiritual doors and windows locked? God wants to send a mighty rushing wing to fill His house. Be ready because God loves to use all kinds of people from all kinds of places to build His church!

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”
John 12:19 NKJV