ME?
God wills to use people! Ordinary folks.This is Theresa and Veda. For years God has used them to spearhead a wonderful, full & delicious Boxing Day Christmas Meal for our neighbourhoods’ needy families. This past December a large & loving team prepared & served about 375 meals!
Moses. Esther. The little boy with the fish & rolls lunch.
The little boy Samuel repeatedly heard his name being called in the middle of the night. He thought it was his caregiving priest calling him, but it wasn’t; it was the Lord.
BIG THINGS HAPPEN IN SMALL GROUPS!
This is our Mini-Church. We are learning together. We care about each other.
KFC has “Original Recipe” fried chicken.
Small groups are “Original Recipe” Christianity / Church.
Acts 2:42 paints the picture of the Church when she was weeks or months old:
“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
If you will plug into a Mini-Church you will find that it’s “finger-lickin’ good”!
Conviction
Pastor Earle Weech is the respected & beloved founding Pastor of the Calvary Bible Church.
He was a man of conviction.
A conviction is a belief rooted in Scripture.
Conviction is different than an opinion.
An opinion is merely a preference.
I wouldn’t necessarily cross the street for my preferences; but I would die for my convictions.
The conviction which Pastor Weech came to was that the New Testament teaches that once a person is saved, they are always saved. (John 10:27-30).
This was a particularly challenging & risky conviction for Pastor Weech to arrive at, because he was the successful pastor of a church that believed that persons can lose their salvation.
What was he to do, given his fresh conviction?
Based on his changed conviction, Pastor Weech did the courageous and the right thing of resigning that church!
He walked away rather than standing for something he no longer believed in based on his study of the Scriptures.
And this was how he was used mightily of God to found the Calvary Bible Church!
So it is with convictions: They can be both risky & destiny-shaping!
What are some of your convictions?
How about discussing them with your spouse and kids?
CHRISTMAS – GOD WITH US
God’s Care
This is a random week as found in my trusty Day-Timer.
I’m old-school. I have an iPhone but I prefer to use my Day-Timer to keep track of my appointments and deadlines.
I find it extremely encouraging that my God cared for me and for all of my contacts within every single commitment of that particular week!
God also cared for me in all of the unexpected situations of that week.
There was never a second when I was outside of God’s loving care.
So it is for you!
We may make ourselves too busy for God but our busyness will never weary God’s care for us.
Psalm 139:1-5 describes this kind of care by God.