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Tomorrow – Sunday Service #1

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We’ve hardly had time to think, never mind write … but I thought I’d swing by here quickly to let you know what’s going on tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will be having our first Sunday service of all time in the community of Las Palmas. That means that a bunch of believers from the area will get together, worship God, hear from His Word, pray together, and ask God to prepare us for further service.

I have no idea how it’s all going to go, but we’re just going to try our best to serve and trust the Holy Spirit to do His work!

So in case you want to pray specifically, the service will be at 11am tomorrow. Rod Fry will be preaching, and Shari will be teaching the children’s Sunday School.

How do you prepare for a service? Well, aside from a lot of PRAYER? Well, there are sheets that need to be printed and copied, lessons that need to be prepared, music to be chosen, Bible passages to be studied, people to be invited.

And – remember, this is brand new – no microphones, no pulpit, no coffee maker …. We do have chairs as a part of the rental.

Uncharacteristically, I suggested that the coffee maker be a priority. Uncharacteristic, since I don’t drink coffee. See how understanding I am? (hah!)

Anyway, coffee isn’t really going to animate us spiritually, so do pray! I’ll try to send off a newsletter with a report (for those who are subscribed – if you’re not, you can sign up here).

Services begin in Las Palmas!

This Week: Team Leader Meetings

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This week I (Jim) will be heading to Cholula for a week of meetings with Camino Global team leaders and other mission leadership from around the world. We would all appreciate your prayers as we look to better serve the Lord with Spanish speakers around the world.

This is actually the first time I’ve been to these meetings here in Mexico (you may remember last year in Guatemala, and the year before in Honduras). So it’s pretty exciting to be more of a “host” this time along with the other missionaries here.

Lord willing, four missionaries will join me over the weekend to be involved in ministry in Mexico City. Mexico City alone is more populous than the entire country of Guatemala or Honduras, so it will be a different cultural experience from other years. 🙂

Church Planting: The Next Step

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The Next StepIt’s been over two years since our team officially began ministry in the community of Las Palmas. We’ve had many opportunities to serve people there. And now it’s time for the next step.

So what has happened over two years? There have been a lot of community centre classes, including keyboard, baking, and English classes. And some fun closing programs at the end of the semesters. We’ve also given wheelchairs to those in need, hosted several soccer tournaments and a sports camp, and had Bible studies. We’ve even helped the local Jr. High with their English classes. We’ve had many short-termers who have invested in Las Palmas, helping us with so many activities and just taking the time to talk – and listen – to people.

Through all this time, there have been many opportunities to share the Gospel.

So what’s the next step?

The next step is – an actual Sunday service! And – a whole lot of weekend activities! And – more community centre classes!

Cheila - Children's Day Event 2016
Cheila at a Children’s Day Event
First, let me get to some other related news. Do you remember the Children’s Day activities we had back in the spring? A group came down from Word of Life, a Bible school north of Mexico City.

Well, they did a great job. And now we have the opportunity to work with some of the students from that school every weekend!

Cheila (from Portugal), Matheus (from Portugal) and Rebecca (from Mexico City) have committed to join us each weekend from now through May as an internship with their school. That means that we can help them, and they can help us, as we serve the Lord together.

So what does all this mean for weekly activies? Here are some of the things our (bigger) team will be doing:

  • Sunday Service: Starting (Lord willing) November 6th. We’re renting a party hall for a few hours on Sunday, much like we did in Jesús María.
  • English classes: Homework help in particular. Twice a day students stream down the streets after school (school is in two shifts). The party hall, also rented for this purpose, is in a perfect location on the neighbourhood’s main street.
  • Bible study: for adults/kids, continuing as it has been for a while now on Friday evenings.
  • Kids’ Club: A VBS type activity time on Saturdays
  • Youth: Saturday night
  • Other classes, events, outreaches, community service: continuing.

Some of these things have already started, but the first service is yet to come.

We’ve been spending extra-special time praying for the people of Las Palmas. Will you join us? Only God can bring life to people this community. Please pray with us!

We also have a number of expenses – the rental of a house and the party hall, and the expenses related to the interns. If you would like a breakdown, so that you could make this a family or church project, just contact us. You could help us cover one week, or one intern for one weekend, or less or more.

If you’d like to help right now, you can give to our community centre through Camino Global. The project # is 063576. Just click on “Give to this project”. If you’re in the US, the info is right there. If you’re in Canada, follow the next link and be sure to enter the project #.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of outreach to this area over the past few months, through your service with us, your gifts, and/or your encouragement! Let’s take the next step and see what the Lord will do!

Prayer Request: Today’s Conference

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Finding Peace: Prayer Request

Shari adds:

Hi, friends! Just a request here – a prayer reminder – for those of you willing to pray for me as I speak at this women’s conference! I got word that they are expecting about 120 ladies to attend! 😳

Please pray specifically that the message of God’s Peace would both calm my heart (and take away my nervousness!) …That it would flow as smoothly as possible through my feeble Spanish, and that God would use me as His instrument to communicate His Word clearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit would prepare and soften the hearts of the women who will attend, and that they will respond as God speaks to them through His Word.

It’s great to have so many of you thinking of me and praying for me as I take on such a huge task that is WAY out of my comfort zone! 🙏 Thank you for standing behind me and encouraging me! Blessings on you all… I will report back after the weekend! 😎

Baptisms (in the new sanctuary … sort of …) –video–

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We had a great day on Sunday – six baptisms at Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María (Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Jesús María)!

I could say a lot of things about the day and the people, but let me just mention a couple of things that will be of interest to most of our readers outside the country.

First, the baptisms were in our new sanctuary – at least, where our new sanctuary will be! They were still outside, in a pool, but this time we were on a cement floor with obvious signs of construction all around us. 🙂

Every person has their unique story. One of the women who was baptized came to the Lord through the kids’ club in August, which is cool. She’s been coming to Sunday services and we’ve just started to get to know her.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting to see these people taking this step of obedience to the Lord. We’re looking forward to seeing what God does in days and years ahead!

Here are a few minutes of clips so you can see what it was like:

Getting to Malachi

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This year on my Spanish blog, En la Biblia (In the Bible), I’ve been going through 7 day summaries of each book of the Bible. The idea is that you can take 5 minutes or less per day and get a bit of background on each book.

It’s been encouraging to see people interested in learning more about God’s Word. The blog even has a Facebook page now (with 5999 “likes” as I write this – c’mon, just one more…), and visitors from all over the world, especially from Columbia, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.

Anyway, next week is a milestone because I’ll be publishing the series about the last book of the Old Testament. So here’s a pre-published and translated version of the post from this coming Friday – Malachi: The Christ (every Friday we look at how the Messiah can be seen in the book – usually a longer post):Malachi: The Christ

Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
Exodus 23:20

The Israelites had left Egypt, and were going to the promised land. God sent His angel, His messenger, ahead of them to prepare the way. The wicked nations would be destroyed, and the land would be given to Israel.

In the book of Malachi, we see that God is going to send a messenger once again:

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1

What’s the difference? This time, the messenger will not prepare the way for Israel, but for her God. And Israel – horrors! Israel is now the wicked nation!

But God is merciful. It wasn’t His plan to completely destroy Israel. The messenger would call for repentance.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Malachi 4:5-6

The Gospel of Mark says:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:2-4

Mark uses a quote from Isaiah 40:3, but he also seems to use words from Exodus 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. The messenger is John the Baptist – and he is calling the people to repentance.

Preparing the way for – whom? The Lord – the Lord Jesus.

Mark applies the words of Yahweh – the LORD – in the Old Testament – to Jesus! Yes, Jesus is Yahweh, who comes to save and to judge.

And Jesus is still jealous for true worship in the temple. As God spoke against evil priests and corrupt worship in Malachi, so Jesus hated corruption in the temple.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
Matthew 21:12-13

However, the cleansing isn’t finished. One day Jesus will return to finish his work. Those who fear the Lord will be a “treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17). “…the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2). Yahweh says – “my name will be great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11).

Once more, in the book of Revelation, Jesus sends His angel (messenger) (Revelation 22:16) with good news:

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:3-5

But don’t forget the warnings of Malachi (Malachi 3:16-18) and Revelation:

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:27

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