Prayer and Praise

7 June 2016

Coming Up: Mt Calvary Church Team

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 4

I’ve been wondering how exactly I was going to cart around all these team members with a van that had … well, problems.

Yes, it’s been about a month we’ve been trying to get some things fixed. The adventures have involved visits to mechanics and parts stores, hours of driving around and walking around … I can’t believe it’s been a month.

Anyway, as of a few minutes ago, the repairs are finally done!

So we’re looking forward to the arrival of the team from Mt Calvary Church on Friday.

Some of the upcoming activities (things you can pray about!) include:

Giving wheelchairs to people in need
Soccer tournament outreach
Ministry at the church
Various other evangelistic activities

That’s all in the space of a week and a day. So thanks in advance for praying for this team!

31 May 2016

Hebrews etc. on Sunday

Jim Ministry glimpses, Podcasts, Prayer and Praise 0

Hi! This is a podcast with a report on our activities this past Sunday, including a sample. 🙂
[display_podcast]
Oh, and here’s a picture of the English class that Shari took:

English class in Iztapalapa

27 May 2016

This Week, and Sunday Prayer Request

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 9

It’s been a pretty interesting week! I won’t go into all the details, but there have been some interesting opportunities to share the gospel, and some new connections and contacts that may lead to new opportunities in the future.

We still have some van repairs to take care of – Lord willing that will happen tomorrow.

Tonight is study #8 in the Chronological Bible Study – the tabernacle and sacrifices. Learning about the sacrifices always opens my eyes anew to many important truths in the Scriptures.

Anyway, all that aside, I wanted to ask for prayer for Sunday. We’ll be going to a church about 45 minutes from here (on our side of Mexico City, so not too far). Lord willing we’ll spend the day there, hanging out with the believers and also helping out with an afternoon English class.

In the morning I’ll be repeating the Hebrews “sermon”. Well, maybe I shouldn’t really put “sermon” in quotation marks, but it’s the sermon where I read Hebrews – the entire book – word for word. I did this back in February (see here for details).

(It’s not just a matter of reading it, of course. There is a handout with questions for reflection, and a PowerPoint with the verses that the author quotes from the OT, with a few other illustrations).

Hebrews is just an amazing book. I think every culture and time has Bible books that are especially relevant – although all of Scripture is relevant and needs to be taught cover-to-cover in every culture and in every age. But Hebrews is one of the books I keep coming back to over and over here in the context of modern Mexico. It keeps shining more light into my soul every time I read it and study it.

Anyway, do pray that God would especially use His Word and make it clear on Sunday. It takes almost an hour to read the whole book (apparently that’s about the normal length of a sermon in this church, so that helps!). Obviously in that time it’s easy to lose your voice, energy, or limber tongue to make the Spanish understandable. 🙂

But most of all pray that people will listen, and that the Spirit will work in our hearts.

Now – time to get ready for tonight’s study (which actually is very important to our understanding of Hebrews as well!).

24 May 2016

Video From Hannah’s 15th Birthday Party

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, Video Blogs 3

Below are a few odd clips from Hannah’s QuinceaÃ±era. I’m afraid they’re very odd, because we had some technical difficulties. So the majority of the actual program was not recorded.

We were very thankful for so many who graciously helped us put this party together. People cooking, setting up, cleaning, running sound, playing instruments, making banners, sharing in the program – the list just goes on and on. And, of course, we were blessed and honoured by the people who attended (about 115 people). AND – thanks for so many of you who were praying for the event!

We were especially thankful for the many wise words shared in the program. The gospel was clear, and there were other words of exhortation – not just for Hannah but for all of us. We were thankful to see the Lord glorified. Hannah did a great job, doing a lot of the planning. She chose some great music for worship, among many other details.

If you haven’t seen them already, there are lots of pictures in our Photo Gallery.

In the video you’ll see Hannah’s entrance and the introduction to the program, then some clips of people hanging out before the meal (with Hannah & friends handing out favours), the meal, and the cutting of the cake with the singing of some birthday songs.

3 May 2016

“Good” and “Sovereign” – (a report on the weekend)

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

Isn’t it funny how, when things go the way we like, God is “good”. When things go the way we don’t like, God is “sovereign” (and sometimes “still good”).

Well, God was definitely both good and sovereign this past weekend!

As you may recall, we had a team here from Palabra de Vida (Word of Life), which has a Bible institute north of Mexico City. The team was mostly Mexican, but several other countries were represented as well.

First, the team got whittled down due to sickness – the original fifteen became nine.

The next complication was that the team could not legally drive on the day they were supposed to leave (due to the laws in Mexico City to fight pollution). So special arrangements had to be made.

The team did several excellent evangelistic presentations in Santa Barbara and JesÃºs MarÃa. They also shared at both churches, teaching Sunday school and leading worship.

But what about Las Palmas? Well, the event was cancelled, because – well, we had “this permit” and “that permit” but we’re also supposed to have “this other permit”.

Never mind that we’ve done many events there in the past, and have never needed “this other permit”.

A sheep, and a book

So, we packed up and shared the Gospel in another community instead!

I’m not quite over that disappointment yet, however I am overjoyed that so many people did hear the Gospel.

On Monday the team shared with 1500 kids at a junior high in Las Palmas. As you might remember, they had to do it all in small groups, because the students aren’t allowed to meet outside right now, because the pollution level is too high!

But still, they had a good impact on the school.

Isn’t it a great temptation to look back, and say “if only…” or “we should have…” — ? And yet God’s goodness and sovereignty are not different, they’re the same. I was reminded of this recently by the song “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”. Check it out —

God Moves in a Mysterious Way – devotional thoughts on the hymn
God Moves in a Mysterious Way – full lyrics from the Cyber Hymnal

And a recent rendition here:

29 April 2016

A Weekend for — KIDS!

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

This is a weekend that we’ve been looking forward to (and praying forward to!) for a long time. And I know that some of you have too!

Word of Life International Tonight, a group of students is coming to Ixtapaluca from a Bible institute north of Mexico City (Word of Life – some of you are familiar with them). This is a big weekend in Mexico, because it’s CHILDREN‘S DAY (on Saturday, but we can celebrate all weekend)!

Tomorrow the team will be doing presentations for kids, and a youth event, and who knows what else, in the neighbourhood of Santa Barbara, hosted by the Path of Life Bible Church here.

On Sunday, they’ll split up between the two churches, helping with Sunday school and music. Then in the afternoon they’ll do their children’s presentation twice – at 3pm in Las Palmas, and at 5pm in JesÃºs MarÃa. Busy day!

On Monday they will be doing some presentations in the local public Junior High. Now, there are I think 1500 students there, so they will be doing classes, 3 going at the same time every hour, from 7am until early afternoon.

Word of Life Children's Show Why not just do the presentations in two or three big groups? Well, apparently because of the current state of pollution, the school is not allowed to have classes outside. Never mind that they have classes in rooms with open doors and big windows with no screens a few metres away. ??

So – busy weekend! We’re still getting organized to make sure everyone is fed, and to be prepared for what happens and for the new people we’re looking forward to meeting.

Thanks for your continued prayers, for the Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) group, with students, as I understand, from various countries in Latin America, for us, for the other believers here who will be involved, and for the many who will hear God’s Word.

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