In spite of an absolutely crazy week before big event, God blessed our 2nd anniversary service in Las Palmas!
Such a Great Salvation!As I mentioned last time, the owner of the hall did eventually let us rent it for the normal time. After the service, we went to a property owned by someone in the church for food and activities.
Above you can see the theme for the service, taken from Hebrews 2:3 (the key verse of the day was actually Hebrews 2:9). There was a lot of participation in the service – kids, youth, adults – music, drama, even some puzzles. We talked about our values as a church, and most of all we focused on the Son and His Salvation. As often happens – unplanned, but not by coincidence, everything fit together well.
After the service was a potluck. One of our friends also organized some activities “for the kids” – which in the end most certainly included almost everyone!
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that fact that Shari made some very cool cupcakes for the occasion. 😜
Thanks to everyone who prayed for the service. We’re so thankful for those who prayed, and for so many people who worked together to make the day a great success. We look forward to seeing what God will do in Year 3!
…we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9
One of the exciting things about the new year has been studying God’s Word, in preparation for upcoming studies, sermons, etc. There is no doubt that God has a lot to teach us in 2018!
I imagine unbelievers really can’t comprehend why we find so many answers to life’s problems in the Bible. And sometimes Christians are guilty of simplistic answers –
problem + verse = happyhappy!
That’s not the way it is, of course. In fact, it’s the deep, balanced messages of all Scripture that address the complex realities of life in challenging and complex ways.
We’re finishing up the Gospel of Mark this month, with the climax of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We started Mark a year ago. We’ll be looking at the wonders of our justification and sanctification as well in the next couple of weeks. And we continue with a discipleship study three times a week, taught by three different people. My first study of the year is tonight.
We’re also looking ahead to what we’ll be doing during our time in Canada (AB/SK) later this year (here are some of the things we’re offering churches and small groups). Can you believe it? Over 25% of our Sundays are already booked! (And we booked our flights back to Mexico today. Thank you, WestJet, for the great prices on direct flights!)
Here’s one of the passages I’ve been meditating on as I’ve been preparing for Sunday…
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
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:
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.
(Hebrews) “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”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!).
Those of you who have received our newsletter now have a prayer calendar for the next few weeks. Of course, I could only include a very small portion of what’s going on, so I’ll try to keep you up to date a little here at Finding direction as well.
One thing that I didn’t mention was that I’m preaching every Sunday this month. On the first Sunday I was able to choose my own topic, so I took the lazy route decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while – preach Hebrews. Not preach on Hebrews, but basically preach the book – read it all, word-for-word.
I used a PowerPoint presentation, mainly to put up the verses that the author quotes from the Old Testament, and also had a hand out with some questions for reflection.
It was an interesting experience – great for me, I hope some other people got something out of it. They were at least very attentive anyway (I warned them ahead of time – I think it took around 55 minutes!).
Anyway, it’s amazing what a little context will do. The book of Hebrews may very well have been a sermon that has been written down for us – it does sound a lot like one when you say it out loud. 🙂
For the rest of the month we’re going through 1Corinthians 3:1-5:6. Next week the children will be there for the sermon, so hopefully it will be fun for everyone.
As with every area of ministry, I really appreciate your prayers for these sermons. Unless the Spirit of God works, nothing will happen. And most of these sermons are posted over at en-la-Biblia.com, which means they will be listened to by many other people, both in and out of Mexico.
The job of the preacher, as I’ll be sharing this Sunday, is the be faithful (1Corinthians 4:1-2). That means read God’s Word, explain what it means, and sit down. God’s power is in His Word and Spirit – He is the one who brings true growth (1Corinthians 3:7).
Yesterday, Pope Francis arrived in Mexico City. He’ll spend the weekend here before heading to the State of Chiapas on Monday morning, the State of Michoacán on Tuesday morning, and finally the state of Chihuahua, in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.
In spite of the hundreds of thousands flocking to see him, there certainly are mixed feeling about the visit of the Pope, even among Roman Catholics. Billboards like this one welcome him officially (“Welcome, Pope Francis – the CDMX (City of Mexico) is Your Home”). Other billboards pray that he will bring peace and hope to the country. Many people hope that the coming of the Pope will finally bring change to the country.
Others are more skeptical. Some are urging the Pope to “talk tough” against corruption, human rights violations and violence. Some are just frustrated by all the road closures in the city, which started even before he arrived. Some are outraged at the money being spent on the visit, while so many live in poverty. Some even complain that the events will lead to the further spread of the Zika virus.
But many downtown workers are just glad for a day off work due to a closed road.
Watching the Pope’s video messages to Mexico, it’s obvious that he has something else on his mind. What is it exactly that Francis wants out of his visit?
The majority of the videos I watched had one theme – the Virgin of Guadalupe. He wants to stand before her, and look into her eyes. When he feels her presence, he hears the words – do not be afraid – am I not here, who am your mother?.
Francis is actually referring to an image of what is believed by many Mexicans to be a manifestation of the Virgin Mary. Deflecting the trust and hope that many people have in him, Francis points to his source of hope in this tweet:
Many of my Christian friends want to remind everyone that our hope should not be in a man, or in an image of the Virgin, but in Jesus.
While the news sources wait for the Pope’s speeches and hang on every word, he himself is looking forward to his moments to stand before the image in veneration. He will also be performing masses in various locations, including in Mexico City this afternoon.
Many people don’t realize that the mass is absolutely central to the Roman Catholic view of salvation. The mass is a sacrifice, where the priest (in this case, the Pope), is an “Altus Christus” (“another Christ”), with the power to bring Christ down and offer the sacrifice for the people.
The bread and wine are Christ. Many times when you hear Roman Catholic missionaries speak of “bringing Christ to the people”, you’ll find that they’re actually talking about bringing the sacrifice of the mass – because the food is Christ, and to take the mass is to be justified.
Hence the bread and wine are literally worshipped. The lay people don’t drink the wine, because if a little of it spilled, it would be “Jesus” spilling.
For salvation, repeatedly going to mass is necessary.
In a sense, the mass and other sacraments are a system in which the RC Church doles out salvation little by little. For many in Mexico, whatever the official teaching may be, this becomes a bit of an economic system. This blessing, this mass, this visit to the image or the Pope – that gives me credit to get away with a little more, to go to the party, to get forgiveness.
The Bible teaches in the book of Hebrews that the repetitive nature of the Old Testament sacrifices were, in the end, just a reminder of sin (Hebrews 10:3). They looked forward to something much more complete. The “once for all” sacrifice of Christ removed sin forever (Hebrews 9:25-26), bringing true peace with God – not a peace given a little at a time, or a peace that is temporary and uncertain. A peace that is based on what Jesus has already done (Romans 5:1-2; 1Corinthians 1:30-31).
Some look for hope in the Pope, or the mass, or the Virgin of Guadalupe. Others look to politics and protests. But there is still – and will always be – only one Hope (Hebrews 10:15-23).
As I mentioned last time, the owner of the hall did eventually let us rent it for the normal time. After the service, we went to a property owned by someone in the church for food and activities.
After the service was a potluck. One of our friends also organized some activities “for the kids” – which in the end most certainly included almost everyone!
We’re finishing up the Gospel of Mark this month, with the climax of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We started Mark a year ago. We’ll be looking at the wonders of our justification and sanctification as well in the next couple of weeks. And we continue with a discipleship study three times a week, taught by three different people. My first study of the year is tonight.
For the rest of the month we’re going through 1Corinthians 3:1-5:6. Next week the children will be there for the sermon, so hopefully it will be fun for everyone.
