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Towards
the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He could say, I have done everything my Father
has asked me to do. On the cross, He said, “It is finished.”
A
busy schedule is not foreign to Jesus. But somehow, He was never in a hurry. He
was never flustered nor in panic mode. Jesus stayed as long as He can in
parties or when people invited Him over for dinner. He taught big crowds. He
attended to His closest followers.
Frequently, He would come away by Himself to
lonely places, at times staying up all night, to pray.
No
wonder He could say, there’s nothing He says or does that did not come from our
heavenly Father. Put it positively, everything Jesus said and did all came from
God the Father.
Every
person in our church family who supports our mission and purpose will do well
to imitate Jesus’ way – that is, constant communion, calling and crying
out to the Lord our God in prayer!
HERE’S WHY FFAC MUST PRAY – AND DO NO OTHER
God is working in our midst. God
is working in our city and our province.
Two
weekends from now (Nov 14-16), the person our Youth Search Team shortlisted to
candidate will spend a few days with us, Lord willing. Since the church where
he is currently serving is aware that he is consulting with the Lord about the
possibility of serving here, we are now free to announce Pastor Narciso “Bong”
Cabuhat Jr. has been praying with FFAC Youth Search team about the possibility
of serving the Lord within FFAC.
May
we allow God to lead in this Youth Pastor search process. PRAY. So that, when
all is said and done, we give all credit to the Lord, not ourselves, but to the
Lord and only the Lord alone!
Our church family approved the
idea of building a washroom in the main floor for easy access to persons with
staircase mobility challenges. May this be an exercise of faith and working
together as one. Pray.
A Christmas ministry appears to
be underway which, the Lord willing, may be an interdenominational cooperative
effort with other congregations in our city. The sole purpose is to give as many
people an opportunity to hear the story of Christmas in the context of an
evening worship service. We will call this “Simbang Gabi” literally translated
“church evening”. This is a high church tradition in the Philippines that has
been practiced for decades, if not centuries. It will be in the evening, not
dawn. Pray as our worship ministry plans with other participating churches.
Filipino workers are coming to
Edmonton by the hundreds if not thousands. Recently, your deacons visited a
house in a St. Albert neighborhood occupied by 10 women workers. Besides their
keen desire to have a regular gathering to learn God’s Word and pray, they have
more friends who are interested in the same. A similar thing is already
happening in other corners of our city.
We need to pray that regardless
of labels or people’s preferences as to how ministry should be done, that the
Lord of the harvest, our Lord Jesus Christ, would bless our efforts to bring
people to Himself.
Pray for those who are reaching
out and those being reached. Once again, may the Lord and only the Lord alone
receive all the credit, not us, to God alone be all glory, honor and praise.
YOUR TURN
This article is worthless unless
you take action. Every day, set aside half an hour to meet with God. Read Scripture
for 15 minutes. Spend the remaining 15 minutes praying for your family,
friends, church, city and country. These are five major items to pray for at three
minutes each.
Ask the Lord to show you how you
can actively involve yourself in what God is doing in our midst. Then, gather
with your friends in small group prayer. You can even pray within your own
family or household. Go further still and mark the 3rd Friday of the
month to join us in Extended Night of Prayer.
Warmly,
ricky p. mapa, pastor
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