Praise and Worship in Pavana

The team arrived on Saturday so their week started off in church on Sunday.  Bless Meida she was barely on time because of the road construction but she made it by five til nine.  Pastor was waiting for her to start the service.  While waiting on Meida team met the church members there which would soon be their amazing helpers in the dental clinic.  Edwin playing the drums would soon become a translator at triage along side Jim and Rebecca.  So once Meida arrived the pastor opened up with prayer and Oscar let the church in a hymn, "Our God Is In This Place".  Several other hymns followed this one as the team enjoyed praising the Lord through song.  there were several specials by the church members.  The pastor asked Mike to come forward and do the Welcome for the morning.  Mike thanked the church for allowing us to worship with them and to allow us to provide their community with a dental team.  Mike asked Dr. John, team leader to introduce his team and also shared he was grateful to be here this week to service the community of Pavana. Another gentleman named Antonio got up and led more praise and worship music unto the Lord.  Oscar led more music as Marico took up the offering.  After the offering Mike brought God's Word out of  John 21:15-20. Mike shared it was nice to worship in song with them this morning.  The beauty of all your voices in praising God.  Mike asked everyone to join him in prayer. 

Mike shared some background prior to John 21:15 how Peter and his friends had been out fishing all night and were not catching any fish.  Jesus called out to them already knowing the answer to His question, "Are you catching anything?"  Peter shared , "No were are not catching anything." Jesus told them to cast their nets to the right of the boot and they did not understand why because they had not caught any fish all night.  But they obeyed Jesus and their nets became overflowing with numerous fish.  Peter rushed up to the shore to share with Jesus what had just happened.  He greeted Jesus with news Jesus already knew. Peter was grateful to Jesus for his assistance.  As Peter entered the shore they were preparing breakfast for the morning so they all participated in a hearty breakfast provided by Jesus.  This was the third time Jesus had met with his disciples since He had risen.  After breakfast Jesus asked Peter a question.  This is a question we can all ask ourselves.  "Do you love me Peter?"  asked Jesus.  Jesus further asked Peter, "Do you love me more than your family, friends, more than anyone on this earth?"  Jesus shared if so then feed my lambs.  You see Mike shared lambs are not quiet sheep yet.  They are less than a year old similar to a new Christian.  New Christians need to be fed God's Word similar to the lambs being fed their physical milk.  New Christians need to get fed their spiritual food, God's Word gradually so they can learn what it means to be a follower of Me.  Once again Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me Simon Peter?"  Peter was focused solely on Jesus' words.  Jesus shared, "Then go and take care of my sheep."  He did not say feed my lambs but go take care of my sheep.  What do we do when we take care of sheep?  We make sure they stay on the right path and keep them close by.  Sheep like cows have a mind of their own.  They want to do it their way.  As shepherds of our sheep we have to make sure they are going down the right path. So like sheep we did to be there to guide believers down the right path.  We need to teach them God's Word and live it out as examples in our own lives The third time Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" Peter got his feelings hurt. His human side kicked in and he let his own feelings get in the way.  If we think about ourselves and Jesus had asked us three times did we love him.  How would we react?  Would we get our feelings hurt as well. Folks it is not about us, it is about God and God only. Peter shared with Jesus, "Jesus you know I love you, you know all things."  Jesus said," Then go feed my sheep and Peter this is different from feeding the lambs.  Jesus wanted to make sure Peter was totally committed to HIM.  When Jesus was asking Peter all these questions and the same one several times, Jesus knew Peter was going to die for him.  Jesus wanted to know Peter's heart condition.

Everyday of our lives, every moment we should be totally committed to Jesus. Just like Peter is our heart changing daily or are we denying Jesus daily.  Peter denied Jesus three times and yet in the end he gave his totally being to following Jesus and feeding the sheep.  We should always say Jesus we love you no matter the conditions or situations we are in.  Jesus can provide all our needs if we totally commit to Him daily. We should not worry about others as John, the disciple, did.  We take care of ourselves and be concern on how we as an individual should follow Jesus.  We should not only do it at church or when with our Christian friends but wherever we go we should live our lives totally for Jesus and feed His sheep.   There may be a person who is that small lamb who needs to hear the Word of God and taught the Word of God.  Go and feed this person and help them grow into a follower of Christ.  There may be Christians out there who have gotten off the path as Christians, disciples of Jesus we need to lead them back on the right path.  We need to truly love Jesus and commit our lives to Him daily in all situations.  Mike furthered shared out of John 14:15  "If you love me keep my commandments  Mike's challenge for us all including himself was to be like Peter.

.The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

After worship the dental team assessed what needed to be done for the week ahead.  They talked among themselves as the church members waited for what their requests would be to set up the sanctuary into a dental clinic for nine o'clock Monday morning.  Mike and Meida shared with the church members the requests of the dental team and off they went getting the church cleaned and in order for that afternoon when the team came back after lunch and spent two hours setting up their dental clinic.  As Ms. Becky shared the morning after in her devotion it was organized and graciously done cias.  God is so good in how it all came together very quickly by a lot of folks who truly did not know each other very well.  But they all had a common bond and goal, they were in the dental field and they were here to serve their Lord.  So in saying all this and we are totally to committed to doing God's will the end results will always be beautiful.