On Sunday morning we made our way to Colonia Unidas to worship along side our friends. We were greeted by the big smiles of Pastor Amado and his wife Anna, We gathered together as we opened with prayer. Ginger read scripture from Psalm 84. Ana led the music along with Lorena, they sang "At the Cross" and other beautiful hymns of praise and worship. Pastor Amanda came forward and welcomed all of us with love and gratitude for being in Honduras building a home for Flora and Nelson. Lorena asked for any specials. The children started coming down front one by one singing songs for the congregation. They start their young people early in leadership roles in their church. After all the specials Pastor Paul came forward to share a message out of Philippians 2:1-11. When I came here Pastor Paul shared six years ago for the first time I was humbled by the generosity and the Christian witness you all exhibit for me. I feel today I am not worthy to stand before you and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. But by HIS Grace and Mercy I am here today to share from the help of the Holy Spirit what God has for me to say. First of all we are one Spirit in Christ. Out of verses 1-4 it is about changing our mindset. It is not always easy to do. We need to have our eyes open to see Jesus. I have learned how to use a machete thanks to you all discipling me in the process of learning how to use the machete You took time with me four years ago on Mt. Horeb to teach me how to sharpen and use a machete as we worked side by side cleaning up the beginning of a new journey for this ministry. We find comfort, compassion and fellowship in HIS Spirit. It does not matter where we come from it is the same in every language. Do I think I am better than someone else because of a lifestyle or because of anything else for this matter? We are not better than anyone no matter where we live or what we do. We are all the same in the eyes of Jesus. As we sang earlier "At the Cross" this is where we go to get spiritual healing from our Lord. At the cross is where we find our comfort in our lives. Just like a mothers love for her child is where we can find the comfort is at the foot of the cross. We need to have the mind set of Christ so we are able to serve others as He served others, to show encouragement to others as Jesus shows encouragement to us. We saw a lot of encouragement this week at the project site as you all showed us hospitality in many ways, through your delicious meals, through the hard work of the young people who were there faithfully. It was the Spirit of our Living Lord shining down on us this week. We saw Jesus' attitude on each of you this week as we served beside you.
Pastor Paul brought team member Sarah up beside him to show a visual of how real Satan can be in our daily lives. Pastor Paul took Sarah and pushed her away from Jesus, pushed her toward the world and how easily this took place. Then he brought a young man from the audience and Pastor Paul told him he was an angel protecting Sarah from Satan. Satan pushed by the angel pushed back harder. Sarah was protected by the angel but then Paul brought someone else a friend, a Christian friend to help Sarah out from the fire of Satan. He added yet Sarah's mother who always protects Sarah. But nothing can protect her like the angel of God. Yes we need our friends, our Christian friends and family to help us with the battle against Satan, who by the way is out there everyday waiting to take us out. Pastor Paul brought Pastor Amada up as the example of the church for Sarah's protection from the evil forces. It takes all of these people in our lives daily to help us but most of all we cannot do it with out the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. So when others are there for Sarah then she is firm at the foot of the cross. So then we can share what we have with others in service to them and so Jesus Christ is glorified. Church is the kingdom of God here on earth. We are the church because a church is not a building but the believers who go out and share the gospel with a lost and dark world.
Jesus Christ is LORD of lords, KING of kings and Alpha and the Omega. Our inheritance is the Kingdom of God. We serve because we are one in HIM. What an amazing worship service with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you Pastor Paul for bringing the message in such a powerful way for all of us. We are called to serve so let's serve HIM with HIS CHRISTLIKE ATTITUDE.
After the service Debby got blessed to see Saul for the first time since his wedding. Debby's team came six years ago and got to attend Saul's wedding. I was sitting with Saul in church and he looked at me and said she came to my wedding. Saul shared he could not remember her name but he knows she was at this wedding. God is so good all the time.
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