Each morning and each evening these lovely folks came prepared to share God's Word. We allowed thirty minutes each morning after our breakfast to sit on the multi purpose porch and share a devotional which a lot of said they had one prepared before coming but then changed it up some upon arrival.
Susan shared on Thursday evening from Hebrews 3:13. She shared life happens and yes it does. We have encouraged one another to get ready to come on our very first international mission trip. Our family and friends encouraged us as well. A God moment before every landing in Honduras was ten year old girl flying by herself to go visit family in another state encouraged all our first time friends who had never flown before. Susan shared how she thought she was too old to come to Honduras on a mission trip. But God has shown me differently.
On Friday morning Pastor Matty shared on "Armor of God" and Spiritual Warfare. When we are prepared to share the gospel Spiritual Warfare will arise and try to keep us from sharing the love of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians Paul describes a maturing process as a Christian to stay safe from Spiritual Warfare. We are over three thousand miles out of our comfort zone. We are empowered by God for obedience so Satan has not any reason to bother if we aren't sharing the gospel. But we are here this week to go share the gospel. In 2 Samuel 10 David is a prosperous king. David had a fellow king who died and David wanted to go and give his condolences to the son of the king who died. As David tried to show kindness he was ridiculed and persecuted for his kind actions. David continues to deal with warfare. David was getting ready also for battle with Ammonites. Joab and Zobah worked together to fight against the warfare with the Ammonites. They helped each other out.
Just like Joab and Zobah and David we are here to help each other out. We are to make sure we stay hydrated and have plenty of sunscreen. We are here for each other and show love and compassion to others as well as ourselves. Satan wants us to be hot, tired and weary. But in Psalm 20 David gets ready for the battle with the attitude of victory before the battle ever gets started. David trust God's will for his life and praise the Lord . He gave VICTORY TO THE KING!!!!! Shout for JOY and REJOICE in the name of the LORD!!!!
Friday evening Todd led a short devotional out of Joshua 1:9. The Israelites were afraid to go somewhere new and different. They were apprehensive just like us. We are sharing our testimonies some for the very first time, some of us flying for the very first time, we are all in a different county and we do not speak Spanish. But we can trust God be strong and courageous.
Saturday morning Susan shared how we are his ambassadors our of 2 Corinthians 5:20. We sometimes play a game on our ipad to unwind in the evening to disconnect from the world for a while. Our thoughts wonder and our quiet times can become stale. It becomes more about me in my conversations with others and less about them. I need to prayerfully ask God what I need to do and how I need to do things differently in my life. Instead of playing video games at the end of our evenings we need to finish our day in God's Word. Aren't we all guilty of putting God off instead of filling our minds and hearts with His Words.
Monday morning Penny started our devotional with Joshua 1:9. Joshua leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. Penny then goes to Isaiah 43:1-3, 13 in how God comforts us while here in Honduras. God has this all trip wrapped in His arms. We are not alone. He choose us to come to Honduras just like he chose the Isralelites to go to the Promised Land. Out of John 20:21 and 1 Peter 2:9 shares with us on being on mission is our responsibility. Jesus first mission trip was to save us from our sins. The Trinity sent us out and then lifted us up in our journey preparing to come here and while we were here. We are the church and we are all eagerly awaiting for Jesus' return for us. This is why we should follow Him. Jesus died for each of us as believers and we need to live out our lives according to His promise of our eternal salvation. Pastor Matty touched on this saying we have a missional heart by starting locally then moved outwardly. We have observed cultural challenges this week thus far and we have Jesus leading us every step of the way through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Monday evening Angie shared "Praise To The Almighty God" out of Psalm 139:14. She asked us did we accept ourselves for who we are? We are all a work in progress. Our self worth is from the One who created us, God. That is how important we are that He created us in our innermost being. Out of John 16:33 "His strength is made perfect in my weakness."
Our youngest team member Zach shared out of Ephesians 2. The man I shared with was a catholic and all I did was share my faith come from grace and then develops into grace. Paul wrote the book of Ephesisans and I want to talk about five points of redemption, first God loves us, secondly God makes us alive with Christ, thirdly God raises us up with Christ, fourthly God sets us up with Christ and fifthly God shows us redemption in Christ Jesus. Ephesisans 2:8-10 says we are saved by grace, death to life because of God's grace, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, then we become obedient through faith which leads to grace. We are not saved by works to boast about but saved by grace through faith. Out of verse four it says we are God's masterpiece. And finally out Matthew 5:16 we need to let our light shine for Jesus Christ.
Bobby shred the most precious story out of Exodus 4:10-14 where Moses says he was not eloquent enough to serve the Lord. Bobby shared he did not feel eloquent enough to serve the Lord, especially in a country where he does not speak the language. But then he thought back a few years ago when he ran into Pastor Matty in the Wal-Mart. At this time Bobby was unchurched and Pastor Matty reached out to Bobby and invited him to church at Arlington Baptist. Bobby said he was forever grateful for this invitation to come to church. Now he feels he needs to go out to and tell others about the love of Jesus Christ. Pastor Matty shared with Bobby how he brings joy to all of his team members, he is faithful to God more than anyone he knows and Bobby has a here I am send me attitude. If more of us could only be like you Bobby.
Todd shared on Wednesday morning about Joshua entering the promised land out of Joshua 4:2-3, 6-7. Joshua entered the promised land was a milestone for the Israelites. As well as for us there was a lot of first, a lot of milestones we overcame this week. We flew for the first time, we all went on our first international mission trip and we all shared the gospel in another language.
Wednesday evening Pastor Matty closed out the devotional from first day on Friday with a follow up out of 2 Samuel 10. David was a man after God's own heart. When we do God's will it will come with trials. We as a team did honorable godly things for each other. We helped each other out if it was making sandwiches, or helping make the Gatorade or helping wash the supper dishes. We were a unified team serving our Lord. As I look back on Psalm 20 Pastor Matty shared we all will rejoice of all the hard work which was distributed in Honduras this week. We will rejoice in all God's salvations this week. In Psalms 21:1-3 David praised God for bringing them through the battles. We got through all our obstacles this week and to God be the glory.
Lastly Amy closed out on Thursday morning with a praise unto our Lord out of Psalm 100. We have so much to praise the Lord for this week. Fourteen salvations, 10 rededications and many seeds planted and in hopes one day the harvest will be reaped. We did our part as God as called us to do this week. This week was a blessing for me as I know for all of us. Allowing God to use us daily going door to door now lets go back home and share this same message with those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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