I have been preaching since I was seventeen years old (that's almost 30 years) and I can count on one hand the number of times that I've seen the Spirit of God move like He did on Sunday morning. I don't remember ever seeing something quite this powerful in the nearly ten years that I have been in Windsor. Our desire to be used of God as a recovery church was affirmed on Sunday. In addition to the many who came for prayer, there were six or seven who admitted that Satan had been kicking their tail in regards to some type of addiction. I've never before heard during a Sunday morning worship service people give praise to God because of their freedom from meth addiction, alcoholism, etc. Oh, may God continue to show up as He did on Sunday! We all experienced the river of grace on Sunday morning. The worship was special. I felt an anointing and a freedom to preach on Sunday that lit me up. I had been experiencing a kind of sorrow and sadness for nearly three weeks. I knew that our service would be special when I awoke early on Sunday feeling great! There was absolutely no feelings--except those of joy and expectation. Praise God!
In my quiet time this morning, God allowed me to read the words that have become so precious to me from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. "Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, 'Be reconciled to God!' For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." Our task at Grace River is to reconcile the world to Christ--no longer counting people's sins against them! That happened on Sunday morning!
Now let me ask you this question? Were there people that you know that would have benefitted from being at Grace River on Sunday morning? Yep, me too. This coming Sunday is Mother's Day. It is an God-given opportunity to invite everyone that we know to come and worship with us. Let them know that we will honoring our moms and that they should come in order to be honored (if they are a mom) or to honor their mother. What we experienced on Sunday, I believe with all of my heart, is just the beginning! I'll continue our series from Genesis on Sunday and so expect more to come. Keep praying and keep asking God to bring healing through our church.
We have families now beginning to show up on Sunday morning who have found us through the youth ministry. Pray for Joey and Connie as they continue to lead our youth. For two weeks in a row now, they have had more than twenty on Wednesday night for youth group.
I am equally thankful for the gift that God has given us in Jamie Paye. Jamie loves our children and is passionately loving and teaching them. Space has become an issue in that it is difficult to get 15+ kids into the small Sunday School room. We need more space! Keep praying for God's wisdom in regards to our next facility. He has a plan and He will share it with us as we continue to ask.
Grace River has made the newspaper for the very first time in our history. Here is the link to an invitational article about the National Day of Prayer: DAYOFPRAYER The National Day of Prayer in Windsor will be held at Grace River on Thursday from 7-9 and then again from 11-1. Skip Carlson who was recently spoke at the end of one of our services will be the guest speaker for the event.
There were 100 of us present on Sunday morning and the offering totalled $1728 which puts us right on target for our May budget needs. God always provides! I will get some sermon notes up on my blog today in case you want to review the message from Sunday.
Prayer Needs:
- We were told Sunday afternoon that the keyboard that Tina has been borrowing will need to be returned ASAP. Replacement cost will be around $1000.
- Norm Staley is recovering at home. He doesn't feel very good today but at least he is home.
- We have four more Sunday's locked-in at our current location. Pray for God to provide. Our first lease offer wil be made on the daycare center this week. Pray for either finances to purchase the building ($450,000) or for an accceptabe lease arrangement.
- We have several who are unemployed or underemployed within our church.
- New sound system has been purchased and will be installed soon.
Pastor Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment