Alagoinha - Whole Heartedly

On a bright and beautiful Sunday afternoon, I travelled to Alagoinha, about one hour and thirty minutes from João Pessoa to meet with the church and teach on worshipping God through our finances. Instead of the usual sermon, I taught more of a Sunday School class type lesson on how Jesus, the apostles and the early church dealt with money.

Most of the Christians in Paraíba either came from the Catholic or denominational doctrine of tithing and free will offerings. Yes, the Catholic church does tithe now. Free will offerings are seen as giving the left overs. Completely different from what the Bible teaches. So how do most Christians give to the work of the church here in Paraíba? They usually fall under one of the two categories that I described above. Can you guess which one most of them fall into? I bet you can. Why is it that Jesus, the apostles and the early church dealt so much with the money topic? I think it must have been a problem then, too.

I have taught quite a bit about this subject over the past two and a half years. The truth of God's Word is sinking in the lives of some brothers. It is satisfying to be a part of moving someone closer to God and away from the World. We are all still learning but the journey itself is exciting. We are on our way to meet God face to face.

I was asked to teach this same course at ELICAMP (a leaders retreat for the congregations of the northeast of Brazil).

Please pray:

that the Lord's church in Brazil will live contently with what God has given each member
that each member will live the truth in our Lord's Words "It is more blessed to give than to receive." - Acts 20:35
that each member will give themselves "whole heartedly" first to the Lord.

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Consecration

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"This is Pentecost in Cajazeiras," Rivaldo Café said, "Almost three thousand were baptized in Jerusalem, almost ten in Cajazeiras." A wild comparison, of course, but the excitement that produced it was legitimate. Six young men gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized on Saturday. I was blessed to be there: the sixteen hours on a bus, going and coming, was worth it. I went to teach a weekend couples' seminar on the theme "God Gave Me You". The couples (around 12) were mostly parents of kids in the Right Step Program. The changes in these boys' lives have made an impression on the families, many of which have started Bible studies too. Saturday morning, after the soccer practice, three of the boys asked to be baptized. We headed to the building. Café began filling the portable swimming pool while I talked to the boys about what it means to come into the Family of God. Franze (15 yrs), Luam (14 yrs), Jorcelam (17 yrs)

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