Skip to main content

Alagoinha - Whole Heartedly

By
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.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Planting, the Watering, and the Increase

By
Emesson started coming to Bible Club over a year ago, when Neil Schultz and Cait Beckloff, our AIM team, were teaching it. For several months, they planted the seed in his and his sister's hearts. Unfortunately Neil and Cait's time in João Pessoa ended. In 2014 Bible Club received a boon when Erick and Jenny Paddy, former AIMers, returned to the field and picked up teaching the Bible Study for English speakers. They watered the sprouting seed in Emesson's life until God's Word became more important for him than just practicing his English. Last Wednesday night, God gave the increase, adding Emesson to the Family of Christ. Sometimes things don't happen when we think they should, but God is in control; His time is best, and we must thank Him for playing a small part in His plan. 
Post a Comment
Read more

"What About Baptism?"

By
Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!
Post a Comment
Read more

Samuel McKinney's New Life in Christ

By
It has been only three days since Samuel gave his life to Christ, but it is so exciting to see my young son exercising his faith, like getting upset when his history teacher at school taught that miracles in the book of Exodus can be explained by natural phenomena: low and high tides in the crossing of the sea, natural disasters for the plagues, etc. The day after his baptism, Samuel went on a trip with his school and received a new nickname: the boy who reads the Bible. He read 1 Samuel, chapters 1 through 6, out loud for the whole bus to hear. His eagerness to take the Lord's Supper for the first time was refreshing. May our Father bless all our families with life changing faith.
Post a Comment
Read more