http://thesharingorg.podomatic.com/entry/2011-12-01T18_13_42-08_00
Ministry Moment:
Usually when I get a new resident joining us in our weekly worship services I get asked the same thing – “What church are you with?” I understand that residents are simply asking if it is safe to come to services or not, because really, we all need to make sure that we are not attending the high-church of Satan. J However, this past week I was asked one of the most original questions for sizing me up and making sure that I was ok to worship with. The new resident asked me, “Did Jesus drink the wine that He made or did He not?” Hmm – I had never been asked this question before, nor had I ever really thought about it. However he was not budging toward the worship area so I made the best unscriptural guess that I could. “Well, I’d try the wine if I made it, so I guess it stands to reason that Jesus would have, too.” With that, the new resident was satisfied and joined us as we worshipped.
There seems to be a fad this past couple of months. Lately, in two separate services, two separate ladies have gotten warm, so they did like my 2-year-old daughter does when she gets warm – they went topless! Heh, heh. While I am in no way making light of these women’s mental infirmities, I do chuckle because I am assuming that this is not a common occurrence for either of the ladies, and I find it hugely ironic that they wait until worship services to disrobe. This is not the first time that this has happened during services, but two separate services in the same 30-days? Now that makes me chuckle and puts it freshly at the top of my mind.
Megan and I were talking the other day about the Christmas season and the residents – how they love it so. We were remembering a lady from years ago who just loved the song “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” and how she would begin asking for that song in May. While it has been many years since she passed, we still think of her during this time of year specifically because she loved Jesus and the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
~John
Prayer Letter:
Dear Prayer Partner,
Last month I coveted your prayers as Megan & I were going on retreat. Thank you for praying for us. The retreat turned out better than I had imagined it could be, and God met us and forced us to deal with stuff that had not even been on my radar. I had planned to spend a significant time seeking God for direction with the ministry. Specifically, I desired to ascertain if He even really wants us to continue this ministry or not (I had not spoken to Him about it in a long time), and if He wanted me to continue the work, I wanted to seek His direction about how I should go about raising the necessary funds for the ministry. With that agenda in my mind, I went expecting results. As it turns out, when I was quiet and still long enough for the noises in my head to clear (about an hour), God showed up ready to talk to me. I meant to get to my agenda, but as it turned out He had His own. He dealt with me on two topics – one marital and the other ministry related.
During the week away God directed me to address a significant problem in Megan and my relationship. It was a deep-seated issue that had been lingering like a sleeper agent just waiting to destroy us. The bulk of our time was spent dealing with this and other such marital issues, and I am happy to announce that God has given us a great miraculous healing in our relationship – even though we were not necessarily aware that the problem was as pressing as it was. Praise God for this!
The other thing that God had spoken to us about was how to minister to the residents in this coming year. I’ve been spending a lot of time ministering and preaching God’s love and grace through Jesus Christ to the residents, but now I will be doing more work with teaching and studying the Bible about prayer. In fact, during the third week of every month I will be forgoing the regular service and implementing a time of corporate prayer that invites all the residents to join in. I am not exactly sure if our residents will want to participate in such a prayer time and a little frightened of what the ones who do will say, but this I believe is something that God would have us do – so we will. Please be in prayer for us as a group that this time of prayer would be beneficial to them as well as the Kingdom of God as a whole.
Also, we have begun the Advent season in our worship services as we are in preparation for the celebration of the birth of the Christ child. Last week we looked at Gideon’s call and how he told the angel of the Lord that from the appearances of things he concluded that God had abandoned the Children of Israel… It was telling to see how many of our residents shook their heads in affirmation to this and indicated that they completely understand how Gideon must have felt. I was once again reminded how the residents whom I serve feel like God has abandoned them and how many of them have lost hope in their future. Please be in fervent prayer for the residents as I take to them a grand message of hope in the child who is born to us on Christmas Day.
Thank you for praying with us as it really is a blessing to us all. Intercessory prayer is necessary and powerful, and I am so thankful to each of you who pray with and for us. I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas – I pray that you know the joy and hope by remembering that the Word became flesh (Emmanuel) and was born to us in a manger some 2000 years ago.
Merry Christmas,
John
~ The Sharing Org | PO Box 73 | Armada, MI 48005 | 586-949-6885 | www.thesharing.org ~
