September 17, 2016

 

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

^"43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip." (John 1:43-46)

"- Can anything good come from there?"

This question still remains... Many people make the same question about you, about your church...

And the answer should be: "-Come and see!"

You don´t need to say anything... People will see with their eyes...

Be confident!

Don´t explain a lot about yourself!
People will see your behavior, your testimony...

^"47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” ⁵¹ He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” (John 1:43-46)

You must come closer Jesus to know who He is. 

He knows you but you must come to see with your own eyes who God is!

Nathanael approached Jesus and had a meeting, an experience with God.

Sometimes you suffer exactly because you are distant of Jesus and you are not able to realize the power of God!

The Lord knows what is in your heart and the words you are going to say, but you must come closer!

Come and be able to see your life transformed!

Come and be moved by the nailed hands of Jesus!

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.’
⁵ My ears had heard of you
    but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:4-5)

Job knew God and feared God! And we shall fear God too...

This fear of God  must provoke changes in us.

No way you can keep on desiring things forbidden and say you don´t do something because of the fear of the Lord.

Let the fear of God transform you so you will no longer desire wrong things.

Let the fear of the Lord change you!

"-Come and see!"

Accept this invitation!

Pr Poliana Vasconcelos

September 10, 2016

Seth, whose name means "compensation", generated Enos. Enos name means "weak, fragile and mortal." Here people seem to recognize man is nothing. From this point on they changed the way they related to God.We do not know if it was the family of Seth, or Eve, or another person, but someone began to call on the name of the Lord.

Human society was organizing without God, man started to work for his subsistence, self exaltation of man, violence... Everything that happens until these days...

This beginning shows that, given the fragility, men began to invoke the Lord's name. The phrase "call on the name of the Lord" appears many times in the Bible.

In the New Testament call is linked to salvation or a Christian practice. 

Invoking the Lord is a characteristic of Christians:

However, those who have received the Lord must also continue calling on His name. The Christians of Jerusalem were not known as those who "had invoked this name," but as those who "called on this name".

Invoking the name of the Lord leads us to the Spirit. Even after believing in the Lord, in our day-to-day we tend to return, make our decisions, act for ourselves. However, our beloved Lord wants something more than that to us! After believing in the Lord, we need to know more and more His will.

 

If you feel caught up in his thoughts, desires, emotions, if you feel weak and in need of God and His perfect will,  invoke "Oh Lord Jesus!" several times to see if you will be helped or not. When you do it, believe that the will of God will seem to you more clear and touchable than before and your payer will seem much more possible.

Sing a song!  If you sing a song, the experience it describes will perhaps appear to be yours.

Read the Bible! The Spirit of God will speak to you. This means being in the presence of God, where we are transformed from glory to glory!

Pray!

- Do  I need to pray more?

- What brings me to pray, to invoke the Lord?

- What is the meaning of prayer in my lifeW

- How important it is to pray?

- Is my prayer a two-way street?

 Call on the name of the Lord! But do it Right!

 From Ana´s preaching

September 3rd, 2016

August 27, 2016

^"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:13-16)

You are an ambassador of Christ. You are representative of the Kingdom of Heaven and the authorithy of Christ. You were called for that! So you have an important role to fullfil. You must spread the Gospel, tell people about the forgiveness  and love we find in God.

As this world is so bad, around you people, who know you are a believer will come to you and ask many different questions. People want to understand what´s going on. You need to be balanced, you can´t go to the left or to the right. You must follow the straight path when you response.

Jesus used two examples, salt and light, to teach us how to deal in these situations.

Salt reminds us about the inside influence.
Salt is a domestic thing. We use it at home, to prepare food.

We begin influencing others inside our homes... 

Jesus said: 

^"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

Too much salt is not good... Salt must be used with balance.

Salt prevents from decomposition. If you are salt, people will react different because of your presence. Your presence prevents bad words, bad behaves...

Salt gives taste! 

Salt provokes thirst! Salt makes people drink water. Your words at home or at your job must cause in others thirsty for the Jesus, the Living Water.

You cannot loose your saltiness!

The light reminds us about the outside influence.

A light must be seen! A light cannot be hidden!

Jesus alerts us about three ways that prevent us to show our light: bowl, vase and bed.

The bowl represents our relations in the world. Relations without The Light are not in accordance with God.

The vase represents appearance, what we show outside. Sometimes people can see just what we show, we use masks...

The bed represents entertainment and rest...  The bed reminds us about intimate things too. 

The light reveals things we cannot see if the room is dark. 

The light reveals the truth!

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:5-7)

You cannot remove yourself from the world totally! 

You cannot hid yourself but you must be light! Light and salt!

Engage both spiritually and physically with Christian atmosphere. With the guideness of the Holy Spirit strengthen your weaknesses, your faith, your attitudes.Given you power to be like Jesus all the time. 

Despite the circumstances you need prayer and guidence to be salt and light of the world!

May Jesus bless you!

 

Summary of Pr. Eduardo Gomes´preaching

 

 

August 20, 2016

Each person has a specific call. Those who are born again received a spiritual gift from the Lord.

The reasons why the Lord distributes spiritual gifts to every Christian.

 The Lord´s desire is that you grow up, improve daily until your character becomes as perfect as Jesus´.

 Getting mature you will not be deceived by false teachers and false speeches.

 When a christian grows up in the Lord, all  brothers grow together. Every part of the body is equally important.

The beginning of the journey.

Dependence of mature Christians to start learning about God.

Beginning of independece feeling, but help of leaders is very necessary to correct misconducts and to learn principles.

Time to read the Bible and study it. Time to take decisions.

 

Greater independence, but without responsibilities. Less dependence on christians and more dependece on God.

Mature enough to face challenges, to leader and take care of ministries.

A good sign that you grew up is the way you make decisions... 

Are you doing things in accordance with God´s plans?

Are you living the right season of your life? 

A summary of the message shared by Ana

August 13, 2016

Prosperous! Lucky! Succesful! Blessed is the man who is forgiven!

Man´s health is affected if he does not confess his mistakes. 

David was a warrior! Certainly a strong man not affected for a scratch, or as purple punch mark or a slight cold. When he saus he was suffering so deeply, you must be sure the suffering was really great!

 

Al lthe time, David was in affliction. 

He felt the heavy hand of God... But as God is so compassionate, you can think that the discomfort was a result of by one side the awareness of being wrong and, on the other side, the consciousness of the holiness of the Lord. 

David´s mind was weaken, undermined, daily. His strength was reduced as the heat of summer dries a plant day by day.

And what for?

God is mercy! God is love! So it would be easier to admit the errors and return. Why pay such a high price to suffer?

God is a God of mercy ...  And a loving Father ... Why not admit the error and return ... Why pay such a high price to suffer? David knew God better than most of us… He was called a friend of God.

So David decied to take action. And God, instead of saying: "-It´s to late!", 

said: "-I forgive you!" 

David invites godly people to pray trustingly while we can find God, reminding us that life can end without a previous warning. 

Here David seems to sing. And singing is natural when we are joyful. David was confident. He feels protected even from an intimate enemy, as a hidden sin can be. 

David hears the voice of God speaking to him with love or David himself wanted to instruct us? One way or another, we feel love in those verses as from a mother to a son... 

There is also a calling for obedience! The Lord wants to lead us with love, not by ties pr riding us.

Afflictions happen for both, righteous and unrighteous. But God delivers believers. 

Trust in the Lord and taste His goodness!

Do you want to taste God´s goodness?

For those who have not surrendered to God, Bible teaches:

 

 For those who have passed through the watees of baptism, Bible sayd:

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have and advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ, the Rigtheous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for ous sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 

1 John 2:1-1

 Mend your life! Become upright! This is the way!

Start again! 

Fight against sin!

Look to the price, the blood by which you were bought and this will motivate and help you to change to a better person! 

Search for purity and have peace!

From Ana´s message