I hope all of you had a Happy Good Friday and Resurrection Day this month. There are lots of things to be thankful for and that we remember this time of year. First and foremost is that we remember the sacrifice of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Passover. He is the Passover Lamb that whose blood marks His people so that death, judgment, and condemnation will pass over them. It was at this feast that the LORD was first called the Redeemer of His people.
This is the time of year when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, we would be a people most miserable, because we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins, but did you know that the Resurrection fulfilled another Old Testament feast called the Feast of Firstfruits? Jesus is the first and best of the harvest that is that there will be many others that likewise will be raised to new life and receive a body meant for the kingdom of God, and His resurrection is a sign and a promise that an even greater harvest is coming. One day, those who are in Christ will gather together from every tribe, tongue, nation and ethnicity to sing their salvation song (just like the song that the Israelites sang when God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea). This is a time where those of us who were dead in our trespasses and sins have been made alive in Christ--a life that is both abundant and everlasting. We also see the rain this time of year and remember that God will never again judge the earth in the same manner that He did during the Flood, yet even in the Flood we remember that He provided an Ark of salvation that pointed forward to how all those who are in Christ will be pass through the judgment safely while those outside of Christ will be destroyed. The same can be said for the children of Israel while they were in Egypt and how God kept them safe from all the plagues in the land of Goshen, and the same will be true in the end times as all those who are in Christ have nothing to fear of the coming judgment that is reserved for those who are the enemies of God. There is also much we can pray about individually and corporately. We pray for the peace of Israel as we are commanded to in the Bible, yet we know that there will not be true peace until the Prince of Peace sits on the throne of His father David. So, we pray "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Let all of heaven and earth be subject to their Maker, Creator, Ruler and Sustainer. Let all who have life and breath use it to confess their sins, cry out in repentance for salvation, and together praise the LORD with the words of Exodus 15:2, "The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." However, we know we are in a time where rebellion against God increases and as a result there is greater chaos and calamity. We see wars and hear of rumors of wars and there is one natural disaster after another. All these things that should grab people's attention and call them to repent and believe the gospel are having less and less of an impact people people would rather put their hope in anyone or anything else other than to put their hope in God right now. So, we continue to pray for Ukraine and for Belarus, and for China, and for Russia, and so many other places around the world where we know there to be strife. We pray specifically for the missionaries and pastors in those areas that they would stand up and be strong under the persecution that they are facing. We pray for this persecution to be used in a good way to refine the people of God and for the false teachers and false prophets to be exposed, and we pray for many people to be drawn to the LORD because they see that the thing that they were trusting in is unable to save them. Please continue to pray with me for those who I am ministering to and for those in my sphere of influence that I am trying to reach with the gospel who are unsaved. Please also continue to pray for the congregation I meet with for worship on Sundays as God is taking us through a time of transition both in finding a new full-time pastor and we are also looking to move to and build a new facility. There is no much else to update you on right now. We are still studying Genesis in the Men's Bible study on Wednesday nights, and we are still working our way through Nehemiah on Monday nights with the group from the 99-1 Discipleship Discord. We are thinking of studying the book of Revelation after we have finished the book of Nehemiah. We are still studying the Capitol Hill Baptist Church's Core Seminar Series on Living as a Church (https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/resources/core-seminars/series/living-as-a-church/).
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