Wednesday Eve In Haiti

Hello All,

Thanks again for your continued prayers.  Please check yesterday’s post if you are looking for pictures.  It will give the address of the Living Water Haiti blog site.  Others with more tech. ability than I are updating there.

Another great day!  Larry, Daniel and Michelle took a motorcycle adventure up the mountain, and had a great time.  Bill and Jacob worked at Valley House of Hope and worked their tails off building some steps.  The rest of the group spent some time at another orphanage doing health checks and spending some valuable time with God’s servants.  All are doing very well, although a bit tired.  Together we rejoice that we serve not by our own strength, or might, but by the power of His Spirit.  God bless you as you do the same.

Peace – His Kind,

Jake

Check out this blog site too

Livingwaterhaiti.wordpress.com

See if this works.  We will have some pics for you to see.

Jake

Haiti

We have safely arrived in Haiti.  The flights were all on time, and we all came through the airport in Port au Prince without any trouble at all.  We will enjoy a little dinner this evening and make our plans for tomorrow.  Thanks for your prayers.  More updates are coming soon.

Jake

Preparing for the Haiti Mission

Please begin to pray for the Haiti Mission Team, and even more importantly the people of Haiti.  We will be sending the Haiti team today in our worship services.  One more day to pack and prepare!

Jake

Thy Kingdom Come

We pray those words often, “Thy Kingdom Come.”  Maybe when we pray them we don’t really think about what we are saying.  Maybe we think that we are only praying that God would bring about the Last Day and bring the reality of His eternal Kingdom.  In other words, we are praying for the end of time and His Kingdom to be made known.  However, when we pray these words, this is only part of what we are praying for.  We are also asking that God would bring about His Kingdom TODAY, through us.

We are not just sitting around waiting for the Last Day to come.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, God does bring His Kingdom among us right now.  I know that I am not the only one that grows tired of God’s Church and God’s people, who have become so distracted by the world, and so appathetic to the suffering of others, and so focused on thier own selfish needs, that they have forgotten that God gives His people the power to transform the world.  I pray that God will move us to acknowledge the power of His Holy Spirit, and seek to live as His Kingdom people.

PS  Our Haiti Mission Team leaves on Tuesday.  Please pray for us, and even more importantly, pray for those that God would touch through our service to Him.

Willing to Sacrifice

We are currently engaged in a worship series that considers how we grow in faith.  We may not like the answers that God gives, as He often describes a growing faith that comes through facing difficulty or going through hard times.  This Sunday is equally disturbing as we consider the fact that God calls us to be willing to sacrifice.

There is no doubt about it.  God will indeed grow us in faith, as we knowingly and willingly make sacrifices in our lives.  But this concept is very foreign in our culture today.  The Bible speaks often of fasting, or sacrificing something as simple as a meal or two, but this is not often preached about or taught.  The Bible speaks often about giving sacrificially, but this is not a popular preaching or teaching topic either, because it’s too upsetting for our delicate ears.  We seem to spend our entire lives running away from sacrifice, and only speak of it, like a punishment.  We only sacrifice when we are “forced” to, or when we “have” to.  Has our selfishness gotten the best of us?

What would it look like, if a community of people began to live lives of willing sacrifice?  What would it look like if you were willing to make a sacrifice for His Kingdom?

Read Matthew Chapter 10:1-10.  Consider why Jesus sent his disciples out to the “lost.”  Consider why He sent them without food, extra clothing or money.  See you on Sunday.

Pastor Jake

Growing In Faith

Starting this Sunday we will begin a new worship series that will allow us to consider how we are invited to have a growing faith.  Over the next month we are going to focus our attention on specific and practical steps that God provides that allows our faith in Him to mature and grow stronger.  As His disciples we want to be able to navigate the details and challenges of our life in ways that are God pleasing.  How do we deal with money issues?  How do we deal with marraige issues?  How do we deal with problems with our kids?  How do we deal with situations like these as a Christian!?  We get all kinds of advice.  There are books at the Christian bookstore that seem to apply to each of these issues and more.  But what does God have to say?  What advice does “His book” provide?  There is no greater place to begin, than by talking about the good start that we make in our lives of faith.  Just like a marriage needs a good start with God at the center, our lives of faith need a good start with God at the center.  This Sunday we begin – “The Right Start.”