Our prayers are working. Yesterday we had several more visitors at our service and our Sunday attendance continues to grow! Our goal is 125 regular attendees and I see God moving us in that direction each Sunday.
Now about yesterday’s service. I told you yesterday that the teaching was vital to your Christian walk and so I feel as if I need to clarify my sermon a little better so I want to recap the major point of yesterdays service. My goal was to tell you just how vital it is for you to have testimony, and the truth is, we all already have a testimony. A testimony is simply our observable story, our life, our words and and our actions. It is painting a picture of what we really believe. So the question for those of us who call ourselves Christian is, “Is my daily testimony pointing people to Jesus or pointing people to the things of this world? In other words does my life reflect the attributes of Jesus in such a way that others notice something different and special about me, or am I blending into the norms of society like most others? Jesus stood out because of his amazing miracles and because of the wisdom in his teachings. John 7:45-46 “When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to earth and told us: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
This scripture loses some people because as I stated yesterday, no one has ever done the types of works of Jesus. So the works that we do will be different but the purpose is still the same, our works, our testimony, our life is to reflect the type of humble loving caring servant that Jesus demonstrated while He was with us here on earth. How we live our life, is our testimony and if you are like me, I have a lot of things to improve on. I want my life to reflect the life of Jesus so that people can see that there is a better way to live this life. That is how we will attract the lost and broken.
PCF will become a sanctuary where people will grow to understand and practice the humble, forgiving, loving life of Jesus. People ask me what happens when we reach our goal of 125 regular attendees and more people keep coming? I will go to God and seek His direction at that time but I think what we will do is start a spinoff church so another family of believers can grow and take care of one another. To me, I don’t think a church bigger than 125 people can get to know one another deeply enough to be effective at taking care of one another. It is a great problem to have, more and more people wanting to become part of a loving Christian family. So yes, our testimony, our life outside of the church walls is vital to our call to go out into all the world and make disciples everywhere! It’s getting exciting! God is moving!
Prayers:
Lois Kruckeberg, Lois is Denise Reeders mother, Lois is in the hospital after a fall and is having tests. We lift Lois to Gods healing hand and his peace and strength.
Jim DeClue, this is Jennifer Kaburick’s dad. He is very ill and we pray for God’s peace, strength and healing.
Russell Boster update, Russell is Jane Mckinney’s sister who has been battling ovarian cancer. She has completed an exploratory surgery and the doctor found good news in that the cancer had not spread as much as expected. We continue to lift Russell up to the miracle maker. Health, peace, and strength.
Maryann Kavanaugh, Peggy Gains mother. Maryann is homebound and lives with chronic debilitating pain due to a dental procedure 7 years ago. We lift Maryann to our God of all possibilities.
Marie Mudge, Barb Joiner’s mother. Marie is in hospice at Cedar Hurst in Bethalto Il. We pray for God’s peace and strength.
Gary White, Gary is a friend of Kent’s since high school. Gary is very ill in the ICU and is now on a ventilator. We ask for Gods strength and peace and healing.
Devin Meyers, Devin is a young man from Brighton, Il who was in a very serious accident and is in intensive care. Devine needs our prayers of hope strength and healing.
Ben Stunkle, Ben has been moved to an acute care and is still in need of our healing prayers. Ben was struck by a car in Glen Carbon and sustained severe brain injuries. We lift Ben to God the healer and pray for Bens family. Strength, Peace and Healing.
PCF choir and family growth, we are praying for more singers for our choir and to expand our PCF family. The goal is to have 20 singers, and 125 regular family members. We must do our part as disciples. Pray for someone in your circle that you know could benefit by becoming part of the PCF family. Watch God open the doors and the miracles happen!
See you soon! Love, pastor kent . Praise Community Fellowship is a non-denominational Christian Church and we meet at 10:30am Sunday mornings at the Immanuel Methodist Church on North Main Street, Edwardsville. We are an all volunteer church.