How to Make it to the End of the Month:
Each one of us is called to be faithful stewards or administrators of the things the Lord allows us to have. This includes not only our money but also our time, talents, family and possessions. What most people don’t realize is that the Word of God is full of teaching that can help us be better stewards of these things. If we are honest today more and more people are having problems in the area of their finances, debt and just making it to the end of the month. All of this in spite of the fact that the Bible teaches us, not how we can be rich, but how we can be blessed not only spiritually but also in the area of our finances. The Bible gives us the promise that He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory and we know that His supply is never ending. These are the type things that we try to teach the people at our church and it is also why we have special times when for a few days we focus on these things. This year we had a special financial conference with Bro. Jose Zapata called “How to make it to the end of the Month. He has worked in management at several banks and companies and has a ministry where he teaches on finances. He taught our people the responsibility to be faithful stewards and how to prepare and live on a budget among other things. We also had on Saturday a cookout at my house and invited all the men of the church and Bro. Zapata taught on how to be the spiritual leader in the home. It was a great blessing not only to our people but also to us. I am very thankful to Bro. Zapata for his sacrifice and time to come and visit with us and help our people. My prayer is to see strong families that are faithful stewards in our church.
Preparing for the Ministry:
This past month we had a very special service in our church, a first of it’s kind for us. As we mention often, our desire and prayer and focus is always on preparing people for the ministry and one of those men that the Lord has blessed us with is Isaac. He has been with us almost from the beginning and is close to finishing his studies. Our special service was focused on recognizing and explaining the call of God to the ministry. There are two aspects to that call, one internal and one external. The internal call is the overwhelming desire that the Lord gives us and the external, is the church recognizing the evidences of that call. In my message I explained that we are all responsible to reconcile the world to Christ but that there are some that the Lord calls into what some might call “full time Christian service”. Afterward we had a testimony from the man that won Isaac to the Lord and began discipling him. We presented Isaac with a certificate from the church recognizing his call to the ministry and had special prayer for him as a church. It was a special time for him especially having all of his family present. Our desire and prayer is that the Lord will continue to raise up men for His service.
The Lord’s Blessing:
The work in Quillacollo continues to go well. We are meeting every Thursday night and have seen several new visitors lately. Now we are trying to do some follow up and reach out to new people in the area. We recently took up a special offering to get tracts printed to pass out in the area. We need about 450 Bolivianos which is about $65. When we took up the offering we received almost the entire amount needed, so we hope to be getting them printed soon. Also we are making plans for big changes starting January so stay tuned.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for Isaac that the Lord will continue to work in his life.
2. Pray for a lady in our church Delfina that is waiting for cancer test results.
3. Pray for our Christmas activities coming up this month.
4. Pray for our meeting that we have in Quillacollo as we make plans for the future.