On Sunday, September 30, we went to church at a large, Spanish-speaking church, Central Christian International (CCI); the church currently has about 4000 members and is obviously one of the more prosperous congregations. The building was enormous and beautiful there was a band with a lot of singing and they were really up on the technology.
The sermon was really a great message … one that was so beneficial for the work of the LORD that we were about to engage in. Because the service was in Spanish, it was a little hard to follow at first but the sermon was outlined on Power Point, which was extremely helpful, even though it was in Spanish. We were able to follow along with the Scripture and I wrote down the headers for the points being made. One of the WGO Staff translated for me, which was also helpful.
The main points of the message were as follows:
Necesitamos Crecer = We Need To Grow!
To start off with this was perfect, especially for Brian, who mentioned several times that he believed this mission trip was to compare him to the Fig Tree in Luke 13 – see below -
Luke 13:6-9 (NIV)
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
He went into this with the expectation that he would either grow and bear fruit or he would be cut down! Yikes!
(I’m happy to report that, as you will read in future posts, it will not be necessary to yank Brian out of his shoes)
The Scripture that was discussed came from 2 Corinthians 13:5 – Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test.
There were three ways to test ourselves mentioned and backed up with Scripture.
Signos de Estancamiento = Signs of Stagnation
· Falta de Discernimiento Espiritual = Lack of Spiritual Discernment
Hebrews 5:12-14 (NLT)- You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
I especially like this in The Message version so I thought I’d include it here as well:
I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
· Inmadurez Respecto a los Asuntos de la Fe = Immaturity Regarding Matters of Faith
Hebrews 6:1-3 (NLT)– So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds[a] and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
· No Estamos Produciendo el Fruto del Espiritu = We Are Not Producing
the Fruit of the SpiritGalatians 5:16 – 25 (NLT) - So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
After the church service, we were taken to a park with an overlook view of the city. Here are a few photos from that stop.
Here's us Prender-bergers!
Here's our CCofE Team!
There was a "vendor" that drove up and the back of the truck they were in was filled with these handmade baskets! Aren't they pretty???
The baskets are made from pine needles and they are tightly wrapped and woven into the different baskets! AMAZING! In the photo below, you can see the start of one of her baskets.
Then, if baskets aren't really your thing and really big knives ARE, they have an assortment of those as well! I'll just add that the "YOUNGEST" member of our team purchased one of those knives!!!
Then we were taken to a fantastic restaurant (very clean AND safe) for a wonderful authentic lunch!! Mmm Mmm Mmm … it was so yummy!!
They were obviously expecting us!
We had THIS ...
... and THIS ...
We even had THIS ... ahhh, ... a bottle of pure happiness!!
... and I completely forgot to take a photo of the steak and chicken they brought out too (sorry about that!) It was all Oh-SO-Delicious!! I know the church sermon was about our need for growth ... with all this food there was definitely going to be some "GROWTH".
Everyone was in a joyful and festive mood!!
And this is Gabriela, one of our Brigade Coordinators. We really liked her and since we all seemed to "match", we decided to have a "family photo"!
And then in the late afternoon, we helped with the pharmaceutical needs and ONCE AGAIN counted out pills and sorted them by expiration.
Okay, now how many were supposed to be in each bag again??
Dios te bendiga! (God Bless You!)
Next Post: Brigade Day #1
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