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Letters Archive: February 2005 Back to our Homepage Dear Loving Church Family and Friends, At the beginning of the New Year of 2005, we sensed that God was speaking to us about following the example in Acts 1:4 where the New Testament Church went to the Upper Room and “waited on God” for 10 days. God also spoke to me from Isaiah 56, which tells about salvation coming to the Gentiles. In Isaiah 56:7 we read, “I will make them joyful in My House of Prayer. Their offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all nations.” After sensing this was God’s desire for us, I called the Church Family to meet in the Sanctuary every night to pray and to enter into some form of “fasting” to start the New Year. At the end of the 10 days, we extended it to 21 days, and continued meeting every night in the Church Sanctuary to pray and “wait on God.” Then at the end of the 21 days, God spoke to Jetta during a Sunday morning service and said, “the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.” At Prayer Meeting that night, God explained to her further by showing her that the natural way of doing Math is to “add up the numbers to find out the total, or the “whole”. God’s “Math” is not addition, it’s multiplication.....one can put a thousand to flight; two can put ten thousand to flight.” When Believers join together in unity, praying and seeking God’s face, they open the door for Him to work and there is a “multiplication” of His power released. There is absolutely no limit to what He can and will do, because His “math” can only be explained by the word, “infinity” and He dwells in “eternity”. How can we calculate the potential multiplication of His power being released through the prayers of the saints who continue daily in prayer and are in “one accord”. Some people have been able to come every night to join us in praying; others have responsibilities or prior commitments that keep them from being with us every night. We just encourage you to come every time you possibly can. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you.” We hear God saying, “Don’t seek blessings, but do expect them.” We are experiencing God’s presence and victories are being reported. Enclosed you will find some Praise Reports given to us. Wisdom and Counsel; healings and miracles are being released as we continue to gather each night to pray. You are invited to come at 7 p.m. each night to join us for some precious time with the Lord. February Missions Project — “The Shepherd’s Staff” Fortunately, there is such a “teaching tool” available for only $5 per copy. Ralph Mahoney, founder of World Missionary Assistance Plan (World MAP), produced the Shepherd’s Staff. It’s like a hand-held Bible School, a thousand-pages of simplified, easy-to-understand Biblically sound, teaching. This “Bible School in a Book” has been translated into almost 20 different languages. It has been distributed to thousands of House Church leaders. Ralph Mahoney has been our friend for over 30 years. Most of his ministry has been involved training leaders in Third World Nations. He received a mandate from God to produce a manual of training for leaders, to give them a solid foundation in the scriptures. He spent many years of his life editing the teaching materials found within the 1,000 pages of the Shepherd’s Staff.. In addition to his own teaching, well-known teachers such as Pat Robertson, Dick Mills, Marilyn Hickey and others gave Ralph permission to use their copyrighted materials with the understanding that he would only circulate the Shepherd’s Staff in countries outside the United States. GOD HAS SPOKEN TO US AS YOUR PASTORS, THAT WE MUST GIVE A SACRIFICIAL OFFERING TO GET THESE SHEPHERD’S STAFFS INTO THE HANDS OF CHURCH LEADERS IN THE THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES. The leaders who have already received them are teaching the material contained in the Shepherd’s Staff and are producing a strong group of believers who are reproducing spiritual life. They are pleading for more copies to give to other leaders who have no teaching materials available to them, such as we enjoy in our country. Our Goal – 10,000 copies of the Shepherd’s Staff I believe God has put this burden on our hearts because He knows the funds are available within our Church Family to accomplish it. He has placed this challenge before us and it is up to each one of us to ask God what we can do to help reach this goal. Jesus continues to tell His followers to “lay up treasures in heaven”, not on earth. It’s a matter of faith. Will we depend on our own resources to take care of ourselves, or will we obey God and trust Him to be our source. This reminds me of Florence Braun’s sister, Esther, who went to Africa as a missionary. Her parents were concerned about her because she was not married and the small amount of income she received as a missionary did not provide enough for her to put aside money for her retirement. When they asked Esther what she would do when she was no longer able to go back to Africa and must “retire”, she said, “God will provide for me.” Florence told us how God directed Esther to care for an elderly couple in California. They had no children and after many years of lovingly caring for them, they left their sizeable estate to Esther. She was able to sow thousands of dollars back into His Kingdom, even as she had sown her life as a “bright light” into the “darkness of Africa.” I felt challenged when Florence shared this with me several years ago. Could I live like that? Happy Valentine’s Day - Some Interesting Facts Unique Valentine’s Day IdeaMake a different choice this Valentine’s Day. Tell you (Sweetheart – Wife or Friend) “Instead of giving you a box of chocolates, I’m giving a Shepherd’s Staff in your honor to provide teaching material for a Church Leader in China, USSR, Africa, Indonesia, India, or other Third World Nation. You’ll find your reward when you get to heaven, and you won’t have to buy a membership at a Health Club to ‘work off’ the extra pounds you would gain from eating the box of chocolates.” Tell them “Pastor and Jetta” thought this was a good idea. Hopefully they will agree. Joyfully Serving the Master and His People, Pastor Fred and Jetta Smolchuck |
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• July 2007 •
Meet Pastor Fred Words to Live By • Daily Bible Reading Guide • Better Life Course by Randal Smolchuck |
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