Fahamu and Jonni Kibambazi serve as missionaries in Uvira, D.R. of Congo, Africa. They came and shared with us what God has placed on their heart to do in that area. Fahamu tells us his testimony and story of living through the war and hardship of this land; and Jonni shares about the ministries they do there now to bring hope, peace, joy, love, and the power of God to that place.
Click Here to find the hard copy of Fahamu's story.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
We kick off the season with the baptisms of David and Devin Holbrook, along with their father Jeremy Holbrook. We also dedicated baby Treycin Felthauser, born May 9th, 2014. It was an incredible day of declarations of faith. Praise God!
Lent began with Ash
Wednesday. For lent we give something up until Easter as a way to remember the
trial and temptation Jesus faced in the dessert those 40 days and 40 nights.
This practice is not in the Bible but the practice of using ashes as a way of
repenting is in the Bible.
Matthew 11:21 says, “‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the
deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Ash Wednesday is meant to be a time where we
begin repentance of something we want to give up, change, or even add in our
lives. This practice is intended to prepare us as followers of Christ for
Easter.
Today we are continuing our journey through lent and in the
series about Discipleship. So far we have talked about what Discipleship is. That
Discipleship is about a journey of learning from the teacher of truth, and
molding our hearts and minds to that truth in an effort to live Christ-like and
share it with others. An adherence to what Jesus is and teaches.
We have also talked about who is called to Discipleship.
That we are called to Discipleship the moment we hear the gospel. We all have
the choice to follow Christ or not to, but there is no half-effort way. There
is only THE WAY.
What is the cost? What is the cost of
Discipleship?
