Good morning church. I hope that you had a great week and that you have spent time in the study and application of God’s Word.
I invite you to join us on Sunday morning at 10:15 am as Pastor Fitsum shares the vision message as we celebrate the anniversary of the church. It is hard to believe, but we are celebrating 6 years as Community Impact Church. BTW, it was 10 years ago when we launched Fellowship International as a campus of LBC. When we had the opportunity to become an autonomous church, we changed the name to better reflect our mission to impact our community. Prior to that, we were doing a ministry which we referred to as the Quivira Place Ministry since that was the name of the of the apartment complex we started at. There have definitely been a lot of twists and turns along this journey. We have celebrated tremendous victories; witnessing a multitude of salvations and baptisms, people whose lives have been changed by the Gospel, individuals stepping out in faith and serving, building an orphanage in Haiti, helping with international projects (Mexico, Sudan and India). We have seen God do incredible things. Of course, no church plant is without its difficulties as well. We have been engaged in spiritual warfare throughout the journey. We have experienced threats of violence, broken up fights, dealt with all manners of sin and brokenness, theft, heard more cursing than from Maholmes on Netflix, people on drugs and drunk at church, the homeless, the mentally unstable, and more than a few threats of suicide. Planting a church is not easy. Planting a multi-ethnic church is incredibly hard. That is probably why less than 1% of SBC churches are identified as such. At times, we have had people try to convince us to change the vision, we have lost friends along the way, and been the subject of criticism by those who left. During those seasons, as you lay awake at night, you feel like all you have left is the vision God gave to you. Then you realize, that is enough, and you keep going. And God opens your eyes and reminds you of the incredible people that you are serving with that are giving so much of themselves to pursue the vision. And you recognize the unbelievable things that God is doing in and through His church. One of the best parts is when He allows you to see the vision become a reality. A big milestone occurred for me last week as we affirmed Fitsum Hawaz as our Pastor and Edwin Aquino as our Associate Pastor. Pastor Fitsum, originally from Ethiopia, and Pastor Edwin, from the Dominican Republic, have served at CIC since 2020, and are well-suited to lead our multi-ethnic church. The last ten years have been like living out a mission trip each week. I look forward to seeing how God continues to use our church to impact our community and change the world!
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
One day I happened to overhear a couple of people talking. One of them said a phrase that really caught my attention. She said, “I know it’s sinful but you should try it.” Before you jump to conclusions, in reality, she was talking about some new flavor of ice cream. However, that statement immediately caused me to think about the world in which we live. It aptly describes an attitude that is prevalent in our society. It seems as if people are not satisfied unless they can drag additional people into whatever bad habits, sins, or deplorable behavior they engage in. Virtually everyday on the news there are stories of people engaged in things that are certainly not consistent with the Word of God. Often, it is diametrically opposed to it. But it is not enough to simply report on it. Rather, depending on which media outlet, it ranges from a subtle to an all-out endorsement. On top of that are all of the celebrities that use every opportunity to get before a camera and/or audience and spew their vile nonsense to their legion of adoring fans. Again, it is not enough for them to engage in whatever lifestyle they want. No, they want everyone to accept it, endorse it, and even join them in it.
If you think about it, this all began with the first sin in the Garden. Satan enticed Eve to disobey God. And once she did, the first thing she did was to give some of the fruit to Adam. From there, this pattern of getting others to get involved in sin has continued. It has gone on for thousands of years and will continue to do so until Jesus returns. Until He does, we learn from His Word that things will continue to get worse. Sin will increase. More and more people will reject the Bible and will live by their own set of beliefs. Does this mean that we should give up and go into hiding? Absolutely not. Now is the time that we need to engage as many people as we can with the Truth of the Word. Many people have believed the lies of the world. And I think, deep down inside, a lot of them realize it. However, as been said, “Misery loves company.” It is important that those who follow Christ take a stand for what is right. Not only do we need to resist getting caught up in the things of the world, we need to confront sin for what it truly is – rebellion against God.
1But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.
Larry
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