Good morning and happy Saturday. I hope that you had a blessed Good Friday and are prepared to worship our Lord and Savior on Resurrection Sunday. We had a wonderful service last night. Brother Omar did a wonderful job leading the worship team and the choir. Pastor Fitsum preached a powerful message as did Pastor Edwin who interpreted for him. It was truly a special service. It was an excellent way to kick off this important weekend. I am looking forward to the meal deliveries today, the fellowship brunch and the Easter service on Sunday, the baptisms, and the special outreach on Sunday night. May God be glorified in all that takes place. May Christ be exalted!
I had a wonderful reminder recently that was truly a blessing. Ever since the start of the war in Ukraine my heart has been heavy for the people there. For a couple of years, I had the privilege of ministering to a group of people that had people from the Ukraine and some from Russia. It was a great group of people that I grew to love rather quickly. I have also had the privilege of going to Romania on a few mission trips. The people that I met there were also very special. Because of that, I felt compelled to see if there is anything that could be done to help out. I contacted my good friend Brian Rothrock and discovered he was feeling the same way (no surprise there). So, we started reaching out to people that we knew to see about the opportunities. Through Facebook he was able to locate a couple of the interpreters that we had on our Romania mission trips. It was pretty cool to hear about their lives and how they have all grown up, some are married and have kids of their own. One of the interpreters that we had was a young lady named Maria. We nicknamed her Maria the Berean because she studied the Bible all of the time. She had a real hunger for God’s Word, and she asked a lot of questions! Now, here is the something that really blessed me. When Brian and Maria were communicating via messenger, she told him to tell me hello and to greet me with the words from 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than this to know my children walk in the truth.” That was the verse that I used when we would go evangelizing in Romania. Often, we would find families out in the parks spending time together. We would walk up and ask if we could talk with them. In the midst of the conversation, we would talk about families and the importance of that. I would ask if I could share one of my favorite verses with them. If they said yes, then we would show them 3 John 4 in the Bible and then then talk about what it meant. God used it to open the doors for many Gospel presentations. I thought for her to remember that after all of these years was incredible. I also wonder how it impacted the people that we shared it with.
As I said, this was a blessing for me to hear. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to go there years ago and share the Gospel. It is also a reminder that sometimes God gives you just a glimpse of how you may have had even the smallest impact on someone’s life. However, most of the time we won’t know. We just have to be faithful to do what God leads us to do. One thing we must be aware of, and it is a bit frightening if you think about, is that we are influencing the people around us whether we know it or not. Therefore, being mindful of that, let us do what we can to influence people in positive ways, pointing them to Jesus, living by following the example that He set for us. The apostle Paul was bold enough to write, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” May that be true of each of us. As Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men that they see your good works and praise your Father in heaven.”
May God bless you and you seek to live for Him.
Keep praying for Ukraine!
From our neighborhoods to the nations,Pastor Larry
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