Finances In The Light of The Bible

Finances In The Light of The Bible

Guess what I was invited to teach at the Northeastern Christian Conference? You guessed it, Finances! I taught on the Biblical model of giving; the motives, the purpose and the grace of giving from various passages. I also gave an introduction to Dave Ramsey's material on Financial Peace. His material gives people a step-by-step method to organize and control your personal finances so that you are able to give like you want to give.

Most people that I have taught have had difficulty understanding what the Bible teaches about giving. Most people that I have taught have also had difficulty managing their personal finances, so this course is very much needed in the church in Brazil. The church is beginning to support missionaries and they want and need a better understanding on giving.

After the classes at the Conference, I was invited to teach the finance course at several different congregations throughout Brazil. Dates are still being set-up. My hope for beginning this class was to help the church in Brazil take another step towards maturity by learning to give and give generously. I believe they are taking this step.

Please pray:

that the church in Brazil may trust in God for all of their needs;

that each Christian may believe in Jesus' words "It is more blessed to give than to receive";

that God may give me wisdom to direct each person's focus on the provider and not what is provided.

Campina Grande Team

Campina Grande Team

David and I have been traveling to Campina Grande to work more closely with the team. We want to ask for your prayers for the work in Campina Grande.

Please pray:

that God may open hearts of people who are searching for His truth;

that God may continue to give the team courage to reach out to the lost around them;

that God may help the members of the church to grow in their faith in His Word.

Families: Strength in the Church

Families: Strength in the Church

I traveled to Patos a couple of weeks ago to study 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon with the church. We talked about elders, deacons, evangelists, taking care of the needs of others. We defined a good conscience and piety, which is the word in Portuguese used for godliness. They had a lot of questions and a few ideas from denominations, which needed to be corrected.

We learned from the teachings of the apostle Paul to Timothy the best way to counteract false teachings. In summary, we must exhort men to exercise their role in the family, women to fulfill their role in the family, children and grandchildren to take care of their parents in need. In other words, structure the families to live the way God always intended, and the church will serve God in this fallen world of broken families.

Some really good news: while in Patos, a brother, who had been losing the battle with sin, came back to Christ.

Please pray:

that God may strengthen in his new resolve and repentance,

that God may help His church mature and produce families who live within the will of the Almighty.

World Cup

World Cup

This is the year of the "Cup", the "World Cup". There will be no school on the days that is playing. Businesses will close for the games; everything will be different for a little over a month.

The first time I came to , the world cup was being played in the . I had no idea what the world cup was. I had never seen a soccer game. I watched the final between and to crown the first ever four-time champion, won. Now, 20 years later, is looking for its sixth title and for the first time in 64 years the games will be played in .

There is a lot of excitement building up around the games, and the entire country will be turned upside down. There will probably be protests, strikes, and a lot of other unpleasantries happening while the games are being played. Most of the reason for these will be because the government set a budget to spend a little over $1 billion and have already spent over $4 billion on the stadiums, while health care and other areas that would benefit the Brazilian population have been put on the back burner.

Let's remember that one day, there will be a bigger party, where everyone will stop what they are doing and bow at the feet of the returning and reigning King. Until that day comes, let us turn this world upside down, like the first Christians did.

Please pray:

that God may protect His church from violence;

that God may help His church be as bold and excited for His Kingdom as the world is for these games.

Carnaval Camp

Hey all,

Thank you for your patience.  I know it has been a while since you received news from me.  Things have been busy and it has been hard to find a time to sit down to write.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support,

Jeremy, Monica, Nicholas & Dylan

Carnaval Camp

When I first came to , I participated in a carnaval camp. I enjoyed spending time with the Christians, playing games and praising God together. I confess that I did not understand the importance of such a camp until years later.

After spending years in and seeing Christians struggling with temptations and sins during this five-day party, I now see how important it is for the church to be together, away from the noise and temptations of the world.

Some of us from will be going to Cajazeiras to participate in their carnaval camp. I will be teaching, the others participating, and all of us will be enjoying time in purity, kindness, goodness, joy, and love.

What a different life we live in Christ. Ain't it good? May God be praised for His wisdom and love in saving us from this perverse and sad world.

Please pray:

that God will protect us on the road;

that God may use our time together to give us more boldness and courage to tell others about Him.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - With Plastic

 

I traveled to Recife with a carload of people to a leaders retreat called ELICAMP (Encounter of Leaders in the Field).  Some unexpected things happened.  The first thing is about Nicholas, my 13 year old son.  He loves to play soccer and was invited to play with the Right Step program from Cajazeiras.  The program was coming to Recife to play against a professional soccer team.  You may be thinking, he must be good to play against professional adults.  If that is what you were thinking then you were wrong.  He is good but - come on people.  He was going to play against people his own age that are a part of the, let's call it, the very minor leagues.  The day we arrived in Recife, Café called me to tell me that the trip had been rescheduled.  So here Nicholas was, a 13 year old among men who would be listening to lessons on how to have peace in your; (Spiritual life, Finances, Congregation, Family and Ministry).  Nicholas teared up when I told him that he was going to have to stay with me the whole weekend.  He ended up having a lot of fun and he sat through all of the lessons and listened attentively.  He even pushed the button to pass the slides while I was teaching my class on "Peace in Finances."  We took advantage of our time, and I helped him prepare his first Sunday School lesson he taught to the young people the same Sunday of that weekend.  Everyone said he did very good. 

The next interesting thing was the result of my class.  I had four hours and 20 minutes of class time to cover twenty hours of material.  I hit the high points, the main one of the whole course being?  Do you remember?  Contentment!  Everyone really seems to love that lesson, and I think it is because it does not matter how much God has entrusted to you at this moment, whether it is a lot or a little, we all need to be content and invest in His Kingdom.  I also got into Dave Ramsey's material on how to administer your finances, and two people handed me cards while I was teaching.  No, they were not "thank you" cards or "get well soon" cards.  One was a membership card to Sam's Club - my dad will love that.  The other was a credit card.  This is the first time that has spontaneously happened while teaching this course. It is exciting to see people understanding the biblical teaching about contentment, that is, to serve God better, trusting Him and not a piece of plastic.   

 

P.S.  - I heard the next day that some broke their credit cards in their rooms that night.  I don't know how many, but I was glad to hear it.   

Please pray: 

• that God may always be the one in whom we trust for our needs and that we may be thankful to Him for His Mercy and Grace; 
• that the church in Brazil may mature to support its own workers, missionaries, preachers and elders; 
• that each Christian may administer well what God has entrusted to him/her by investing in God's Kingdom in the many ways that is possible. 

One Frustrated Missionary

 

Joseph and myself traveled together, he stayed in Patos and I went on to Cajazeiras.  Joseph taught the book of Isaiah in an intensive class to SEARA (Servants Sent To Announce the Kingdom of Love).  While in Cajazeiras, I taught around 15 people the first night about hell.  I asked them if they wanted to go to hell, what they thought hell would be like, and who was going to be there.  We read Revelation 21:8 and spent quite a bit of time discussing what type of people would be in hell.  After a little over an hour class, one of the students commented about Jesus, as if to say, do you not believe that Jesus saves us from hell.  I was happy with the comment because I felt like I was getting through to someone.   

Most of the kids that were there are a part of the Right Step program where they play soccer and have Bible studies, but most of the boys seem more interested in soccer than in learning about God.  Knowing this, I gave them a decision to make so that I could have a better idea of what they really believe or want.  Since everyone raised their hands when asked if they believed in hell and did not want to go to hell.  You would think that they would be interested in learning about heaven, who will be there, and how to get there.  The decision I gave them was, if they really wanted to know about heaven and how to be sure one could get there, to come back tomorrow.  "If you really don't care and don't believe, then you don't have to come back tomorrow."  I explained that I wanted and hoped they would all come back.  Only three of the young people showed up the next day and they are already Christians.  I tell you this because I am frustrated with the lack of interest.  We all know it exists and there may have been some circumstances that prohibited someone from coming but not all of them.  It saddens me greatly.  I would love to see these teenagers in Christ.  I can not force them.  I am saddened and frustrated because of all the work and effort not by me but by Café and Leila, who work with them almost daily.  How great is God's mercy and patience with us all, the only difference between myself and these teenagers is that I finally came around to believing.  Some, maybe a lot, of these teenagers will never truly believe. 

 

Please pray: 

• that God may continue to be patient with these and others who do not believe around the world; 
• that God may bless Café and Leila with love and patience for the lost, as well as myself; 
• that God may bring these boys and girls to believe in Him fully.

Jeremy Newlin shared these files from Dropbox:

jpg Cajazeiras - Nov -2013.jpg

jpg Cajazeiras - Nov - 2013 B.jpg