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

Alagoinha - Whole Heartedly

On a bright and beautiful Sunday afternoon, I travelled to Alagoinha, about one hour and thirty minutes from João Pessoa to meet with the church and teach on worshipping God through our finances. Instead of the usual sermon, I taught more of a Sunday School class type lesson on how Jesus, the apostles and the early church dealt with money.   

Most of the Christians in Paraíba either came from the Catholic or denominational doctrine of tithing and free will offerings.  Yes, the Catholic church does tithe now.  Free will offerings are seen as giving the left overs.  Completely different from what the Bible teaches.  So how do most Christians give to the work of the church here in Paraíba?  They usually fall under one of the two categories that I described above.  Can you guess which one most of them fall into?  I bet you can.  Why is it that Jesus, the apostles and the early church dealt so much with the money topic?  I think it must have been a problem then, too.   

I have taught quite a bit about this subject over the past two and a half years.  The truth of God's Word is sinking in the lives of some brothers.  It is satisfying to be a part of moving someone closer to God and away from the World.  We are all still learning but the journey itself is exciting.  We are on our way to meet God face to face. 

I was asked to teach this same course at ELICAMP (a leaders retreat for the congregations of the northeast of Brazil).   

Please pray: 

• that the Lord's church in Brazil will live contently with what God has given each member 
• that each member will live the truth in our Lord's Words "It is more blessed to give than to receive." - Acts 20:35 
• that each member will give themselves "whole heartedly" first to the Lord.   

There is Power in God's Word

          The month of August has come and gone as a blur and we are almost half-way through September already.  I have only been back in Brazil for seven months, since our last visit to the States but it seems so far away.  So much has happened; so many trips, classes taught, meetings and baptisms that it is a blur.

            In August there were 9 baptisms throughout the state, that I know of.  Three of them were in a small town called Emas.  The evangelist, Givanildo, has lived in this city for several years and the church has grown very little.  I began studying the Bible with Givanildo by phone once a week, every week and he began teaching more people in his city of Emas.  This past month, three people were baptized and more are studying God's Word. 

            I do not believe that my studying with Givanildo was the cause of these three baptisms but I have "seen" or should I say heard a change in his voice and the subjects he talks about.  I have seen him more often on my trips to the interior, where as before, he would hardly show his face, I have grown closer to him and he has helped me to grow in my relationship with Christ.  He is a very humble person with a great desire to serve God.  He is now seeing evidence of the service he is giving.

            This article was written to celebrate the power of God's Word in our lives.  Read it. Study it.  Live it.  It will change your life and the lives of some or all of those around you.

 

Please pray:

• for the maturing of your three new brothers and sisters in the city of Emas;
• for Givanildo's love to study and live God's Word to continue to grow;
• for the congregations throughout the state of Paraíba and their growth.