Pastoral Notes

I am writing you because I believe you care! I am thankful for people like you who have made a clear choice to receive Jesus as your Savior. It means a lot to me – both the privilege and the responsibility – that God and you allowed me to be called “Pastor” by you. You have given me this honor for ten (10) years – I am grateful.

Please receive the following blessing:

I bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus, and put the name of Jehovah –Tsidkenu (Righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6) upon you…

May God keep making a "right way" for you in the area of your greatest need;

May God make a “right way” for you to generate wealth if you have financial needs;

May God make a “right way” for you to be more healthy if your have health issues;

May God make the “right way” be made plain to you;

In Jesus name…

Amen.

I want to thank you for participating in the family reading, teaching, and preaching experience over the summer months. Daniel A. Brown’s book, “Enjoying Your Journey with God”, was an excellent choice for our first church family reading activity. I hope you enjoyed the exercise and I extend my gratitude to all the Sunday morning speakers; Thursday night teachers; and Abundance Group leaders for a job well done.

God has been gracious to First Pentecostal and He has extended a fresh dose of His blessing of abundance on us since the beginning of 2007. I am very please to say that God as allowed us to introduce the “Abundance Stream Ministry” during my tenth year of pastoral service. We have completed the first stage of the First Pentecostal Community Center building. It is now the home for the First Pentecostal PANTRY. As we continue to work on the building, we are praying for God to allow us the opportunity to provide at least one hot meal per week for the homeless in our surrounding communities.

I would like to share the following paragraphs from an article by Mark Kelly (The ‘Risk’ of Obedience) where he discusses the meaning of ‘faith’.

“To many Christians, “faith” means sincerely believing something is true when you don’t have any evidence. In fact, faith is acting on what you know full well is true: God is able to keep his promise and can be trusted to do it. Faith that is only theoretical conviction isn’t faith yet. Real faith – living faith, saving faith – does something about it.

The life of faith is a life of taking risks that aren’t actually risky. When God puts a challenge before you – even one that seems crazy to your human nature – you can step out in confidence because you know God is able and faithful. When your faith and actions are working together, then your faith will be made complete.”

First Pentecostal ministry has been moving in the flow of God’s vision because you care and you are living that life of faith. We did not toss in the towel because of the challenges that have faced us. We have moved forward by trusting God even in the dark times.

God’s graciousness toward First Pentecostal has inspired me to expect great and mighty things in the future. Please read and study the following paragraphs that discuss how to expect great and mighty things from God.

“We know that if we call on the Lord He will answer. Often, however, our expectations are too small, and we ask based on what we know is possible. But He is the God of the impossible! The Lord sees the situation from every side and has a bigger plan than any of us dream.

He did not choose us to do small things. He chose us to touch people with His love (Lev. 19:34); to see lives changed (Luke 4:18, 19); to raise the next generation of God’s people (Deut. 6:7); to exhibit His life in all we do and say (Rom. 8:9, 10); to live as kings and priests of the Most High God (Rev. 1:6); and to rule and reign with Him forever (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 22:5).

Get ready today and expect the Lord to do something big through you! For “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).”

We are expecting great and mighty works in the area of the Men and youth ministries. I will be providing more information on these ministry activities in the coming months. In addition, we will be introducing a “Ten Dollar” challenge to the entire family very soon and I encourage your participation. It will be fun!

Thank you for supporting the First Pentecostal ministry and allowing God to create a place where the love of Jesus Christ can be shared and the richness of Jesus’ love felt.

God Bless!

Your servant in the Lord Jesus

Pastor Paul