“I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of His
resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming
like him in his death, and so somehow, attaining to the
resurrection from the dead.” 1 Corinthians 3:10(NIV)
Tia Gloria cited this verse then shared when Tio Cesar was very sick. Gloria was in the other
room fixing her hair, and she walked into where Cesar was lying down. He was not breathing.
She declared,”Your time is not done!” At that declaration, Cesar took a deep breath and beganbreathing again. Praise God!
Because one man shared Jesus with Tio Cesar and Tia Gloria, the lives of the Eliases and
Ochoas changed. One man persistently shared the Lord, and they now serve the Lord. Tio
Cesar read Hosea 6:3 to us.
“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to
know him, and he will respond to us as surely as the
coming of the dawn or the rain of early.” (TLB)
Another version states,
”Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge
him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come
to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the
earth.” Hosea 6:3 (NIV)
In other words, let us press on to knowing the Lord well, for we are carriers of the Spirit of the
living God. As Jesus followers when we walk into the room, we bring Him with us. We need to entreat Him to give us His passion or life will be routine, mundane, common. That is not enough for us Christ followers. Let us reflect His passion.
When you have the passion of God, you will have compassion for His people. The Lord told us to love our neighbors as ourselves. How do we do that in every day life? How do we serve the less fortunate? Can we contribute to the Gobble Give-a-way where FC will give two hundred turkey dinners away? Can we help with distributing food on the first and third Mondays of the month? Can we serve the homeless? Can we help in the Meet the Need ministry? Can we go out on Saturdays and share Jesus with others? The mundane and religious are boring, but relationship is active.
“What moves the Father besides faith is obedience,” stated Tio Cesar. May we not reduce the Bible to our level of experience, but instead let the Bible set the standard. Tio told of a time when he forgot to guard his heart in the secret place of the Almighty. It took him years to be restored, for he hurt his church and his family. He warned us to not let anything like work, hobbies or distractions get in the way of our relationship with the Lord. Since we are carriers of God, may we carry the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives daily. We can do that as we learn to fall in love with Him.
Another significant point Tio made was “too many say the devil is attacking you. The only power the devil has over you is what you have given him.” He declared,”I refuse to be a prisoner of my past.” You are a priest, a holy priest. James 4:7 “Get close to the Shepherd….Yeshua, and resist the devil and his demons and those defeated foes will run from you.” (TOT-the Ochoa Translation)
One day Tio Cesar and Tia Gloria went to see The Forge. The movie really moved him so at the end, he went up to the front, turned on the lights and gave an altar call. No one came forward, but he obeyed the Lord. He was disappointed in the response. As he walked into the lobby, a woman approached him and told him she wanted to put her hand up but didn’t. Now she wanted to accept the Lord and wanted her husband to hear too. Tio Cesar prayed and led her husband and her to Jesus. Tio Cesar said that he had the fire of the Lord in him as in Jeremiah 20:19. “But if I say,’I won’t mention Him, or speak any more in His name,’ then it is like fire burning in my heart-shut up in my bones-I weary myself in holding it in, but I cannot.” He could not and did not hold back. He obeyed the still, small voice.
For us one day my husband and I were in Costco. A young woman came up to us and shared
that she saw us in church and that she just wanted to say hello. Then she told us her desire to
return to school. Right in Costco we asked her if we could pray for her at which she said yes.
We bowed our heads and prayed. From then on whenever we see her sister or her, we get a big hug and warm smiles. We know the power of prayer. When the opportunity arises and a person explains a need, we get to pray for them right then.
May we not just read the Scriptures. May we experience the Scriptures. If we do not have the
passion of God, we reduce the Scriptures to the mundane. Since Scripture is God breathed,
why would we want to reduce it to our level?
Finally Tio read Colossians 3:1-2
“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are
to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned
at the place of all power, honor and authority! Yes, feast on all the
treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly
realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” (TOT)
What power Christ’s resurrection had/has. He defeated death so that we could have eternal life. As Christ followers we have eternal life because of Him.
Let us be filled with the Spirit. Let us have the passion of God and for God fill our lives. Let us experience the Scriptures so that we can share the power and wonder of our Lord, and then we can be salt and light in this troubled world.
Calendar:
11/14 LB sponsored Thanksgiving luncheon for the FC and FCLA staff at 12:00-2:00
12/6 LB potluck and caroling
12/7 Christmas tea 11:00-1:00
Submitted by
Larry and Annette Linthicum
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