Author: Cisco Baez

Words from the Pastor
God’s Amazing Grace! I am not sure how many of you read the new verse this month at on the front page of this bulletin, but just in case you didn’t you can read it now! “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 4:6-9).” For it is by GRACE you have been saved brothers and sisters! Not anything that we have done but it is all about Him! Jesus is the one that has brought us salvation and raised us up with Christ and seated us in the Heavenly places! Now probably there are quite a few of you that are saying, “If I am in a Heavenly place right now it sure doesn’t feel like it! Pastor, living in these circumstances that I am under feels the opposite of Heavenly!” and maybe that our problem. Maybe we shouldn’t be living UNDER these circumstances, maybe we better pray until we are living above them in Heavenly places with Christ Jesus!
I learned an important lesson this week…again. I learned, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, that it’s not all about me! Now there’s a new revelation, right? A couple that Naomi and I have known for years needed comforting and I didn’t want to go because it brought back memories of what we had been through 18 months ago when we last our daughter. But the Holy Spirit brought this Scripture to mind: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ (2 Corinthians 13-5).” Do you see what that Scripture is saying to us? God comforted us when we were going through the most difficult time in our lives, now we need to comfort others who are enduring the same thing! This abundant life that Jesus is allowing us to live in Him isn’t to be hidden under our beds, it is to be used to share with others and give them hope! Our trials and our testings are there to make us strong in our faith and once we are strong in our faith, we need to share that faith and our hope that is built on Jesus with others.
And guess what, sometimes we don’t need to say anything. All we need to be is a sounding board for others. Sometimes all they need is a hug and someone to listen to. All we need to do is to be available to go.
There’s a song we used to sing when I was a little kid and it went like this, “Lord send me here am I send me. I want to be greatly used by Thee. Across the street or across the sea here am I oh Lord send me!” Across the street or across the sea…are you willing to go and to do what the Holy Spirit asks you to do? I pray that I am.
Please let me know if you need anything. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve