Apostolic Herald - Online Newsletter with a distinctively apostolic perspective » god

Acts-In-Action!

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:12:51 +0000

As of the first Sunday of January, Antioch, The Apostolic Church has moved Sunday night services outside of its building to school auditoriums throughout the area. Towards the end of 2002, the church’s auditorium was getting to be comfortably full on Sunday evening. While the church is in the process of building a new auditorium, it will be at least eighteen months before it is completed.

For the month of January, services were held at the Annapolis Senior High School, which is about ten miles from the church. However, over the next four months, services will be held at four different auditoriums throughout the county. Some of these areas have never been evangelized, so there are significant efforts being made to reach the communities near these locations.

At the beginning of this change, the decision was made to leave out the church’s name for the promotion of these services. The services are being promoted as Acts-in-Action. The theme of these services is “Come experience the power that changes lives.” Since there is no specific church name, if people have affiliations with another church, there may be a better chance of reaching them without a particular church being promoted. And, for those who are un-churched, the goal is to share the message of the power of Jesus Christ.

The first month has been a very exciting time. It has been one of the most severe winters that the area has had over the past few years. However, in spite of that, God is doing wonderful things. There have been over fifty first-time visitors, and eight people have received the Holy Ghost. There have also been many saints who have received a significant touch from the Lord. Most of all, the power of Jesus Christ is being taken into areas that have never experienced it before.

I Believe In God, I Just Don’t Serve Him

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:48:31 +0000

During the day, I felt the LORD give this short sentence to me: People believe in GOD, but they choose not to SERVE HIM. As I was musing on this, my mind went to work. I feel our society is so cursed by this concept that many folks attend various church functions without giving GOD a second look or thought; business-as-usual, never allow GOD in any way to interfere with whatever one wishes and make sure HE IS NOT PERMITTED TO TELL US HOW TO LIVE, WHAT TO DO WITH OUR MONEY OR TIME…. Believing, but not serving seems to be more PREVALENT than I first realized. We, too, have many folks that seem to embrace the same idea; BELIEVE, BUT DON’T EVER GET SERIOUS AND SERVE. Ask yourself right now this question: “AM I SERVING GOD, OR JUST BELIEVING IN GOD?”

Serving the LORD has many ramifications to it: we become HIS LOVE SLAVES, our time is HIS, our loot is HIS, we must handle ourselves very differently than many who JUST BELIEVE IN HIM. Believing can allow lifestyles to be ANTI-CHRIST, to say the least. GOD is never mentioned; OUR PRIORITIES must come first. LOYALTY steps into the very picture with us in first place. Attendance to church services, outreach, or involvement in various things must never come before SELF.

I think our very nation is held hostage by the concept: BELIEVE IN GOD, but do not let OUR BELIEFS in any way become a PLATFORM for SUBMITTING AND SERVING GOD. Joshua cried to his people, “I am going to SERVE GOD”, which was shouted to those who BELIEVED IN GOD. It is so easy to BELIEVE and not REALLY SERVE. When we serve, our very lives are turned over to JESUS AND HIS KINGDOM, but if we just believe we can go on our merry way and never give HIM any thought or VALUE HIM above everything else.

ARE YOU BELIEVING HIM, OR ARE YOU SERVING HIM?