Dear Partners,

II Peter 1:3-4 LITV declares, As His divine power has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of the One calling us through glory and virtue,  by which means He has given to us the very great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, escaping from the corruption in the world….

In John 1:16-17 LITV the word says, And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace on top of grace. For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Grace is a love gift from Jesus that blesses us with His benefits, favor and joy. It is something we didn’t work for or deserve.  God did this for us because He wanted sons that would love Him and fellowship with Him. All we need to do is believe and receive His free gift, grow in the knowledge of Jesus, and live in fellowship with Him through the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 4:7 tells us that we are no longer slaves, but sons and heirs of God.  Hallelujah! We no longer have to work to please God.

From Galatians 5:1-4 LITV we are admonished to …stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free and do not be held again with a yoke of slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised (keep the law), Christ will profit you nothing.  And I testify again to every man being circumcised, that he is a debtor to do all the Law,  you whoever are justified by Law, you were severed from Christ; you fell from grace.

When we try to please God by our works, we cut ourselves off from His grace. Whoa! Law and grace can’t mix. We lose the benefits of grace when we return to the law.

The Message version of the Bible says it so beautifully in Galatians 2:18-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not mine, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Therefore, we no longer work trying to please God. Because we are in fellowship with Him and His nature is in us, we naturally do the work of the Kingdom as His sons.  We have been entrusted to carry out God’s business on this earth. What an awesome privilege that we have legal authority to act in His behalf. We also have legal benefits as His sons. Imagine that! That’s as good as it gets (in this life).

We no longer tithe and give offerings to keep the law. We give because as His sons it is in our nature to give joyfully and generously.  Our Papa God is the biggest giver of all! Now we give out of our new nature that’s like Him.

Our father in the faith, Abraham, gave tithes because he wanted to, not because he was required to by the law.

We praise God that you don’t give to Faith Ministries because you have to but rather because you want to.  That liberates you to receive the blessing of 2 Corinthians 9:8 that declares, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that in everything, always having all self-sufficiency, you may abound to every good work.

In His Fields,

Barbara

Fellowship Meeting in Jecori

On June 27, we were blessed to attend a fellowship meeting hosted by Pastors Alberto and Zulma Ruelas in Jecori, Sonora.

There were 10 churches represented. It is wonderful that the churches in these small pueblos make the effort to get together and strengthen one another in the Lord.

Christmas

Calvin put a new tile floor in the Christmas Storeroom in Cumpas. Moisture had been seeping in and now it is well sealed and will keep all the toys dry and clean. Yes! See more about our current Christmas 09 progress.

Thanks to you our partners, VBS’s have been taking place throughout Sonora and Chihuahua during the month of July. This year we purchased material to reach over 3,000 children. They each have the opportunity to meet Jesus as their Savior through these VBS outreaches. The majority of these children are gleaned from throughout the community rather than children who regularly attend church. We frequently meet young adults who recognize us from years past and share how they found Jesus as a child in VBS.  This year in Douglas our theme was Camp E.D.G.E. (Experience and Discover God Everywhere). On our last day, we were privileged to have Smokey the Bear from the U.S. Forrest Service as our special guest.

To subscribe to our monthly newsletter:

To receive by postal mail only: Postal_News@FaithMinistriesMexico.org Please include complete name and address including postal code.

To receive by e-mail only, send a blank e-mail to: E_News@FaithMinistriesMexico.org

To receive both by e-mail and postal mail: E_Postal_News@FaithMinistriesMexico.org Please include complete name and address including postal code.

You will find information about Missions Trips, Christmas Outreaches and Vacation Bible Schools from previous newsletters by clicking on the Evangelism link to the right under the Main Menu.