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« 2008 World Missions Jubilee | Main | Victorious Inaugural Service! Orlando International Christian Church »

GOD WORKS SWIFTLY!

By Anthony Eckels | June 8, 2008

Isaiah 60:22 “The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

Lisa (center), who was recently restored, with friends Maria and ElizabethWe have been in Orlando for thirteen weeks and have watched God’s miracles unfold. With the disciples being outnumbered by visitors on any given week, God is teaching us the true meaning of John 12:24: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The miracles God is able to perform are truly amazing when we allow ourselves to be used by God. We see the fruit that it is producing and how worth it is for people’s souls.

We are so encouraged by the many phone calls of those who plan to move to be a part of our mission and are so grateful for the many disciples who are joining us to be a souled out movement! One of the many exciting victories we have had recently was restoring Lisa Robillard to God’s kingdom and to the Lord. Lisa had been a zealous disciple when she was first baptized. Due to a lack of discipling and maturing, Lisa’s faith had begun to dwindle and her convictions weakened. In Hebrews 3:12-13 the Bible states, “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness.” After the Kriete letter, the church Lisa was a part of stopped meeting in Bible talks, and the spurring of one another on toward love and good deeds had slowly relinquished. She began to compromise her own convictions and stopped seeking the kingdom first, often missing midweek service. Lisa began talking over the phone to Elizabeth while we still lived in Portland. She knew things weren’t quite right, but Satan, the master deceiver, had confused her into believing that mediocrity and compromising was acceptable.

Church Service in the Park following a Kingdom Kids PerformanceWhen we arrived in Orlando, Elizabeth began discipling Lisa in her life and doctrine (1Tim. 4:16). She began to see how weak her convictions had become, and that somewhere along the way she had stopped dying to herself daily. She was convicted by the word that as true disciples, if we are living for God, it is almost impossible to go through our day and not share about our merciful God! Lisa realized how far away from God she had drifted when we began to study the Bible with one of her friends. She realized she had compromised her convictions to the point of not even knowing who was lost and who was saved. On the glorious day that Lisa was restored to Christ, she tearfully shared, “I feel like I have been in a thick fog, and I couldn’t get out. I felt lost and could not find my way back to God. The fog kept getting thicker and thicker.” She shared about the parable of the sower in Luke 8, and how life’s thorns had been choking her faith to death. She saw that she was spiritually dying. Soon after rekindling discipling times, taking responsibility for rebuilding the church, and restudying the first principle Bible studies, her first love was revived. Since Lisa’s restoration, she has had many visitors and at least a dozen Bible studies with her co-workers, neighbors, and friends from her son’s football team. She also read Hebrews 12:1-4 at her restoration and shared, “Now that I am surrounded by true, sold-out disciples, I have nothing holding me back, and finally have the strength to give my all to God again. I am so grateful to Jesus for His perfect example of struggling against sin to the point of shedding his own blood. He saved me, and now I remember. I just want to give everything I can for his cause of evangelizing the world in my generation.” What an impact God can make when His people repent! We are so excited for Lisa!

Elizabeth with Colleen, who placed membership Another great victory has been seeing Colleen Parramoure place membership with the Orlando International Christian Church. Traveling six hours to Orlando for Women’s Devotional and Sunday Worship has disarmed any excuses others may make to not go that extra mile. She has challenged us all with her zealous example, bringing numerous friends and family to church to hear the Word preached. She loves sharing her faith and is passionate about her purpose to seek and save the lost. She calls and e-mails Elizabeth daily, has discipling times long distance, and is a prayer warrior on behalf of the entire church. What an amazing example for us to imitate!

Continue to pray for the many we are studying with to be restored and baptized into Christ. Pray for the disciples who are moving here from different parts of the U.S. to join our mission team over the summer and in following months. Also, we ask you to pray for campus leaders and Latin leaders for the Orlando International Christian Church, who desire to be full time in the ministry!

We invite all to join us for our Inaugural Service on June 29th, 2008 at the Avalon Park outdoor Amphitheater, as we continue to offer hope and a dream to the disciples and salvation to the lost.

Anthony Eckels

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One Response to “GOD WORKS SWIFTLY!”

  1. Paulaharpole Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    My first visit here. I was present and very inspired, same zeal and excitement, love and fire for God that I experienced 20 years ago when I visited with disciples for worship. Very convicting, as Anthony poured his heart and soul into the message and service!!!! Thank you. Helped to motivate me to make some radical changes after 20 years. I am so looking forward to what God will do to use me to help build this ministry!!!!! Paula Harpole 407-427-0293

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