Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 2 Kings 19:30-31
God’s zeal is overwhelming, amazing and inspiring! Truly the Lord’s zeal is an upward call to all of us as we seek to become more like him. In the following verses we further see why God is so zealous: I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant. 2 Kings 19:34 God is passionate to save his people and will do whatever it takes to save them! When we look at the consistent and non-stop heart of our God to save we begin to see the reason for his drive, his passion and his zeal. Our amazing Father defines zeal with his love to save…truly He is zealous to save!
Powerfully, the Lord God Almighty constantly stoops down to make us great because he believes he can save us and that we will turn to him and fall hopelessly in love with him and then work to save others! The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:15-17. He is mighty to save, driven by his zeal- driven by his love for us! Orlando church, let us imitate the zeal of the Lord in 2016 and forcefully go after our prayer goals!
OLIVIA BELLE DECIDES TO MAKE JESUS LORD OF HER LIFE!
Remember our history- after just three years we have seen what the zeal of the Lord can do: from one church of 29 would-be disciples to three churches (Orlando, Gainesville and Houston) of 210 disciples, birthed just from Orlando. Then we were asked to oversee the mighty Washington, DC church in our nation’s capital, arguably one of the most influential cities in the world and Dallas-Ft. Worth, the largest city in the Southern USA. Just a few weeks ago we were asked to oversee the entire Eastern Seaboard from Chicago to Boston, with New York City and Syracuse in between…adding four amazingly loving and powerful churches to our charge. There are now 816 disciples in the nine planted churches with another 30 in the remnant groups of Charlotte and Ft. Lauderdale!
Then if that were not enough the Houston church with the help and direction of the Eastern USA World Sector will be planting Tampa in June of 2016! Our own Anthony and Elizabeth Eckels will lead this much anticipated church in the heart of Florida. In Tampa, the University of South Florida has over 48,000 students and is growing…we will now have disciples at this great school as well as University of Florida, University of Central Florida and coming soon Seminole State, Valencia East and Valencia Osceola! There are currently 80 campus students in Florida alone and that is growing quickly! In the entire Eastern USA World Sector we have 100 Bible Talks and we will strive to get to 200 Bible Talks this year…the need for faith-stretching goals here in Orlando is obvious and we are driven to accomplish these great goals for the Lord!
In order to take care of the very young Houston church as the Eckels move to Tampa this June with a mission team of 12 sold-out disciples, we have asked our own OJ & Jalisa Nduka to take the charge of the Houston church! Personally, I am so excited about this direction from God as the Ndukas have grown so much, given so much and baptized so many this past year! They have been a joy for the Greens, our shepherds, humble to discipling and have become heroes to DC and Orlando. It will be a challenge to let more of our best and brightest go, but we are so inspired to raise up more leaders like them then send them to the mission field!
Please pray through these “prayer goals” each day and live anticipating our God answering as only he can do; Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
- See to it to have 100 additions in our congregation.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47. We are anticipating a phenomenal year in growth both numerically and geographically as we move to regions. Let’s give 100% of our hearts to save as many as possible.
- Appoint 2 evangelists and 2 women’s ministry leaders.
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:2-5. Raising up of leaders is a fundamental charge for every church in our young movement and we are committed to seeing young men and women as well as the more “seasoned” step up to answer the call of ministry and leadership.
- Each member maturing to become like Jesus in life and doctrine.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25. One goal of the Orlando church this year is to be in step with the Spirit thus producing the fruit of the Spirit. We believe each member can mature and know the 1st Principles well enough to make disciples and that all should strive to become a Bible Talk leader…every member can lead maturely for the Lord in this manner.
JACKIE FERNANDES HAPPILY ENTERS THE
WATERS OF BAPTISM NOT CARING HOW
COLD THE POOL WAS!
- Every Bible Talk/Region operates like a micro-church in all aspects.
The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 1 Corinthians 16:19. In the first century there was a pattern of churches being built through small groups called house churches. With this pattern, very large cities were evangelized without modern technology as they literally went from house to house until a city was saturated with the gospel. We are breaking down each region to small house churches and Bible Talks and each will be responsible for their geographic area.
- Increase weekly contribution by double as we grow and see great victory in our mission’s contributions in February, May and November.
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. Generosity is the Biblical standard. More disciples on staff full-time will help us to forcefully advance and take care of more needs in our congregation. Let’s go FAR, FAR beyond a 10% minimum pledge and become “generous” men and women of God. Joe Willis explained generosity this way: A brother was making $1000/week and got a $200/week increase in his salary. He told Joe he was fired up to give an extra $20/week as his commitment was to give 10%. Joe asked him if that was generous. The brother went home and prayed about it. He returned to Joe the next day and said, “Bro, you are right, the Bible is clear and I am so grateful…I will be giving an extra $200/week.” Now that is generous! Decide to be the most generous disciple you can be for God.
- Our congregation must truly represent our community in which we live becoming a church of all nations.
Acts 13:1-2 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. The first century church was an exact representation of the city in which they lived. We are commanded to preach and teach the gospel to all nations…not just those nationalities with whom we are “comfortable”…otherwise known as prejudice and in extreme cases racism. Certainly we will make disciples of ALL NATIONS in Orlando showing ourselves to be true disciples of Jesus- who died for the whole world.
- Our last challenge is for every disciple to have at least one personal prayer goal that is “immeasurably more than (anything) we imagine.” Ephesians 3:14, 20-21.
This may include being on a mission team, being selected for the ICCM as a student, becoming a Bible Talk leader, being selected as a Shepherding or Deacon couple, or even the conversion or restoration of someone close to you.
Let us all embrace this year’s theme: The Zeal of the Lord Will Accomplish This and forcefully accomplish great things in 2016!
He stoops down to make us great,
Matt Sullivan
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