Last Sunday night was as good as I had hoped. Bro. Grisson’s testimony was a powerful reminder of how God takes care of us as we are yielded to Him, and Bro. Jared’s testimony was a powerful testimony of the grace of God.
Bro. Jared gave a quote he remembered my dad preaching: “We can stop forgiving others when what they’ve done to us is worse than what we’ve done to God.” That kind of summed up the night for me. As “bad” as sin gets, grace is greater still. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20.
“But sinners need to PAY for what they’ve done!”
Right. And nothing last week said otherwise. Sometimes sin follows you around a while, and it hurts people, and it dredges up bad memories, and it makes us cry.
But that doesn’t change our own stance before God, nor the forgiveness we show others.
Forgive means “drop it.” It releases charges. I’m sure glad Jesus did that for me. My sins are way worse than yours.
Well, it was just a joy to be in church last Sunday night (and I was thankful for the extra sunlight, too!)
Not only was Sunday good, but last Wednesday was good, too! Bro. Derek Thomas, our long-time missionary to Ukraine reported on the work there and talked about his “Compassion for Ukraine” fund that they’ve set up to assist the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom.
Bro. Thomas showed photos of the $8,000 worth of flour they were able to donate to a local bakery, and talked about driving truckloads of goods to the front lines. He talked about their Bible college students handing out bread, water, and Gospel tracts to the thousands of people crammed into the train stations.
He talked about putting feet to the Gospel, and showed us how we can help. Sometimes it feels like these government agencies and charities mishandle funds. They’re not all bad, of course, but I’d tend to trust a missionary who’s been faithful for decades over UNICEF.
On top of that, late on Thursday, Bro. Thomas texted me and said, “I received a call today from an organization that will match all our gifts that are received by ‘Compassion for Ukraine.’ Hallelujah!”
Don’t stop praying! God is working, and the Gospel is being proclaimed!
Let’s do the same in our town, too. God bless you, church.
–-Pastor Ryan Rench