He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord!
Greetings, Sunnyside Community Church,
The focus of our time together this Lord’s Day is on the greatness of our God’s lovingkindness and the joy that it produces and the confidence that it engenders in the minds and hearts of His people. Our God, the one, true, and living God, the God of heaven and earth, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is the One in whose hands all things abide. Everything in all creation, every particular of our lives, exists and unfolds within the bounds of His good, wise, and powerful working. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
God’s good, wise and powerful working is for our good in and through Jesus Christ. It is through the person and work of Jesus Christ that we rejoice in God rather than fearing His wrath as the righteous Judge (Romans 5:6-11).
Understanding all these truths, being mindful of them, is a source of great comfort and encouragement, not only now, in these unparalleled times, but always. Out of these truths comes our joy; a deeply seated sense of blessedness. These truths are also the gospel, the message of life and hope, that we have to share with our world.
I trust you continue encouraged in the Lord. As I have spoken with many of you by phone over the last week I have been encouraged to hear how the Lord is sustaining you and blessing your lives. I pray that His Word continues to be your daily bread and the empowering of His Spirit continues to enable you to walk faithfully and fruitfully before Him.
We continue to await instructions from the Governor’s office regarding the relaxing of these stay-at-home measures and the opening up for public gatherings. There appears to be a glimmer of hope that we will see some movement in May. Until we get the word, we will continue in the present pattern.
Several of you came by the church this week to chip away at the Spring-cleaning list. Thank you for your service. Thank you to Tim and Brent and Ben Stapleton for seeing to the lawnmower and mowing the back field (if anyone has a small baler, we could use it to bale up the grass; it was pretty long). Thanks guys!
Zoom meetings continue. The ladies are out-pacing the guys by a significant margin. I understand that there were 17 gals that linked up this last Thursday. Great job Ladies! We guys are planning to “gather” on Tuesday evening @7:00. Look for an email from Brent and jump in with us. Of course, the ladies will be meeting again on Thursday @ 7:00.
Tina hosted another Zoom Good News Club this past Thursday. It went very well. Pray that Lord to make these efforts fruitful for His glory, for the good of these children and for the encouragement of His servants. Thank you, Tina and Marnie.
As for specific items to be in prayer about, we especially need to be praying the Lord to comfort and encourage those who live alone, our singles, widows and widowers. This self-isolation is challenging enough for those of us with spouses and families; it is particularly challenging for those who find themselves, day in, day out, by themselves. Let’s pray our faithful Father to comfort and sustain their hearts and minds with an abiding recognition that He is present to them in the fullness of His being at all times. In this time when it is not possible to have fellowship with others, the Lord does not leave us wanting. He meets our every need. Let’s remember the ones who live alone especially.
Let’s daily pray for one another that the Lord will grant to us the knowledge of His will; the knowledge of that which pleases Him, that which He desires of us, in us and out of us in our thoughts, our words, our deeds. This knowledge comes by the Word, so let’s pray that God will stir each one’s heart to seek His Word, daily. Let’s also pray that He will grant to each one the empowering of the Holy Spirit so that we can walk in obedience to that which we understand to be God’s will. It is only by the Spirit’s power that the fruit of righteousness is produced in our lives. Let’s pray for the empowering of the Spirit. And all of this is in order that we might walk before Him in a way that honors Him and brings glory to Him.
Please continue to pray for those in our church body who are hurting and dealing with various physical needs.
Continue to pray for the guys and the Philippine trip. It is beginning to look pretty certain that they are not going to be able to go this June. Lock-down measures have been extended in the greater Manila area until into the middle of May which doesn’t allow enough time for things to open up for the ministry they were planning to do. It is not finalized, but it is looking pretty much like they will have to reschedule. Pray the Lord to give them wisdom in their final decision and encouragement to accept this as from Him.
Prayer for our sister Village Mission churches. We had a Zoom meeting with other Village Missionaries from our district this last Tuesday. Everybody is facing the same challenges so, what we pray for ourselves we can pray for them.
Because of the lock-downs and social-distancing restrictions our annual VM conferences have essentially been canceled. This will be a real disappointment for many, so please pray the Lord to encourage them and help them to receive this as from Him.
I continued to be encouraged by the many who are reaching out to one another, to encourage each other. May the Lord richly bless your efforts.
As we look to the week ahead, we do so encouraged in the Lord’s faithfulness; His kindness and goodness to us. May you grow still more in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
For Your fullness of blessing
For the everlasting good of all peoples
To the glory of God!
Lovingly in Christ,
Pastor Guy