Thank God For Freedom

American Flag

 John 8:36 – If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

As the nation prepares to celebrate it’s birthday, I couldn’t help but take a moment and reflect on the captivating and inspiring power of freedom. It is through our freedom that we get to experience and worship God without persecution and fear of repercussions for our beliefs. But, freedom comes with a cost. To protect our way of life there are many who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this land that we love. Although our nation is not perfect, there are soldiers who are willing to put their lives in harms way to make sure we are safe. For that I am extremely grateful.

However, about 2000 years ago there was a man named Jesus who died on a cross whose loved spread beyond not only state, city, and country lines but through continents. His act of love, His ultimate sacrifice, gave birth to a new everlasting fountain of hope for everyone on the planet to enjoy.  Although many of us may be familiar with His story, some may not know the many benefits we experience from His passion. It is by the shedding of His blood that we get to experience this indescribable freedom we have in Him today.

Below are few things that we can thank Jesus for daily that He has set us free from.

Freedom From Sin

Romans 6:6-7- Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

As we strive to live a life like Christ with his spirit, we can do so confidently knowing that through His death we are free from all matter sin.

Freedom From Bondage

Galatians 5:1 – Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Jesus has set us free from the captivity of bondage. This bondage may be in the form of spiritual strongholds in our mind or the countless devices the enemy tries to use to make us fall. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. The yoke has been destroyed.

Freedom From Fear

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The Sprit of fear does not belong in the body of a believer. If it exists it is only because the enemy is using it to distract us from the power that works in us. Stir up the gift and let go of the fear. You are free from it.

Freedom From Heartache

Isaiah 61:1- The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound

God will use his people to not only speak great things into the lives of his disciples but he also will use them to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus loves you so much that he is there to ease the pain and help you grow from it. Accept his freedom.

Freedom From Condemnation

Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We all make mistakes as no one is perfect. Instead of letting your shortcomings fill you with defeat, pray immediately for your deliverance and recognize that your growth in Christ is a process. Dust yourself off and get right back to living for God. You are free from condemnation. God loves you and will work with you until you reach your expected end. Don’t give up!

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! 2 Corinthians 3:17

Stay in the spirit and enjoy the freedom that God has granted you through his sacrifice.

Easter Weekend at Faith Apostolic

easter changes everything_tI love Spring.  It marks the end of the long, cold winter and brings new life and color to the world.  By the time Spring arrives we are definitely ready for warm temperatures, sunshine and longer days!  But to me, the best part of Spring is Easter!

Easter is a time to celebrate and reflect on the events surrounding the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Cross of Christ and His resurrection is a cornerstone of the Christian faith!  Through His death, burial and resurrection, we have hope of forgiveness, healing and new life.

Some of my favorite services of the year are those surrounding the Easter season.  On Good Friday, April 3rd, at 7:30 pm we will be having our annual Good Friday Communion Service.  I want to invite you to come and observe the Lord’s Supper with us!  Communion is a deeply moving spiritual experience.  Few things draw us closer to Him better than remembering His blood that was shed and His body that was broken for us.

On Easter Sunday, April 5th, we will be celebrating the Resurrection at our 10am service at our Carmel Campus and our 2:42pm service at our Sheridan Campus.  Come and worship with us!  Our Easter services are always some of the most powerful, life-changing services of the year.

Mark your calendar and make plans now to include Faith Apostolic Church in your family’s easter weekend activities.  We look forward to seeing you!

– Pastor Ball

Palm Sunday, March 29th: Annual Easter Egg Hunt following the 10am morning service at the Carmel Campus

Good Friday, April 3rd: Communion Service, 7:30pm at the Carmel Campus

Easter Sunday, April 5th: Easter Services, 10am at the Carmel Campus – 2:42pm at the Sheridan Campus

Small Group Bible Studies

bible study sliderAt Faith Apostolic Church, we firmly believe that the systematic study of God’s Word is a key to spiritual growth.  Studying God’s Word in small groups is a great way to learn the teachings of the Bible as well as developing meaningful relationships with other Christians.  We have a variety of Bible study groups that meet weekly including ladies Bible studies, student Bible study, God’s Plan for Man Bible studies, mid-week Bible Class at both campus as well as other small group Bible study opportunities.

 

Please call or email our church office or any of our pastoral staff to find out what Bible study groups are meeting in your area.

Celebration of the Nations – 2014

September is Celebration of Nations month at Faith Apostolic Church. All month long we are celebrating the multicultural diversity we enjoy in our church family.  It is that diversity in our congregation that is one of the first things guests notice when visiting our church.  Over the last few years, FAC has become a multicultural church with fifteen nationalities or cultures represented.  Guests also comment about the remarkable spirit of unity and love they sense among our members.  We believe it is miraculous that God has joined people with such different backgrounds into one unified body.  The unity in our congregation has been a catalyst to our growth and to the amazing presence of God that is felt when we gather to worship.

CN African choir

Our cultural diversity has also mobilized our church to become a world missions force!  A large portion of our annual budget goes to fund missions projects around the world.  We are building orphanages in Africa, Haiti, Myanmar and India.  We are helping plant churches in Europe, South America, Cuba, Asia and the South Pacific.  Our church is truly making a global impact.

On Sunday, September 28th, at our Carmel campus, we will be celebrating the various nationalities represented in our church at our “Celebration of the Nations Service.”  We will be recognizing each nationality of our congregation, worshipping God in song and music from different parts of the world.  Pastor Ball will be preaching a message about the importance of cultural diversity and unity in the local church.  We will be serving an international dinner after the service in our multipurpose room featuring food from each culture represented in our church.

We invite you to come and be a part of our second annual Celebration of the Nations Service.   The dinner after service will be an exciting culinary experience. We hope to see you on September 28th at 10 am at our Carmel campus!

CN Childrens Choir (4)

A Weekend for the Impossible – Kids Weekend 2014

**COME ONE, COME ALL**

This weekend will be a special weekend for kids of all ages.  Faith Apostolic Church is hosting “The Flying Pig Carnival – A Weekend for the Impossible” and your family won’t want to miss a second!  We believe that with God all things are possible and we are believing that God is going to do AWESOME things this weekend!

Friday, July 18th; 7 PM

 We are going to start out our weekend on Friday night with a kid-geared service with Mike & Vicki Oliver.  If you have never been in service with them, you don’t want to miss this! 

After service, there will be an ice cream bar, Wii tournaments, finger painting, prize, games, etc. 

 Saturday, July 19th; 3 PM – 7 PM

Then, on Saturday, July 19th, starting at 3 PM, we will be having a carnival!

There will be bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, food, games, prizes….rumor has it, there is even going to be a dunk tank!!  Trust us, you don’t want to miss this!

Sunday, July 20th; 10 AM 

We will close out this exciting weekend with another kid-geared service on Sunday morning (July 20th; 10 AM) with Mike & Vicki Oliver.  We are believing God to touch the lives of many children.

After service, there will be food trucks outside and we will have a great time of fellowship to close out this weekend.

We hope YOU AND YOUR FAMILY can join us at 1212 E. 116th Street for Kids Weekend 2014A WEEKEND FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE!

Easter Season Activities

Announcements - Easter Sunday

He’s Alive!  His tomb is empty!  Jesus died, was buried but rose again the third day.  Celebrate Easter with us on Sunday, April 20th at Faith Apostolic Church!  We will be reflecting on how the Resurrection of Jesus Christ brings us new life and hope.  Our Easter services will be at 10:00 am at our Carmel campus and 2:42 pm at our Sheridan campus.

 

 

Announcements - Communion service

 On Friday, April 18th, we will be remembering how Jesus gave His body and blood to be broken and shed for our healing and salvation.  Our 7:30 pm Good Friday Communion Service is a highlight of the year.  Don’t miss out on this deep, spiritual experience of observing the Lord’s Supper.

 

 

Announcements - Easter egg hunt 2014

After our Sunday morning service on April 13th at our Carmel Campus, we will be having an Easter Egg Hunt for all the children 12 years old and under.  There will be lots of candy and prizes for all the kids.  Bring the whole family to our 10 am service and stick around for the Easter Egg Hunt!

When Grace Destroys Hope

Romans 3:23-24 (NLT) For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins

Let’s be honest here, we don’t deserve even one little part of what God gives us, including life itself, but His grace overlooks moral and spiritual blemish to consider us worth His favor.

It’s a concept that boggles the mind, but yet we, as mere mortals, could never be expected to understand the concept of grace in its entirety.  After all, we don’t know a love like God’s; it’s literally incomprehensible.  It’s exactly this inability to grasp the vastness of love that leads to misconceptions of grace and how it relates to our salvation.

While largely unintended, it’s common to equate God’s approval with an unblemished lifestyle, free of any sin at all – otherwise known as “merited grace.”  Then one day in your youth comes your first conscious acknowledgement of personal failure, your first self-realized sin.  The devil assaults your mind with condemnation to the point you think you might as well quit church now since you’ll never be ahead.  Sadly, those problems still persist as adults.  We have churches full of veteran Christians who, if asked, would still probably question their true probability of entering Heaven.  For so long the church taught the concept of good deeds being what merited us Heaven; after all, being sinful relegated us to hell so why wouldn’t Heaven be the opposite?  So as you can imagine, the collective amount of confusion revolving around salvation that stands predominant in the psyche of our congregation is staggering.

The problem is that grace is so simple and sin is so complex.  The human mind seems drawn to complexity.  This nature causes us to focus on the “What’s wrong?” rather than the overwhelmingly simple concept of grace.  Ask a Christian any number of sin-related passages in the Bible and you’ll get dozens of answers from many scriptures.  Yet ask those same people to quote passages about grace and your tally of scriptures will be embarrassingly lopsided to the former.  It’s our nature. We know those scriptures because we’re defensive.  We want to know what not to do in relation to our spiritual walk, and more importantly, Heaven.

So what does hope have to do with grace?  Hope is not based in confidence.  Hope is not factual.  Hope is simply hope.  It’s anticipating a positive outcome, not being sure, but being optimistic.  Many times, hope is very effective and gives an enhanced quality of life.  However, having hope doesn’t guarantee or assure of an outcome.  For a person who hopes in regards to their salvation and eternity, hope is not enough.  Hope, while fairly confident, leaves enough doubt that there isn’t total and resolute confidence.  Give that kind of mentality to a person who already struggles with the concept of merited grace and you have all the makings of someone who unconfidently believes in their salvation.  This person will ultimately wind up a worried and bound Christian or leave the church altogether citing their inability to resolve their spiritual and moral shortcomings.

Therein lies the reason that grace must destroy hope.  Grace is confident.  Grace abolishes hope and any doubt or dissatisfied reasoning that remains within hope.  One could even make the argument that where there’s hope, grace is disregarded.  While hope is being confident in an outcome, grace understands the outcome was already decided and hope is not needed.  The shred of doubt that hope offers is the exact opposite of the resolute mentality that grace places in our mind.  The devil will take even the most miniscule amount of doubt and magnify it to be larger than the confidence that hope was intended to offer.  Grace replaces this misunderstanding. Grace states that no matter what we do we cannot do enough to enter Heaven.  Grace eliminates the idea of the hope of salvation and causes us to realize we don’t need hope, we need grace.  We need to accept grace in our lives to be at peace with our salvation.  It is neither faith nor hope that people who are confident in their salvation possess; those people have accepted grace and understand its application in their lives.  As Pastor said, peace is given by the confidence of grace, its understanding of its application to salvation in our lives, and the knowledge that when we have grace, we don’t have to hope anymore.  Grace reminds us again and again that things between He and us were forever fixed when we were born again of water and Spirit.  They are the rendezvous points where God declares to us concretely that the debt has been paid, the ledger put away, and that everything we need, in Christ for salvation we already possess. – Phillip Newby

Don’t Get Sucked into the Facebook Fray

Guest Post by Pastor Jonathan Vazquez

I was raised in the Apostolic church.  The very first scripture I remember memorizing was Matthew 5:44.  This powerful scripture says, “But I say unto you, Lovelove your enemies your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  I have tried to live this scripture in my life.

This passage instructs Christians to handle those who mistreat us with kindness and grace regardless of how we are treated.  If the Lord commands love, blessing, good and prayer for those who are enemies, curse us, hate us and despitefully use and persecute us, how much more does He demand grace and kindness to be shown to our fellow believers?  Furthermore, if all Christians are instructed to comport themselves in such a manner, how much more should those who have received the sacred call of preaching the gospel hold themselves to a higher standard?

I have been distressed about the liberty of rudeness that so many believers, especially ministers, take in regards to how they communicate with each other – especially on social media.  I cringe when fights are carried out in the public venue of Facebook, Twitter or whatever social media outlet is used.  The church members we preach to and chastise for certain behaviors read posts that are obviously intended to incite anger or illicit a response.

So many pontificate on their pet doctrines and wait for those who disagree.  Even if they are totally right in their point of view, it does not give them the right to carry the argument in a public forum.  What do unbelievers think when they see preachers warring with each other in such a way?  How does the drug addict who desperately needs God feel when he sees those who claim to have an answer for him fighting over some particular pet peeve?  Carry on your discussions in private, face-to-face or on the phone, but don’t smear the ministry by descending into the gutters of arguments that no one will win on social media.

It appears some people just enjoy the battle.  They seem to get some sense of satisfaction from “standing for truth” and then adopt a martyr complex if people disagree.  A mentality that “I just have to say something” is narcissistic.  To think that your argument is the one that will change everyone is foolhardy.  The “I want everyone to know where I stand” argument reveals a low self-image or is just an excuse.  If your life and ministry doesn’t stand on its own, a social media explanation probably won’t help you too much.  Simply put – If you like to argue, you need an altar.

social media smallLaunching personal attacks on social media reveals a weakness of character and integrity and is certainly not a sign of boldness.  It is always easier to hide behind a keyboard than it is to address an issue face-to-face.  Please note that I am not naïve enough to believe that there will never be misunderstandings in the realm of social media, but escalating it to personal and drawn-out conflict is never appropriate.

I think that some of the liberty we take on social media may be a result of some of the liberty we have allowed ourselves in the pulpit.  Over the years, the most embarrassed I have been about my ministry is centered on times when I feel I have been rude or crude.  However, Pentecost has created superstars out of ministers whose calling card is rudeness and bad manners.  If certain behaviors are acceptable in the pulpit, then we lose our authority to chastise in private.  We must hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct.

Satan is as vile a creature as there could possibly be.  Beside him, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hussein and Bin Laden were mere amateurs.  If there has ever been a being that deserved to be railed against, it is he.  But notice how Michael the archangel handled his fellow, and fallen, archangel: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee (Jude 9).”  The Complete Jewish Bible says that Michael would not bring “an insulting charge.”  The New International Version says that he “did not dare bring a slanderous charge.”  How, then, can we feel so free to treat fellow members of the ministry so rudely?  Even if you feel a person doesn’t deserve to be in the ministry, he or she are certainly not on a level with Satan!

Jesus, in a conversation with His hand-picked preachers, said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35).”  We don’t prove our ministries by arguing and fighting with each other publicly; we prove it by showing love one to another.  Regardless of who started it, we should take the initiative to finish it.  How I am treated doesn’t give me the right to reciprocate.  Jesus said, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same (Matthew 5:46)?”

Paul said, “I … beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3).”  We should walk worthy of our calling.  Paul talks about traits which we should exhibit: lowliness, meekness and longsuffering.  He declares that we should “forbear” one another in love.  To forbear means to “put up with,” to endure and to “bear with.”  The bottom line is that we will never agree with nor like everything about each other but that is where forbearing comes in.  At times, we must simply endure, bear with and put up with each other’s idiosyncrasies and variations from our personal feelings.  The Apostle finally instructs that we should be endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  The word “bond” in the Greek means “the uniting principle.”  Our uniting principle is to keep peace among the brotherhood and, by doing so, we keep the unity of the Spirit.  Notice that Spirit in this passage is capitalized not lower case indicating that it is talking about the Spirit of the Lord.  You cannot be in unity with the Spirit of the Lord and be at war with your brother.

Notice how the Apostle John instructs the church: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also (1 John 4:20-21).”  According to the Bible, those who justify hate and bitterness are lying to themselves when they say they love God.  We have a direct commandment from the Lord to love each other.  For a good study of exactly what that means read 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  Love suffers long, is kind; is not envious; does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, and is not easily angered.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  Any preacher who does not teach this chapter to his church is derelict in his duties.  Every preacher needs to practice this passage in dealing with each other.

One thing that appears to be absent from many in our ranks is the idea of having compassion one for another.  In our quest to prove our virtue, we often fail to think how what we say may be received by those around us.  I am not talking about compromising the message or any facet of truth; if you know me, you know that.  I am talking about “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6).”  Sometimes how you say something matters as much as what you say.  The Apostle Peter said, “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:8-9).”  If we would remember that our blessing is tied to how we treat each other, we would all raise our standard of conduct in person and on social media.  Paul instructed us to be kind and tenderhearted to one and other (Ephesians 4:32) but then he took it one step further.  He tied our own forgiveness to how we forgive each other.  Nursing a grudge is tantamount to building a dam on the flow of forgiveness into your own life.

Brothers, let’s focus our fight on the devil not on one another.  Let’s not cannibalize the ministry when there is a world to win.  Understand that God cares how we treat each other and that He loved the worst of us enough to die for us.  Furthermore, public battles on social media, or in any other forum, diminishes those who engage in them and rarely, if ever bring any value to the Kingdom of God.  We are ambassadors for Christ and everything we do is a reflection of the One we represent.