April 9th, 2023|WIC Weekly

WIC Weekly April 9th 2023

Warsaw International Church

Mobile +48 601 331 032

Worship every Sunday at ul. Miodowa 21 (near Old Town) at 11:00 AM

Entrance from Schillera Street

Email: pastor@wic.org.pl

Website: http://www.wic.org.pl

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WIC WEEKLY 9th APRIL 2023 FROM PASTOR HARRY

Spiritual Nourishment

The Faith That Saves by Samuel L. Brengle

The faith that saves is the faith that brings the life and power of God into the soul—a faith that makes the proud man humble, the impatient man patient, the haughty man lowly in heart, the stingy man openhanded and liberal; the lustful man clean and chaste, the fighting, quarrelsome man meek and gentle, the liar truthful, the thief honest, the light and foolish sober and grave, a faith that purifies the heart, that sets the Lord always before the eyes, and fills the soul with humble, holy, patient love toward God and man.

To beget this faith, is needed not only the Bible, with its historical evidences, but also a living witness; one who has “tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Heb. 6:5); one who knows that Jesus is not dead, but alive; one who can witness to the resurrection, because he is acquainted with the Lord who was resurrected, and knows the Lord, who is, “the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25).

I remember a little girl in Boston, whose quiet, earnest testimony for Jesus drew people to our meetings just to hear her speak. One day, as we were walking along the street, she said to me: “The other evening, as I was in my room getting ready for the meeting, Jesus was with me. I felt He was there, and I knew Him.”

I replied, “We may be more conscious of His presence than of any earthly friend.”

Then, to my surprise and joy, she said, “Yes, for He is in our hearts.”

Paul had to be such a witness, in order to bring salvation to the Gentiles. He was not a witness of the resurrection, in the lower sense, that he saw Jesus in the body with his natural eyes; but in the higher, spiritual sense, in that he had the Son of God “revealed” in him (Gal. 1:16)—and his testimony was just as mighty in convincing men of the truth and slaying their unbelief, as was that of Peter or John.

And this power to so witness was not confined to the Apostles, who had been with Jesus, and to Paul, who was specially chosen to be an Apostle, but is the common heritage of believers. Many years after Pentecost, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, away off in Europe, “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). And in writing to the Colossians about the mystery of the Gospel, he said it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). In fact, this is the very highest purpose for which Jesus promised to send the Holy Ghost. He said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come...He shall not speak of Himself.... He shall testify of Me. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:13-14).

This is His chief work—to reveal Jesus to the spiritual consciousness of each individual believer, and by so doing to purify his heart, to destroy all evil dispositions, and to implant in the soul of the believer the very tempers and dispositions of Jesus Himself.

Indeed, the inward revelation of the mind and heart of Jesus, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost, was necessary in order to make fit witnesses out of the very men who had been with Him for three years and who were eyewitnesses of His death and resurrection.

Oh, how tenderly Jesus loved them, and with what unutterable longings did He wish to make Himself fully known to them! Just so, today, does He want to make Himself fully known to His people, and to reveal Himself in their hearts.

It is this knowledge of Jesus that sinners demand Christians shall have before those sinners believe.

Our News

Newcomers at last Sunday’s service included Marvin and Yves from Malaysia; Davi from Brazil; Bohdan from Ukraine; Canaan, Dagi, Betty and Abdi from Ethiopia; and a lady from Finland.

Sister Dion delivered a powerful message on Ezekiel chapter 37 last Sunday, encouraging us to believe that the Lord will create miracles in our life as Christians and make our “dry bones” live. Many thanks!

There will be a prayer meeting as usual at 6 pm on Good Friday. All are invited!

PLEASE NOTE that our 11 am service on Sunday 16 April will exceptionally be held at a different location: the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) at ul. Rakowiecka 61 – ENTRANCE on ul. Boboli, 50 metres from the corner of Rakowiecka Street.

We look forward to baptizing four worshippers by total immersion on Friday 14 April at 7:30 pm at the International Christian Fellowship at ul. Puławska 326. They are Sister Temwani from Zambia, Sister Loini from Namibia, Sister Oleksandra from Ukraine/Lebanon, and Brother Sean from Zimbabwe. There will be no prayer meeting on that day.

I WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL OUR READERS A BLESSED EASTERTIME, as we experience anew the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian Films

Watch wonderful free Christian films of hope and encouragement! They include films about the life of Jesus, testimonies of Christians who have suffered persecution, and excellent cartoon films for both children and adults on Christian spiritual reformers and missionaries. The link is: https://www.vm1.tv/

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for our two main intentions: the war in Ukraine, and a spiritual awakening in the world and in WIC:

Further escalations in the war in Ukraine are the announcement that Putin will place Russian nuclear weapons near the Polish border in western Belarus; and the news that a Wall Street Journal reporter has been arrested in Russia on evidently trumped-up spying charges, further endangering other foreign journalists trying to do their work in that country. The Russians still have no intention of leaving the sovereign land they invaded, and therefore seem determined to destroy their own country as well as Ukraine. Let us pray that the Lord will come quickly to the rescue of His people and put a stop to the evil perpetrated by the invaders. Pray for the Russian nation to repent of its shameful support for this war, and for the evil regime to come to an end.

And secondly, let us pray for spiritual awakening. Atheism, idolatry, witchcraft and general godlessness are rampant all over the world, as is expected of these last times. Christians are persecuted in less developed countries and scorned in “civilized” nations. Many churches are rapidly losing members. We at WIC give thanks to God for steady growth and believe this is related to proclaiming the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as stated in the Bible, because churches lose members when they start preaching a different Gospel.

However, there is weakness in the church when the faithful are more committed to watching Christian videos than reading God’s word (many younger people seem to read very little). The danger with videos is that they are not placed in a context as in the Bible; and there is no way of telling whether a speaker is truly proclaiming the Gospel unless we compare what they say with what Scripture says. Lack of such discernment means that we are more likely to accept false teachings and attend pseudo-Christian churches. Please pray for our worshippers to love reading the BIBLE, first and foremost.

Another weakness is lack of involvement by many worshippers, who think of themselves as connected with our church but do little to prove their commitment. This includes laziness in attending worship, regularly coming to church late, unreliability when approached for assistance, and long absences for no apparent reason. If worshippers withdraw themselves for a while just because they feel like it, what does that say about their faith? May we pray for repentance of all self-centredness which may make our egos feel good but actually harms this particular section of the Body of Christ. The consolation, of course, is that our church will keep on growing as long as the Lord’s grace is with us and we are being faithful to Him.

Last Sunday’s sermon was preached by Sister Dion on new Spirit-filled life for the “dry bones” of God’s people (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

Readings and Hymns for the 9 April service

Verse for the week: “The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise on the third day” (Luke 24:7).

Theme: The Resurrection of Jesus and its meaning for us

Psalm: 16

Reading: Luke 23:50 – 24:12

Offering verse: Hebrews 13:16: “Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices”.

Hymns:

(At the start) I Live, I Live

I live, I live because He is risen,

I live, I live with power over sin;

I live, I live because He is risen,

I live, I live to worship Him.

Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus,

Because You’re alive, because You’re alive,

Because You’re alive I live!

This Is The Day