By the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we have completed another year. No matter the challenges or the pain of losing loved ones, the Lord has provided the strength and wisdom to make it through. I would like to thank the elders, deacons, staff, ministers, ministry leaders and all those who served faithfully all year long. I would also like to thank those who faithfully by way of their finances and prayers supported the Lord\u2019s ministry. It is your faithful service, giving, and prayers that have blessed us to make it all year long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being faithful does not mean that everything in these individual\u2019s lives went well, by no means! This is why the Apostle Paul describes faithfulness as a \u2018pressing to the mark\u2019 (Philippians 3:12-16), \u2018the fight of the faith\u2019 (2 Timothy 4:8), and the writer of Hebrews would say is a \u2018race to run\u2019 (Hebrews 12:1-3). Faithfulness takes courage to remain obedient during life\u2019s challenges, commitment to the Lord\u2019s vision, and a willingness to endure suffering while using one\u2019s spiritual gifts to bless others. It is for this reason faithfulness provides great eternal rewards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyday we go to work and receive a temporary paycheck, it can consume our lives. Like I said repeatedly when teaching Revelation, Satan cannot stop those who are saved from going to heaven, but he can use the challenges of this life to take away our heavenly rewards. This is why after taking us through the \u2018Hall of Faith\u2019 in Hebrews Chapter 11, the writer instructs us \u2018to keep our eyes fitted\u2026 .\u2019 Paul remained so purposeful he said, \u201cFor me to live is Christ and to die is gain.\u201d (Philippians 2:21) This is not a temporal gain, it is eternal and does not require any more work once earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is so much to gain; the \u2018Crown of Life,\u2019 (faithfulness through trials; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10; 3:11), the \u2018crown of righteousness,\u2019 for \u2018fighting the faith of the faith\u2019 (2 Timothy 4:8), the \u2018incorruptible crown,\u2019 (1 Corinthians 9:25) for being discipled to apply God\u2019s word daily in the midst of life\u2019s rat race, and the \u2018crown of glory,\u2019 for faithful elders (1 Peter 5:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only do we receive crowns, for all those who faithfully served, they will wear white robes (Revelation 3:5,18; 6:11; 7:9,13), and not be naked, and poor (no rewards; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15) in heaven (Revelation 3:17). Those who remain faithful despite numerous trials, will sit with Christ on His throne as overcomers (Revelation 3:21-22; 21:5-7). This is why Paul says, \u201cdiscipline my body and make it my slave, so that \u2026.., I myself will not be disqualified.\u2019 (1 Corinthians 9:27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to all of you, including your children and youth who did not hesitate to serve the Lord. I pray that God blesses you and your family, especially as we approach this new year!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we have completed another year. No matter the challenges or the pain of losing loved ones, the Lord has provided the strength and wisdom to make it through. I would like to thank the elders, deacons, staff, ministers, ministry leaders and all those who served faithfully all year long. I would also like to thank those who faithfully by way of their finances and prayers supported the Lord\u2019s ministry. It is your faithful service, giving, and prayers that have blessed us to make it all year long. Being faithful does not mean that everything in these individual\u2019s lives went well, by no means! This is why the Apostle Paul describes faithfulness as a \u2018pressing to the mark\u2019 (Philippians 3:12-16), \u2018the fight of the faith\u2019 (2 Timothy 4:8), and the writer of Hebrews would say is a \u2018race to run\u2019 (Hebrews 12:1-3). Faithfulness takes courage to remain obedient during life\u2019s challenges, commitment to the Lord\u2019s vision, and a willingness to endure suffering while using one\u2019s spiritual gifts to bless others. It is for this reason faithfulness provides great eternal rewards. Everyday we go to work and receive a temporary paycheck, it can consume our lives. Like I said repeatedly when teaching Revelation, Satan cannot stop those who are saved from going to heaven, but he can use the challenges of this life to take away our heavenly rewards. This is why after taking us through the \u2018Hall of Faith\u2019 in Hebrews Chapter 11, the writer instructs us \u2018to keep our eyes fitted\u2026 .\u2019 Paul remained so purposeful he said, \u201cFor me to live is Christ and to die is gain.\u201d (Philippians 2:21) This is not a temporal gain, it is eternal and does not require any more work once earned. There is so much to gain; the \u2018Crown of Life,\u2019 (faithfulness through trials; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10; 3:11), the \u2018crown of righteousness,\u2019 for \u2018fighting the faith of the faith\u2019 (2 Timothy 4:8), the \u2018incorruptible crown,\u2019 (1 Corinthians 9:25) for being discipled to apply God\u2019s word daily in the midst of life\u2019s rat race, and the \u2018crown of glory,\u2019 for faithful elders (1 Peter 5:4). Not only do we receive crowns, for all those who faithfully served, they will wear white robes (Revelation 3:5,18; 6:11; 7:9,13), and not be naked, and poor (no rewards; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15) in heaven (Revelation 3:17). Those who remain faithful despite numerous trials, will sit with Christ on His throne as overcomers (Revelation 3:21-22; 21:5-7). This is why Paul says, \u201cdiscipline my body and make it my slave, so that \u2026.., I myself will not be disqualified.\u2019 (1 Corinthians 9:27). Thanks to all of you, including your children and youth who did not hesitate to serve the Lord. I pray that God blesses you and your family, especially as we approach this new year!! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-presidents-message"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3528,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions\/3528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerwalkministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}