Category: Faith/ Local Churches

Matthew 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
It’s hard to believe we’re already well into December! I hope everyone is doing well and praying for our country “…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (1st Timothy 2:2).” I hope you remember to get into your Bible every day. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (Galatians 5:9).” And “pray without ceasing (1st Thessalonians 5:17).” Our question for the week is; “Where in the Bible will I find an oath also called a curse in the same passage?”
Some words in the original language will have several meanings while other words are more exact than the words they translate to in English. Sometimes it’s just that the way things were worded were so different back then that we see them as odd or strange. The passage is about the sealing of a covenant and can be found in Nehemiah 10:28-29, “And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding. They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.” Think about it! J.W.

Join us on Saturday, December 14th from 9-11:30am for Breakfast with Baby Jesus at Devine First United Methodist Church! Event includes an opportunity to dress up and step into the manger scene to take a picture with Baby Jesus, pancake and sausage breakfast, several crafts, and cookie decorating with Santa and Mrs. Claus! There are several opportunities and backdrops for selfies or photos for memory making! Recommended $5.00 donation per person. See you Saturday at 212 W. Benton, Devine!

Question: Does Everyone Have a Soul? 
Answer: According to the Bible, yes everyone has a soul. Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” “Man” here represents all mankind, because Adam and Eve were the parents of all mankind. Genesis 3:20. When God created Adam, He breathed into Him the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that God made man and woman in His image, this doesn’t mean in God’s physical image but in His spiritual image. It means that our soul and spirit come from God, whereas our bodies come from the earth, dust. Genesis 2:7. Because our soul comes from God it also has some of the characteristics of God, mainly it’s eternal as God is eternal. Psalm 48:14. This simply means that our soul doesn’t ever die, it lives forever and ever. Now our soul is made up of our mind, will, and emotion. To put it simply, our soul is what makes us unique and different than everyone else on the planet. God has never and will never cookie-cut people, we’re all different by design. God is the master creator with an endless amount of creativity. Everything He does is good and perfect. Psalm 139:14. Our soul is very important because it will live forever, so, we must always consider and care for our soul carefully. Our soul will either live with God forever in heaven, Matthew 25:46, John 17:3, or live separated from Him in a terrible place called hell. Matthew 10:28. The only way to ensure we’ll go to heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him to save us from our sins. Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9-13. Once we do that, our soul rests in the loving hands of our heavenly Father and our dear Saviour Jesus Christ as we live out our lives on this earth. John 10:27-30. Once we’re saved, reading the Bible is like food for our souls, it strengthens us and helps us grow spiritually. 1 Peter 2:2. Also, praying to God benefits our souls very much by being in communication with our creator and God. Philippians 4:6-7. Are you caring for your soul? Have you asked Jesus to save you from your sins? Your soul is priceless, so give it to the One who made it and can give you life forever, Jesus. John 11:25-26.

Question: What does Justification mean?
Answer: According to the Bible justification is the process of making one right or acquitting one of guilt before God. The Bible says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Justification is a legal term, declaring that someone is in right standing with God. In the Old Testament this meant keeping the law that God had given to His people, like the Ten Commandments, but no one could keep the whole law on their own. This is why Romans 3:28 says, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” All through the New Testament we read that the only way to be right before God is by faith and not by works. There won’t be one person who makes it to heaven because they did good works. The only way to be saved and go to heaven is to have faith. Faith in what? Faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Ephesians 2:8-9. Galatians 2:16. We must believe that Jesus died on the cross for all mankind’s sin, that He was buried, and rose again to life three days later. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. If we believe what Jesus said, then we won’t be condemned before God we’ll be justified or made right before God. John 5:24. The reason we need to be justified, is because without believing in Jesus we’re still lost in our sins. Romans 3:23. We must choose to accept God’s free gift of salvation. Romans 6:23. God sent Jesus so that lost, sinful people could be saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven. John 3:16-17. Romans 5:8-9. If you haven’t been justified already, you can be today by asking Jesus to save you and forgive you of your sins. Romans 10:13.

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
As always I pray that you are doing well so far this week. Please pray for rain as we are getting extremely dry, the last couple of showers we got dried up quickly. Are you getting into the word of God on a daily basis? Have you read your Bible today? If not why not? It only takes a few minutes to read a whole chapter. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said: “…it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Don’t just read it, let’s live by it! Let us also continue to pray for our nation’s defenders and our first responders. And please pray for all those fighting cancer! Our question for the week is; “Where in the Bible will I find all men forsaking someone but God standing with him and delivering him out of the mouth of the lion?”

Continue reading “Where in the Biblewill I find…?”

Question: Why should we be thankful this Thanksgiving?
Answer: Because according to the Bible, we should be thankful in every time and season of life. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” The Bible doesn’t say only be thankful when everything is going well, but at all times. The only way we can truly do this is if we have Jesus Christ in our life who is the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27. With Jesus, we can see through the dark clouds of life that sometimes surround us and see that there’s hope to push on, because He’s with us, and with His help we’ll get through the storm. Philippians 4:19. So, we should be thankful in everything because the Bible says we should be and that’s more than enough reason, but most of all we should be thankful because Jesus came to this earth to save us from our sins. Sin is disobedience against God and what He’s said in His Word, the Bible. All of us have disobeyed God at one point or another, the Bible says we’re all sinners. Romans 3:23. If we tried on our own to make it to heaven, none of us would ever get there because we’re sinners. But because God loves us so much, He provided His Son to be the perfect and complete sacrifice on the cross so that all people could be saved. John 3:16-17. Jesus shed His blood so that our sins could be covered by it, He died for us so that we could live. What a gift! Now anyone who calls upon Jesus to save them will be saved. Romans 10:9-13. So, this Thanksgiving it doesn’t matter how rich or poor we are, or where we live or how old we are, we all can be very thankful for Jesus’ sacrifice for us all! While you’re sitting around the dinner table eating or watching football on tv, don’t forget to say, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”-2 Corinthians 9:15.

Answer: The Bible says in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” This verse tells us that death started when sin entered the picture of mankind. The Bible tells us that sin originated with Adam and Eve after God had created them and put them in the garden of Eden, and they disobeyed God. Genesis 3:1-7. Sin is anything that breaks God’s laws or disobeys His Word. Sin started in the garden of Eden and by consequence, death started there too. If you think about it, death comes for everyone, the rich, the poor, those with a PhD and those with a GED, those in Africa and those in North America, why? Because death is universal, it affects everyone. That’s what Romans 5:12 is speaking of. Sin entered the scene by or through one man, Adam, and because Adam and Eve were the parents of all mankind, they passed down their sin nature to all their descendants. Including you and me. We all have sinned, whether by telling a lie, stealing something, thinking a bad thought or saying a bad word, none of us can say we’re perfect and haven’t done anything wrong. Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:10.

Continue reading “Question: What Does Romans 5:12 mean?”

Question: Can God forgive all my Sins?

Answer: According to the Bible, yes, God can forgive all your sins, no matter how many nor how severe they are.
The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This verse says that if we confess our sins, but confess our sins to whom? To Jesus Christ our Saviour. Jesus died on the cross and took all of mankind’s sin upon Himself so that all people could have their sins forgiven. John 3:16-17. The Bible says about Jesus in Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Jesus was perfect, He never sinned, and it took one who was righteous and sinless to atone for everyone who was unrighteous and sinful. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Jesus shed or poured out His perfect blood to cover our sinful blood.
In the Bible blood represents life (Leviticus 17:11) so Jesus laid down His life so that we, as people, could have life. John 15:13. The Bible teaches that before we ask Jesus to save and forgive us, we’re dead spiritually in our sins, and when we do ask Jesus to save us, He brings us to life spiritually. Colossians 2:13. Many people think that they’ve done too many bad things and sinned too much for God to forgive them, but that’s simply not true. Jesus died so that everyone could be saved, and the Bible says that whoever comes to Jesus will not be sent away. John 6:37. God says that once we accept Jesus as our Saviour, then He blots out our sins and won’t remember them anymore. Isaiah 43:25. All you have to do is call upon Jesus and ask Him to save you and forgive your sins, then He will do exactly that. Read Romans 6:23, and Romans 10:9-13 in the Bible.

Father Anthony, Carolina and Pablo Cortez would like to thank everyone who purchased raffle tickets for the St. Andrews Festival. There were a total of 918 sold tickets, and $4,590 raised in sales.
The St. Andrews 2024 Raffle Winners (in order from 1 to 25) are: Manuel Davila (BBQ Pitt), Arnaldo Benavidez ($1,000), Rogelio H. Garcia ($1000), Monique Wimber ($500), Gloria Saucedo ($500), Jason Miller ($500), Ysabella Cortez ($500), Jaime ($500), Raul ($300), Raul ($300), Linda Vasquez ($300), Margarito ($300), Alma Zamora ($300), Melissa Cannon ($200), Librado Rivas ($200), Rita Cordova ($200), Juan Robles ($200), Frances Hartley ($200), Nelda Rosas ($200), John Leija ($100), Estela Rodriguez ($100), Josiah Glass ($100), David Avis ($100), and Sonia Cortez ($100).
Special thanks from Pablo S. Cortez:
I wish to thank all the people that bought raffle tickets from me while I was selling the tickets to help the church festival. With your help, I was able to sell 918 tickets and raised 4,590.00 for which Father Anthony was very pleased. Of those tickets I sold, I told two winning tickets out of 25 prizes. The winners are Sonia Cortez, who won $100, and Arnaldo Benavidez, who won $1000.00.
For more information please call St. Andrew’s Church Rectory at (830) 709-4287.
Thanks for your help and may God bless you.

Iglesia Bautista Calvario / Calvary Baptist Church, in Lytle, TX will be having our 2nd Annual Mission Conference on October 23, 24, and 25 at 7:00 PM and October 27 at 9:45 AM. It will be bilingual and our address is 15253 Houston St., Lytle, TX.
This year we are privileged to have the following missionaries: Hno. Rubén Casas – Missionary in Durango, México; Hno. Saul Juárez – Director to Ministry Without Borders; Hna. Rut Elisabet Lerma Pizarro – Missionary to the Triquis People; Pastor David Richmond – Grace Batist Church – Evans, Louisiana; Hna. Graciela Vasquez – Missionary in India; Hno. Eric Watson – Missionary in Honduras & Texas Border
Please call (210)279-6143 if you have any questions.