Dear Pastor and Brethren,
As another year begins and the prospects for the blessings of the Lord lay before us, we rejoice in the blessings of last year. We have had several visitors some of whom have stayed with us, and we are running between 9 and 14 people coming each Sunday. I began preaching a series of messages on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit on January first and am still preaching on that subject. We have covered the concept of the personality of the Holy Spirit because so many people believe that the Holy Spirit is just a force and is not a person and has no personality. The Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit has intelligence, wil1, affections, and a behavior that properly pertains to personality. Therefore he is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity and is to be loved, reverenced, and obeyed as even we love, reverence, and obey God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit’s main activity is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and while preaching about him it is an easy step to invite people to repent from their sin and to come to Christ for salvation or cleansing depending on the need of each individual.
A young man who has visited with us on previous occasions has started coming regularly as of this January. His name is Hunter Northern, and he is one of Bro. and Sis. Gaches’ grandsons. He has been very faithful since beginning to attend, and we thank the Lord for his attendance.
Bro. Jose Bautista, who comes regularly, has had a colonoscopy and will need to have a minor surgical procedure to clear up obstruction in his colon, nothing cancerous, thank the Lord. He also needs our prayer for the knee he hurt on the job. The orthopedic surgeon says that he needs an operation on his left knee to fix some tendons located there. He continues to invite his eldest daughter and her family to our services, but they haven’t come yet.
Prospective Baptismal Service
Sometime in the relatively near future we hope to have a baptismal service if it can be arranged with the candidates. The house in which we conduct our services has no baptistry and both of the ladies work fulltime jobs during the week. A supporting church pastor has said that they will allow us to use their baptistry when we are ready. Their building is about a hour and fifteen minutes away from Stillwater. The service would have to be held on a Saturday afternoon and transportation arranged. Please make this a matter of prayer as we work on this important matter.
By His grace and in loving gratitude,
Time and Roxanne Parrow