Day of Worship

Dear beloved,

This morning we enjoyed our second Lord’s Day here in Kenya. Pastor Situma took us to minister in a church that he planted about 10 years ago - also named Grace Life Church at Nzoia, a small village about 2 hours away from Eldoret. Pastor Zacchaeus, one of the students in our class, became this church’s pastor in 2006.

We enjoyed worshiping with our brothers and sisters even though we did not understand most of the songs that they sang, since they were in the Swahili language. After our congregational singing, the men from our class and I sang the song, “Mighty, Mighty Savior.”

I was given the privilege of preaching on Psalm 73, the title of the sermon was “Chief of All My Joy.” First, I pointed out the man centered perspective on life, and then, second, we saw the God centered perspective on life. I encouraged and exhorted the Church not to doubt God’s goodness and envy the wicked, but instead we should focus on the One who is Holy and Just, and the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Until you realize that Christ is more than enough, you will never have enough. (I had Komeri Bramwel translating for me. He is also part of our class at the Grace Life Bible College, and he serves as a youth pastor and worship leader at this church.)

After we sang a song, pastor Rick preached a message from Revelation 1, “The Vision of the Glorified Christ.” He explained the glories of Christ and the effect it should have in our lives. He shared how that the desire of Jesus Christ was to make Himself known through the church. As He is viewed as standing in the midst of the churches, we can be assured that He is present with us as we gather in His name.  The great joy of the church is to know that Jesus remains attentive to us and sympathetic with us as our High Priest. He also promises that His presence will provide comfort for those who seek His glory, but that He will pursue and prosecute those who embrace sin or bring false teaching into the church. He mentioned Grace Bible Church and our commitment to Sola Scriptura but how there is always a great danger of moving away from the Bible. The message was powerful and Jesus Christ was magnified He exhorted the Church to pursue Christ in all things, since it is all about Him. To those who preach the Word, we must uphold the glories of Jesus Christ before all people and preach Him as the all-satisfying treasure. Pastor Zaccheaus was thrilled by the truth even as he provided translation into Swahili. His passion was as intense as Pastor Rick’s – it was thrilling to see how these men desire to be mentored in everything!

We had a late lunch upon returning to Eldoret and had pizza with Pastor Situma listening to the fascinating story of how he was led out of the local Pentecostal church to plant Grace Life Church. From the time that he was saved, he filled his heart with truth – reading Puritan writers from his days of spiritual infancy. What he encountered in Pentecostalism did not seem right to him. In the evening, His commitment over the years of Bible study is a solid commitment to sola scriptura.  Pastor Rick was thrilled to hear this testimony!

We went back to the Church at 7:00 PM where pastor Rick had a great opportunity to do a workshop with men of the Grace Life Church. He spoke on different issues on how to build men as leaders. He answered many different questions. First, he showed 5 roles of a godly Man, and how we should pursue these things by the grace of God.

1) Men must be saints toward God.

2) Men must be shepherds in their homes.

3) Men must be servants in the church.

4) Men must be stewards at their jobs; and,

5) Men must be soul winners in their community.

The men loved it and ate it up! They were so encouraged and grateful for the wisdom that Pastor Rick shared.

Now we are at our hotel, preparing for tomorrows full day of teaching and fellowship with men.  Thank you so much for your prayers! We are eager to be back to worship at GBC next Sunday to enjoy communion with the saints.

Trusting in Him,

Paul and Rick